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      End of Trump Cases Leaves Limits on Presidential Criminality Unclear

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      Donald J. Trump is set to regain office without clarity on the scope of presidential immunity and with a lingering cloud over whether outside special counsels can investigate high-level wrongdoing.The end of the two federal criminal cases against President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday left momentous, unsettled questions about constraints on criminal wrongdoing by presidents, from the scope of presidential immunity to whether the Justice Department may continue to appoint outside special counsels to investigate high-level wrongdoing.Both cases against Mr. Trump — for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his later hoarding of classified government documents and obstruction of efforts to retrieve them — were short-circuited by the fact that he won the 2024 election before they could be definitively resolved.Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought both cases against Mr. Trump, asked courts on Monday to shut them down. The prosecutor cited the Justice Department’s longstanding view that the Constitution implicitly grants temporary immunity to sitting presidents, lest any prosecution distract them from their official duties.The result is not just that Mr. Trump appears set to escape any criminal accountability for his actions. (Mr. Smith left the door open to, in theory, refiling the charges after Mr. Trump leaves office, but the statute of limitations is likely to have run by then.) It also means that two open constitutional questions the cases have raised appear likely to go without definitive answers as Mr. Trump takes office.One is the extent of the protection from prosecution offered to former presidents by the Supreme Court’s ruling this summer establishing that they have a type of broad but not fully defined immunity for official acts taken while in office.The other is whether, when a president is suspected of committing crimes, the Justice Department can avoid conflicts of interest by bringing in an outside prosecutor to lead a semi-independent investigation into the matter.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Emerging Details of Chinese Hack Leave U.S. Officials Increasingly Concerned

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      Leaders of the big telecommunications companies were summoned to the White House to discuss strategies for overhauling the security of the nation’s telecommunications networks amid growing alarm at the scope of a Chinese hack. Leaders of the top telecommunications companies were summoned to the White House on Friday to discuss a security problem that has been roiling the government: how to expel Chinese hackers from the deepest corners of the nation’s communications networks.The meeting in the Situation Room came after weeks in which officials grew increasingly alarmed by what they had uncovered about the hack.They now believe the hackers from a group called “Salt Typhoon,” closely linked to China’s Ministry of State Security, were lurking undetected inside the networks of the biggest American telecommunications firms for more than a year.They have learned that the Chinese hackers got a nearly complete list of phone numbers the Justice Department monitors in its “lawful intercept” system, which places wiretaps on people suspected of committing crimes or spying, usually after a warrant is issued.While officials do not believe the Chinese listened to those calls, the hackers were likely able to combine the phone numbers with geolocation data to create a detailed intelligence picture of who was being surveilled.As a result, officials said, the penetration almost certainly gave China a road map to discover which of China’s spies the United States has identified and which they have missed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ¿Quién es Pam Bondi, la nueva elección de Donald Trump para fiscala general?

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      Fue la primera fiscala general del estado de Florida, se convirtió en integrante del equipo de defensa del juicio político a Donald Trump y respaldó sus falsas acusaciones de fraude electoral en 2020.El presidente electo de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, se apresuró a dejar de lado los malos titulares del jueves sobre Matt Gaetz reemplazándolo con rapidez por Pam Bondi, una colega republicana de Florida con un perfil muy diferente —pero una reputación similar de lealtad— para ser su fiscala general.Bondi, de 59 años, es una lobista leal a Trump que ocupó el cargo de fiscala general de Florida entre 2011 y 2019. Ha trazado un camino más convencional y menos estrepitoso que Gaetz, con poco del desagradable bagaje personal o político que llevó a algunos republicanos a oponerse a su nominación.Fue fiscala localBondi, hija del alcalde de un pequeño municipio del área de Tampa, empezó a trabajar como ayudante del fiscal del estado en el condado de Hillsborough en la década de 1990. Durante 18 años como fiscala, llevó casos “que iban desde la violencia doméstica hasta el homicidio punible con pena capital”, según la página de su biografía en su empresa de cabildeo.Supervisó un puñado de casos de gran repercusión, entre los que destaca el del exlanzador de los New York Mets Dwight Gooden, quien cumplió una condena de un año de prisión por violar la libertad condicional en un caso de drogas en 2006.En 2010 fue elegida la primera mujer fiscala general de FloridaBondi, demócrata hasta 2000, se impuso en unas reñidas primarias republicanas y ganó las elecciones a fiscala general tras conseguir el apoyo de Sarah Palin, exgobernadora de Alaska y fallida candidata republicana a la vicepresidencia en 2008, y promocionar su firme postura contra la delincuencia durante sus apariciones en Fox News.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What Bondi Might Do as Attorney General

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      Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the Justice Department fought to overturn the Affordable Care Act, and has lobbied for Amazon, Uber and General Motors.Pam Bondi in 2020. She is seen as a Donald Trump loyalist who may lead a shake-up of the Justice Department.Pete Marovich for The New York TimesNew face, same goals?Heads in Washington are still spinning after Donald Trump named Pam Bondi as his choice for attorney general, just hours following Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from consideration.Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and close ally of the president-elect, would most likely share his and Gaetz’s goal of shaking up the Justice Department. But the switcheroo also raises questions about how willing Republicans might be to push back against the more divisive elements of the Trump agenda.What to know: As Florida’s attorney general, Bondi participated in efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act and the legalization of marijuana, as well as a multi-state lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.Since leaving office in 2019, she has worked for the powerful Republican lobbyist Brian Ballard — where her clients included General Motors (labor and tax policy), Amazon (cloud computing and trade) and Uber (the gig economy) — and a separate right-wing think tank that’s close to the Trump transition team.But while she is a favorite of Trump’s, it’s unclear whether she had been on a vetting list for an administration role. The Times reports that she interviewed for the position only on Thursday.It’s also uncertain how Bondi would steer the Justice Department. She is a longtime loyalist who served on the legal team that fought his first impeachment and publicly criticized the prosecutors and judge in his Manhattan criminal trial. “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — Not anymore,” Trump wrote in announcing her selection.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Pam Bondi Is Trump’s New Choice as Attorney General. Here’s What to Know About Her.

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      President-elect Donald J. Trump quickly swept aside Thursday’s bad headlines about Matt Gaetz by speedily substituting Pam Bondi, a fellow Florida Republican with a starkly different profile — but a similar reputation for fealty — to be his attorney general.Ms. Bondi, 59, is a lobbyist and Trump loyalist who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019. She has charted a more conventional and less clamorous course than Mr. Gaetz, with little of the ugly personal or political baggage that led some Republicans to oppose Mr. Gaetz’s nomination.She was a local prosecutor.Ms. Bondi, the daughter of the mayor of a small Tampa-area municipality, began working as an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County in the 1990s. During 18 years as a prosecutor, she tried cases “ranging from domestic violence to capital murder,” according to the bio page at her lobbying firm.She supervised a handful of high-profile cases, most notably one involving the former New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden, who served a one-year prison sentence for violating probation in a drug case in 2006.She was elected Florida’s first female attorney general in 2010.Ms. Bondi — a Democrat until 2000 — emerged from a crowded Republican primary to win the attorney general’s race after garnering the support of Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and failed 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, and by touting her tough stance on crime during appearances on Fox News.During her eight-year tenure, she tried unsuccessfully to overturn and weaken the Affordable Care Act, opposed expanding legal protections for the L.G.B.T.Q. community and cultivated a national reputation by supporting anti-human-trafficking efforts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bondi Worked as Lobbyist in Recent Years, With Clients Including Amazon, G.M., Uber and Qatar

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      President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to be attorney general, Pam Bondi, is a lobbyist for a powerhouse Republican firm, for which she represented major corporations and foreign governments with interests before the U.S. government.Ms. Bondi joined the lobbying firm of the Republican fund-raiser Brian Ballard after finishing her second term as Florida attorney general in January 2019.Among the clients for which she was registered to lobby were major companies, including Amazon, General Motors and Uber, as well as the Qatari government and various financial firms.Those registrations are no longer active, but Ms. Bondi is currently registered as a lobbyist for law enforcement-related clients, including an association representing some of the country’s largest sheriff’s offices and another group representing sheriffs in Florida, as well as the Florida sheriffs’ self-insurance program.A person familiar with the firm confirmed that Ms. Bondi was still affiliated with it and those clients as of Thursday.The firm’s website indicates that she is the chairwoman of its corporate regulatory compliance practice, focusing on helping Fortune 500 companies implement policies to fight human trafficking, opioid abuse and data breaches.Another veteran of Mr. Ballard’s firm, Susie Wiles, was tapped by Mr. Trump to be the White House chief of staff. Ms. Wiles will be the first woman to hold that job. Mr. Ballard helped to bring in more than $50 million for committees supporting Mr. Trump’s campaign. More

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      U.S. Plans to Propose Breakup of Google to Fix Search Monopoly

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      In a landmark antitrust case, the government will ask a judge to force the company to sell its popular Chrome browser, people with knowledge of the matter said.The Justice Department and a group of states plan to ask a federal court late Wednesday to force Google to sell Chrome, its popular web browser, two people with knowledge of the decision said, a move that could fundamentally alter the $2 trillion company’s business and reshape competition on the internet.The request would follow a landmark ruling in August by Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that found Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in online search. Judge Mehta asked the Justice Department and the states that brought the antitrust case to submit solutions by the end of Wednesday to correct the search monopoly.Beyond the sale of Chrome, the government is set to ask Judge Mehta to bar Google from entering into paid agreements with Apple and others to be the automatic search engine on smartphones and in browsers, the people said. Google should also be required to share data with rivals, they said.The proposals would likely be the most significant remedies to be requested in a tech antitrust case since the Justice Department asked to break up Microsoft in 2000. If Judge Mehta adopts the proposals, they will set the tone for a string of other antitrust cases that challenge the dominance of tech behemoths including Apple, Amazon and Meta.Being forced to sell Chrome would be among the worst possible outcomes for Google. Chrome, which is free to use, is the most popular web browser in the world and part of an elaborate Google ecosystem that keeps people using the company’s products. Google’s search engine is bundled into Chrome.Google is set to file its own suggestions for fixing the search monopoly by Dec. 20. Both sides can modify their requests before Judge Mehta is expected to hear arguments on the remedies this spring. He is expected to rule by the end of the summer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Group Sues Justice Department for Gaetz Investigation Documents

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      A nonpartisan watchdog group has filed a motion in federal court seeking to compel the Justice Department to release all material relating to its now-shuttered sex trafficking investigation of Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to be attorney general.The motion was filed on Tuesday night by the group, American Oversight, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The F.B.I., which was investigating the case for the Justice Department, has refused to release the documents, stating that it is exempt from Freedom of Information Act inquiries.The group has been trying to get the documents since last year, when the Justice Department ended its two-year inquiry into whether Mr. Gaetz, then a House member from Florida, had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him. Mr. Gaetz was never charged, and he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.The case is before Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in 2017.Mr. Trump announced last week that he would nominate Mr. Gaetz, sparking a furor in Washington. The House Committee on Ethics was also investigating allegations that Mr. Gaetz had engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, and was prepared to vote on releasing a highly critical report about him. But within hours of Mr. Trump’s announcement, Mr. Gaetz resigned his seat and the report’s contents instantly became moot, at least as far as the House was concerned.American Oversight argued in its motion that there was now “an elevated and significant public interest in the quick release of these records” owing to “the unusual circumstances of Mr. Gaetz potentially leading the agency holding the records relating to his investigation.”The documents sought by American Oversight include all F.B.I. forms describing interviews with witnesses at the heart of both the sex-trafficking inquiry and any efforts to obstruct it. The group seeks a deadline of Dec. 16 for the release of the documents. More