Pam Bondi questions similarity between Biden's Saudi diplomacy, Trump's Ukraine call
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi joins 'Jesse Watters Primetime' to recall impeachment over 'quid pro quo.'
President Biden is engaging in the same sort of politicking former President Donald Trump was impeached over, "quid pro quo," former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday.
In 2019, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., sought the impeachment of Trump over a phone call he held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump, Schiff charged, engaged in a quid pro quo through which Kyiv would investigate Hunter Biden after the younger Biden was found to have sat on the board of Burisma energy despite no apparent experience in that sector.
Bondi told "Jesse Watters Primetime" that Joe Biden's recent threat to potentially impose costs on Saudi Arabia for cutting oil production — after he asked them to increase it during a summit in Jeddah — could be seen in a similar light.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. (The Associated Press)
"I think it's a million times worse when you attempt to leverage the power of the presidency over a foreign government to achieve an outcome for your political benefit," Bondi said.
Host Jesse Watters previously reported Biden administration officials called their Saudi counterparts to ask for a one-month delay in an OPEC+ decision on future oil output, noting that such a postponement would delay any reverberations stateside until after the midterm elections.
The Wall Street Journal summarily reported the Saudi government viewed Biden's overtures as a political gambit.
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Reps. Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff speak during a press conference on Protecting Our Democracy Act. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
During their interview, Bondi said Schiff and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler must be ecstatic over the news given their eagerness to impeach for such political dynamics.
"Oops — except it's their candidate, it's their party," she said. "That's the problem."
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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman fist bumps U.S. President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
Bondi, who once counseled Trump, said Biden's decades-long claims of statesmanship and worldwide respect have been exposed as bluster — in that every diplomatic endeavor he engages in seems to backfire.
"Joe Biden has no respect on the world stage… and the Saudis called him out, so now we are having to beg [Venezuelan autocrat Nicolas] Maduro for oil."
"They've tried these stunts, as you know, the political stunts about the student loan forgiveness, [the] 'let's pardon every drug user in the country to try to get more votes in the midterms' — but this is actually really, really serious because it has to do with our national security."
"Wouldn't you think Adam Schiff would switch parties right now and want to go after them?" Bondi asked.
The State Department said Wednesday it started reevaluating and resetting the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia in the wake of Biden's declaration there would be "consequences" for Riyadh's decision to side with Russia and cut back oil production.
"There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done with Russia," Biden told CNN's Jake Tapper. "I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be consequences."
FOX Business' Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.
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