Pam Bondi hearing: Democrats Grill AG chooses to defy Trump

IAfter a hearing on whether she would run against President-elect Donald Trump for the nation’s top law enforcement officer, Pam Bondi repeatedly declined to say she would resist pressure from the White House and refused to answer whether Trump lost election in 2020.

While Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee appeared satisfied with Bondi’s response, Democrats pressed her on whether she can be trusted as attorney general to ensure the independence of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and uphold the rule of law should Trump take the political initiative. motivated studies. Bondi, a Trump ally who served two terms as Florida attorney general, pledged to uphold “a level of fairness for all” and suggested she would steer the department away from any partisan agenda.

Although Bondi is likely to garner all-Republican support on the committee and in the broader Senate, which would ensure her confirmation, Democrats on the committee raised concerns about her support for Trump as his personal attorney during his first impeachment trial in 2020 and her central role in advancing his challenges after the election.

“What’s at stake in this nomination hearing is not your competence or your experience,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee. “It’s about your ability to say no.”

Asked if Trump lost the 2020 election, Bondi said twice, “I accept the results,” while claiming she saw evidence of potential election meddling when she visited Pennsylvania after President Joe Biden won. Her loyalty to Trump became the main focus of the hearing, particularly the question of whether she would allow political influence to guide the DOJ’s decisions. Democrats noted that Trump has expressed a desire to retaliate against perceived enemies, potentially including the prosecutors investigating him or the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and had indicated it would be up to Bondi to decide, whether he should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate these individuals. “No one has been prejudged, and no one will be prejudged,” Bondi said.

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Bondi claimed never to have heard Trump’s widespread call for Georgia’s secretary of state after the 2020 election, repeatedly pushing him to “find 11,780 votes.” She said she was not familiar with several of Trump’s comments, mostly from the campaign trail, such as his claim that those charged on Jan. 6 are “hostages” and “patriots” or that illegal immigration is “poisoning the blood of our nation “.

Trump has said that one of his first acts after taking office on January 20 will be to pardon most, if not all, of the defendants charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol. “It’s going to start in the first hour,” he recently told TIME. “Maybe the first nine minutes.” While the power to pardon rests solely with the president, the attorney general would have to defend Trump’s actions in court if they are challenged. Bondi told senators she would look into requests from the White House to grant pardons to rioters on Jan. 6, but “condemned” any violent attacks on law enforcement officers.

Bondi denied any intention to politicize the DOJ, insisting that her legal experience qualified her to bring a fair, professional approach to the position of attorney general. “The partisanship, the weaponization, will be gone,” Bondi said in his opening statement.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat, suggested that Bondi offered politically convenient answers to help her be confirmed. “I’m not going to sit up here and say something that I need to confirm to this body,” she said in one of the most tense moments of the hearing. “I will answer the question to the best of my ability.”

Asked by Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat, if she would drop a case if the White House asked her to — which Trump had asked then-FBI Director James Comey in his first administration in a situation involving then- National Security Advisor Michael Flynn—Bondi said, “If I thought that was going to happen, I wouldn’t be here.”

Bondi also faced several questions from Democrats about what role she would play as attorney general to be a check on Kash Patel, a polarizing Trump loyalist who was nominated to be FBI director and has vowed to pursue Trump’s perceived rivals. Patel, if confirmed, would work closely with the attorney general. Bondi defended Patel’s pledge to target a list of people he considers “government thugs” but said she will not use her power to pursue a so-called “enemies list.”

“I’ve known Kash and I believe Kash is the right person at this time for this job,” she said.

Bondi was asked to explain her comments in a 2023 Fox News appearance that “prosecutors will be prosecuted” and “the investigators will be investigated” under a Trump DOJ, to which she replied that they would only be prosecuted “if bad .” Pressed further on the scale of prosecutions, Bondi would not promise that she would not prosecute journalists. “None of us are above the law,” she said, adding that she “believes in freedom of speech.”

In a news issue that is top of mind for many Americans this week, Bondi did not commit to enforcing a new law enforcing a TikTok ban.

As well as questions about her political independence, Bondi is expected to be scrutinized over her post-public service work as the hearings continue. After leaving the Florida attorney general’s office in early 2019, she joined Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with close ties to the first Trump administration. Critics argue that her lobbying — especially her representation of foreign governments and big business — could undermine her credibility as a champion of the rule of law.

Trump nominated Bondi for the position after his first choice for attorney general, former Florida representative Matt Gaetz, withdrew amid sexual misconduct allegations.