Around May 11, 2025, amid reports that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had cleared the Trump administration to receive a $400 million luxury plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family, a claim (archived) circulated that Bondi used to work as a lobbyist for the Middle Eastern country, earning up to $115,000 per month.
A popular version of the claim on Facebook read: "Fun Fact: Attorney General Pam Bondi – the one who approved Trump's illegal Qatari airplane gift – was paid $115,000 PER MONTH as a lobbyist for Qatar."
The claim also appeared on X (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived), Reddit (archived) and TikTok (archived). Snopes readers messaged us asking if it was true.
At her Senate confirmation hearing for the role of attorney general in January 2025, Bondi confirmed that she "represented the country of Qatar" during her time working for Ballard Partners, a Florida-based lobbying firm.
However, during that same hearing, Bondi said it was Ballard Partners and not she personally that received $115,000 per month for lobbying work for Qatar. It was unclear how much of its earnings from the yearlong contract with the Embassy of the State of Qatar Ballard Partners paid to Bondi.
Department of Justice documents filed by Ballard Partners corroborate Bondi's statements about her work and the money paid to Ballard Partners. Therefore, we rate this claim a mixture of true, false and undetermined elements: It's true that Bondi lobbied for Qatar, but unknown how much money she personally made monthly for this work.
Bondi appeared before the Senate on Jan. 15, 2025, for her confirmation hearing for the role of attorney general.
U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who is a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Bondi why she had not declared her work for Ballard Partners, including her alleged $115,000 monthly salary, as a conflict of interest before the hearing.
Bondi said (time code 49:30):
Well, Senator, first, that was the amount my firm received. I believe multiple people represented the country of Qatar within my firm. My role — and I'm very proud of the work that I did, it was a short time and I wish it had been longer for Qatar — was anti-human trafficking efforts leading into the World Cup, which is something I'd like to talk about later, too. I was registered as FARA along with many members of my firm. That was the sole portion of my representation for Qatar.
Sen. Thom Thillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, later asked Bondi about the $115,000 claim again (time-code 1:52:13):
Tillis: And you also made it clear that you had a number of practitioners within the firm working on it. So this narrative that you were getting $115,000 a month from Qatar is correct or not?
Bondi: Not correct.
FARA, which Bondi referenced in her reply to Durbin, is an abbreviation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and a unit within the Department of Justice. This act requires companies (and people) like Ballard Partners, who are "engaged in political activities" with "foreign principals" to register with the Department of Justice. The act doesn't prohibit work such as lobbying for foreign governments like Qatar, but does require businesses to disclose what they are doing and details around payment for their work.
Documents filed by companies like Ballard Partners are publicly available through the Justice Department's website. Two such documents — one filed in July 2019 and another in May 2020 — detailed Ballard Partners' work with the Embassy of the State of Qatar and named Pam Bondi.
According to the May 2020 document, "Registrant will provide principal with advocacy services relative to US-Qatar bilateral relations, and will provide guidance and assistance in matters related to combating human trafficking." Registrant, in this case, was Ballard Partners and the principal was the Embassy of the State of Qatar.
According to the July 2019 document, Bondi was a "key person" in Ballard Partners' contract with the Embassy of the State of Qatar, indicating she played a principal role in the work. The embassy paid Ballard Partners $115,000 per month for work spanning from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. The document did not specify how Ballard Partners should distribute the earnings from the contract.
The May 2020 document (Attachment A) further explained that Bondi left Ballard Partners on Nov. 7, 2019, after the start of the Qatari contract but returned on March 19, 2020, and continued her work lobbying for Qatar. Bondi temporarily left Ballard Partners to defend President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump denied any wrongdoing and was ultimately acquitted in the Senate.