Prosecutor drops Bondi bribery case due to lack of evidence

From the Associated Press:

TALLAHASSEE -- A bribery complaint against President Donald Trump and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi lacks enough evidence to move forward, a state prosecutor told the governor Thursday.

The complaint filed by a Massachusetts attorney stemmed from scrutiny last year over a $25,000 campaign contribution Bondi received from Trump in 2013. Bondi asked for the donation near the same time that her office was being asked about a New York investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott handed the case to a southwest Florida prosecutor after another prosecutor said he could not investigate the case because Bondi used to work him.

A prosecutor working in State Attorney Stephen Russell's office concluded that there is no reasonable suspicion that Trump or Bondi broke Florida's bribery law.

More here.

Photo credit: Pedro Portal, Miami Herald staff

Bondi heads to White House -- to moderate panel

via @adamsmithtimes

Attorney General Pam Bondi may or may not wind up with a Trump administration job that months ago was widely assumed by her friends and allies to be imminent, but on Wednesday she will moderate President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s Women’s Empowerment Panel at the White House. 

Panelists include U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma.

“As Florida’s first female attorney general, I am honored to moderate this panel with such remarkable and accomplished leaders,” said Attorney General Bondi.

Also, according to Politico, Bondi also used the opportunity to "talk about children's issues" in a meeting with Trump, DeVos and Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development.

She even took time to pose for a photo with Trump in the Oval Office. She was accompanied by former Tampa Bay Bucs coach Tony Dungy and fellow All Pro Dads advocate Mark Merrill, and Derrick Brooks, former Buc and co-founder of Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School in Tampa.

--ADAM C. SMITH, Tampa Bay Times

Bondi, Putnam, Atwater say they didn't seek out gun exemption. Senator says one of them did.

@ByKristenMClark

Three of Florida’s four highest-ranking elected officials — and potentially the lieutenant governor and the state’s 160 lawmakers, too — could be able to carry guns almost anywhere in the state under a special carve-out in Florida law being considered by the Legislature.

Sarasota Republican Sen. Greg Steube, who filed SB 646, said one of the three members of the Florida Cabinet “approached” him about proposing the exemption, which would let the Cabinet members carry concealed anywhere in Florida where federal law doesn’t prohibit guns, so long as they have a concealed-weapons permit.

That means — unlike most of the rest of the state’s 1.7 million concealed-weapons permit-holders — those statewide elected officials could be armed in the state’s 15 “gun-free zones,” such as in public schools, airport passenger terminals, police stations, government meetings, athletic events and bars.

RELATED: "These are gun law changes Florida lawmakers could take up in 2017"

Steube would not say which Cabinet member — Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater or Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam — wanted the law changed for their benefit. Each of those offices is elected by voters statewide; Gov. Rick Scott oversees Cabinet meetings but is not himself a member of the Cabinet.

“I had a member that approached me, and they don’t have FDLE or trooper security full-time,” Steube told reporters Tuesday, referring to the security provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol.

However, spokespeople for Bondi and Atwater, and Putnam himself explicitly told the Herald/Times that they had not asked for the provision or were involved with Steube’s bill.

Read more here.

Photo credit: From left: Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi sit with Lieutenant Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera and Gov. Rick Scott during the opening day of the 2017 legislative session on Tuesday, March 7. Scott Keeler / Tampa Bay Times

Cabinet members unaware of proposed provision exempting them from 'gun-free zones'

UPDATE: The bill was postponed. But Steube said after the meeting that one of the three Cabinet members — either Bondi, Atwater or Putnam — asked for the carve-out in state law. He won’t say which, but each told the Herald/Times they had no involvement in the proposal. More here.

------------

@ByKristenMClark

Among many gun bills Sarasota Republican Sen. Greg Steube has filed for the 2017 session, one proposal being considered for the first time Tuesday calls for letting the three members of the Florida Cabinet carry guns virtually anywhere -- so long as they have a concealed weapons permit and federal law doesn't prohibit guns in that location.

Each of the Cabinet members -- Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam -- said they were unaware until contacted by the Herald/Times this week that Steube had proposed exempting them from the state's "gun-free zones."

But only one Cabinet member -- Atwater -- would say whether they themselves might be affected by the potential law change.

Bondi joins Trump and other AGs at White House

via @learyreports

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Pam Bondi was at the White House on Tuesday and got face time with President Trump.

Trump met with about 25 members of the National Association of Attorneys General. "Some great people, some great people," he said. "And up here," he added, according to a pool report, looking around next to him.

Bondi, standing to his left, responded: "Thank you, Mr. President."

It's still unclear whether Bondi will take a job in the administration, as had been widely assumed.

--ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times

Pam Bondi supports Trump's immigration order

@MichaelAuslen

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday morning praised the immigration executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump.

In an intervew on Fox Business, Bondi said she "firmly believes" in Trump's order, which temporarily banned nationals of seven Islamic countries from entering the United States and blocked refugee resettlements. A judge halted parts of it late Saturday, and the order led to weekend-long protests at airports around the country.

"We all knew this was coming," Bondi said. "And we have to remember this isn't a ban on religion. We all agree -- all attorneys general -- we agree on religious liberty in our country and in our world. This is about radical terrorists."

She continued: "We need to get them (immigrants) here, but we need to get them here the right way."

Attorneys general in 16 states, all Democrats, came out against the executive order Monday.

Under former President Barack Obama, Bondi was a frequent critic of federal immigration policy and sued the administration over an executive order deferring deportation of 5 million immigrants.

Photo: Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Will Vragovic, Tampa Bay Times)

Florida Attorney General Diaz? Miami lawmaker rumored as post-Bondi appointment

@PatriciaMazzei

If Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi takes a job, as expected, in President-elect Donald Trump's White House, Gov. Rick Scott will get to appoint her successor. Could he be a Miami state legislator?

State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz's name has been making the rounds in Tallahassee as a potential Scott pick. Diaz, who will turn 37 later this month, would bring youth and diversity to Scott's Cabinet -- and perhaps give Republicans a leg up to keep the seat. Diaz said he'd be eager to run for the powerful attorney general's post in 2018, at the end of Bondi's term.

"I'm definitely honored to be on those lists," Diaz told the Miami Herald on Friday, adding that "it would be hard not to" seriously consider the job.

Even if Bondi weren't to leave the AG's office, Diaz said he's thinking about seeking the position in two years, when he will be term-limited from the House. He was easily reelected to his western Miami-Dade County seat in November.

"It's something that I've looked at pretty aggressively the past few years," he said. "I knew that, no matter what, whether there was a Trump appointment or not, the General was term-limited in 2018 -- so I've been looking at it as an option regardless of whether she goes to D.C. or not."

Bloomberg reported Thursday that Bondi will get a White House position, though Bondi refused to confirm that Friday.

An attorney with the Akerman law firm, Diaz, who is known as Pepi, is a litigator in zoning and land-use matters, though he said he's had exposure to a "pretty varied" slew of cases, ranging from criminal defense to family law.

"I'm a real lawyer. I've been practicing now for the better part of my adult life," he said. "I went to law school to, you know, study comparative constitutions and the way the government interacted with laws, so that's a dream job for a kid like me."

Diaz is close friends with state Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a fellow Miami Republican who was a top South Florida Trump surrogate. Trump's transition team is considering Trujillo for an ambassadorship to Latin America. 

While Diaz was not quite as involved in the campaign as Trujillo, he did also lend his name to a Trump Hispanic advisory board (Diaz is a past competitor on "The Apprentice" who has known Trump since.) Both lawmakers plan to attend the Jan. 20 inauguration.

Photo credit: Steve Cannon, Associated Press. Diaz appears on the left.

Will Pam Bondi be at Trump's Orlando rally? Attorney general's office won't say

@MichaelAuslen

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is again bucking public attention and keeping her whereabouts secret.

Her office ignored emails sent Monday requesting to know whether Bondi, a significant statewide elected official and the second in the line of succession to the governor's office, planned to attend President-elect Donald Trump's Friday rally in Orlando. 

A longtime political ally and friend, Bondi played a major role in Trump's Florida campaign, appearing at many of his events here to rally support. Gov. Rick Scott's office confirmed he will attend Friday's "thank you" event at 7 p.m. at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.

It is likely Bondi would be in attendance. The career prosecutor is seen as a likely Trump appointee to any number of roles, including White House "drug czar" or a sub-cabinet position in the Department of Justice.

This is the second time in a month that the attorney general's office has kept quiet about Bondi's schedule. She missed the Legislature's largely ceremonial organizational session -- the only member of the Florida Cabinet to do so -- and her office ignored three requests for her whereabouts.

Photo: Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi walk to meet supporters just before a Tampa rally on Aug. 24. (Loren Elliott, Tampa Bay Times)

Pam Bondi tight-lipped about leaving AG's office for Trump White House job

@MichaelAuslen

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday she is "not prepared to answer" whether she will finish the remaining two years of her term in office.

A close ally and friend of President-elect Donald Trump, Bondi is rumored to be under consideration for a top job in his administration. She went to New York last Friday, where she met with Trump but would not confirm what the two discussed.

"I'm not going to confirm or deny anything right now," Bondi said Tuesday following a meeting of the Florida Cabinet. "Frankly, I don't think anyone should come out of those meetings and talk about anything that was said in those meetings. ... I think all of that is and should remain confidential until the appropriate time."

She is seen as a contender for "drug czar," a deputy or assistant attorney general post or an advisory position inside the White House. If she were offered, accepted and confirmed to any of those jobs, Bondi would have to leave office. Her term is set to expire Jan. 8, 2019. She is term-limited.

Following Trump's Nov. 8 electoral win, Bondi was appointed to his transition team. She said that has involved conversations with the president-elect and weighing in on potential appointees for administration jobs but would not provide further details.

But, Bondi warned, the common wisdom may not be a good reflection of the actual happenings at Trump Tower.

"For what it's worth, I think when people go and do interviews on TV and talk about things, I think they probably don't know what's going on up there," she said.

Bondi says the transition work has not interfered with her job as attorney general.

After being notably absent for the largely ceremonial organizational session of the Legislature (the other Cabinet officials and Gov. Rick Scott were in attendance), Bondi has not shied from the limelight the past two days.

On Monday, she attended Scott's holiday reception at the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee, and she was on hand Tuesday morning for the traditional lighting of a Christmas tree in the Capitol.

Photo: The New York Times.

Bondi sits down with Trump

via @learyreports

Attorney General Pam Bondi is at Trump Tower this afternoon for her meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.

She entered the building about 12:49 p.m. and breezed past reporters without comment.

As of 2:11 p.m., she had not emerged from the elevators.

--ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times

Photo credit: Associated Press