From Wednesday through Friday of last week, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was a co-host on the Fox News panel program The Five. The move seems to have raised some eyebrows down in the Sunshine State, especially considering Bondi’s second and final term as the state’s AG doesn’t wrap up until January.
Tampa Bay Times reporter Steve Contorno reports “the situation was so unprecedented for a sitting elected official that Bondi first sought guidance from the Florida Commission on Ethics, the government body that oversees conduct of public officials.”
The attorney general’s spokeswoman Kylie Mason told the Tampa Bay Times that Bondi was not paid by Fox News and state funds were not used to pay for her travel to New York.
A Fox News spokesperson provided us with the following statement: “The Florida Ethics Commission cleared Pam Bondi to appear as a co-host of The Five and travel to New York.”
Contorno asked Bondi’s spokeswoman why the AG is guest co-hosting a national news program while still in office.
“She is often on national news,” said Mason. “The attorney general is always working, she is available 24/7 and works even when out of the state.”
AG Bondi frequently appears on Fox News programming in a non-contributor role. She was on Fox News & Friends this morning, where she discussed yesterday’s deadly shooting at a video game tournament in her home state of Florida. She also made a number of appearances on Hannity earlier this month, as well as an Aug. 3 appearance on The Ingraham Angle. Bondi comes on FNC primarily to discuss issues pertaining to the state of Florida and the state’s support for President Trump, but had never previously been a guest co-host on a Fox News program.
Perhaps Bondi is in the mix for a permanent role on The Five. The network will most certainly be holding auditions in the coming weeks and months to take over for former co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle, who departed Fox News last month.