President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department is “a heck of a lot better than Matt Gaetz” but she “is clearly a Trump apologist, a Trump lackey,” says South Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
“Pam Bondi was the attorney general of the state of Florida for eight years, and so she does have the requisite experience. But she comes with the heaviness of having been a massive election denier,” Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday.
Days after the 2020 election, Bondi told Fox News there was “evidence of cheating" in Pennsylvania, alleging — without evidence — that ballots were "dumped" and mailed to dead people.
“This is someone who is clearly a Trump apologist, a Trump lackey,” said Wasserman Schultz. “That's what he wants as AG.”
READ MORE: Pam Bondi is Trump’s new choice as attorney general. Here's what to know about her
Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when he was accused — but not convicted — of abusing his power as he tried to condition U.S. military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating then-former Vice President Joe Biden.
Wasserman Schultz offered some praise for Bondi when she was the state’s top prosecutor from 2011-2019.
“She did some good things for consumer protection, did some pretty good lawsuits that brought resources back for people who'd been wronged in the state of Florida,” she said. “So, you know, we'll see how the Senate looks at it, but it's a heck of a lot better than Matt Gaetz.”
Wasserman Schultz was especially critical of Bondi for choosing not to pursue fraud allegations by Trump University.
“She actually looked the other way when Trump University clearly committed massive fraud robbing students of millions of dollars after she got a $25,000 contribution to her PAC from Donald Trump,” said Wasserman Schultz.
Bondi personally solicited a 2013 political contribution from Trump as her office was weighing whether to join New York in suing over fraud allegations involving Trump University.
Trump cut a $25,000 check to a political committee supporting Bondi from his family’s charitable foundation, in violation of legal prohibitions against charities supporting partisan political activities. After the check came in, Bondi’s office nixed suing Trump’s company for fraud, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.
Both Trump and Bondi denied wrongdoing, the state’s ethics commission tossed the complaints and a prosecutor assigned by then-GOP Gov. Rick Scott determined there was insufficient evidence to support bribery charges over the donation.
“This is old, discredited news,” said Trump transition spokeswoman Alex Pfeiffer.
Two days before being sworn in as president in January 2017, Trump paid $25 million to settle three lawsuits alleging Trump University defrauded its students.
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