Pam Bondi lobbied for corporate clients that fought the DOJ. Now Trump wants her to run it.
Top clients include big tech, private prisons and gambling companies
Washington, D.C. — With Trump Attorney General Nominee Pam Bondi slated to appear before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee next week for her confirmation hearing, new research reveals Bondi has represented clients as a corporate lobbyist who have had major conflicts with the Department of Justice (DOJ) that Bondi has been nominated to lead.
A new report by Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger titled “Conflicted Justice: U.S. Attorney General-Nominee Pam Bondi’s Problematic Corporate Lobbying Clients,” reveals that, over the last five years, Bondi has lobbied the federal government for 30 different clients including:
- A gambling company that sued the Attorney General to overturn the DOJ’s legal position on whether the company could perform gambling-related transactions electronically across state lines under the Interstate Wire Act.
- A private prisons company which has been criticized by DOJ and Homeland Security Inspector General audits and stands to profit substantially from the Trump Administration’s new immigration detention and deportation policies.
- A waste management company that has resisted removing nuclear waste from its radioactive landfill. On behalf of her clients, Bondi has lobbied the White House, Congress and 12 federal agencies to influence policy, regulations, legislation and litigation.
- A tech company that has been sued by the DOJ over children’s privacy violations, investigated by the DOJ over injury rates and workplace safety at its warehouses and referred to the DOJ by a bipartisan group of lawmakers for potential criminal obstruction.
“The U.S. Attorney General should be the American people’s lawyer – not a lobbyist for big corporations and foreign governments,” said Golinger. “As they evaluate this nomination, we urge Senators to carefully scrutinize Bondi’s lobbying record and ask what she will do when the interests of her lobbying clients again clash with the Department of Justice she now wants to lead.”
Public Citizen Co-President Lisa Gilbert adds the integrity and efficacy of the DOJ could be jeopardized if Bondi is confirmed.
“The choice of Pam Bondi to helm the Department of Justice foreshadows a dangerous politicization of the department,” said Gilbert. “The ability of the Attorney General to represent the interests of the American public must not be compromised. We depend on the DOJ to vigorously enforce our laws, hold corporate wrongdoers accountable, and protect the rule of law. Pam Bondi is simply inappropriate for this post.”
Check out Public Citizen’s new tracker: Trump Appointees’ Corporate Conflicts of Interest.