'Off-the-charts bad': Watchdog warns Bondi could enable widespread corruption if confirmed

07 December 2024

President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) will likely be a key vehicle of his promised retribution agenda. But a watchdog group is now warning that if Pam Bondi is confirmed as attorney general, it could also potentially open the floodgates to corruption and self-dealing.

Politico reported recently that Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi's DOJ could be one in which corporate special interests cash in on their access to the executive branch. Bondi — who has as of yet not resigned from her job as a top lobbyist for the firm Ballard Partners — has lobbied on behalf of some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies including Amazon, Uber, General Motors and Fidelity National Financial among others.

One particularly significant potential conflict of interest is Bondi's lobbying on behalf of GEO Group, which is one of the biggest private prison contractors in the United States. Politico reported that GEO Group is paid hundreds of millions of dollars in federal government contracts, and Trump is likely to lean on private prison operators if his mass deportations agenda comes to fruition.

If confirmed, Bondi would also oversee the DOJ's ongoing investigation into UnitedHealth Group, which would give her jurisdiction over one of her current lobbying clients (Ballard started lobbying on behalf of UnitedHealthcare Services, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, last summer). President Joe Biden's administration has been blocking UnitedHealth's attempted acquisition of hospice care company Amedisys. And before he was killed earlier this week in New York City, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was being investigated by the DOJ for alleged insider trading.

“It is essentially impossible to organize a Justice Department ethically in light of the breadth of Bondi’s connections,” Revolving Door Project founder Jeff Hauser told Politico. “I think it’s just going to be off-the-charts bad.”

Hauser added that even if Bondi resigned as a Ballard lobbyist, she would still be in a position to steer DOJ policy in favor of her former clients. She could, for example, deprioritize the DOJ's antitrust division's enforcement of anti-monopoly laws for corporate behemoths like Amazon. Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan has notably called for Amazon to be broken up due to its dominance across multiple industries.

“A pick like Pam Bondi does signify a return to more of a centrist approach to really all of business,” an unnamed tech lobbyist said of Bondi. “We’re cautiously optimistic and supportive of her nomination.”

Click here to read Politico's full report.

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