Donald Trump loyalist Pam Bondi named to Kennedy Center board

Image via Getty.

A former Florida Attorney General is headed to the board of one of America’s most august cultural institutions.

The White House announced Tuesday that Pam Bondi, a Republican who served as AG from 2011 to 2019, is the newest addition to the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees.

She will join Brian Ballard, who the President previously appointed to the panel.

With President Donald Trump out of the White House in less than a month, the whirlwind sequence of lame duck placements of friends and allies is in full swing, and those who followed the President’s campaign and term in office know that Bondi’s loyalty has never been in doubt.

Perhaps her most indispensable role on behalf of the President was her contribution to his impeachment defense. Bondi served as a “special advisor” to the President. She found herself outside her comfort zone at times, including in an NPR interview where she said impeachment would be a “stain” on President Trump.

Bondi also addressed the nation on the President’s behalf at the Republican National Convention, delivering an unabashed red meat address. Bondi focused her attacks on Democratic nominee Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden, whom Republicans sought to make a central issue in the campaign.

Using the kind of pitched rhetoric familiar to those who followed her career in public life and as a commentator, the lawyer-turned-lobbyist took a star turn as a prosecutor, indicting the Bidens while extolling the President, in a choice between who is “saving” and who is “swindling” America.

Speculation swirled for the entirety of Trump’s Presidency about when or if Bondi would take a job in the White House. Indeed, the President suggested as much at one of his Florida rallies earlier this year. While that post never materialized, Bondi will be part of the President’s legacy in a different, if unexpected, capacity.

Other Presidential appointees to the Board of Trustees include actor Jon Voight and Lee Greenwood, the country music star known for the ubiquitous “Proud to be an American.”