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| By Kimberly Leonard and Mia McCarthy |
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Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, meets with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in Graham's office on Capitol Hill on Dec. 2, 2024. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. Attorney general confirmation: Take 2. Former Florida Attorney General PAM BONDI, President-elect DONALD TRUMP’s pick to be America’s top prosecutor, is on Capitol Hill this week meeting privately with senators who’ll decide whether she gets to head up the Justice Department. Bondi met Monday with Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa), who’s poised to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings scrutinizing her record and qualifications. She then met with Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) from the Judiciary Committee, who said after the meeting that he has known Bondi for a long time and that she is “very well qualified.” “I don't think President Trump could have done better,” Graham, a close ally of Trump’s, said. “The confirmation hearings will be challenging, as they should be, but I have every confidence that she will acquit herself well.”’ Bondi offered few words leaving her meeting with Graham, only adding that the meetings went well. But she will be back up on Capitol Hill today meeting with more Senate Judiciary Republicans. Sen. JOHN KENNEDY of Louisiana told POLITICO at the Capitol that he would be among those sitting down with Bondi today and expected to do “more listening than talking.” “I expect all these confirmation hearings to be very robust, and they should be,” Kennedy said when asked if he believes Bondi will face any challenges to confirmation. “That's why God made them, but we'll properly vet all the president's nominees, just like we did President Biden's nominees.” Bondi is a longtime Trump ally who backed him in the 2016 GOP presidential nomination contest after former Florida Gov. JEB BUSH dropped out, even though fellow Floridian Sen. MARCO RUBIO was still running. She also was one of Trump’s attorneys during his first impeachment trial. Given their long political relationship, she’s expected to face a good amount of grilling over Trump’s threats to pursue retribution if reelected. She has also criticized the criminal cases against Trump, but has said little about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the DOJ’s subsequent prosecutions of those involved in the riot. Asked for his input on Monday night, Gov. RON DESANTIS said he’d advise Bondi not to “try to be liked by the bureaucrats” if confirmed to lead the DOJ. “Expect to be attacked relentlessly by the corporate press,” he said on “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News. “And know when that happens that’s a badge of honor, that means you’re doing the right thing.” Bondi is seen as confirmable and hasn't faced public pushback from Republican lawmakers so far. If all Democrats oppose Bondi, she can still afford to lose support from three Republican senators. She obviously doesn’t carry the same personal baggage into the meetings as Trump’s first choice for the job — fellow Floridian MATT GAETZ — did, and she also has relevant experience for attorney general, having served as a prosecutor for 18 years in Hillsborough County before becoming Florida’s first woman attorney general. In another departure from what happened with Gaetz, Bondi is not being shepherded around the Senate by Vice President-elect JD VANCE. A person familiar with the meetings said Vance is helping facilitate the meetings, but will not be at the Capitol this week. — Mia McCarthy and Kimberly Leonard Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Instagram: Instagram Teen Accounts: automatic protections for teens
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TODAY AND TOMORROW — State House members will participate in “Legislator University” to learn about policy areas such as property insurance, hurricane recovery and Medicaid. They’ll also receive training on public records and ethics laws and view the state’s economic forecast. TODAY — Republican State Sen. JENNIFER BRADLEY and Democratic state Senate Minority Leader JASON PIZZO are holding a summit at Florida Atlantic University about condos with “attorneys, CPAs, engineers and building officials,” reports Florida Politics’ A.G. Gancarski. LEGISLATION ROUNDUP — State Sen. LORI BERMAN filed a bill that would let hopeful pols use campaign dollars to pay for childcare, according to Florida Politics’ Jesse Scheckner. … State Sen. ILEANA GARCIA filed a bill to ban weather modification devices, Scheckner wrote … State Sen. NICK DICEGLIE, who’s chairing the Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development, plans to help rebuilding after Hurricanes Milton and Helene, writes Janelle Irvin Taylor of Florida Politics. TREND TO WATCH — Corporate investor takeovers of condo buildings keep happening and could accelerate with new, expensive safety regulations set to take effect early in the year, reports Rebecca Liebson of the Tampa Bay Times. What’s happening, per the TBT: “Investors are eager to buy and redevelop these struggling properties, many of which are on prime pieces of land in hot neighborhoods or coastal communities. This could provide a lifeline for thousands of owners who cannot afford to bring their aging buildings up to the new standard, said state Rep. Vicki Lopez, R-Miami. But owners who want to stay are left with little recourse if they are outnumbered.”
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PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | DECISION AFFIRMED — “Court: FIU’s medical school didn’t violate ADA when it dismissed student,” reports Christine Sexton of the Florida Phoenix. “Florida International University did not violate a federal law meant to protect people with disabilities when it tossed a student from its medical school for academic underperformance, an Atlanta federal appeals court ruled Monday in a years-long legal battle. In a 10-page ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit opined that Elie Nehme, who had failed numerous courses and was forced to repeat a year of medical school, didn’t qualify for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act.” KA-CHING — “Manatee school zone speeding cameras issue nearly $600K in fines in less than 3 weeks,” reports Victoria Villanueva-Marquez of the Bradenton Herald. “Officials began fining drivers $100 for going too fast in Bradenton-area school zones on Nov. 1. The RedSpeed cameras are active 30 minutes before the school day starts, throughout the school day and 30 minutes after the school day ends. The county receives $65 from each ticket, the state receives $23 and the school district receives $12.”
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| TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP | |
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Hillsborough County, Florida, Sheriff Chad Chronister talks to the media before the first day of school at Sessums Elementary School in Riverview, Florida, on Aug. 10, 2021. | Chris O'Meara/AP | BACKING TRUMP’S SELECTION — DeSantis on Monday posted his support for Hillsborough Sheriff CHAD CHRONISTER to be the next administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration, even as some Republicans balked at the pick. In a statement on X, the governor pointed to the time he'd ousted former prosecutor ANDREW WARREN from office, saying no one had been more supportive of the move than Chronister. DeSantis also praised the sheriff for helping with the election of SUZY LOPEZ, his handpicked successor to Warren. MORE ABOUT CHRONISTER's RECORD — “As sheriff, he backed programs that offer substance use care and mental health treatment to incarcerated individuals, including veterans,” reported POLITICO’s Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard. “If confirmed, Chronister would lead the DEA as it considers whether to permanently extend eased Covid-era telehealth rules for certain drugs and as it works to curb the fentanyl seeping into the U.S. from the Southern border.” ANOTHER FLORIDA ANGLE — “Trump’s pick for FBI head started as Miami lawyer but didn’t stand out, ex-colleagues say,” by Jay Weaver of the Miami Herald. “During his stint in the state public defender’s office, some colleagues noted that he made a positive impression on some peers and judges, leading to his getting hired in late 2009 as an assistant federal public defender, where he was one of the lone Republicans in the office. But a defense attorney who worked alongside Patel representing clients in Miami federal court said he wasn’t a ‘true believer,’ like so many assistant public defenders who are disposed to fighting the government at every turn.” SUNDAY NIGHT — “Trump dines with visiting Sara Netanyahu at his Florida golf resort,” reports staff and Jacob Magid of the Times of Israel. “Netanyahu is in Miami for several weeks to visit her son Yair who has been living in Florida for over a year. Her trip will apparently keep her out of the country during the beginning of the prime minister’s scheduled testimony in his criminal trial on corruption charges.”
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ANNOUNCING A RUN — “Michele Rayner launches bid to replace [term-limited] Darryl Rouson in Senate,” reports Florida Politics’ Janelle Irwin Taylor. “Rayner was first elected to the House in 2020, and was subsequently re-elected in 2022, winning with an overwhelming 82 percent of the vote in Pinellas and 62 percent in Hillsborough against a Republican candidate who was, at the time, jailed on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol. She easily won re-election again this year.”
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| TRANSITION TIME | |
— Miami-based journalist MARC CAPUTO is heading to Axios to cover the Trump transition as a senior politics reporter. He has been a political reporter for The Bulwark and is a POLITICO alum.
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ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | | — Trooper, the dog abandoned during Hurricane Milton, has found a new home, reports Kyla A Sanford of the Tallahassee Democrat. He’ll be living with a family who had a second rescue bull terrier that Trooper bonded with immediately. “There were no shortages of applications for Trooper,” the Leon County Humane Society wrote on Facebook. “Dog lovers nationwide were emailing to inquire about adopting this famous dog who had been through so much. It was no small task to go through these applications, but we’re confident we made a great choice for Trooper.” — Scientists have confirmed that the endangered Florida panther isn’t especially susceptible to chronic wasting disease, which has been infecting deer, their primary prey, reports Chad Gillis of the Fort Myers News-Press. BIRTHDAYS: State Sen. Keith Perry … lobbyist Ron Book ... Carrie O’Rourke, director of development strategy at Stand Together ... POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie ... Krys Fluker, opinion editor The Orlando Sentinel.
| | | | A message from Instagram: Instagram Teen Accounts: a protected experience for teens, guided by parents
Instagram Teen Accounts are designed to address parents’ biggest concerns, providing automatic protections for who can contact their teens and the content they can see.
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