Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee Pam Bondi vowed to remove politics from the Justice Department on the first day of her confirmation hearings, even as Trump’s failure to answer key questions about his 2020 election loss and his clear desire for payback raised concerns about how she would do it. fulfill his promise.
With a second day of hearings set to resume Thursday, Bondi is expected to move on from confirmation and take on the role of the nation’s top law enforcement officer, tasked with implementing Trump’s long-held desire to overhaul the Justice Department, which brought two criminal cases. against him before his election.
“Partisanship, armaments, will disappear. America will have a level of justice for all,” Bondi said. “There will never be an enemy list in the Justice Department.”
While Bondi sought to reassure the Senate Judiciary Committee about his independence from Trump and his desire to usher in a “new golden age” for the DOJ, he declined to say that Trump had lost the 2020 election, defending his past statement that “they will be prosecutors.” indicted,” and his openness to investigate Special Counsel Jack Smith caused skepticism among the committee’s Democratic members.
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 15, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
If confirmed, Bondi would lead the DOJ with recently expanded power after the Supreme Court ruled last year that interactions between the president and the attorney general are immune from prosecution.
“The fear and concern that we have is that the next president will use that loaded gun, that immunity to commit crimes through the Department of Justice,” said Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.
Here are five key takeaways from the first day of Bondi’s confirmation hearing:
Bondi has vowed to keep politics out of prosecutions, but is keeping the door open to investigating Jack Smith
Accused of coordinating political prosecutions by President Joe Biden, Bondi said he would only bring cases based on “the facts and the law” and said he has not discussed opening investigations of Trump’s enemies with the president-elect.
“No one will be prosecuted, they will be investigated because they are political opponents. That is what we have seen in this administration for the last four years. People will be judged, based on the facts and the law,” said Bondi.
However, when Trump called for special counsel Jack Smith to go to jail, Bondi declined to say whether he would open an investigation into Smith, before suggesting his behavior was “appalling.”
“Senator, what I’m hearing on the news is terrible. Do I know if he committed a crime? I haven’t looked at it,” Bondi said, adding that “it would be reckless … to compromise on anything.”
In his latest report issued earlier this week, Smith denied Trump’s allegation that his work was somehow political — a charge he described as “ridiculous” — and assured Attorney General Merrick Garland that his work followed “the rule of law” and the DOJ. guidelines on political interference.
Adam Schiff, Sen. Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 15, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Bondi declined to answer key questions about Trump’s election denial, and has vowed to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants.
Bondi — who helped spread mistrust over Trump’s 2020 election outcome — pointedly refused to say Trump lost the 2020 election, raising concerns from Democratic senators that Trump used the Justice Department to retain power illegally. defeat
“Are you prepared today, under oath, to say without reservation that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential race against Joe Biden?” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin asked.
“Joe Biden is the president of the United States. He was sworn in, and he is the president of the United States. It was a peaceful transition of power. President Trump left office and was elected outright in 2024,” Bondi said. repeatedly refusing to answer the question yes or no.
Bondi also refused to condemn Trump’s baseless claim that “massive fraud” had marred the 2020 election. Asked about Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” 11,780 votes, Bondi said he hadn’t heard the whole thing, but suggested Trump’s comments were taken out of context.
Bondi also declined to comment on Trump’s vow to pardon the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on his first day in office, telling the committee he would leave it up to Trump to evaluate the proposed pardons. don’t read all the defendants’ files.
“Senator, I have not seen any of these files. Of course, if confirmed and asked to advise the president, I will review all files. But let me be very clear when I speak to you, I condemn any violence against a law enforcement officer in this country,” Bondi replied. .
Bondi avoided answering if he would disobey an illegal order from Trump
When Democratic Sen. Chris Coons pressed him to drop a criminal case if someone in the White House directed him, Bondi refused to entertain the hypothetical.
“What I can say is my duty, if confirmed as attorney general, will be to the Constitution and to the United States of America, and the most important oath, the part of that oath that I will take is the last four words, ‘So help me God.’
Bondi replied “of course” he would be willing to resign at a moment’s notice if asked to do something inappropriate.
“Senator, I wouldn’t work at a law firm, I wouldn’t be a prosecutor, I wouldn’t be an attorney general if someone asked me to do something inappropriate and I felt I had to do it,” Bondi said.
Schiff, who had many dealings with Bondi, expressed skepticism that he could avoid a confrontation with Trump, given his past attorney generalship.
“You can say you think the conflict will never come, but every day, week, month, and year of the first Trump administration showed that the conflict is coming. Jeff Sessions didn’t think it would come to him. It came to him. Bill Barr might not have believed it. It got to him. It got to everyone,” Schiff said. “It will come to you and what you do at that point will define your overall prosecution.”
Sen. Dick Durbin questions Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 15, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Bondi vowed to reform the DOJ, but gave few details of his plans
Bondi told senators he wanted to “restore trust and integrity” in the DOJ after what he called Trump’s weaponization of the justice system. If confirmed, he vowed to answer to the US people, not the president.
“My oath would be to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The American people would be my client,” Bondi said.
While Senate Republicans vowed to remove the policy from the DOJ, Bondi offered few details on how to implement his plan across the department’s 115,000 employees. Bondi tried to defend his declaration that “prosecutors will be prosecuted” in 2023, telling the Commission he would only bring cases against “bad” prosecutors.
Bondi looks poised for Senate confirmation as attention turns to Kash Patel
While Senate Democrats raised concerns about Bondi’s recognition of Trump’s 2020 loss and lack of commitment, his confirmation appears assured.
“I know how to count and I know how to read tea leaves. I think it’s very, very, very, very likely that he will be confirmed, and I certainly look forward to working with you and your office,” Democratic Senator Alex Padilla said at the end of the hearing.
After Wednesday’s hearing, some Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee avoided saying how they would vote on Bondi’s confirmation, though Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said “the odds are in his favor.:
“I would say the odds are in his favor with the majority of the Senate floor. I don’t know if there’s a single Republican running against him. We’re still going to ask tough questions today and tomorrow,” Durbin said.
With Bondi unlikely to face a serious challenge to his confirmation, Senate Democrats turned their attention to Trump’s choice to appoint Kash Patel as FBI director. Bondi said he looks forward to working with Patel — calling him “the right person” for the job and defending his qualifications — and denied the idea that he or Patel would maintain an enemy list or break the law.
“What I will sit here and tell you is Mr. Patel, if he works with the FBI leadership, if he is confirmed, and I am confirmed, he will follow the law if I am the attorney general of the United States of America, and I don’t think he would do anything else,” Bondi said.
