2024 election updates: Harris heads to Texas to highlight abortion access

(NEW YORK) — On the same day that former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, Trump announced that former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is his second choice to fill that role in his administration.

Bondi, 59, has remained in Trump’s inner circle for years and has continued to advise him on legal matters. She was one of the lawyers who defended Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial.

“I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Bondi’s nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. She did not immediately comment on Trump’s announcement.

For more than a decade, Bondi has been a key Trump supporter and has been involved in some controversies — including the “big lie,” pushed by Trump in 2020. She publicly espoused the false claim that he rightfully won the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

In 2013, the Trump Foundation sent a $25,000 donation to Bondi’s fundraising committee for her attorney general reelection campaign.

Around the same time, Bondi’s office had on its desk a lawsuit that probed both Trump himself and Trump University, but it ultimately did not join the suit.

Bondi and Trump both denied allegations that the donation led to her decision to not join the lawsuit, which had been filed by the New York attorney general’s office.

She endorsed Trump for his presidential run and spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, leading a “lock her up chant” against then-Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

She also served as a co-chair of Trump’s reelection bid and spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2020.

Bondi was elected attorney general in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. She left the office after reaching her two-term limit in 2019.

A year later, she was selected as part of Trump’s defense team for his first impeachment trial. He was acquitted in the Senate.

Bondi has also been a registered lobbyist since 2019 at Brian Ballard’s firm, Ballard Partners. Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is also a lobbyist with the firm.

Bondi’s most recent clients include the Florida Sheriffs’ Association, the Florida Sheriffs’ Risk Management Fund and the Major County Sheriffs of America. Her quarterly retainer fees range from $20,000 to $50,000, federal lobbying disclosures show.

She has previously represented investment firms and corporate clients like Amazon, General Motors, the MLB, Fidelity, Uber and the GEO Group, which is a private prison company, according to filings.

In 2019 and 2020, Bondi was engaged in consulting and advocacy services on behalf of the Embassy of the State of Qatar regarding “matters involving anti-human trafficking,” foreign lobbying disclosures filed by Ballard Partners show. Bondi registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar as part of her lobbying work.

After his impeachment trial, Bondi remained with Trump’s legal team while he campaigned in 2020 and repeatedly made false claims about voter fraud when he lost to Joe Biden.

Recently, she has been a member of the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, which was formed by former Trump administration officials. She serves as AFPI’s chair for the Center for Litigation, and co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice, according to the think tank’s website.

Bondi and AFPI attorneys were involved in preemptive election lawsuits in battleground states during this year’s election.

Trump has previously named his other personal attorneys to senior roles in the Department of Justice, including Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and D. John Sauer.

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(WASHINGTON) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s preparation for the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate with Sen. JD Vance is well underway, sources familiar with the process have confirmed to ABC News.

He’s already held some mock debates, sources said, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in his personal capacity, acting as a Vance stand-in, and held policy sessions with his own longtime aides, Biden White House alumni and members of the Harris-Walz campaign team.

Buttigieg was in Minneapolis as recently as Wednesday to help him prepare. Walz has also been practicing on the road as he campaigns.

Biden White House alumni Rob Friedlander and Zayn Siddique are running the preparations. Siddique, who is currently an attorney at the firm Paul Weiss and served as senior adviser to Bruce Reed, the White House deputy chief of staff under President Joe Biden, has also been part of the vice president’s debate preparations.

Friedlander was chief of staff for the White House National Economic Council and senior adviser for communications.

Friedlander and Siddique are being supported by a larger team that includes Liz Allen, a veteran political operative who stepped down from her role as head the State Department’s public diplomacy office in August to become chief of staff on Harris’ running mate team. Chris Schmitter, Walz’s longtime aide who led his gubernatorial races and debate, is also helping along with Harris-Walz communications director Michael Tyler, sources say.

The vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News is set to be in New York City, the network has announced, with both Walz and Vance agreeing to participate. The debate will be moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator and CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.

The sources stress that the vice presidential debate won’t be the “end all be all” for Walz, who has acknowledged himself that he’s “working hard” to “try and learn the issues” but is up against Vance, who “as a United States senator, a Yale Law guy” will come prepared.

“You’ll hear me talk like I have about things that impact Americans, making sure they have the opportunity to thrive, making sure that we’re being factual in how we talk about that. And so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll work hard. That’s what I do,” Walz said about the VP debate on MSNBC in the aftermath of the presidential debate between Harris and former President Donald Trump. “I fully expect that Senator Vance, as a United States Senator, a Yale Law guy, he’ll come well prepared.”

“Debates and VP Debates don’t matter all that much in polling — this will be one of many data points for voters,” sources said about the significance of the debate, also stressing that “Vance is a skilled debater.”

The campaign sees the debate as one of “many” opportunities for Walz to present Harris’ agenda to Americans. He’ll also use the debate to introduce himself and highlight the Democratic ticket’s vision for the future.

“This debate will serve as another clear opportunity for Governor Walz to present Vice President Harris’ winning vision of a New Way Forward to the American people who are ready to turn the page on Donald Trump,” Emily Soong, a spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign said in a statement to ABC News.

Vance’s team has not commented to ABC News on how he’s preparing for the debate. The Washington Post was first to report the details of Walz’s preparations.

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said on Thursday that it did not use any materials that the FBI said Iranian hackers gathered from email accounts associated with former President Donald Trump’s campaign and sent to President Joe Biden’s campaign before he left the race.

Trump’s campaign on Wednesday demanded more information from Harris’ campaign including that it disclose the materials it received and whether it was used.

A Harris campaign official told ABC News that “the materials were not used.” The campaign declined to comment on whether or not they would comply with the Trump campaign’s request to disclose what they received.

Over the summer, Iranian hackers sent unsolicited emails to individuals associated with then-candidate Biden that “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” according to information released by the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies on Wednesday.

The contents of those excerpts are not yet clear.

The FBI said there was no information indicating that the recipients of the information replied to the hackers’ messages.

The White House said Biden only learned Wednesday about the Iranian hackers sending what the FBI called “stolen” information from the Trump campaign to individuals associated with his campaign.

“We learned about the statement yesterday, and the president has been made aware of it now,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday. “You’ve seen us take actions to hold accountable those who week to undermine confidence in our democracy, and we will continue to do so.”

Harris’ campaign said Wednesday that it has cooperated with law enforcement and the investigation into the messages and said it was “not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign.”

“A few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Harris campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said in a statement Wednesday.

Trump’s campaign said hackers are interfering to help Harris and Biden “because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror.”

Iran’s Mission to the United Nations called the intelligence agencies’ findings “fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible.”

ABC News’ Selina Wang, Jack Date and Luke Barr contributed to this report.

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