A Business-Friendly Lawyers Rise From Lobbyist to Attorney General Pick

Halfway through the first Trump administration, Carnival Corporation, the world’s biggest cruise line, had a problem in Cuba that it wanted the president to fix.So Carnival, a Miami-based company, hired a new lobbyist: Pam Bondi, who developed a close relationship with Donald J.Trump during her two terms as Florida’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement official.

Carnival feared it could be sued for damages of up to $600 million for parking its cruise ships at Havana docks that had been seized decades earlier by Cuban communists.The company wanted Mr.

Trump’s aid in fending off the lawsuits.With Ms.

Bondi’s help, Carnival’s chairman, Micky Arison, got a meeting with Mr.Trump in the Oval Office to push its case.In the end the president did not side with the company.

But Ms.Bondi’s involvement demonstrated that she could help grease relations with the Trump administration for her new clients.

It was also a continuation of her open-door approach to companies, which started when she held office in Florida....