DUKE: So, Bondi’s Toast … Now Meet This Other GOP Rising Star

Hey y’all, welcome back to Unfit to Print. 

On today’s docket: another high-profile firing in the Trump admin, a rising star in Tennessee, & Democrat fundraising trouble. 

EXCLUSIVE: GOP Rising Star Sparks Senate Talk With New Conservative Group

Former CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger is fueling fresh Senate speculation with the launch of Believe in Tennessee, a new conservative nonprofit he founded with his wife, Carrie. 

The group will “support conservative principles and public policy leaders across the Volunteer State,” according to a press release. 

The move comes just days after the Hiningers hosted Vice President JD Vance and RNC Chairman Joe Gruters at their home for a fundraiser that raised $3 million, far surpassing its $2 million goal. 

“It was a great event – one of the best of the cycle. It’s fantastic to see a strong conservative and business leader like Damon Hininger staying in the fight,” longtime Vance adviser Luke Thompson told the Daily Caller. 

Political insiders told the Caller that Hininger could be eyeing Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s seat if she wins the gubernatorial primary, adding to the significance of Thursday’s launch. 

“We believe Tennessee is America at its best. The values that make us so proud to be an American are rooted here – grit, optimism, belief, and service. We have an unwavering persistence in the pursuit of greatness, and we know, as Tennesseans, that we never shy away from a good fight. We volunteer for it. So, let’s do the work,” the Hiningers said in a joint statement. 

Republican Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty described Hininger as “straightforward, unassuming, and a man of integrity,” while North Carolina Senate candidate and former RNC Chair Michael Whatley said, “Damon Hininger has been a loyal fighter in the America First movement, generously supporting President Trump, Vice President Vance, and the RNC for years.” 

Prior to getting involved in politics, Hininger spent 33 years at CoreCivic — the nation’s largest private prison contractor — rising from a corrections officer working the midnight shift to CEO. The company was debanked by multiple institutions and targeted by Democratic figures including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, experiences sources told the Caller showed he is battle-tested and ready for the political arena. 

Out On Bondi

President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, revealing in a Truth Social post Thursday that she “will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.” 

Bondi’s deputy, Todd Blanche, will step in as acting attorney general while the president hunts for a replacement. 

A source told the Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese that there is no bad blood between Trump and Bondi but the president was increasingly dissatisfied with the job she was doing and that her mistakes kept piling up. 

Bondi had multiple severe communications errors, including handing a group of influencers at the White House “Epstein files” binders that contained little new information and claiming she had the Epstein client list on her desk. Trump was also reportedly frustrated with a lack of progress on prosecutions of high-profile Democrats like New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey. 

Two sources, however, disputed to the Caller that Bondi had tipped off Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell that the FBI intended to publicize files related to his alleged relationship with a Chinese spy. 

Multiple names have been floated to replace Bondi, and a source familiar told the Caller that it seems EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin looks likely to fill the role. 

Read Reagan’s full piece HERE.

ActBlue Breakdown

ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform, is in hot water after a New York Times report revealed Thursday that its own lawyers sounded the alarm on potentially concealing foreign donations from Congress. 

It is illegal for foreigners to donate money to U.S. political campaigns, but ActBlue’s legal team said in a memo last year that the group may have misled Congress on its efforts to prevent that from happening. 

“An aggressive prosecutor may view the November 2023 letter not just as a false statement but as an effort to conceal the foreign contributions,” the law firm, Covington & Burling, said. 

An ActBlue spokesperson released a statement in response to the NYT story that read, in part: 

“ActBlue has continually worked to comply with all FEC laws including laws related to appropriately screening for potential foreign contributions, which constitute less than 1% of the total contributions on the ActBlue platform. Of those, many come from the six million American citizens who live abroad—such as US military personnel.”

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