The Tears of a Clown: Pam Bondi's Pattern of Calling Reporters Crying to Kill Stories Revealed in Atlantic Profile
- Reporters noticed Pam Bondi had developed a pattern of calling them crying when they were about to publish critical stories
- Journalist Manteiga recalls Bondi calling him before a critical campaign story: 'And she gets on the phone with me, and she's crying—Don't print this article'
- Multiple reporters confirmed this behavior - St. Petersburg Times reporter said 'Yeah, she does that to us too' and another reporter said 'Yeah, she's done that to me'
This is pretty weird behavior from someone who showed up with the burn book from Mean Girls to avoid answering questions in the Epstein files hearing earlier this week. Some people attempt to cry to get out of traffic tickets but crying to get out of negative press when you're the AG? I don't think so.
The Epstein files in particular constitute a real disaster for the DoJ and Bondi in particular. The DoJ is pretty flatly disobeying an act of Congress instructing them to release un-redacted files. But here we are now with an AG sobbing on the phone while screaming with the impunity of a person convinced they're untouchable.
Congress hasn't impeached and removed anyone in 15 years. Maybe Bondi will break that streak and we'll see real tears. Or maybe she'll go on developing her burn book for future congressional hearings.