Complaint against Pam Bondi puts law license at risk

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]You're watching the Legal Breakdown, Glenn. Devastating news for Pam Bondi.

[00:00:04]Even after she's been fired, things go from bad to worse. Can you explain what she's dealing with right now?

[00:00:10]>> Yeah, Brian, it looks like at least one form of accountability is coming for Pam Bondi, and it's a really important form of accountability. A brand new mega complaint was just filed by several people and organizations with the Florida State Bar. That's where Pam Bondi holds her license to practice law, saying, you know, look, there needs to be an ethics investigation of these allegations of what she has done. We'll talk about what they are in a minute, and the groups that brought this ethics complaint against Pam Bondi are the Democracy Defenders Fund, that's Norm Eisen's group, Lawyers Defending American Democracy, there's another group, Lawyers for the Rule of Law, and 120 and law professors and attorneys. It is an august group that has, you know, put their name on this complaint that they filed with the Florida State Bar. And so, they're urging the Florida State Bar to investigate, among other things, her horrific, let's let's call it mismanagement of the release of the Epstein files, and they talk about how she made redactions that are prohibited by law, that law being the Epstein Files Transparency Act. She failed to redact, I don't know how many dozens of names of victims, and the law provides that victims' name names and identifying information had to be redacted by law, and she didn't do it. And you know what happened as a result? These then girls, now women, who were victims of Epstein's crimes and the crimes of Epstein's criminal associates, um they started to get harassed. They started to get death threats. They are scared to death. They're being re-victimized all over again. And you know, it really does beg the question, does Pam Bondi believe that the the victims of Epstein's crimes haven't been been victimized enough? So, she re-victimized them in violation of the federal law. They also urged the Florida State Bar ethics attorneys to look into the more than 100 violations, defiance of uh court orders in lots of immigration cases. And Brian, on and on and on. You know, I would include her false testimony before Congress when she said, "There's no evidence in the Epstein files that Donald Trump committed any crime." And everybody knows that. And thereafter, she was forced when she was caught not fully disclosing some um write-ups of one particular victim. She got caught and she was forced to disclose what?

[00:03:06]FBI write-ups of a victim who was 13 to 15 years old at the time that Donald Trump, she alleges, committed sexual crimes and battery, assault against her.

[00:03:18]And Brian, that's direct evidence out of the mouth of a victim. That's not circumstantial evidence. That puts the lie to Pam Bondi's assertion that there is no evidence in the Epstein files incriminating Donald Trump. So, look, this is a mountain of ethical allegations against Pam Bondi, which are well supported by the evidence even just in the public record, never mind what's behind closed doors or in email traffic.

[00:03:46]And so, now, I think the Florida State Bar should absolutely launch an ethics investigation and if I had to bet my own money, my $1, you know, betting limit if that's my max.

[00:04:00]I'm going to put a full 80 cents on at some point in the not-too-distant future Pam Bondi becoming a member of the Donald Trump disbarred lawyers club.

[00:04:11]>> Glenn, is there anything that might prevent the Florida Bar from moving forward? Is there any schemes or tricks that Trump can try and play uh to pressure the Florida Bar into not moving forward and adjudicating this complaint?

[00:04:25]>> Brian, if you really want an answer to that question, we can bring everybody's expectations down a little bit. I think the answer is there are certainly some dirty tricks and then there are some not so dirty tricks based on the procedures that the Florida State Bar has in place when they receive complaints like this.

[00:04:45]So, let me talk about the dirty tricks.

[00:04:47]So, DOJ is presently in the business um of trying to prevent state bar organizations from even investigating allegations of attorney misconduct against certain categories of people.

[00:05:01]Primarily attorneys who are presently with the DOJ, but I would bet they would like to extend that to anybody who happens to be in the executive branch of Donald Trump's government. So, that's one way that they can try to bring this thing to a grinding halt. There is no telling what Donald Trump might be willing to do. Maybe launch criminal investigations of the, you know, Florida State Bar officials who are in charge of ethics investigations. I know that sounds smart-alecky, but I don't think there is any bottom to what Donald Trump is willing to do. Um but then the other thing that is a little bit more of a straight-faced concern for me is that the Florida State Bar has its own rules and protocols and procedures as does each of the 50 state bar organizations and the District of Columbia governing the ins and outs of ethics investigations against lawyers who have who hold a license to practice law in a particular state. Florida has one, a rule that says, "Well, we will not proceed. We will not open an ethics investigation if a complaint has been filed against a serving constitutional officer in the executive branch of the federal government." That may not be the precise wording, but that's the gist of their sort of prohibition. They say, "We won't do it.

[00:06:24]We'll basically wait until that person is no longer a constitutional officer in the federal government." Now, when Pam Bondi was the Attorney General, she arguably was a constitutional officer.

[00:06:36]She was, you know, nominated, appointed by the president. That is a constitutional appointment. And so, complaints had been filed previously against Pam Bondi, um, in real time when we were all watching her engage in unethical conduct. And when they came in while she was US Attorney, they said, "We're not going to look at them because she is a constitutional officer."

[00:06:59]Now, Pam Bondi having been fired as Attorney General, guess what? No longer a constitutional officer, we would think, right? Well, what did Donald Trump do literally within the past few days? He invited her back into the executive branch fold. I wonder if our viewers know what Pam Bondi is doing now in the Trump administration. Well, she's on the I'm going to mangle the name a little bit, the Council for Science and Technology.

[00:07:30]And she's on some kind of a panel for infrastructure because that's what every career attorney should be, right? Dabbling in science, technology, and infrastructure.

[00:07:41]I don't know if they're going to give her a hard hat and a tape measure and she's going to go figure out where the bridges need to be built in the country.

[00:07:48]But, you know, Brian, when I first saw that a few days ago, my first thought was, "Oh, well, this is Donald Trump trying to keep Pam Bondi close because she knows where all the Epstein bodies are buried." Both I would say first figuratively and then with the investigation that's going on out in New Mexico regarding the Zorro ranch, one of Epstein's prior properties, and there were quote burials that were alleged on that property of of women who had been killed. Um maybe Pam Bondi knows where the bodies are buried literally. But, in any event, I saw this announcement bringing her back into a position for which she has absolutely no qualifications as maybe Donald Trump is trying to keep her in the fold, keep her quiet on the Epstein front. And now I also have to wonder if it was to help put a stop to these ethics complaints that we all kind of sensed were coming and they they now have come. Then, I guess the the sort of contrary view that I have in my own head about that is why in the world would Donald Trump want to help Pam Bondi in her potential disbarment, you know, issue because Donald Trump is a one-way street street when it comes to loyalty. So, a lot of things kind of ping-ponging back and forth there. But, you know, I don't I can't say with 100% certainty that the Florida State Bar is now off to the races investigating these ethics complaints, but I I do have a feeling they're going to be compelled to start moving out.

[00:09:20]>> Now, there's also the matter of yesterday, Pam Bondi testified in a closed-door hearing for the House Oversight Committee and used a good deal of her time to basically throw her then deputy, now acting Attorney General Todd Blance, under the bus making it seem as if Todd Blanche was responsible for everything relating to the Epstein files or the failures relating to the Epstein files. So, how does that factor in to all of this? Is this her maybe laying the groundwork to preclude um any suspension of her law license or, conversely, is this throwing Todd Blanche under the bus so that if she suffers some uh suspension of her law license, then the guy who she herself claims is responsible might suffer the same fate?

[00:10:05]>> Yeah, first of all, it looks like the rats are already eating each other, Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche. Second, you know, like you, when I heard that, it's like Pam Bondi's trying to throw Todd Blanche under the bus and blame all of the violations of federal law in the Epstein files release debacle, blame them all on Todd Blanche. I do think most directly, Brian, she's going to try to use this as a defense against the crime of making a false statement to Congress. It's kind of a kissing cousin crime to perjury, but we don't call it perjury when you lie to Congress. We call it a 1001 false statement to Congress. It's a 5-year felony offense.

[00:10:42]And when she testified, there was no evidence in the Epstein files, you know, incriminating Donald Trump. I have a feeling she's going to say, "Well, there was none that I know of because I offloaded that responsibility to Todd Blanche." Well, yeah, then you should not have definitively made that statement in front of Congress. But, you know, there are a couple of things going on here. I think mainly it's going to be Pam Bondi trying to save herself at the expense of Todd Blanche. But, if I can ask our viewers to keep two numbers in mind, we're always talking about 8647, 8647. Why? Well, because that is the full evidence of James Comey's criminality when he snapped the picture of seashells that said 8647.

[00:11:25]And Todd Blanche and company are trying to say, "That's an assassination threat against the president of the United States." Because 86 means, you know, get rid of something. Like throw that drunk out of the bar. That's what 86 really means. But let's throw let's toss to the side 8647 and let's keep in mind 4830 because 48 of Richard Nixon's criminal associates in his executive branch were criminally convicted of their participation in Richard Nixon's corrupt and criminal scheme and 30 of the 48 went to prison.

[00:12:01]So, that's coming. That's a cautionary tale.

[00:12:05]Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Kristy Noem, Kash Patel, RFK and the rest of them are probably feeling themselves right about now thinking they're bulletproof.

[00:12:14]They're beyond the reach of the law. And that's exactly, I am sure, how Richard Nixon's associates felt when they were committing crimes together with and for the benefit of Richard Nixon just like these people today are committing crimes together with and for the benefit of Donald Trump. Well, guess what? 4830, that's the number to keep in mind because >> [sighs] >> I know it doesn't always feel this way, Brian, but accountability will come for these people just like they came for the people who were criminally involved in Watergate.

[00:12:48]>> That seems like the proper place to leave off there. So, for those who are watching right now, if you'd like to stay on top of this story and all other legal breaking news, the best way to do that is to subscribe to both of our channels. I'm going to put a link to those channels right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. If you're not yet subscribed, it is 100% free to subscribe, but a great way to support our work and independent media. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen.

[00:13:10]>> And I'm Glenn Kirschner.

[00:13:11]>> You're watching the Legal Breakdown.