Today was one of those rare but awesome days when CNN holds someone's feet to the fire. Anderson Cooper, a member of the LGBT Community, interviewed Florida AG and vehement opponent of LGBT rights, Pam Bondi. Today, she is promoting her valiant efforts to prevent fraud against the vulnerable victims and their families with illegitimate GoFundMe pages. It didn't take long for Cooper to remind Bondi of her record of opposing Marriage Equality. Let's revisit some of Bondi's anti-LGBT history:
Florida's Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi was one of the most active and recognizable fighters against same-sex marriage in the run up to the Supreme Court taking up the issue. And now, Florida taxpayers will have to pay almost a half million dollars in legal fees to the winning attorneys, thanks entirely to Bondi's unyielding defense. NBC Miami reports the final figure is $493,000.
Time after time after time Bondi lost in court, and time after time after time Bondi appealed. Bondi became a reviled figure for the anti-gay rhetoric in her court filings, which were deemed not only false but hypocritical, given she was on her third marriage.
Here's some of the heated exchange:
COOPER: I want to ask you - I saw you the other day saying that anyone who attacks the LGBT community, our LGBT community, you said, will be gone after with the full extent of the law.
BONDI: That's exactly right.
COOPER: I talked to a lot of gay and lesbian people here yesterday who are not fans of yours and who said that they thought you were being a hypocrite, that you for years have fought - you basically have gone after gay people, said that in court that gay people simply by fighting for marriage equality were trying to do harm to the people of Florida, to induce public harm I believe was the term you used in court. Do you really think you're a champion of the gay community?
BONDI: I - let me tell you, I - when I was sworn in as attorney general, I put my hand on a Bible and was sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of Florida. That's not a law. That was voted in to our state constitution by the voters of Florida. That's what I was defending. Had nothing to do - I've never said I don't like gay people. That's ridiculous.
COOPER: But you did say - but do you worry about using language accusing gay people of trying to do harm to the people of Florida -
He continued to fluster Bondi, by simply reviewing her words and actions against equal rights for ALL PEOPLE. The final nail in her coffin came close to the end of the interview:
COOPER: The - the hotline that you've been talking about on television, which allows family members and spouses of the dead to get information -
BONDI: Yes
.
COOPER: Which is incredibly important, and I appreciate you talking about on the air, had there been no gay marriage, had there been no same-sex marriage, you do realize that spouses, there would be no spouses, that boyfriends and girlfriends of the dead would not be able to get information and would not be able probably to even visit in the hospital here.
BONDI: Well, that's -
And he goes in for the kill with a quick question.
COOPER: Isn't there a sick irony in that?
She tried to win the argument by saying that she was defending Florida's Constitution, but Cooper shut her down again.
BONDI: I was defending the constitution of what over 69 percent of the voters put in the constitution.
COOPER: Right. But the - you know, the courts, the federal courts said, that's not the constitution -
He reminded her that she kept fighting the ruling and wouldn't stop until she could no longer appeal. She attempted to switch subjects to the human tragedy that brought them all to Orlando, but Anderson destroyed her attempt to cover up the truth about her homophobia, and that's all the viewers will remember. Just awesome!
In case you weren't disgusted by this woman, she is also the very same Republican who just so happened to drop the investigation into Trump University after the Trump Foundation made a $25,000 contribution towards her re-election efforts. It's not the least surprising that Bondi and Trump are both on their third marriage, both are typical Republicans.
