Tag Archives: Attorney General Pam Bondi

New York Times: As Trumps Monetize Presidency, Profits Outstrip Protests

Posted on by
Reply

The president and his family have monetized the White House more than any other occupant, normalizing activities that once would have provoked heavy blowback and official investigations.

When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures. Even though it had happened a dozen years before her husband became president, it became a scandal that lasted weeks and forced the White House to initiate a review.

Thirty-one years later, after dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Jeff Bezos agreed to finance a promotional film about Melania Trump that will reportedly put $28 million directly in her pocket — 280 times the Clinton lucre and in this case from a person with a vested interest in policies set by her husband’s government. Scandal? Furor? Washington moved on while barely taking notice.

The Trumps are hardly the first presidential family to profit from their time in power, but they have done more to monetize the presidency than anyone who has ever occupied the White House. The scale and the scope of the presidential mercantilism has been breathtaking. The Trump family and its business partners have collected $320 million in fees from a new cryptocurrency, brokered overseas real estate deals worth billions of dollars and are opening an exclusive club in Washington called the Executive Branch charging $500,000 apiece to join, all in the past few months alone.

Just last week, Qatar handed over a luxury jet meant for Mr. Trump’s use not just in his official capacity but also for his presidential library after he leaves office. Experts have valued the plane, formally donated to the Air Force, at $200 million, more than all of the foreign gifts bestowed on all previous American presidents combined.

And Mr. Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at his Virginia club for 220 investors in the $TRUMP cryptocurrency that he started days before taking office in January. Access was openly sold based on how much money they chipped in — not to a campaign account but to a business that benefits Mr. Trump personally.

trump-money-plane-crypto.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/us/politics/trump-money-plane-crypto.html

Associated Press: Organizations sue Justice Department to reverse hundreds of grant cancellations

Posted on by
Reply

Five organizations that had grants terminated by the Justice Department in April are suing the department and Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi, arguing that the cancellations are unconstitutional and asking that the money be reinstated.

The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday by the Vera Institute of Justice, the Center for Children & Youth Justice, Chinese for Affirmative Action, FORCE Detroit and Health Resources in Action, asks a federal judge in the nation’s capital to “declare unlawful, vacate and set aside” the cancellations that were sent to more than 360 awardees ending grants worth nearly $820 million midstream.

…

The lawsuit argues that the grant terminations did not allow due process to the organizations, lacked sufficient clarity, and that Henneberg’s office lacked “constitutional, statutory, and regulatory authority” to terminate the grants. The lawyers also argue that the move violated the constitutional separation of powers clause that gives Congress appropriation powers.

The lawsuit notes that all the grant recipients that had money rescinded received the same form letter announcing the cancellation, with identical words saying the grant programs no longer met the agency’s priorities.

Lawyers argue in the lawsuit that the new agency priorities noted in the form letter are not articulated in policy or law, and that federal regulations do not allow for cancellations when the agency’s priorities change “post-award.” They said the rule only allows for cancellations of grants that no longer meet the agency’s goals as stated when the grants were awarded.

Organizations sue Justice Department to reverse hundreds of grant cancellations
Five organizations that had grants terminated by the U.S. Justice Department in April are suing the department and Attorney General Pam Bondi, calling the cancellations unconstitutional and asking that the money be reinstated.

https://apnews.com/article/justice-grants-funding-cuts-law-enforcement-victims-4cbe3ed87ec2ad27ff5b6e5f0b317191

MSNBC: The giant Trump banner at the USDA is another sign the U.S. is sliding into autocracy

Posted on by
Reply

It may be small and petty, but these changes are part of the erosion of democratic norms, softening people up for potentially more authoritarian behavior.

Many strongmen also love to display giant photos of themselves wherever they can. If you ever go to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, you’ll be greeted with a portrait of Mao Zedong. Mao founded the People’s Republic of China, and he served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party for more than 30 years. His portrait is about 19½ feet tall and 15 feet wide, and it weighs about 3,000 pounds. It’s been hanging over the gate leading into the Forbidden City since 1949.

If you travel farther to the east, you’ll find something similar in North Korea. In the country’s capital of Pyongyang, there’s an area called Kim Il Sung Square, where you’ll find large portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the great leader and the dear leader, respectively, overlooking the plaza at all times as people go about their daily lives.

When Putin visited the country last year, North Koreans gave him a warm welcome by plastering his photo everywhere. They even temporarily put up a humongous portrait of Putin next to one of Kim Jong Un during a welcome ceremony.

Neither China nor North Korea invented this idea. They’ve taken their cues from Joseph Stalin, the former brutal ruler of the Soviet Union. He liked to have portraits of himself displayed in public and lofted by his supporters during parades.

That practice continues in many other countries where strongmen rule today. You see it in places like Egypt, where the face of its president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, is inescapable. His mug is on billboards and banners, plastered on buildings and hanging along the roadside. That’s especially true ahead of an election, and it’s no wonder he’s been able to easily win three terms in office. (Not to mention the fact that Egypt doesn’t exactly have free and fair elections in the first place.)

In Iran, you’ll find an abundance of murals, posters and portraits of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He’s often depicted with the country’s late leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Their images are displayed everywhere — at mosques, in malls and even on the sides of some buildings.

And now, something like that is happening in the United States, too. Last week, a giant banner with Donald Trump’s official portrait was displayed on the United States Department of Agriculture building in Washington, D.C., alongside a similar banner featuring Abraham Lincoln.

Hail, Donald! Long live the King!

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-usda-portrait-road-from-to-authoritarianism-rcna207709

MSNBC: Trump admin accepts jet from Qatar, ignoring legal restrictions and bipartisan pushback

Posted on by
Reply

Team Trump’s decision to accept the Qatari “gift” doesn’t end the controversy; it starts the controversy.

The Times’ report added that the Defense Department “has not given an estimate of when the work on the Qatari plane might be done, even though Mr. Trump and the White House have made clear the president wants it soon, perhaps even by the end of the year.”

What the president “wants” is likely to prove irrelevant: NBC News recently reported that converting the luxury jet will “take years to complete.”

Indeed, it’s worth emphasizing that the administration’s decision to accept the Qatari “gift” doesn’t end the controversy; it starts the controversy.

Now that this plan is moving forward, the president and his White House team should prepare for a series of questions for which there are no easy answers. Where will Trump find the money to pay for this “free” plane? Why does he keep pretending that this “gift” isn’t for him personally, even after he’s publicly suggested otherwise? How does Trump intend to overcome the seemingly obvious fact that the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause still exists, and it appears to prohibit exactly this kind of arrangement?

Why was Attorney General Pam Bondi involved in approving this process after having served as a paid registered lobbyist for Qatar? How does Trump plan to explain away his earlier condemnations of presidents accepting foreign gifts? Why is the president apparently indifferent to the fact that even many of his Republican allies have expressed opposition to this idea? Will Congress have any role in approving the transfer, as is required for such gestures of international generosity?

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-admin-accepts-jet-qatar-ignoring-legal-restrictions-bipartisan-p-rcna208306

New York Times: If We Can’t Prosecute Trump’s Foes, We’ll ‘Shame’ Them, Justice Dept. Official Says

Posted on by
Reply

Few, if any, of those singled out have done anything to invite conventional prosecutorial scrutiny, much less committed crimes to warrant an indictment under federal law.

President Trump has kept up a steady bombardment of suggestions, requests and demands to arrest, investigate or prosecute targets of his choosing — the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, various Democrats, officials who refuted his election lies, Beyoncé, the Boss.

But Mr. Trump’s directives have so far hit a stubborn snag. Few, if any, of those singled out have done anything to invite conventional prosecutorial scrutiny, much less committed prosecutable crimes to warrant an indictment under federal law.

But a Trump loyalist, given new, vague and possibly vast power, has found a workaround.

In recent days, Ed Martin, the incoming leader of the Justice Department’s “weaponization” group, made a candid if unsurprising admission: He plans to use his authority to expose and discredit those he believes to be guilty, even if he cannot find sufficient evidence to prosecute them — weaponizing an institution he has been hired to de-weaponize, in the view of critics.

In other words, if they can’t prosecute their target, they’ll engage in character assassination.

So much for a professional Department of Justice!

https://archive.is/SLN1j#selection-707.0-730.0

Talking Points Memo: Trump DOJ Admits It Used Bogus Info In Key Deportation Case

Posted on by
Reply

In an important federal case in Massachusetts over whether deportees can be sent to third countries rather than their countries of origin, the Trump administration admitted Friday to a grievous error and managed to compound it in the process.

It’s a bit complicated so let me boil it down to its essentials:

  • Background: A gay Guatemalan national who had a U.S. immigration judge order barring his removal to his home country because he feared continued persecution was instead deported to Mexico in February by the Trump administration, partly on the grounds that he had told ICE that he didn’t fear being sent to Mexico. That was odd because the man, identified only by the initials O.C.G., had previously testified that he had been targeted and raped in Mexico, his lawyers say.
  • Thursday: The Trump DOJ abruptly cancelled the scheduled deposition of an ICE official “whom Defendants previously identified as giving Plaintiff O.C.G. notice of deportation to Mexico and recording his response of lack of fear,” O.C.G.’s lawyers later told the court.
  • Friday: The Trump DOJ filed a “Notice of Errata” admitting that during the judge’s ordered discovery in the case it had been unable to “identify any officer who asked O.C.G. whether he had a fear of return to Mexico.” A key factual element of the Trump administration’s case had evaporated. But it got worse …
  • Sunday: Lawyers for the deportee – who is now in hiding in Guatemala because he fears persecution as a gay man – filed an emergency motion pointing out, among other things, that the government’s filing about its own error revealed the deportees name and other information, further jeopardizing his safety despite a court order anonymizing his identifying information.

Still with me? In the course of admitting its error, the Trump administration outed the gay man who it had wrongfully deported in the first place.

This is what happens when you staff up with a bunch of sycophantic suck-ups and bimbos instead of competent personnel!

Trump DOJ Admits It Used Bogus Info In Key Deportation Case
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/trump-doj-admits-it-used-bogus-info-in-key-deportation-case

NBC News: Justice Department to investigate Chicago after mayor’s remarks about hiring Black officials

Posted on by
Reply

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said she authorized the probe after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s comments about hiring prominent Black officials for his administration.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Monday that it was opening an investigation into the city of Chicago after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s comments Sunday highlighting prominent Black officials in his administration.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a letter to Johnson posted on X that she had “authorized an investigation” into whether Chicago is “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination” following Johnson’s remarks at a church Sunday.

The actual numbers:

According to the mayor’s office, white and Black employees are a majority of staff members, with 30.5% of employees identifying as white and 34.3% identifying as Black.

This is just more harassment for a Democratic mayor.

Justice Department to investigate Chicago after mayor’s remarks about hiring Black officials
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said she authorized the probe after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s comments about hiring prominent Black officials for his administration.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-justice-department-investigation-black-rcna207840

Raw Story: Trump DOJ plan would let it indict lawmakers who opposed him with no oversight

Posted on by
Reply

According to a bombshell report from the Washington Post, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi is considering a plan that would let federal prosecutors investigate and indict members of Congress unfettered by traditional oversight designed to stop political persecution.

Traditionally, before such an investigation could proceed, a prosecutor would have their case reviewed by the lawyers in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section. But that would go away under the new proposal.

The report notes that, should the proposal go into effect, “a long-standing provision in the Justice Department’s manual that outlines how investigations of elected officials should be conducted” would be shunted aside and allow possible prosecutions based purely on politics.

Trump DOJ plan would let it indict lawmakers who opposed him with no oversight

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-doj-political-prosecutions

Daily Beast: Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ’s Public Corruption Unit

Posted on by
Reply

The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly considering doing away with a critical Justice Department safeguard designed to prevent politically motivated prosecutions of elected officials, according to multiple officials familiar with a proposal circulated last week.

The change would remove the requirement of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), a Watergate-era department responsible for reviewing and approving prosecutions of public officials and signing off on federal prosecutors’ indictments of lawmakers. Instead, Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys would have the power to bring corruption charges without centralized oversight.

PIN also handles voting-related matters. In the case of a contested election, they would determine how the DOJ would intervene.

The damage has mostly been done already as the office effectively has been gutted:

Since Trump took office, PIN has already been hollowed out, as have other DOJ offices. The 30 prosecutors working in the office at the end of the Biden administration have been cut to fewer than five. Several have resigned, been reassigned, or were fired after clashing with Bondi and other Trump appointees.

Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ’s Public Corruption Unit
The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pam-bondi-toys-with-axing-dojs-public-corruption-unit

Daily Beast: Judge Arrested by Trump Administration Fights Back With Trump’s Own Immunity Case

Posted on by
Reply

A Milwaukee judge who was arrested for allegedly shielding an undocumented immigrant from ICE arrest has argued that she can’t be prosecuted based on the same case that granted President Donald Trump broad immunity for “official” acts.

The FBI arrested Hannah Dugan last month after she allegedly told agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they needed a warrant to arrest an undocumented immigrant who had appeared in her courtroom on a misdemeanor charge.

FBI Director Kash Patel accused Dugan in a social media post of “intentionally misdirecting federal agents away” from the man, a Mexican immigrant named Eduardo Flores Ruiz who was nevertheless arrested outside the courthouse.

Dugan was indicted on Tuesday for allegedly concealing a person from arrest and obstruction. A day later, her lawyers argued in a motion to dismiss the case that Dugan is “no ordinary criminal defendant.”

The motion argued that the problems with the prosecution were “legion,” including the fact that they allegedly violated the U.S. Constitution’s fundamental principle of federalism. But “most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” it said.

Judge Arrested by Trump Administration Fights Back With Trump’s Own Immunity Case
Judge Hannah Dugan’s lawyers argued that she cannot be prosecuted for her official conduct.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-arrested-by-trump-administration-fights-back-with-trumps-own-immunity-case