WASHINGTON (AP) — Pam Bondi, Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, sought to reassure Democratic senators Wednesday that her Justice Department would not prosecute anyone for political purposes but also refused to rule out the potential for investigations into adversaries of the Republican president-elect.
Her often-testy confirmation hearing centered on concerns that Trump would seek to use the Justice Department's law enforcement powers to exact retribution against opponents, including investigators who investigated him. Democrats pressed her on whether she could maintain the department's independence from the White House and say no to the president if asked to do something unethical, while Republicans welcomed her as a course correction for a Justice Department they believe has pursued a liberal agenda and unfairly pursued Trump through investigations resulting in two indictments.
“What would you do if your career DOJ prosecutors came to you with a case to prosecute, grounded in the facts and law, but the White House directs you to drop the case?” asked Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat.
“Senator,” Bondi replied, “if I thought that would happen, I would not be sitting here today. That will not happen.”
The line of questioning laid bare what Democrats see as the stakes of Bondi’s appointment, particularly given the pressure Trump wielded on his Justice Department during his first term to advance his personal interests, including by demanding that the-then FBI director abandon an investigation into an ally and by firing his first attorney general following his recusal from an investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign. Heading into another term, he's also called for investigations into perceived foes, including prosecutors and lawmakers who investigated him over offenses including trying to undo the 2020 election.
“I need to know that you would tell the president ‘no’ if you’re asked to do something that’s wrong, illegal or unconstitutional,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee's top Democrat, noting how Bondi had represented Trump during the first of two Senate impeachment trials.
Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida and the first woman to hold that job, repeatedly stressed that she would not play politics with the Justice Department or pursue anyone for political reasons. She said she would uphold the Constitution and said the public, not the president, would be her client.
“Of course not,” she said when asked by Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana if she would “start with a name to prosecute and then look for a crime.” “I hope no attorney general going forward would ever do that," she added.
But those reassurances seemed unlikely to allay Democratic concerns about her loyalty to Trump. Her testimony at times echoed Trump's campaign trail rhetoric as she refused to denounce some of his more incendiary claims and repeatedly invoked the size of Trump's election win in November — “Look at the map of California, Sen. Schiff. It's bright red” — as proof of a mandate for sweeping change.
She also made clear her allegiance to Trump by repeatedly refusing to denounce some of his most incendiary stances, such as his claims that supporters arrested in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol were “hostages” or “patriots.”
Given a chance by Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, to reject that characterization, Bondi simply said: “I am not familiar with that statement.” She also refused to say she would encourage Trump not to issue blanket pardons of all 1,500 people who have been charged in the attack that left more than 100 police officers injured. But Bondi denounced violence against police officers, adding: “I’m not going to speak for the president, but the president does not like people that abuse police officers, either.”
Bondi also wouldn’t directly answer when asked whether Trump lost in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden, only going so far initially to say that Biden is the president.
She later said she accepted the results of the election, but she also suggested there was fraud — alluding to her time as an advocate for the campaign in Pennsylvania in the days after that election, where she said she saw “many things” while on the ground.
“We shouldn’t want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country.” There is no evidence of widespread fraud that impacted the outcome of the election.
She backed up Trump’s claims that the prosecutions against him amounted to political persecution, saying the Justice Department “had been weaponized for years and years and years, and it’s got to stop.”
“They targeted Donald Trump,” Bondi said. “They went after him — actually starting back in 2016, they targeted his campaign. They have launched countless investigations against him.” She added: “If I am attorney general, I will not politicize that office.”
In a heated exchange with Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and frequent target of Trump's ire, she stated that “every case will be done on a case-by-case basis” and said “no one should be prosecuted for political purposes” — a stance that she and other Republicans suggested was a departure from the last four years.
But she equivocated when Schiff asked Bondi whether she would investigate Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel who brought two indictments against Trump.
“I haven’t seen the file ...I haven’t looked at anything. It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment regarding anything ... without looking at the file.”
Then, as the two spoke over each other, Bondi said that what she'd been “hearing on the news is horrible.”
The suggestion that the investigations into Trump were politically motivated has been sharply contested by Attorney General Merrick Garland and by Smith. In a report released this week, Smith said politics played no part in his decisions and the evidence his team gathered was sufficient for Trump to have been convicted at trial on charges of scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Smith dismissed that case and a separate one charging Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after Trump’s election win in November, citing longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting criminal cases against a sitting president.
The Justice Department under Garland also investigated Biden over his mishandling of classified information — no charges were filed — and named a special counsel to investigate Biden’s son Hunter, who was convicted of tax and gun crimes before being pardoned by his father in December.
Republicans expressed overwhelming support for Bondi and her planned agenda, which she said includes protecting gun rights, free speech and the border and fighting violent crime and terrorism.
By day’s end, her confirmation seemed assured in the Republican-majority Senate. Republicans suggested that pointed Democratic questions during the hearing about Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, was a more pressing concern for Democrats than Bondi.
“If confirmed, I will work to restore confidence and integrity to the Department of Justice — and each of its components,” Bondi said. “Under my watch, the partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice will end. America must have one tier of justice for all.”
Even as Democrats expressed concern that Trump would politicize the Justice Department, Republican senators insisted that that's what had happened over the last four years and that Bondi's selection represented an opportunity to change direction.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican committee chair, listed years of grievances against the Justice Department, includes the Trump-Russia investigation and more recently a Garland-era memo aimed at targeting threats from parents at school board meetings.
“Ms. Bondi, should you be confirmed,” Grassley said, “the actions you take to change the department’s course must be for accountability, so that the conduct I just described never happens again.”
Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer And Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press
