Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi has no downside throwing the e-book at President Donald Trump’s critics for even the pettiest offenses—however in the case of her personal shady conduct, all of the sudden the principles are versatile.
In keeping with ProPublica, Bondi dumped between $1 and $5 million price 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 Reality 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 sort of monetary sleight of hand that’s grow to be routine in Trumpworld. This is identical man who posted “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” simply hours earlier than saying a tariff pause that despatched the markets hovering. Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly took it as precise funding recommendation.
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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 circumstances are notoriously exhausting to convey, particularly after current courtroom rulings narrowed what even counts as a violation, ProPublica famous.
Conveniently, Bondi’s personal Justice Division has clammed up, refusing to reply primary questions in regards to the sale or its timing. However let’s be sincere: It doesn’t take a authorized scholar to identify a crooked sample.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks throughout a information convention on the governor’s official residence a couple of suspected arson hearth that pressured him, his household, and company to flee in the midst of the evening on the Jewish vacation of Passover, on April 13, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Whereas she’s presumably making tens of millions 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 mentioned nearly nothing when Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro was focused in an arson assault on his dwelling.
Her funds have been sketchy for some time. She pocketed not less than $3 million from the Trump Media merger for “consulting,” nonetheless holds between $2 and $10 million in inventory, and was imagined 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 overlook: She greenlit Trump’s use of a $400 million personal jet from Qatar for use as a short lived Air Drive One.
That tells you every little thing. Bondi and her DOJ figured accepting a Qatari jet for the president was legally superb (it’s most likely not). If that’s their authorized customary, no marvel she thinks promoting off tens of millions in inventory simply forward of a crash isn’t any huge deal.
Trump is corrupt, and everybody in his inside circle appears to function off the identical playbook. Bondi would possibly wish to test her personal rap sheet earlier than pretending to play sheriff.
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