Today in Politics, Bulletin 99. 3/27/25

Ron Filipkowski Mar 27 ∙

… Trump pulled the nomination of Elise Stefanik for US Ambassador to the UN. The recent special election results and poll numbers caused Trump and Mike Johnson to hit the panic button, leaving the hyper-ambitious Stefanik trudging back to the House with her former leadership position occupied by someone else.

… Trump posted a statement loaded with his usual propaganda. This is the only part of it that matters: “I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat. The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day. There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations.”

… CBS: “The Trump administration has grown concerned about the narrow margins in the House and what it means for Trump's legislative agenda.”

… House Majority Leader Steve Scalise to CBS - "Look, our numbers are tight. After the Florida elections hopefully we pick up two more seats. You know, it's always going to be a tight majority."

… Sen. Lisa Murkowski to CNN: “They just realized that now?”

… Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to Politico: “They seem to be panicking about the two special elections in Florida. Why are Republicans panicking in deep red districts?"

… Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) to MeidasTouch: “Elise Stefanik was a classic Bob Dole Republican when she got here, then did what she needed to do to become a MAGA darling. And now, just as high office is within reach, the Shakespearean gods have pulled the rug out from under her. So, call it karma, Shakespearean, whatever you want.”

… One thing that has Trump and Johnson rattled is the polling of Democrat Joshua Weil against Trump-endorsed Randy Fine in the special election this Tuesday in FL to fill the vacant seat of Mike Waltz. Trump won the district by 30 points, so it was expected to be a cakewalk for Fine. But polls are tight because Desantis hates Fine and refuses to help him, Fine is a toxic obnoxious ass who has been embroiled in one controversy after another, and Weil is a great candidate who out-fundraised him 9-1.

… NBC’s Melanie Zanona: “In his convos with people today, Trump expressed frustration with Waltz. The frustration is two-fold: Trump is not only angry about group chat-gate, but ALSO annoyed that the race to replace Waltz in FL is now tighter than it should be. Rs confident they'll win, but Trump still doesn't like the optics/narrative. It all has Trump spooked about the prospect of yet another special election for Stefanik's seat. BOTTOM LINE: Trump realizing how much of a headache it was to pull people from House for his admin - exactly as he was warned.”

… Weil is a public-school teacher, who says that his campaign “is about fighting back against the threats against Social Security, health care and public schools.”

… Weil to MeidasTouch: “When DeSantis was running for president, Randy Fine was the first Republican to jump off and support Trump instead, and they’ve had this furious relationship ever since. He’s been the most outspoken critic of DeSantis, calling him ‘Ronda Rhino,’ and a lot of Republicans here actually like DeSantis, so they don’t take that kindly. There are two types of people here in District 6—those who don’t like Randy Fine and those who haven’t heard of him.”

… Although Republicans are still confident that Fine will win, they are looking at this tight race and the recent Dem flip of an R+15 state senate seat in PA, and were very worried about losing Elise Stefanik’s open seat in an R+9 district in NY.

… The other critical race next week is the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which will decide the balance of power on the court. Trump and Musk have gone all in for the Republican candidate. Musk’s PAC has now spent $19 million, and is also buying votes again. He is paying people $100 each in WI to sign his “petition”, and is also awarding $1 million prizes: “Exciting to announce our first million dollar award for supporting our petition against activist judges in WI! Next million dollar award will be announced in 2 days.”

… Most of the original itinerary for Usha Vance’s trip to Greenland has been cancelled when Greenlanders made it very clear to the White House that she could show up but was not going to be welcomed. The Vances (JD is now going to own the libs) will now only visit the US Space Force Base in northern Greenland. Usha’s trip to a dogsled race and other attractions has been cancelled.

… Greenland MP Rasmus Jarlov: “American organizers went knocking on doors in the capital of Greenland to try to find a family that would invite Usha Vance in when they arrived. It failed. Everybody said no. Instead, a large demonstration against the American threats of taking over Greenland were planned. Realizing it would be public relations disaster, the Americans finally cancelled the visit.”

… Jarlov says enough is enough: “Please let it go. The people of Greenland do not want to be Americans and they can not be bought, bribed or persuaded. They have done nothing to deserve this aggression. Neither has Denmark. International borders must be respected.”

… Danish Defense Minister: "We will not tolerate the US thinking that it can decide how the Danish Kingdom, including Greenland, should look in the future."

… AP reported that 4 US soldiers are believed to have died in a training accident in Lithuania. The US Army found the Hercules armored vehicle the four soldiers were in during a training exercise in a submerged muddy swamp.

… Trump was asked about the incident in the Oval Office 8 hours after it was first reported. He said he didn’t know anything about it.

… Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA): “He fired thousands of veterans across the govt. His team carelessly shares info that puts our pilots at risk. He doesn’t care to know about missing American soldiers? What more proof do we need that this man doesn’t give a damn about the heroes who protect us?”

… Trump was fuming that Judge Boasberg was assigned to hear the lawsuit filed on the Signal case: “How disgraceful is it that ‘Judge’ James Boasberg has just been given a 4th ‘Trump Case,’ something which is, statistically, IMPOSSIBLE. There is no way for a Republican, especially a TRUMP REPUBLICAN, to win before him. He is Highly Conflicted in his hatred of me - Massive Trump Derangement Syndrome! Boasberg, who is the Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court, seems to be grabbing the ‘Trump Cases’ all to himself, even though it is not supposed to happen that way. There must be an immediate investigation of this Rigged System, before it is too late!”

… At a House Intel Committee hearing, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) asked Tulsi Gabbard why she lied under oath the day before in front of the Senate when she claimed that specific targets or weapons were not mentioned on the chat: “My answer yesterday was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof, on the details that were posted there.”

… Himes: “So it’s your testimony that less than two weeks ago you were on this chat that had all this info about F-18s, and Reapers, and targets on strike, and you in that two week period forgot that?”

… Sen. Mark Warner: “What makes it particularly galling is when the director of national intelligence self-righteously tweets 12 days ago, ‘Anybody leaks, we're going to pursue them to the full extent of the law.’ Well, does that apply to the leadership?”

… Politico reported what I have been saying since this first broke - that Trump would be more upset about Waltz having Jeffrey Goldberg in his phone contacts than any national security breach. They cite 4 sources: “Trump was mad - and suspicious - that Waltz had Goldberg’s number saved in his phone in the first place.” One source: “The president was pissed that Waltz could be so stupid.”

… Fox will not put their Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin on the air since the Signal scandal broke. The reason is because she is one of their few honest reporters. Griffin: “There is a debate about whether the operational details Hegseth shared in the Signal Group Chat were ‘classified’ or not. So I surveyed a range of current and former US defense officials who agreed ‘war plans’ is not the right term but what was shared may have been FAR MORE sensitive given the operational details and time stamps ahead of the operation, which could have placed US military pilots in harms way.”

… “What Hegseth shared 2 hours ahead of the strikes were time sensitive ‘attack orders’ or ‘operational plans’ with actual timing of the strikes and mention of F18s, MQ9 Reapers and Tomahawks. This info is typically sent through classified channels to the commanders in the field as ‘secret, no forn’ message. In other words the information is ‘classified’ and should not be shared through insecure channels.

… “‘Attack orders’ or ‘attack sequence’ puts the joint force directly and immediately at risk, according to former senior defense official. ‘It allows the enemy to move the target and increase lethal actions against US forces.’ This kind of real time operational info is more sensitive than ‘war plans,’ which makes this lapse more egregious, according to two former senior US defense officials. ‘This information was clearly classified’.”

I took a deeper dive into the political fallout for each of the players involved in the Signal scandal on Uncovered yesterday, and we also talked about Usha Vance’s failed trip to Greenland, Trump’s Executive Order on voter suppression, and lots more. If you weren’t one of the 290K+ people who watched it yesterday, you can check it out here.

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… Former Dem nominee for US Senate in KY Amy McGrath: “Old F-18 fighter pilot here with 80+ combat missions - launch times on a strike mission ARE ABSOLUTELY CLASSIFIED.”

… Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) on Heseth: “He’s a fucking liar. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately.”

… Sec of State Marco Rubio returned to the US and was asked by a reporter when he got off the plane if the info on the chat classified. He immediately distanced himself from Hegseth: “Well, the Pentagon says it was not.”

… Rubio also took a little shot at Waltz: “Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake.”

… Trump was asked if he still believes that nothing classified was shared: “Well, that's what I've heard. I don't know. I think it's all a witch hunt, that's all. I think it's a witch hunt."

… WSJ reported that Israel is upset about the scandal because they provided "sensitive intelligence from a human source" about a Houthi operative targeted in the strike. "Israeli officials complained privately to U.S. officials that Waltz’s texts became public."

… Conservative National Review senior writer Noah Rothman: “I've tried not to catastrophize this story, but this is a disaster. We've burned Israeli intel AND given Iran/Houthis details that help them roll up sources on the ground in Yemen. Why would our allies share intel if it's going to be exposed? No exaggeration to say this leak will make us and our allies less safe. The burden of proof is now on the folks saying there's nothing to see here.”

… JD Vance and Don Jr are fuming about 7 Republican senators who told Jewish Insider that they were disgusted with Vance’s comments on the Signal chat where he said he was against the strike on the Houthis because he didn’t want to do anything that would help Europe. Vance: “7 anonymous quotes from cowardly Republicans.”

… Junior issued a written statement: “These 7 cowardly neocons attacking JD anonymously are genuine pussies. If they really feel this way, then they should at least be man enough to put their names in these quotes. The fact that they are too cowardly to do that is why I’m so happy these RINOs are a dying breed in our party - whether they realize it or not.”

… Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “I am appalled by the egregious security breach from top admin officials. Their disregard for stringent safeguards and secure channels could have compromised a high-stakes operation and put our service members at risk. I hope this serves as a wake-up call that operational security must be a top priority for everyone—especially our leaders.”

… Both Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) with the Senate Armed Services Committee asked for specific details from DOD on the facts and circumstances behind Signal chat, with heavy emphasis in their specific requests on classification issue.

… Axios reported that 16 Senate Dems led by Jacky Rosen are proposing a huge bipartisan probe of the Signal group chat breach. They are asking that the Intel, Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees hold joint or separate hearings. They also want everyone on the chat - including Vance, to testify under oath.

… Fox host Jesse Watters: “No one outside of DC and in the news business really cares about this story. There is no video, there is no sex, there is no fraud. No one even knows what a Houthi is.”

… Trump lawyer Alina Habba on Fox: “You want to talk to me about what's happening with the Signal nonsense? It's a hoax and a distraction.”

… CNN reported that several DOD officials told them that Hegseth seems more preoccupied with appearances than with substance—wanting to appear more “lethal” than his predecessor through a variety of photo ops, events, and stunts to make him look and sound like a true “warfighter.”

… Der Spiegel reported that the private contact details of the most important national security advisers to Trump were easily accessible to anyone on the internet, making it easier for foreign operatives to hack their personal devices being used for govt business. Der Speigel reporters found their mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords.

… Trump continues to escalate his trade war rhetoric: “LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA IS COMING, SOON. FOR YEARS WE HAVE BEEN RIPPED OFF BY VIRTUALLY EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, BOTH FRIEND AND FOE. BUT THOSE DAYS ARE OVER — AMERICA FIRST!!!”

… “If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!”

… Canada PM Mark Carney: “I’ve convened the Cabinet Committee on Canada-U.S. Relations this morning in response to President Trump’s attack on our workers and our industries. We will get through this crisis — and we will build a stronger, more resilient economy.”

… Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) realizes that maybe giving Trump a blank check on tariffs was a bad move: "We made a mistake. We passed legislation that gave the president some temporary tariff authorities. I think we should look back and maybe restore the power back from Congress and take away the authorizations."

…. Flight bookings from Canada to US are down an astonishing 72% for summer season bookings from last year. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA): “This is insane. We are treating our Canadian neighbors like absolute shit. And every town these tourists would have visited will suffer.”

… Trump announced that he will impose massive 25% tariffs on “all cars that are not made in the US.” He said they will take effect next Tuesday and “we start collecting April 3.” These tariffs are in addition to all the other tariffs previously announced.

… Trump was asked if the auto tariffs are going to be temporary or for the whole rest of his term: “Oh, this is permanent. Yeah. 100%.”

… Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA): “I got people in my district that have built automobile dealerships based on current law, not something that changed on a dime."

… Trump called for NPR and PBS to be defunded: “NPR and PBS, two horrible and completely biased platforms (Networks!), should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY. Republicans, don’t miss this opportunity to rid our Country of this giant SCAM, both being arms of the Radical Left Democrat Party. JUST SAY NO AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

… Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) agrees with Trump on NPR/PBS: “They literally hate this country. They hate everything it's about. They hate our patriotism. They hate our Lord."

… Trump had another wonderful announcement: “We’re opening up our coal mines again. Coal can give you tremendous power at the same time it can be very clean. We don't like the windmills because we think it ruins the landscapes, the plains, ruins them.”

… RFK Jr. announced another 10,000 jobs will be eliminated at HHS, reducing the total workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 since 10,000 were previously terminated. HHS is also closing 5 of its 10 regional offices.

… NBC reported that Republican lawmakers in Congress are upset that DOGE is making radical changes to the Social Security Admin without even notifying them in advance or involving them in the process. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) was asked if senators were told about any of the changes which have upset constituents: “No, we haven’t. I haven’t had any heads-up on any specific announcements. I’d like to know about it.”

… Miami Herald reported that Ron Desantis is backing a new law in FL to eliminate most child labor laws to free up new workers to replace deported migrants. The new law would allow 16-17 year olds to work between 11PM-6:30AM, and for 14-15 year olds who attend home or virtual school. Teens will also be allowed to work more than 30 hours a week during the school year.

… DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had her latest photo op during her world adventures. She dropped in to film a video at the prison in El Salvador where the US has contracted with their govt to imprison deported migrants: “I want to let everyone know, if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you face. This facility is one of the tools in our tool kit we will use.”

… Noem made sure to get her $60K Rolex in the camera shot.

… Fox & Friends report on the prison: "It's known for its awful conditions. They spend 23½ hours in those cells. Each cell has 70 people. They eat, bathe and use the bathroom in front of each other. The bunks are four levels high. The bunks have no sheets, no mattresses and no pillows."

… Deportation Czar Tom Homan: "We got a lot of tools in the toolbox. The El Salvador prison is one, we got GITMO, we got other countries. So, for those countries who push back - we'll send them to another country. I wake up every day like a kid in a candy shop getting ready to go to work."

… AOC was asked by Fox if Democrats in Congress are responsible for acts of vandalism to Tesla because they have been saying mean things about Musk: “I don't know, I think about Republicans calling me a communist and Republicans saying that I hate this country.”

… Kari Lake has backed down (for now) and withdrawn the cancelation of Radio Free Europe’s grant, which also resulted in a pending lawsuit being dismissed. So RFE will continue on at least for a while longer thanks to the courts.

… The Senate voted 52-48 to roll back a CFPB rule that limited bank overdraft fees. Josh Hawley was only Republican to vote with Dems. To Semafor: “Why would we help the big banks at the expense of working people? I just don't understand it.”

… Ukraine has received an odious 58-page document from the Trump Admin which outlines things that the US wants from Ukraine as part of any peace deal and aid. The US says in the proposal that these things are owed to us in exchange for the aid we have provided since 2022.

… Under the agreement, Ukraine would have to give up rights to all their oil and gas - both new and existing deposits - for an indefinite period of time to the US. The agreement is permanent and can never be changed without US approval.

… Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent for WSJ: “The latest US proposal essentially turns Ukraine from a sovereign country to the property of a Delaware corporation, which would have monopoly rights over its natural resources and all infrastructure, and the power to inspect all its government offices, until the end of time. Inspired by King Leopold’s Congo. Obviously there is zero chance Ukraine will accept this.”

… Zelensky to Le Figaro: "Trump tried to create good diplomatic relations with Russia, but that kind of method doesn't work with a man like Putin. If Trump eases sanctions against Russia, Putin will only conclude one thing: that he is a weak president and can therefore move on to the next stage. Putin lives without pressure 24 hours a day. There is no opposition in Russia."

… Zelensky: "Witkoff's statements hinder us a lot. We are fighting Putin and we do not want him to have more assistance. It is difficult for us. We are already fighting a country that is larger in territory but smaller in dignity. We want the Americans to be on our side. Even if the US has chosen the tactic of being in the middle today, it should be in the middle, not closer to the Kremlin.”

… Estonia PM Kristen Michal: “My message is this: there is only one plan. Ukraine’s plan. Russia should have no say in Ukraine’s defense and security guarantees. Ukraine wants peace – and proves it. Russia delays and demands. Europe will do its share and remain determined to build lasting peace.”

… Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) tells his MAGA friends why they should not be on the side of Putin: “Putin has run Russia into the ground with one of the highest abortion rates in the world, lowest church attendance, highest domestic violence, highest divorce rate, and highest alcohol use. This is not a model to emulate!”

… An investigative panel of the House Ethics has issued a formal referral to the full committee on violations by Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL): “Rep. Mills may have entered into, enjoyed, or held contracts with federal agencies. If Rep. Mills entered into, enjoyed, or held contracts with federal agencies while he was a Member of Congress, then he may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.”

… Fox reporter Aishah Hasnie asked Rep. Hakeem Jeffries why Democrats have been cursing so much lately what’s up with Dems cursing so much lately in their speeches and social media posts: “Voters are angry all across the country for good reason. Democratic members across the country are channeling those feelings in a variety of different ways.”

 

Florida's Former Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on February 23, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland. 

(Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

The Transactional World of Pam Bondi

During her eight years as Florida attorney general, the cop was apparently off the beat when Bondi succumbed to the enticements of corporate lobbyists.

When Pam Bondi, president-elect Donald Trump’s new pick for U.S. attorney general, was the state attorney general of Florida, she was one of the best money can buy.

Despite the fact that a state attorney general’s job is to represent the public interest—not private, special interests—Bondi routinely took the side of corporate fraudsters and polluters during her two-term tenure that ran from 2011 to 2019, coincidentally after receiving political donations, free trips, and other generous perks from interested parties.

Instead of protecting the people of Florida, she failed to prosecute corporate fraud and defended the fossil fuel industry at the expense of public health and the environment.

A prime example of one of these alleged quid pro quos came up in the news coverage following Trump’s announcement that he had selected Bondi to replace his first choice, Matt Gaetz, to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer. In 2013, Bondi abandoned the idea of joining the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case against Trump University after a Trump family foundation donated $25,000 to a pro-Bondi political action committee.

The Senate should take a closer look at the circumstances surrounding that incident when considering her appointment. But it also should keep in mind that it was not a one-off. It was emblematic of a pattern of behavior.

Wining and Dining

In the fall of 2014, The New York Times published a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles by Eric Lipton examining the upsurge in corporate lobbying of state attorneys general. The first installment, “Lobbyists, Bearing Gifts, Pursue Attorneys General,” featured Bondi front and center. At the time, she was chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), an organization founded in 1999 with the primary purpose of electing Republican attorneys general.

Lipton found that state attorneys general had become “the object of aggressive pursuit by lobbyists and lawyers who use campaign contributions, personal appeals at lavish corporate-sponsored conferences, and other means to push them to drop investigations, change policies, negotiate favorable settlements, or pressure federal regulators.” He even discovered cases where attorneys general used legal briefs drafted by private lawyers nearly verbatim and relied on them to provide much of the research as well as the cost of litigation in exchange for a percentage of any settlement.

Although state laws generally require corporate lobbyists to register if they are trying to influence legislation, there are no explicit rules when it comes to lobbying attorneys general.

That “aggressive pursuit” Lipton described goes both ways. According to emails and documents obtained by the nonpartisan Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), Republican attorneys general offer lobbyists and lawyers private, confidential meetings in exchange for contributions to RAGA, which—as a 527 political organization—can raise unlimited amounts of cash from individuals and corporations. Another RAGA document, obtained by the nonprofit watchdog group Documented, detailed the degree of access funders get at RAGA conferences, retreats, and summits depending on how much they spend on their annual RAGA membership fee, which in 2019 ranged from $15,000 to $250,000.

This explosion of lobbying and dealmaking, Lipton pointed out, has taken place largely behind closed doors, because “unlike the lobbying rules covering other elected officials, there are few revolving-door restrictions or disclosure requirements governing state attorneys general.” Although state laws generally require corporate lobbyists to register if they are trying to influence legislation, there are no explicit rules when it comes to lobbying attorneys general.

Bondi Cashes In

Bondi first appears in the Times story when she was at a RAGA retreat at an exclusive California resort where rooms cost as much as $4,500 a night. She was joined by other RAGA members as well as representatives from lobbying firms, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and such Fortune 500 companies as Altria, Comcast, and Pfizer.

RAGA members’ airfare, meals, and hotel bills for such events are generally paid by the corporate sponsors or state taxpayers. Corporate donors, Lipton found, had provided Bondi nearly $25,000 worth of airfare, hotels, and meals for RAGA-sponsored events during the previous two years. Florida taxpayers, meanwhile, had covered nearly $14,000 in Bondi’s expenses since she took office in 2011 to go to meetings hosted by the nonpartisan National Association of Attorneys General and the Conference of Western Attorneys General, where corporate lobbyists were also in attendance. In a statement, Bondi told the Times that the financial support she had received for these events, either directly or through RAGA, did not have any influence on her decisions as attorney general.

The Times story went on to cite several examples when Bondi, after lobbying by the Dickstein Shapiro law firm, declined to investigate its corporate clients’ unethical practices that other state attorneys general deemed illegal. The firm’s clients included Accretive Health, whose bill collecting operations had been shut down by Minnesota’s attorney general for abusive practices; Bridgepoint Education, a for-profit online school whose sales pitches, according to Iowa’s attorney general, were “unconscionable”; and Herbalife, the maker of nutritional drinks and other products, which settled with the Federal Trade Commission in 2016 to pay $200 million back to people who the company conned with misleading moneymaking claims.

Besides mingling with Bondi at RAGA conferences and treating her to expensive dinners, Dickstein Shapiro lawyers helped place a cover story on Bondi in InsideCounsel, a magazine for corporate lawyers, and sponsored a fundraising event in 2014 for Bondi at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

When contacted by the Times about her reluctance to pursue the cases involving Dickstein Shapiro clients, Bondi said in a statement that her encounters with the firm’s representatives had no impact on her decisions and insisted that her office “aggressively protects Floridians from unfair and deceptive business practices.”

Killing the Clean Power Plan

The second installment in Lipton’s Times series, “Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General,” was based on thousands of pages of correspondence between energy industry executives and Republican attorneys general trying to block Obama administration proposals to address the climate crisis. In 2014 alone, Lipton found, the fossil fuel industry donated some $16 million to at least a dozen Republican attorney general candidates.

Apparently it was money well spent. As CMD reported, less than two weeks after representatives from fossil fuel companies, electric utilities, and their trade groups attended a RAGA conference in August 2015, Bondi and more than 20 other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to kill the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which would have established the first-ever limits on U.S. power plant carbon emissions. Among the conference’s attendees were lobbyists from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry trade group now called America’s Power, which gave RAGA $378,250 between 2015 and 2016; Charles Koch’s Koch Industries, which donated $350,000; coal giant Murray Energy, which contributed $250,000; and Southern Company, which gave RAGA $85,000, according to materials reviewed by CMD.

Bondi also benefited directly from corporate lobby firm and fossil fuel industry largess. In the run up to her fall 2010 victory through her two four-year terms as Florida’s attorney general, her campaigns raised nearly $397,000 from lawyers and lobbyists (who lobbied on a range of issues) and more than $46,000 from the energy sector, including electric utilities and such oil and gas companies as Chevron and Koch Industries, according election finance data compiled by Follow the Money. Forty percent of the nearly $6 million Bondi’s campaigns raised came from the Florida Republican Party, which in 2015—when Bondi and her colleagues challenged the Clean Power Plan and the last year she served as RAGA chair—received $775,000 from lawyers and lobbyists and more than $800,000 from the energy sector.

If Bondi were really serious about protecting her constituents, however, she would have joined the District of Columbia and the 15 states that backed the Obama administration and were ready to begin complying with Clean Power Plan rules.

In an October 2015 opinion column in The Florida Times-Union, Bondi maintained that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had no legal authority to impose the Clean Power Plan and that it would have resulted in higher electricity bills across the country. Four months later, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a controversial 5 to 4 ruling, blocked the plan (and Trump EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general, repealed it in 2017), but Bondi’s assertion that replacing fossil fuel-powered electricity with renewables would lead to higher bills has been proven wrong.

According to a July 2024 analysis by Energy Innovation Policy & Technology, a nonpartisan think tank, “Since 2010, residential electricity rates have not increased faster than inflation, while electricity bills have declined in inflation-adjusted terms. Many of the states with the largest increases in wind and solar generation since 2010—including Iowa, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma—have seen rates rise slower than inflation.” Energy Innovation found that the key drivers of rising electricity rates have been the cost of fossil fuels, combatting wildfires, and transmitting and distributing power.

Climate Crisis? What Crisis?

Bondi justified challenging the Clean Power Plan as a bipartisan effort, although only a couple of the 27 state attorneys general who signed onto the lawsuit were Democrats. She also insisted she was just protecting her constituents.

“Let me tell you who we are looking out for: We are looking out for consumers,” Bondi told reporters. “And we will continue to look out for our consumers and our businesses, especially when this affects their finances. That’s what this is about.”

If Bondi were really serious about protecting her constituents, however, she would have joined the District of Columbia and the 15 states that backed the Obama administration and were ready to begin complying with Clean Power Plan rules. After all, Florida is the most vulnerable state to climate change.

How bad will it likely get? Florida is currently the second hottest state, and the South Florida is projected to experience the biggest increase in the number of hottest days across the country. Palm Beach County, for example, projects that by 2040, it will suffer 35 to 49 days with temperatures over 95°F annually. By 2070, that number could be between 81 and 112 days, according to the county’s estimates.

At the same time, routine flooding is already a major problem, and by the end of the century, some 1 million Florida homes will be at risk. That’s largely because the state sits on porous limestone and the sea level around the state, which has gone up 8 inches since 1950, could rise another 14 to 16 inches by 2050, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Meanwhile, the state has been hit by 52 billion-dollar extreme weather disasters since 2010. About 40% were caused by hurricanes, which have been turbocharged by rising levels of carbon emissions. One of the most recent, Hurricane Ian, slammed into the state’s Gulf Coast in September 2022, causing more than $112 billion in damages. It was the costliest hurricane in Florida’s history and the third-costliest in U.S. history, according to a 2022 NOAA report. This year, three hurricanes made landfall, two of them less than two weeks apart.

Regardless, Pam Bondi doesn’t like to “philosophize” about climate change. In October 2015, when she announced Florida was joining other states in suing the Obama administration over the Clean Power Plan, a Politico reporter asked her if climate change was “man-made.” Bondi replied: “I’m not going to get into a philosophical discussion with you about climate change.”

She then pivoted to defend the lawsuit, saying that the plan would be costly for Florida’s consumers and businesses. The reporter pressed her again, asking her about her take on climate change and “whether it was an issue of science rather than philosophy.” Bondi refused to take the bait. “I’m not going to get in a discussion about climate change right now,” she replied.

Florida Rolled Back Environmental Safeguards

Bondi’s opposition to the Clean Power Plan and other Obama-era EPA air pollution proposals, including a new rule for power plant startups and shutdowns, was also legalistic. Although the Clean Air Act grants the federal government the authority to set pollution standards, she maintained it is the states’ responsibility to implement them. “States play an important role in protecting air and water,” Bondi wrote in her October 2015 Florida Times-Union column, “and state attorneys general in particular have long been the last line of defense to protect states against gross federal overreach.”

States do have an important role in protecting the environment, but according to a September 2014 Tampa Bay Times editorial, the record of Rick Scott, the governor when Bondi was attorney general, was “an environmental disaster,” and the paper was only referencing his first four years in office. His second term, according to many accounts, was just as bad.

“Scott has bulldozed a record of environmental protection that his Republican and Democratic predecessors spent decades building,” the Tampa Bay Times editorial noted. “He weakened the enforcement of environmental laws and cut support for clean water, conservation, and other programs. He simultaneously made it easier for the biggest polluters and private industries to degrade the state’s natural resources. While the first-term Republican attempts to transform himself into an environmentalist during his reelection campaign, his record reflects a callous disregard for the state’s natural resources and no understanding of how deeply Floridians care about their state’s beauty and treasures.”

There are too many examples of Scott trashing Florida’s environmental safeguards to list here, but there are a few that are notable for their outrageousness.

• Shortly after Scott—a hard core climate science denier—took office in 2011, Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials issued a directive barring thousands of employees from using the terms “climate change,” “global warming,” and “sustainability.”

• Scott later denied he banned the terms, but he closed down the Florida Energy and Climate Commission, which was established by his predecessor Charlie Crist to implement policies reducing carbon emissions and preparing for climate change-related impacts.

• When asked by a reporter in 2014 if he thinks man-made climate change is real and significant, Scott famously replied with the standard Republican mantra: “I am not a scientist.”

• Scott also killed funding for Florida Forever, the state’s landmark conservation program that Gov. Jeb Bush created in 2001. The program was reauthorized in 2008, but in 2011, Scott called for eliminating it, and it was completely defunded in 2016.

• A year later, he approved Florida House Bill 989—the so-called “anti-science law”—which enables legal challenges to teaching the realities of climate change in state classrooms.

More recently, after Hurricane Helene blew through Florida in September, Scott—who has been representing Florida in the U.S. Senate since 2019—acknowledged that the climate is “clearly changing.”

However, when asked by a CNN anchor if Helene was part of a trend in which storms “are simply bigger than they once were, perhaps because of climate change,” he replied: “Who knows what the reason is, but something is changing. Massive storms. Massive storm surge. So we’ve got to figure this out.”

Bondi Failed to Do Her Job

According to the nonpartisan National Association of Attorneys General, a state attorney general’s duty is to represent the public interest by, among other things, protecting consumers from fraud, regulating utilities, enforcing environmental laws, and instituting civil suits.

Bondi did the exact opposite: Instead of protecting the people of Florida, she failed to prosecute corporate fraud and defended the fossil fuel industry at the expense of public health and the environment.

As attorney general, Bondi oversaw her office’s Consumer Protection Division, which is charged with protecting “consumers by pursuing individuals and entities that engage in unfair methods of competition or unconscionable, deceptive, or unfair practices in trade of commerce.” During her eight years as attorney general, the cop was apparently off the beat when Bondi succumbed to the enticements of corporate lobbyists.

Florida has already sustained billions of dollars in climate change-related damage. Regardless, Bondi routinely joined—and spearheaded—lawsuits and other actions to block federal environmental safeguards, especially those designed to mitigate the impact of global warming. Why? At least partly—if not largely—because the organization she chaired, the Republican Attorneys General Association, received massive financial support from fossil fuel companies, electric utilities, and their respective trade groups.

As a state’s top legal officer, attorneys general are supposed to function as the “people’s lawyer,” representing the interests of state residents. All swear to faithfully discharge their duties. By failing to prosecute corporate fraud and putting the interests of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the health and safety of her own constituents, did Pam Bondi violate her oath of office?

COMMON DREAMS