Pam Bondi
Pamela Jo Bondi is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 87th United States attorney general since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the 37th attorney general of Florida from 2011 to 2019.
Born and raised in the Tampa Bay area, Bondi graduated from the University of Florida and Stetson Law School. She served as an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County, Florida, from 1994 to 2009. In 2010, Bondi was elected attorney general of Florida, becoming the first woman to serve in the position. She was re-elected in 2014, becoming the first Republican to win a second term. She was term-limited in 2018, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Ashley Moody.
In 2020, Bondi was one of President Donald Trump's defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial. By 2024, she led the legal arm of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. On November 21, 2024, President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate Bondi for U.S. attorney general after former congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 54–46 vote on February 4, 2025, and sworn in the next day.
Early life and education
Bondi was born on November 17, 1965. Her hometown is Temple Terrace, Florida. Her father, Joseph Bondi, was a city council member and then mayor of Temple Terrace. She is a graduate of C. Leon King High School in Tampa. She is of Italian descent.Bondi received a BA in criminal justice from the University of Florida in 1987, and a JD from Stetson University College of Law in 1990. She was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority as an undergraduate student. Bondi was admitted to the Florida Bar on June 24, 1991.
Early career
Bondi was a prosecutor and spokeswoman in Hillsborough County, Florida, where she was an assistant state attorney. Bondi prosecuted former Major League Baseball player Dwight Gooden in 2006 for violating the terms of his probation and for substance abuse. In 2007, Bondi also prosecuted the defendants in Martin Anderson's death.Florida attorney general (2011–2019)
Elections
Bondi ran in the 2010 Florida attorney general election, facing off against former state representative Holly Benson and lieutenant governor Jeff Kottkamp in the Republican primary. In a competitive field, Bondi notably received the support of former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin. The Palm Beach Post credited her surge in support in the primary to her media-savviness, including regular appearances on Fox News and her public association with Sean Hannity.Polling conducted by Mason-Dixon in August 2010 found her leading both Benson and Kottkamp in the primary. She ultimately won the primary with 37.89% of the vote. In the general election, she faced Democratic nominee Dan Gelber, a former prosecutor who spent 10 years in the state legislature. She defeated Gelber to become the state's first female attorney general.
Bondi was re-elected in November 2014, receiving 55% of the vote. Her Democratic challenger George Sheldon, the former acting commissioner of the Administration for Children and Families, received 42%.
Tenure
Bondi was the lead attorney general in an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Florida et al v. United States Department of Health and Human Services. In the lawsuit the state of Florida and 26 other states argued that the individual mandate provision of the ACA violates the United States Constitution.In 2011, Bondi pressured two attorneys to resign who were investigating Lender Processing Services, a financial services company now known as Black Knight, following the robosigning scandal, as part of their work for Florida's Economic Crime Division.
In 2013, Bondi persuaded Governor Rick Scott to postpone a scheduled execution because it conflicted with a fundraising event. After questions were raised in the media, Bondi apologized for moving the execution date.
In 2013, Bondi expressed her opposition to medical marijuana.
In 2018, Bondi joined with 19 other Republican-led states in a lawsuit to overturn the ACA's bans on health insurance companies charging people with pre-existing conditions higher premiums or denying them coverage outright.
Bondi defended Amendment 2, a 2008 amendment to the Florida Constitution banning same-sex marriage, against legal challenges on behalf of the state. Bondi said that these actions did not reflect her opinions on same-sex marriage, but were out of respect for the constitution. Following the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting in June 2016, Bondi was interviewed by CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, who said that Bondi's expression of support for the LGBT community was at odds with her past record.
In August 2018, while still serving as Florida attorney general, Bondi co-hosted The Five on Fox News three days in a row while also appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. Fox News claimed that the Florida Commission on Ethics had approved Bondi's appearance on the program; however, the spokeswoman for the commission denied that, telling the Tampa Bay Times that no decision was made by the commission and that the commission's general counsel did not make a determination whether or not Bondi's appearance as a host violated the Florida Code of Ethics. The Tampa Bay Times described it as "unprecedented" for a sitting elected official to host a TV show.
Trump donation to Bondi PAC
In 2013, Bondi received scrutiny following a campaign donation from Donald Trump. Prior to the donation, Bondi had received at least 22 fraud complaints regarding Trump University. A spokesperson for Bondi announced that her office was considering joining a lawsuit initiated by Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, regarding potential tax fraud charges against Trump. Four days later, And Justice for All, a political action committee established by Bondi to support her, received a $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Bondi subsequently declined to join the lawsuit against Trump University. Both Bondi and Trump have defended the propriety of the donation.In 2016, after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service regarding the donation, the Trump Foundation stated that it had been made in error, intending for the donation to go to Bondi's unrelated Kansas non-profit Justice for All. In June 2016, as Bondi was facing renewed criticism over the issue, her spokesman said that Bondi had solicited the donation directly from Trump several weeks before her office announced it was considering joining the lawsuit. On March 14, 2016, Bondi endorsed Trump in the 2016 Florida Republican presidential primary, saying she had been friends with him for many years. In June 2016, a spokesperson for Governor Rick Scott stated that the state's ethics commission was looking into the matter.
In September 2016, the IRS determined that the donation to Bondi's PAC violated laws against political contributions from nonprofit organizations, and ordered Trump to pay a fine for the contribution. Trump was also required to reimburse the foundation for the sum that had been donated to Bondi. Neither Bondi nor her PAC were fined or criminally charged. In November 2019, Trump was ordered by a New York state court to close down the foundation and pay $2 million in damages for misusing it, including the illegal donation to Bondi.
Return to private life
Lobbying work
In 2019, after her final term as Florida attorney general, Bondi was hired by Ballard Partners and she began working as a registered foreign agent and lobbyist for Qatar. Her work with Qatar was related to anti-human-trafficking efforts in advance of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. She left the Qatari project in 2019 to work in a temporary position for the White House Counsel for President Trump's first impeachment proceedings.As a partner at Ballard Partners, she also became a lobbyist for KGL KSCC, a company incorporated in Kuwait. Bondi was lobbying for the Kuwaiti company to help with a case of claimed extortion. During her time at Ballard Partners, Bondi lobbied for for-profit prison operator GEO Group, Amazon, Uber, General Motors, the Florida Sheriffs Association and others.
Trump's first impeachment proceedings
In November 2019, she was hired by the first Trump administration to help the White House during Trump's first impeachment proceedings. Her position was described the following month as being to "attack the process" of the impeachment inquiry. On January 17, 2020, Bondi was named as part of Trump's defense team for the Senate impeachment trial.During the course of the impeachment trial, Bondi made allegations that former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter were involved in corruption in Ukraine, stemming from the younger Biden's position on the board of Burisma Holdings. It was also revealed that Lev Parnas, a businessman with close ties to Rudy Giuliani and Ukraine, had several meetings with Bondi in 2018 while she was the Florida attorney general, and after she left office in 2019.
2020 presidential election
Bondi spoke in support of Trump at the 2020 Republican National Convention. Bondi became a vocal supporter of Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat. While ballots were being counted in the 2020 United States presidential election, Bondi supported Trump's false claim that there was large-scale voter fraud in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.In an appearance on Fox News on November 5, 2020, host Steve Doocy challenged Bondi to provide evidence for her claims of fraud. She said "We know that ballots have been dumped." Bondi later claimed that Trump had won Pennsylvania, despite votes there still being counted, with his opponent Joe Biden ultimately winning the state.