Bondi, Trump to meet amid ‘drug czar’ talk

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will head to New York on Friday to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, fueling more speculation about whether she will land a gig with the new administration.

Bondi, 51, is an adviser on Trump’s transition team as he fills out his administration ahead of taking office in January. But she has also been rumored as a possible pick for director of National Drug Control Policy, a post known as “drug czar,” because of her record of targeting “pill mills” and synthetic drugs.

She was one of Trump’s earliest supporters in Florida, endorsing him before Florida’s March 15 presidential primary, and has said she is friends with the real estate mogul.

But a job with the Trump administration that requires confirmation by the Senate would likely bring back a scandal that hounded her throughout the 2016 campaign season.

Bondi repeatedly ignored questions from the news media about a $25,000 check sent by the Trump Foundation to her political committee in September 2013, the same time her office was considering whether to look into Trump University, a real estate investment seminar that some consumers say was a scam to swindle them out of thousands of dollars. Bondi personally solicited the donation from Trump.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had already brought a suit on behalf of Trump University consumers who said they were defrauded.

Bondi eventually held a news conference in September and said she did nothing wrong. After he won the election, Trump settled the New York case for $25 million. The settlement did not include an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing by Trump.

“The ONLY bad thing about winning the Presidency is that I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial on Trump U. Too bad!” Trump tweeted last month when the settlement was announced.

Pam Bondi heads to New York to meet with Presidentelect Donald Trump, fueling speculation about joining his administration.