Donald Trump's second choice to be his attorney general, after the nomination of ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) went down in flames, is raising red flags among legal observers not related to her earlier threats to go after the president-elect's enemies.
According to a report from Politico, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has been employed, and remains employed, with a heavy-hitting lobbying firm that represents major corporations engaging in businesses that are constantly under government scrutiny.
As Politico's Hailey Fuchs wrote, that has raised concerns over whether she will take a hands-off approach to any current investigations and possible investigations of clients the firm has represented which include Amazon and Uber.
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According to the report, for the last six years Bondi has been employed by lobbying firm Ballard Partners, where, "she has lobbied the federal government for a host of major businesses, including Amazon, General Motors, Fidelity National Financial, Uber and Carnival North America. She serves as a key adviser to the firm’s president, Brian Ballard."
Those affiliations could "pose a myriad of ethical questions about what kind of access she will grant her firm and whether she will recuse herself from issues involving Ballard," the report states.
According to Jeff Hauser, founder of the progressive Revolving Door Project, "It is essentially impossible to organize a Justice Department ethically in light of the breadth of Bondi’s connections. I think it’s just going to be off-the-charts bad.”
The report notes that, even if Bondi recuses herself from direct involvement in cases looking into former clients, she could still wield influence indirectly as the nation's top cop.
That led Rick Claypool, a research director with the progressive consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, to suggest, "We know the corporate defendants are going to use every advantage that they can get to try to argue to get out of enforcement actions. So I think it’s gonna be really important that the front line DOJ prosecutors who are investigating and bringing cases against former clients are able to do their jobs without interference.”
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