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accountableus
Hearing Watch: Will AG Pam Bondi Own Up To Her Conflicts of Interest?
Oct 07, 2025
This morning, corporate lobbyist turned U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi faces Senate Judiciary Committee questioning for the first time since her confirmation. The hearing comes as “[m]ore than 275 former Justice Department employees are demanding Congress increase oversight of the department following a mass exodus of career officials who question the integrity of the department's work.” Beyond these concerns from former colleagues over Bondi’s unwillingness to put the constitution above her loyalty to President Donald Trump, the Attorney General has also validated concerns raised in January over her inability to put the public interest before her former lobbying clients and wealthy friends.
During Bondi’s confirmation process, government watchdog Accountable.US revealed that at least five of Bondi’s direct lobbying clients have faced DOJ fines, investigations, or related scrutiny that could pose serious conflicts should they have business before Bondi’s DOJ. Bondi’s clients included Amazon, General Motors, The GEO Group, Uber, and Major League Baseball.
Now, in her first months as Attorney General, Bondi’s lobbying work continues to pose a wide variety of conflict of interest concerns, an Accountable.US review found—with Ballard Partners seeing a surge in DOJ lobbying work since her confirmation; with Bondi’s DOJ scuttling a major antitrust challenge in favor of a new Ballard Partners client; and with Bondi’s DOJ facing a lawsuit over a memo she signed allowing Trump to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar, who she represented while at Ballard Partners.
“In her eight months as Attorney General, Pam Bondi has confirmed all warnings about her treating the office as an enforcer for Donald Trump’s personal whims while also acting as a walking conflict of interest for her former lobbying firm and clients,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. “It says it all that the former Qatar lobbyist Bondi penned a DOJ memo – i.e. corruption ‘get out of jail free card’ – allowing Donald Trump to use a gifted luxury super jet from the nation he’s doing billions of dollars in crypto business with during and after his presidency. During her first Senate hearing, will Bondi answer for all these sweetheart deals she’s supporting for the President and former lobbying clients while millions of working Americans are asked to choose between a continued government shutdown or losing their health care?”
HERE’S HOW BONDI’S CONFLICTS OF INTEREST ARE ALREADY COMPROMISING THE AMERICAN PUBLIC INTEREST:
- Since Pamela Bondi became Attorney General, Ballard Partners has become “the highest-paid lobbying shop” in Washington D.C. On top of this, Ballard has represented 10 different clients directly before Bondi’s DOJ in the first months of the second Trump administration—more DOJ clients than it had in the first Trump and Biden administrations combined.
- In March 2025, shortly after Bondi’s confirmation, Ballard Partners registered as a lobbying firm for American Express Global Business Travel, which paid the firm $200,000 to exclusively lobby Bondi’s DOJ in the first half of 2025 alone. Notably, in July 2025, Bondi’s DOJ dismissed the Biden Administration’s challenge against a $540 million merger that would have allowed American Express GBT to “eliminate its second-largest rival” CWT Holdings.
- While she was with Ballard Partners, Bondi was a foreign lobbyist for the nation of Qatar. Once she became Attorney General, Bondi “personally signed” a DOJ legal memo approving the legality of Qatar’s royal family gifting a $400 million “palace in the sky” jet to the Trump administration, for Trump to use as Air Force One. In July 2025, Bondi’s DOJ was sued by the Freedom of the Press Foundation for refusing to release the memorandum Bondi reportedly signed approving the gift.
- Meanwhile, the Trump Organization announced its first foreign deal in Trump’s second term, a new luxury golf resort in Qatar developed in partnership with a Qatari government-owned company.
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Watchdog: Trump Interior Department Moves To Scrap Key Public Lands Protection In Latest Giveaway to Trump’s Big Oil Donors
Sep 12, 2025
This week, Trump Interior Secretary and oil industry darling Doug Burgum delivered another gift to President Trump’s big oil and gas industry donors by beginning to undo a key Biden-era public lands protection policy that put conservation on equal footing to extractive uses on Bureau of Land Management Lands.
“Trump Interior Secretary and noted oil industry sellout Doug Burgum is letting the Bureau of Land Management off the hook from having to do anything to preserve public lands — setting up President Trump’s big polluter donors to pillage our sacred public lands for profit,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. “The Trump administration is methodically removing any barrier keeping the big oil and gas industry from laying waste to America’s natural beauty and threatening our clean air and water. It’s exactly what oil and gas lobbyists wanted after making record high donations to the Trump campaign and pipelining millions more into the war chests of Trump’s allies in Congress. The Trump administration should instead listen to strong bipartisan public sentiment that America’s public lands should not be treated like ‘assets’ for making oil billionaires even richer.”
In May, a draft strategy memo from the U.S. Department of the Interior was leaked that outlines President Trump’s intent of opening up public lands to development in service to oil, gas and coal production that echoes language used by Secretary Doug Burgum who bluntly considers public lands “assets” on a “balance sheet”.
In addition, President Trump has declared an “energy emergency” that has no basis in reality in order to limit environmental reviews of oil and gas projects on public lands and to fast-track industry permitting and approvals for such projects. That is why Accountable.US joined nearly 170 groups representing millions of members and supporters in urging Senators to support S.J.Res.71, the privileged resolution led by Senators Kaine and Heinrich, to terminate the Executive Order declaring an Energy Emergency that is threatening to raise costs on families, and weaken our economic competitiveness.
- Reversing the public lands rule is a major wish list item from the oil and gas industry whose lobby groups Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and Western Energy Alliance (WEA) opposed the rule, as well as to anti-conservation groups like Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
- Repealing the commonsense rule is a giveaway to the oil industry. Notably, Secretary Doug Burgum was in the room at Mar-A-Lago when Donald Trump made a promise to give big oil CEOs policy wins if they financed his campaign. Repealing this rule is the latest example of Trump’s big oil donors cashing in.
- Burgum has a close and cozy relationship with at least one of the big oil companies included in the Mar-A-Lago meeting. Burgum has leased his private land to Continental Resources and been paid in royalties. Continental Resources and its past chairman Harold Hamm were also major financial backers of Burgum’s failed campaign for president.
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New Accountable.US Report Reveals How Trump’s Tariffs Are Hiking Grocery Prices
Nation’s Major Grocers Cite Tariffs For Increased Grocery Prices, While Trump Gives Tax Breaks to Giant Corporations
Aug 26, 2025
New research from Accountable.US finds that Trump’s tariffs are being cited as the primary factor for rising grocery costs. Nearly 90% of Americans said in August 2025 they are “stressed about the cost of groceries,” with over 50% calling food prices a “major source of stress.”
This research comes as grocers shift the added costs of Trump’s tariffs onto consumers – while he gives corporations the largest tax cuts in modern history. Food prices are projected to rise by an additional 3% in the short- and near-term due to tariffs, including fresh produce jumping by 7% and processed rice soaring by over 10%.
Here’s what major grocers that provide food to millions of American people are saying about Trump’s tariffs:
- Walmart’s CEO has warned that Trump’s tariffs “will result in higher prices,” has“made it clear that he wasn’t freezing prices,” and has observed “stress behaviors” among consumers—all while grocery sales were a “financial driver” for Walmart.
- Costco has warned that “grocery items will be particularly vulnerable” to Trump’s tariffs, that its food margins were “very tight,” and reported that it saw “inflation as a result of tariffs” for imported fresh foods.
- Kroger’s CEO observed that consumers were stretching their food budgets, while the company projected impact from Trump’s tariffs on its fresh products and planned to shift purchasing processes to mitigate tariff pressure.
- Albertsons’ CEO said the company may “pass the higher cost of goods to customers” due to Trump’s tariffs, while the company warned suppliers it would not accept cost increases, “wielding its market power like a cudgel” over smaller suppliers struggling with tariff price pressures.
- Ahold Delhaize warned Trump’s tariffs “could lead to price increases for American consumers,” cited the tariffs as an example of “geopolitical volatility” the company faced, and warned of “tight” pricing negotiations with suppliers due to tariff and inflation pressures.
“While Trump grants massive tax cuts to massive corporations and the ultra-rich, his reckless tariff policy is wreaking warrantless chaos on our economy, with grocery giants shifting market uncertainty onto consumers – all at a time when 9 in 10 Americans remain gravely concerned about food costs,” said Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone. “It’s only the latest example of how Trump’s reckless trade policy comes at the cost of Americans’ pocketbooks.”
“Grocers are ringing alarm bells because they’re seeing the same shocking food price trends that thousands of Americans are tracking at DontInflateOurPlates.com. Working families are being crushed by Republican tariffs every time they check out at the grocery store,” said Unrig Our Economy Campaign Director Leor Tal.“It’s bad enough that Trump and congressional Republicans’ policies are driving up the cost of seeing your doctor and paying your utility bill. Sadly, Republicans are also deadset on inflicting additional pain at the checkout line – all to pay for massive tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.”
See the full report HERE.
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Watchdog: Emil Bove Privately Met With The Extreme Right-Wing Group Alliance Defending Freedom Whose Cases Could Come Before Bove on 3rd Circuit
Jul 25, 2025
A new Accountable.US investigation, first reported by Huff Post, has revealed new concerns about Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s former defense attorney and his “enforcer” within the Department of Justice, who is nominated for a lifetime judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In a Senate questionnaire, Bove revealed that he’s conferred with a top Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) official to discuss his qualifications, judicial philosophy, and confirmation preparation. ADF is a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that has been instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade and advancing right-wing legal positions nationwide.
Making matters worse, ADF is actively involved in at least one case, Heaps v. Delaware Valley Regional High School Board of Education, that is set to come before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. That means, if confirmed, Bove could preside over cases involving an organization he consulted with during his nomination process – a fundamental breach of judicial ethics.
“The red flags on Emil Bove’s judicial nomination are piling up. Bove has shown unflinching loyalty to his former client and current boss, Donald Trump; has refused to commit to recusing himself on cases involving the President; and is the subject of a whistleblower complaint casting doubt on his integrity and highlighting his lack of respect for the law. Now it’s clear that he has also conferred with a far-right legal organization that has matters before the court on which he would serve,” said Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone. “Bove has repeatedly disregarded the ethical standards of the federal judiciary and the rule of law – his lifetime appointment opens the door for the President and his allies to seek out favorable rulings, no matter how unconstitutional their actions may be. Trust in the judiciary is at an all-time low because of repeated ethical lapses. If the Senate confirms Bove, it will undermine the credibility of the court even further.”
It’s just the latest disqualification for Bove, who is under a whistleblower investigation for misconduct while at the Department of Justice, and has come to be known as the Administration's “hatchet man.” Earlier this month, an Accountable.US research report revealed that Bove has not committed to key recusals ahead of his nomination hearing. In a nomination form, Bove pledged to recuse himself from “situations that present actual conflicts of interest based on my current or prior positions at the Department of Justice” – but he’s refrained from preemptively recusing himself from any future case involving his former client and current boss, Donald Trump.
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