A dog controversy involving Pam Bondi, Trump’s new pick for Attorney General after Matt Gaetz surprisingly withdrew, has returned to the forefront. Bondi was accused of “stealing” a St. Bernard by a Louisiana couple, while she accused them of neglecting the animal and refused to return the dog. It took a legal battle lasting 16 months before the situation was resolved, but not without lingering bitterness. Here’s a breakdown of the dog scandal with Pam Bondi.
What is the Pam Bondi dog scandal?
The dog scandal with Pam Bondi is about a custody battle in 2006 that occurred after she adopted a St. Bernard that was not actually lost.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Bondi adopted the dog from Florida’s Pinellas County Human Society after her own St. Bernard passed away due to cancer, per Tampa Bay Times. At the time, she was a prosecutor for the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office in Florida, and she named the dog Noah.
However, in January 2006, Louisiana couple Steven and Doreen Couture was looking for their missing dog, Master Tank, who was lost after Katrina, and they tracked him down in the lawyer’s home, according to The Independent. The grandparents and their two grandchildren requested the dog back, but Bondi refused, saying that the dog was “a walking skeleton” when she adopted him and questioned whether the couple had a “stable environment.” The Coutures responded by saying that the dog suffered from heartworms since he was 10 years old and sued Bondi for custody of the animal.
After a legal battle lasting over a year, both sides came to a deal before it went to trial. Bondi returned the dog and said she would pay for his food and medical bills for life. She said she would also visit the dog, and in exchange the Coutures would send her photos and updates of its wellbeing.
But by 2010, bad blood between Bondi and the Coutures returned. Doreen said that Bondi did visit the dog for a few months, but then cancelled her first visitation in September. Doreen also didn’t reach out to Bondi either, saying that “she stole my dog.” Bondi adopted a new St. Bernard puppy named Luke in 2008.
Meanwhile, fears that Trump was sent to a hospital in an ambulance from Mar-a-Lago were quelled after a report by the Secret Service.
