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President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, said during her confirmation hearing Wednesday that she “will follow the law” on special counsel.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware asked Bondi directly about her stance on opposing the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, who was investigating Trump, and she replied, “I will follow the law.”

The issue of special counsel is one of the biggest issues hanging over the next era of the Justice Department, and Bondi’s approach could signal an openness to again using the charges in politically charged grand jury investigations. (She said Wednesday that she would not allow investigations that target individuals for political reasons.)

Some context: Attorney General Merrick Garland — and Donald Trump’s Justice Department during his first term — repeatedly used special prosecutors for politically charged investigations, including Smith, Robert Hur, David Weiss, John Durham and Robert Mueller.

But Trump has attacked those appointments in court during his personal cases.

A Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have said they disagree with these special counsel appointments, as the attorney general appoints a private lawyer to lead a special prosecutor’s office that has not received explicit congressional approval. approval. The Justice Department is still challenging in court the agency’s power to use special counsel offices in Florida.

Bondi’s response to Coons acknowledged the pending legal challenge by the 11th^th Circuit Court of Appeals, where she has signed an amicus brief opposing the appointment of Smith’s special counsel.

Still, she also told Coons that at this point she would follow where the courts stand — which across the country, and especially in Washington, DC, have allowed special counsel’s criminal cases to move forward after other judges found their appointments and their work to be healthy.
The nationwide law is currently that the attorney general can appoint a private citizen to be a special adviser.

“I will follow the law and I will consult with the appropriate ethics officials,” Bondi said Wednesday of the attorney general’s authority to appoint a special counsel.