Democrats Grill AG Pick Pam Bondi Over Whether She Can Defy Trump

In a hearing that centered on whether she would stand up to President-elect Donald Trump as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, Pam Bondi said she wouldn't weaponize the Justice Department while also vowing to “Make America Great Again” and refusing to answer whether Trump lost the 2020 election.

While the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee appeared satisfied with Bondi’s answers, Democrats pressed her on whether she can be trusted as attorney general to safeguard the independence of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and uphold the rule of law if Trump were to initiate politically motivated investigations. Bondi, a Trump ally who served two terms as Florida’s attorney general, vowed to uphold "one tier of justice for all" and suggested she would steer the department away from any partisan agendas.

While Bondi will likely garner all Republican support on the committee and in the wider Senate, which would ensure her confirmation, Democrats on the committee raised concerns about her support for Trump as his personal lawyer during his first impeachment trial in 2020 and her central role in advancing his post-election challenges.

“At issue in this nomination hearing is not your competence, nor your experience,” said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee. “At issue is your ability to say no.”

Asked if Trump lost the 2020 election, Bondi twice said, “I accept the results,” while claiming that she saw evidence of potential election interference 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 steer DOJ decisions. Democrats noted that Trump has expressed a desire for retribution against perceived enemies, potentially including the prosecutors who investigated him or the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, and had indicated that it would be up to Bondi to decide whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate those individuals. “No one has been prejudged, nor will anyone be prejudged, either,” Bondi said.

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Bondi claimed to have never heard Trump’s widely reported call with Georgia’s secretary of state after the 2020 election in which he repeatedly pressured 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 Jan. 6 defendants 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 Jan. 20 will be to pardon most, if not all, of the defendants charged in relation to 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 pardon power lies exclusively with the President, the attorney general would have to defend Trump’s actions in court if they are challenged. Bondi told senators that she would look at requests from the White House to grant pardons to Jan. 6 rioters, but “condemned” any violent attacks on law enforcement officers.

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

But despite her insistence that she would not be political, Bondi at times sounded like a Trump campaign surrogate. She repeatedly lauded Trump’s 2024 electoral victory and pledged to “Make America Safe Again,” a slogan often used by the Trump campaign. At one point, she taunted Senator Adam Schiff of California, a prominent Trump antagonist who was on the House Jan. 6 committee and led Trump’s first impeachment trial, saying, “Look at the map of California, Senator Schiff. It's bright red!” (Trump won 38.3% of the vote in California).

“We have got to work together to Make America Safe Again, and that, in turn, will Make America Great Again,” Bondi added. “I don't know where that phrase has become a bad word, because I think that's a great one—Making America Great Again.”

Her exchange with Schiff was the tensest of the hearing. They were on opposite sides of Trump’s first impeachment trial, and Trump has called Schiff the “enemy from within.” Schiff asked if Bondi would investigate special counsel Jack Smith or Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman who investigated Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “Senator, that’s a hypothetical, and I’m not going to answer. We’re all so worried about Liz Cheney,” Bondi said. “You know what we should be worried about, Senator? The crime rate in California is through the roof.”

Asked by Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat, if she would drop a case if the White House asked her to—which Trump had requested of his 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 would happen, I wouldn’t be here.”

Bondi also faced several questions from Democrats over what role she would play as attorney general to be a check on Kash Patel, a polarizing Trump loyalist who was nominated for FBI director and has promised 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 views as “government gangsters” but said she won’t use her power to pursue a so-called “enemies list.” 

“I have known Kash, and I believe that 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 responded that they would only be prosecuted “if bad.” Pressed further on the extent of prosecutions, Bondi would not promise that she wouldn’t prosecute journalists. “None of us are above the law,” she said, adding that she “believes in freedom of speech.” Asked in the second round of questions to clarify those comments, given that Patel has suggested he would investigate news reporters, Bondi said that “going after the media just because they are the media is wrong, of course.”

In a question about news that is at the top of many Americans’ minds this week, Bondi did not commit to enforcing a new law enforcing a TikTok ban.

In addition to questions about her political independence, Bondi is expected to face scrutiny 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 work—especially her representation of foreign governments and large corporations—could undermine her credibility as a champion of the rule of law.

Trump nominated Bondi for the position after his initial pick for attorney general, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew amid sexual misconduct allegations.