Overview

• The New Yorker reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi feuded with DOJ ethics staff over a FIFA soccer ball handed to her after a meeting and a box of cigars from Conor McGregor.
• Ethics officials cited federal rules that bar DOJ employees from accepting gifts worth more than $20 per occasion or totaling over $50 a year from one source.
• Despite warnings, Bondi and her husband joined President Trump in the FIFA Club World Cup private box, with Bondi saying she might need to brief him on security issues.
• A DOJ spokesperson confirmed the couple did not stay for the entire match and declined to dispute reports of their VIP suite attendance.
• These gift disputes add to earlier controversies in Bondi’s tenure, including February’s organizational shake-ups and a June ethics complaint against her directives to DOJ lawyers.