Watch Reside: Pam Bondi faces senators at affirmation listening to for legal professional basic

Washington — Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. legal professional basic, vowed to finish the “weaponization” of the Justice Division at her affirmation listening to on Wednesday, saying her focus might be on decreasing crime and upholding the regulation.

The previous Florida legal professional basic, who represented Trump throughout his first impeachment, appeared earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday for the primary of two days of testimony on her nomination, which is more likely to be authorised within the GOP-controlled Senate.

She spent a lot of the listening to looking for to allay considerations from skeptical Democrats that Trump would use the Justice Division to focus on his political enemies as soon as in workplace.

“There’ll by no means be an enemies record throughout the Division of Justice,” Bondi mentioned, including that she believes prosecutors beneath President Biden unfairly focused Trump for the final 4 years.

“I’ll combat daily to revive confidence and integrity to the Division of Justice and every of its parts,” she mentioned. “The partisanship, the weaponization, might be gone. America can have one tier of justice for all.”

Democrats didn’t appear satisfied, repeatedly urgent Bondi on whether or not she’d examine and prosecute figures starting from former Rep. Liz Cheney and former particular counsel Jack Smith to journalists and Trump critics.

Bondi’s affirmation listening to

Trump chosen Bondi to be his nominee for U.S. legal professional basic after his first decide, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew his title from consideration. Bondi made historical past in 2010 when she turned the primary girl to function Florida’s legal professional basic, a job she held for 2 phrases.

“If confirmed as the following legal professional basic of the USA, my overriding goal might be to return the Division of Justice to its core mission of protecting People protected and vigorously prosecuting criminals,” Bondi mentioned in her opening assertion.

Bondi mentioned her time as a neighborhood prosecutor framed her objectives for the Justice Division, which she described as “getting again to the fundamentals” of combating crime and decreasing recidivism.

Republicans on the committee largely centered on Bondi’s many years of crimefighting expertise as a neighborhood prosecutor, and later as Florida legal professional basic. They claimed the Justice Division has been “weaponized” lately for political causes, pointing to the prosecutions of Trump which have been dropped because the election.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee’s prime Democrat, famous Bondi’s expertise, however mentioned it’s Trump who has vowed to make use of the Justice Division to focus on his political enemies. Durbin mentioned he needs assurances that Bondi would hold the Justice Division unbiased, and can be keen to say “no” to Trump. Trump clashed along with his two attorneys basic, Jeff Classes and William Barr, over selections they made in his first time period.

Durbin requested Bondi if she accepted that Trump misplaced the election in 2020, a incontrovertible fact that he and lots of of his distinguished supporters haven’t publicly acknowledged. Bondi stopped wanting doing so Wednesday.

“There was a peaceable transition of energy. President Trump left workplace and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024,” Bondi mentioned. Bondi informed Durbin that she “settle for[s] the outcomes” of the 2020 election however declined to say outright that Mr. Biden gained.

Durbin requested if Bondi would assist pardons for individuals convicted for his or her roles within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. Bondi mentioned, if requested, she would assessment potential pardons on a “case by case foundation,” including: “I condemn any violence on a regulation enforcement officer on this nation.”

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, requested Bondi if she would “be keen to resign if ordered to do one thing improper.”

“Senator, I would not work at a regulation agency, I would not be a prosecutor, I would not be legal professional basic if anybody requested me to do one thing improper and I felt I needed to carry that out, after all I’d not do this,” Bondi mentioned. “That is one of many fundamental belongings you be taught as a younger prosecutor, is to do the precise factor.”

Later, she informed Coons she and the president-elect haven’t mentioned appointing a particular prosecutor to analyze Mr. Biden — a menace Trump has made. All through the listening to, she argued she would hold the Justice Division unbiased from the White Home, together with by upholding a division coverage limiting contacts with White Home officers.

Bondi was repeatedly pressed by Democrats about whether or not she would goal perceived Trump foes, together with Cheney and Smith, who led the twin federal investigations in opposition to Trump. Throughout one significantly heated trade, she declined to say if she knew of any factual predicate for investigating Cheney, and informed California Sen. Adam Schiff his considerations are misplaced. 

“You are all so fearful about Liz Cheney, senator, you recognize what we must be fearful about? The crime price in California proper now’s via the roof,” she mentioned.

Bondi was additionally requested by Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, concerning the reauthorization of Part 702, a authorities intelligence assortment software that has come beneath hearth from some Republicans in Congress. She mentioned she would check out the problem and referred to as Part 702 a “crucial software.”

Bondi’s nomination

Bondi’s affirmation listening to earlier than the Judiciary Committee was one in every of a number of happening earlier than GOP-led panels this week as Trump prepares to start his second time period in workplace. Republicans have indicated they plan to offer substantial deference to Trump as he fills out the highest ranks of his administration and are aiming to put in key Cupboard officers to their posts quickly after the president-elect is inaugurated Monday.

Bondi spent the weeks main as much as her affirmation listening to assembly with senators on Capitol Hill, and she or he just isn’t anticipated to face vital hurdles within the Republican-led Senate. 

Forward of the listening to, Durbin accused Trump of utilizing the Justice Division as his private regulation agency and mentioned he was involved Bondi will prioritize fealty to Trump over loyalty to the Structure. He met with Bondi final week.

Bondi was term-limited in her place as Florida’s legal professional basic and left workplace in 2019. Whereas in workplace, she spearheaded lawsuits in opposition to the Obama administration, difficult the Reasonably priced Care Act — often known as Obamacare — and then-President Barack Obama’s immigration insurance policies. 

She went on to function an legal professional and lobbyist on the agency Ballard Companions. There, she represented massive companies like Normal Motors, Amazon, Uber and the American Institute In opposition to Human Trafficking, based on Open Secrets and techniques, a nonprofit that tracks lobbying. And she or he submitted a registration with the federal authorities to foyer on behalf of Qatar “concerning Qatari relations with U.S. authorities officers, U.S. enterprise entities, and non-governmental audiences, in coping with issues pertaining to combating human trafficking.” 

At her listening to on Wednesday, Bondi mentioned she was “very pleased with the work that I did” with Qatar, telling Durbin her work was centered on “anti-human trafficking efforts associated to the World Cup.”  

“I used to be registered as FARA together with many members of my agency. That was the only portion of my illustration for Qatar,” she mentioned, referencing a federal regulation that requires lobbyists who work for overseas international locations to register with the federal government.

Throughout Trump’s first time period, Bondi briefly left her lobbying place to function a member of his protection workforce in the course of the first set of impeachment proceedings pursued by congressional Democrats. She defended Trump’s July 2019 name with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, during which Trump pressured Zelenskyy to analyze Mr. Biden. 

The Democratic-led Home voted to question Trump for abuse of energy and obstructing a congressional investigation, making him simply the third U.S. president to ever be impeached. The Republican-led Senate then acquitted him following a trial, the place Bondi was a part of the workforce representing Trump.

Within the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Bondi spearheaded authorized efforts to problem the leads to Pennsylvania and pushed the false declare that Trump gained the state. She was requested about that work in Wednesday’s listening to. 

“I used to be an advocate for the marketing campaign, and I used to be on the bottom in Pennsylvania and I noticed many issues there. However do I settle for the outcomes? In fact I do. Do I agree with what occurred?” Bondi mentioned. “Nobody from both aspect of the aisle ought to need there to be any points with election integrity in our nation. We must always all need our elections to be free and honest, and the principles and the regulation to be adopted.”

Bondi was additionally among the many Trump allies who traveled to New York and spoke out in protection of the president-elect early final yr throughout his “hush cash” legal trial. A jury convicted Trump on 34 state felony counts of falsifying enterprise data in Could and he was sentenced final week.

After the Justice Division introduced legal fees in opposition to Trump in 2023, Bondi informed Fox Information, “The Division of Justice, the prosecutors might be prosecuted, the unhealthy ones. The investigators might be investigated as a result of the deep state final time period for President Trump, they had been hiding within the shadows. However now they’ve a highlight on them.” 

If confirmed, she’s going to now lead that division and can have the ability to look into numerous facets of the investigations into Trump that had been led by Smith. She may even oversee the quite a few regulation enforcement parts beneath the Justice Division, together with the FBI and the ATF, two organizations which have been targets of the president-elect and his allies. 

Bondi may even oversee implementation of facets of Trump’s company and lead the division that may defend the president-elect’s actions in federal courtroom.

contributed to this report.