Legal professional Common Pam Bondi has no drawback throwing the e-book at President Donald Trump’s critics for even the pettiest offenses—however relating to her personal shady conduct, all of a sudden the foundations are versatile.
Based on ProPublica, Bondi dumped between $1 and $5 million value of her Trump Media shares on April 2—the identical day Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariff stunt despatched the markets right into a tailspin. Shares of Trump Media, the mum or dad firm of Fact Social, fell 13% that day earlier than rebounding. The inventory as soon as traded as excessive as $52 per share however closed at simply $26 this week.
We don’t know precisely what time Bondi cashed out—or what advance data she had of Trump’s financial announcement. However this reeks of insider buying and selling, the type of monetary sleight of hand that’s turn into routine in Trumpworld. This is similar man who posted “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” simply hours earlier than asserting a tariff pause that despatched the markets hovering. Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly took it as precise funding recommendation.
Associated | Marjorie Taylor Greene made some shady inventory trades earlier than tariff flip-flop
If Bondi knew a market crash was coming, bought excessive, then watched it bounce again—that’s textbook insider buying and selling. Unlawful, unethical, and punishable by as much as 20 years in jail. We will’t show what she knew, and insider buying and selling instances are notoriously arduous to carry, particularly after latest courtroom rulings narrowed what even counts as a violation, ProPublica famous.
Conveniently, Bondi’s personal Justice Division has clammed up, refusing to reply fundamental questions in regards to the sale or its timing. However let’s be trustworthy: It doesn’t take a authorized scholar to identify a crooked sample.
Whereas she’s probably making hundreds of thousands off a tip and a well-timed sale, Bondi performs robust cop on TV. She demanded a staggering 20-year sentence for a person accused of firebombing a Tesla dealership—but stated nearly nothing when Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro was focused in an arson assault on his house.
And when she’s not prosecuting political targets, she’s doing PR on Fox Information. Based on a Media Issues for America evaluation, Bondi appeared on Fox 21 occasions between Feb. 5 and April 28. That’s greater than as soon as each three days.
Her funds have been sketchy for some time. She pocketed at the least $3 million from the Trump Media merger for “consulting,” nonetheless holds between $2 and $10 million in inventory, and was speculated to divest inside 90 days of her affirmation. That deadline was early Might, making her April 2 sale extraordinarily handy.
Bondi additionally pulled in over $1 million a 12 months as a lobbyist for Ballard Companions, a agency glued to Trump’s orbit. And let’s not neglect: She greenlit Trump’s use of a $400 million personal jet from Qatar for use as a brief Air Pressure One.
That tells you every little thing. Bondi and her DOJ figured accepting a Qatari jet for the president was legally high quality (it’s in all probability not). If that’s their authorized commonplace, no surprise she thinks promoting off hundreds of thousands in inventory simply forward of a crash is not any huge deal.
Trump is corrupt, and everybody in his interior circle appears to function off the identical playbook. Bondi may need to test her personal rap sheet earlier than pretending to play sheriff.