Pam Bondi Is Latest Trump Personal Attorney To Join His ...

7 hours ago

Forbes

Topline

President-elect Donald Trump nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be his attorney general on Thursday, after Bondi previously represented him at his impeachment trial—marking the latest in a string of Trump’s personal attorneys who have been rewarded with government roles since his election.

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on ... [+] Feb. 27, 2022, in Orlando, Fla.

Pam Bondi: While best known for her former role as Florida’s attorney general, Bondi served on Trump’s legal team for his first impeachment in 2019, when Trump faced allegations of asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in exchange for military aid, and Politico reports she also worked with Rudy Giuliani after the 2020 election to try and challenge Pennsylvania’s election results.

Bondi served as Florida’s top law enforcement official from 2011 to 2019, after previously serving as a local prosecutor in the state’s Hillsborough County, and has more recently worked as a lobbyist and led legal efforts for America First Policy Institute, a right-wing nonprofit that’s reportedly crafting policy plans for Trump’s second term.

Will Scharf: Trump named Scharf to serve as his White House staff secretary—who handles the inflow of reports and briefings that go to Trump—after previously representing him in court as part of Trump’s federal criminal case to overturn the 2020 election and related court battle over whether Trump is immune from criminal charges.

Scharf is an attorney and former assistant U.S. attorney at the Justice Department who previously ran for Missouri’s attorney general, but ultimately lost in the primary election.

Doug Collins: Trump tapped Collins, a former congressman, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, after Collins previously served as part of the former president’s legal team, with Politico reporting in 2021 that Collins represented Trump when Democratic lawmakers were investigating him after he left office.

Collins is an Air Force veteran and pastor who previously represented Georgia’s 9th district in Congress from 2013 to 2021, and ran for Senate in Georgia in 2020 but failed to make it to the general election.

Todd Blanche: Trump named Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general in his administration—the Justice Department’s number two role—after the attorney represented Trump at his criminal trial in Manhattan based on hush money payments made before the 2016 election, also serving on Trump’s legal team in his two federal criminal cases, for trying to overturn the 2020 election and allegedly withholding White House documents.

Blanche left law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in order to represent Trump—after representing Trump allies like former campaign chair Paul Manafort and adviser Boris Ephsteyn, according to The New York Times—and entered private practice after previously working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York as a violent crimes prosecutor.

Emil Bove: Trump tapped Bove as the principal associate deputy attorney general in his DOJ, after the lawyer—a partner at Blanche’s firm Blanche Law—represented Trump at his Manhattan trial and also served on his legal team in both federal cases.

Bove has flown more under-the-radar on Trump’s legal team as compared with some of his other attorneys, representing the ex-president after previously serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and co-leading its national security unit and narcotics unit, where he oversaw cases against figures like Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Dean John Sauer: Trump picked Sauer to serve as his solicitor general—the attorney who argues cases on behalf of the administration at the Supreme Court—after Sauer argued to the Supreme Court that Trump should be immune from criminal charges, and also represented Trump in civil court as the former president appealed writer E. Jean Carroll’s case accusing him of defamation and sexual assault.

Sauer previously served as Missouri’s solicitor general before moving to private practice, also serving as a law clerk to late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and retired appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig, a conservative-leaning judge who has since become known for his opposition to Trump and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

How Did The Lawyers Fare Representing Trump?

While Trump was impeached by the House for his Ukraine dealings, he was ultimately acquitted by the Senate, after Bondi argued on Trump’s behalf on the Senate floor. Blanche was the key lawyer representing Trump in his hush money trial earlier this year, with the attorney getting a mixed reception even as the jury ultimately declared Trump guilty. Blanche was praised during his cross-examination of ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen for seemingly catching Cohen off-guard by showing evidence suggesting a call Cohen claimed to have with Trump about the hush money payment in question may have actually been about a totally separate matter, as texts suggested Cohen was actually calling Trump’s bodyguard to discuss him being pranked by a 14-year-old. The lawyer was also chastised by Judge Juan Merchan when he was trying to argue Trump didn’t violate the gag order against him, with Merchan telling Blanche he was “losing all credibility with the court.” The other two federal cases against Trump that Blanche and Bove are involved with are expected to end without going to trial before Trump takes office. While Trump’s appeal of the Carroll case is still pending, Sauer’s argument on Trump’s behalf led to the Supreme Court ruling in the ex-president’s favor, declaring him immune from at least some criminal charges. An appeals court ruled against Trump after Sauer argued on immunity there, however, and the attorney made waves during both court appearances when he suggested former presidents should be immune from prosecution even if they assassinate political rivals.

Surprising Fact

Blanche was a registered Democrat before representing Trump, according to The New York Times—he’s since registered as a Republican—and the Financial Times reports he “shed a tear” when Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Trump.

Big Number

$9.9 million. That’s how much Trump has paid Blanche and Bove’s law firm Blanche Law and Sauer and Scharf’s firm James Otis Law Group as of Oct. 16, based on federal filings by Trump’s Save America PAC, which handles his legal bills. It’s unclear how much he’s paid each lawyer individually, however, as those figures also include other attorneys in those firms.

Tangent

Another personal Trump attorney, Alina Habba, was reported to be a top contender for White House press secretary, as Habba has become an outspoken defender of the ex-president in the media. Habba denied those reports last week, tweeting, “Although I love screaming from a podium I will be better served in other capacities.”

Key Background

Trump named Bondi on Thursday after his first attorney general pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew his nomination as controversy ramped up over sexual misconduct allegations involving the ex-lawmaker. (Gaetz has denied the allegations.) Trump has started naming a slew of officials to top roles in his administration after winning the election, including controversial picks like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be health secretary, Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence. Bondi marks one of the less controversial picks Trump has made, by contrast, with her lengthy record as a prosecutor earning her widespread praise among Republicans. Trump rewarded his personal attorneys as his legal issues have fallen by the wayside in the wake of his electoral win—at least in his criminal cases—with his two federal cases poised to end as the DOJ seeks to comply with longstanding precedent against prosecuting sitting presidents. Trump’s criminal charges in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election are also likely to be paused until he leaves office, and while Trump has already been convicted in the Manhattan case, he’s successfully managed to postpone his sentencing. The proceedings in that case are now halted while prosecutors figure out how things should proceed in light of Trump’s election. Trump’s imminent presidency will not get him out of his civil cases, however, and the president-elect’s appeals of rulings against him in Carroll’s two defamation cases and the civil fraud trial against Trump and his associates will continue.