New York Times: As White House Steers Justice Dept., Bondi [Bimbo #3] Embraces Role of TV Messenger

Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] has adopted a conspicuously performative approach, willing to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3], the attorney general of the United States, circled the Roosevelt Room in late February, handing out bulky white binders labeled “Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a conclave of Trump-allied influencers summoned to the White House for their first visit.

That Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3], the nation’s top law enforcement official, would prioritize a case of importance primarily to conspiracy theorists was telling. Anxious to appease the restive MAGA base, she hyped the disclosure as “breaking news” on Fox the night before, part of an effort to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to reveal new details on the financier Jeffrey Epstein’s misdeeds and death.

It was a dud. There were “no bombshells,” she said, according to one of those invited.

Later, activists on the right lashed out at Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3]. She responded by blaming others, and then dispatched F.B.I. agents and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s national security division to scour the archives, officials familiar with the situation said. They found little. No one knows when Phase 2 is coming. But it is not likely to amount to much, those people said.

Since taking office as U.S. attorney general in early February, she has adopted a conspicuously performative approach to survive inside a Trump cabinet that rewards self-promotion, ritualized public flattery and, above all, a willingness to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Over the last few days, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] signed off on Mr. Trump’s acceptance of a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane upgraded to serve as Air Force One donated by the Qatari royal family, which raised a host of ethical and legal questions. As a lobbyist, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] herself received six-figure consulting fees from Qatar.

But her approach represents a noticeable departure from that of her predecessors at the Justice Department who saw themselves, to varying degrees, as guardians of institutional independence, attentive but not beholden to the presidency.

https://archive.is/fr5Xq#selection-4629.132-4629.368

Leave a Reply