Flashback: Qatar Lobbyist Turned AG Pam Bondi Told Senators She’d Recuse When Even “Appearance of a Conflict of Interest” Arises, Then Blessed Qatar ‘Flying Palace’ Bribe to Administration

Washington D.C. – Despite a wave of criticism from ethics experts and lawmakers, the Trump Administration has continued to make preparations to accept a jumbo jet known as a “flying palace” from the royal family of Qatar for President Trump to use as the new Air Force One. Raising even more red flags over the potential for corrupting foreign influence, the controversial gift would be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation after the end of Trump’s term, where it would be available for his own personal benefit. The gift of the $400 million “super luxury” jet to the Trump administration with possible strings-attached is worth 4,000 times more than the gold bars Senator Bob Menendez accepted in exchange for favors for Egypt, for which he was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 11 years in prison. 

Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who previously worked as a foreign lobbyist for the nation of Qatar, “personally signed” a Justice Department legal memorandum approving the legality of Qatar gifting the jet to the Trump administration. Bondi’s memo concluded that it would be legally permissible for the Trump administration and the library to accept the jet, and that it would not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause barring gifts from foreign royalty or governments. Bondi’s memo strangely determined that the jet did not constitute bribery because it was “not conditioned on any official act” and that it did not violate the Emoluments Clause because it was being gifted to the U.S. government and to the Trump library foundation, and not to Trump as an individual.

Now, a new review from government watchdog Accountable.US reexamined statements Bondi made during her Senate nomination process to become the U.S. Attorney General under the Trump administration that confirms pre-confirmation concerns that Bondi would put loyalty to President Trump above her duty to the American people and her promises to avoid a minefield of conflicts of interest her previous work brought to the job: 

• When asked by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee if she would recuse from matters that raise even “the appearance of a conflict of interest,” Bondi suggested she would recuse from matters “even where others advise [her] it is not necessary,” that she would “own any recusal decision.” Bondi also stated, “the President is bound by the terms of his oath, the Constitution, and applicable law” when asked about his power over the Justice Department.

• In February 2025, newly confirmed Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued directives limiting the enforcement of foreign lobbying and foreign bribery laws. The day after she was confirmed, she narrowed enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to matters involving “criminal operations of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.” Soon after, she narrowed the Foreign Agents Registration Act enforcement of foreign lobbying and influence campaigns.

• In the ethics agreement she signed upon becoming Attorney General, Bondi stated she would not “participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties” that she or Ballard Partners had represented for one year after her resignation from the firm or for one year after she last represented a particular client.
  

Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk: “Qatar lobbyist turned Attorney General Pam Bondi is complicit in Donald Trump’s effort to gut checks and balances to normalize presidential self-dealing and influence peddling. Bondi’s moves as AG to curb enforcement of foreign bribery laws seems to have been in anticipation of this very kind of sketchy overseas tribute to President Trump. The ethical and legal gymnastics Bondi performed to justify a bribe as blatant as a luxury jet to this administration—including rubber-stamping Donald Trump’s personal use after the presidency—would be laughable if the potential consequences for the American people and our national security weren’t so serious. Bondi clearly took the American people for a ride when she promised to recuse herself when even a hint of a conflict of interest might arise, but it’s become just another day for the pay-to-play administration.”

Accountable.US has previously documented Pam Bondi’s unquestioning fealty to Trump, her serious potential conflicts of interest involving at least five of her major lobbying clients who have had run-ins with the DOJ she now leads, and record as former Florida Attorney General’s  selling out her office to corporate special interests that donated millions of dollars to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) in exchange for dropped lawsuits, amicus briefs, and firings.

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