She 'let Jeffrey Epstein slide': Critics blast Trump's latest 'corrupt' Cabinet pick

She 'let Jeffrey Epstein slide': Critics blast Trump's latest 'corrupt' Cabinet pick
FILE PHOTO: Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a press conference by supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump after they attended his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affair with Stormy Daniels, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., May 21, 2024. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo

Less than 24 hours after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) withdrew his name from consideration for Attorney General, President-Elect Donald Trump announced Gaetz's replacement for the nomination.

"I am proud to announce former Attorney General of the Great State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our next Attorney General of the United States," Trump wrote via Truth Social.

A slew of legal experts and journalists quickly reacted to the news, many criticizing the president-elect's choice.

Rochester Institute of Technology law professor David Cay Johnston commented: "Pam Bondi, Trump's new AG pick, is so corrupt. She took an illegal $25,000 campaign donation from the Trump Foundation. Bondi kept the money (!!!), given when -- as Florida AG -- she shut down her office's investigation of the utterly fraudulent Trump University."

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Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell added: "Hi America. If you want to understand why Donald Trump likes Pam Bondi, know this: Complaints were filed about Trump U. in with attorneys general in two states. - NY's AG pursued and got a $25 million settlement - Trump gave Bondi $25k, and she did nothing."

Journalist Ken Klippenstein wrote: "Trump's new pick for AG, Pam Bondi, was a registered lobbyist for the government of Qatar"

Human Rights Campaign national press secretary Brandon Wolf replied: Two days after my best friends and 47 others were murdered at Pulse Nightclub, Pam Bondi tried to paint herself as a friend to the community. She hoped we’d forget that, just TWO years earlier, she said our freedom to marry would cause 'significant public harm.' We didn’t."

Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross replied: "The same Pam Bodi who let Jeffrey Epstein slide"

Long Island County, New York's Suffolk Young Democrats Chair Skyler Johnson commented: "Trump makes sure to point out that she was the first female Attorney General of Florida. I’m sorry - I thought acknowledging such things was an unforgivable sin, and proof someone was selected because of DEI? Are the rules different now?"

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A candidate for the Indiana State Senate was arrested for cocaine possession while canvassing for himself.

Andrew Dezelan is the former policy director for the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus, according to reporting by the Indianapolis Star. He was arrested outside of Indianapolis on Sunday after "a man called the police with a complaint of a person soliciting as Dezelan was going door to door," and police found a bag of cocaine in his car, the Indy Star reported.

Police officers found Dezelan parked in his car by a neighborhood clubhouse and asked him "to explain the difference between canvassing and soliciting," the Indy Star wrote. Dezelan said he had permission from a homeowners' association to canvass there.

An officer wrote in an arrest affidavit that "I noticed Mr. Dezelan had been speaking quickly, making very quick, nervous and unorganized movements. He was visibly sweating."

Those were all "typical signs of someone who is under the influence of a narcotic," according to the affidavit.

Dezelan put his car in reverse, and after telling him to stop, officers opened his door and pulled him out, the Indy Star report recounted. Dezelan resisted his arrest by trying to step away until he was forced to the ground, the affidavit described.

After he was detained, police officers searched Dezelan's car and found a "small, clear plastic Ziploc baggie containing white powder," which later tested positive for cocaine, according to the affidavit.

The Indy Star noted that Dezelan posted a live video on Facebook of himself canvassing just fifteen minutes after police were called to investigate.

Dezelan has not yet publicly commented on his arrest, according to the Star.

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President Donald Trump got a fresh round of bad news on Tuesday, with the release of a new poll that found his job approval rating in the low 30s.

The poll, conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, found the president languishing at 34 percent approval, with 64 percent disapproving — the lowest of Trump's second term.

It also found that a dismal all-time low 22 percent approve of his handling of cost-of-living issues, as the Iran war continues to drive up gas prices and destabilize inflation.

The new numbers caused a stir among political commentators and observers on social media.

"Trump now at -30% job approval and -47% on cost of living. They’re linked, ya think?" wrote Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

"This includes AFTER the shooting at the correspondents' dinner," wrote Eric Michael Garcia of The Independent. "Voters are just done with Trump. They are angry about the economy and gas prices."

"We are now deep in George W. Bush post-Katrina polling territory now," wrote political commentator Russell Drew.

This follows a number of other polling outfits in recent weeks that have yielded similar results — including an Associated Press/NORC poll that found even one in three Republicans disapprove of his performance.

A legal expert said during a new interview on CNN that he is shocked that the Trump administration returned another indictment against former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday.

Ryan Goodman, editor in chief of Just Security, told CNN's Erin Burnett on her show, "OutFront," that "it was a shock" that a grand jury returned the three-page indictment against Comey for charges of threatening the president and felony interstate communication violations. He added that there are possible repercussions down the line for lawyers working on the case.

"There's no way it can survive, and it's even a shock that it survived a grand jury," Goodman said.

Goodman added that the charges in the indictment don't seem to match what the Supreme Court has laid out in previous cases.

The indictment alleges Comey intentionally threatened to kill the president when he posted a picture on his Instagram of seashells arranged in the numbers "86 47," which some conservatives interpreted as code for "kill Trump." Goodman noted that the Supreme Court requires plaintiffs to prove an objective belief that the message was intended as a threat.

If the Trump DOJ lawyers can't do that, then Goodman noted that the indictment presents a "real threat" to the personnel involved.

"I think if you're the defense counsel, James Comey, you don't want to just say, 'Let's go to trial because you're not going to be convicted.' You might want to do all sorts of motions to have it dismissed using Supreme Court precedent, et cetera, and then, for the disbarment, which I do think is a real threat to Justice Department people who are involved in this."

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