For the past six years, Pam Bondi has worked as a lobbyist in Washington for one of the country’s top companies, representing corporate giants like Amazon and Uber.
Now, some of the same clients her firm represents are taking on the Justice Department she is about to lead. And corporate interests are cautiously optimistic that his pick will guide an administration more friendly to their interests than that of President Joe Biden.
His appointment, lobbyists say, could be a victory for major American corporations facing the Justice Department, including health care giant UnitedHealthcare and social media company TikTok. Those companies have paid tens of thousands of dollars this year to Bondi’s current employer, Ballard Partners, according to lobbying disclosures.
Confirming Bondi as attorney general would also raise myriad ethical questions about what kind of access he will grant to his firm and whether he will recuse himself from involvement in matters involving Ballard.
Bondi, who has not yet resigned from Ballard, where she serves as a DC-based partner and chairs the firm’s corporate compliance practice, focusing on Fortune 500 companies. Since 2019, she has lobbied the federal government for a series of major companies, including Amazon, General Motors, Fidelity National Financial, Uber and Carnival North America. She serves as a key advisor to the company’s president, Brian Ballard.
Bondi has also lobbied on behalf of the GEO Group, a major private prison company that is paid hundreds of millions of dollars each year by the federal government. according to federal records. The Department of Justice is a major customer.
Currently, Bondi is only registered to lobby for America’s top county sheriffs, who pay her company $50,000 a quarter, the Florida Sheriffs’ Risk Management Fund, which pays her company $20,000 a quarter, and the Florida Sheriffs Association, which pays his company $20,000. a quarter Bondi, a former personal lawyer to Trump, has also worked on litigation and corporate and regulatory matters at the Florida-based law firm Panza Maurer.
“It is essentially impossible to ethically organize a Justice Department in light of the breadth of Bondi’s connections,” said Jeff Hauser, founder of the progressive Revolving Door Project. “I think it’s going to be something out of the ordinary.”
He added that even if Bondi did not get involved in matters involving certain companies, he could still influence his department in his favor. For example, Hauser argued, his direction for the antitrust division would have broad implications for his former client Amazon.
Bondi did not respond to an email seeking comment and an Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
Some business leaders feared that under Trump they would lose their allies in the Republican Party as the party veered in a more populist direction. But big businesses are hopeful that under Bondi they will get a reprieve from the Biden administration’s corporate crackdown and avoid continuing the Trump campaign’s anti-corporate rhetoric.
“Pam can reinforce the idea that we are going to get back to normal in the flow of deals,” said one Republican lobbyist, referring to corporate mergers. The person was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Everyone thinks she is approachable. … She understands that companies need to have the opportunity to be heard.”
The tech industry, for example, is relatively optimistic about Bondi’s nomination, especially compared to former lawmaker and antitrust advocate Matt Gaetz, whose previous nomination for attorney general imploded. Major companies have spent the past four years fighting antitrust champions at the Justice Department, led by Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. With Bondi’s selection, Big Tech sees a shift away from the economic populism that made them major targets, said a lobbyist representing major tech companies.
Among the Justice Department’s legal fights against the world’s largest technology companies is ongoing litigation against Ballard’s client, TikTok, and its parent company, ByteDance, over allegations that the company violated child privacy laws. . The department has also been defending legislation that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok, a requirement that Trump has previously opposed.
TikTok hired Ballard to lobby in early August, according to federal records. The company received $50,000 in the third quarter to lobby Congress on “issues related to Internet technology and the regulation of content platforms.”
“An election like Pam Bondi means a return to a more centrist approach for all businesses,” said the lobbyist who represents major technology companies. “We are cautiously optimistic and support his nomination.”
In her previous role as Florida attorney general, Bondi was criticized by progressives for decisions not to pursue corporate interests. He made headlines for refusing to impose sanctions against Trump University after the Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to a group supporting Bondi. She stated that the donation did not influence the decision.
Also, The New York Times reported in 2014 that had decided not to prosecute the hospital bill collection company then known as Accretive Health, after a law firm hired by the company pressured its office.
“All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies,” Trump transition spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement.
Brian Ballard, the company’s president and Bondi’s boss, called her “one of the most ethical and forthright political figures I have ever dealt with.” He predicted that she would implement measures to avoid conflicts with her previous work and said her company would comply with those rules.
Ballard brought his firm to Washington at the start of Trump’s presidency and created a lobbying firm known on K Street as one of those closest to Trump’s orbit. Trump selected another alumna of his firm, Susie Wiles, to be his chief of staff, although Wiles was reportedly pressured to leave Ballard’s firm.
Bondi could also take over as head of the Justice Department while it pursues litigation against another of Ballard Partners’ new clients: UnitedHealth. The Biden administration, along with several states, is moving to block UnitedHealth’s acquisition of healthcare and hospice provider Amedisys, arguing that the merger would harm competition in its industry. Ballard began lobbying for UnitedHealthCare Services, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, at the federal level last summer.
As top prosecutor, Bondi would also be charged with overseeing drug policy, as Trump has indicated his support for relaxing federal marijuana policy. Cannabis company Trulieve has been working with Ballard Partners for years, lobbying on “medical marijuana policy and regulation.”
But good governance campaigners are concerned about Bondi’s corporate past. Rick Claypool, research director at the progressive consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said the Justice Department’s revolving door was a broader problem with the agency’s leadership, and Bondi was the latest example. He fears his record of protecting businesses from police actions will affect how he ran the department.
“We know that the defendant companies are going to use every advantage they can get to try to argue and avoid enforcement actions,” he said. “That’s why I think it’s going to be really important for the Justice Department’s front-line prosecutors who investigate and bring cases against former clients to be able to do their jobs without interference.”