Pam Bondi is “unfamiliar with that statement” – Mother Jones

Pam Bondi appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.J. Scott Applewhite/AP

At her place confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Pam Bondi presumably assured that she will become attorney general. However, she did so by pretending to be an idiot.

The former Florida attorney general and lobbyist refused to confirm or deny that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, declined to oppose the Jan. 6 pardon of violent attackers, would not say whether she would carry out an illegal order from Trump, and stated ignorance of a wide range of controversial statements by the incoming president.

Such responses reflect the reality that Bondi is dependent on Trump’s continued support; already has backing from GOP senators; and simply doesn’t need any Democratic votes to secure the job.

Bondi acknowledged Wednesday that Biden is indeed president. But she would not challenge Trump’s continued false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. It has emerged as a standard phrase for Republicans who want to avoid sounding crazy without annoying Trump.

But Bondi — who in late 2020 worked as one of the Trump campaign’s lawyers challenging his loss in Pennsylvania — went a little further, vaguely claiming that she believes significant voter fraud took place, despite of the courts’ uniform rejection of such claims. “I saw a lot of things there,” Bondi said.

Bondi also repeatedly dodged Democrats’ questions by claiming she was “unfamiliar” with highly publicized events and statements made by Trump. Bondi, that is, testified that she is unusually ill-informed.

Does she agree with Trump’s frequent public descriptions of people convicted of attacking Congress on Jan. 6 as “patriots” and “hostages,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked. “I’m not familiar with that statement,” Bondi said.

Does she agree with Trump’s infamous declarationseam echoes rhetoric used by Adolph Hitler that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country?”

“I’m not familiar with that statement,” Bondi said.

Asked if she will defend the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship that Trump has promised to end, Bondi says said she needed to study the question.

Asked by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) about — given Trump’s reposting of calls to throw former special counsel Jack Smith in jail — she would investigate Smith, Bondi said, in part: “I haven’t seen the file.”

Bondi also declined to rule out investigating former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for her work chairing the House Jan. 6 Committee, which Trump has also called for, in a non-response that suggested Schiff’s focus on crime in California.

Asked by Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) about an enemies list Trump picks for FBI Director, Kash Patel, detailed in a book published in 2023 under the title Government gangstersstated Bondi: “I don’t think he has an enemies list. He made a quote on TV.”

When Durbin asked about recorded phone call when Trump called on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to help him “find 11,780 votes” to overturn the results of that state’s 2020 election, Bondi said: “I understand that’s not what (Trump) asked him to do.”

Such responses are likely to ensure that Bondi maintains Trump’s favor and wins confirmation. In that sense, they are not stupid. Unfortunately for Bondi, they sure sound like it.