The View's Ana Navarro Has An Unexpected History With Pam Bondi

A lifelong Republican who once worked as the director of immigration policy under former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Ana Navarro spent quite a bit of time within Republican circles in Florida throughout her career as a strategist. At one point, she inevitably crossed paths with Pam Bondi, who served as attorney general of Florida between 2011 and 2019. "I don't want to ruin her reputation with MAGA people, but Pam Bondi and I hung out a lot ... We drank a lot together. I liked her a lot. She's not a kook," Navarro said on "The View" in November 2024 (via Decider).

Navarro struck up a friendship with Bondi that, while casual, was strong enough to inspire her to stand up for the controversial U.S. attorney general amid criticism from her "The View" co-host. "What's a little election denialism between friends? Everything in life is relative," Navarro said, referring to Bondi's claims that the 2020 election had been fraudulent. Co-host Sunny Hostin was shocked that Navarro was playing down the seriousness of the matter.

But she remained steadfast in her defense of Bondi. "Everything in life is relative. There is no accusation of sexual harassment or assault against her, there's no accusation of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old, she hasn't beheaded a whale, she hasn't stabbed a dead bear cub. I mean, my god!" she argued, referring to the sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Gaetz  and some of the many scandals that have rocked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s reputation. As hard as she initially defended her old friend, Navarro later changed her opinion. 

Ana Navarro's defense of Pam Bondi came before her tenure in Donald Trump's second administration. Several months into Donald Trump's presidency, she changed her tune and began to call out Bondi's shadiness. In October 2025, Navarro slammed the U.S. attorney general for her MAGA transformation. "I've known Pam Bondi for a long time. I haven't spoken to her, obviously, in a few years, but this is a completely different Pam Bondi than the person I knew in Florida, who was an affable, nice [person]," she said on "The View."

Navarro's comments came after a "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring Amy Poehler as Bondi and Tina Fey as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "I think she's loving this. I think she's loving the fact that it's, you know — that we are talking about her this morning — is probably raising her stock with the MAGA base," she said, while deeming Bondi's work within the Department of Justice and Congress as "shameful and an embarrassment."

While Navarro was still a registered Republican as of 2024, she has opposed Trump and his policies since he announced his candidacy in 2015. And she has continued to do so throughout the years. In June 2022, Navarro delivered a blistering takedown of Trump in response to the January 6 hearings, accusing her fellow Republicans of sharing the blame for the Capitol attacks of 2021. "They put loyalty to Trump and their careers ahead of the country and democracy," she tweeted.