WASHINGTON – Former Florida Attorney General Pamela Jo Bondi remained on a velvety path to confirmation for the top job at the U.S. Justice Department after senators wrapped up the first hearing on President-elect Donald Trump’s election Wednesday.
Bondi promised the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee a “new golden age” of justice and “to make America safe again.”
But the career prosecutor has been repeatedly questioned by Democrats about her loyalty to Trump, who has vowed revenge against his political enemies and exonerated his supporters who tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
Bondi, who advised Trump during his impeachment trial in 2019, was Florida’s top law enforcement official from 2011 to 2019 and was a prosecutor in Hillsborough County for 18 years.
Committee Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley praised the “highly qualified” candidate.
“If confirmed, Ms. Bondi will take the helm at a very turbulent time for this country and this department,” the Iowa Republican said, saying it was “infected with political decision-making.”
Neither side questioned Bondi’s qualifications to lead the Justice Department, citing her work in Florida to clear a backlog of rape tests and secure more than $3 billion for the state after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
But Bondi wasn’t Trump’s first choice to lead the Justice Department. Rather, the president-elect was hand-picked Matt Gaetzthe former congressman from Florida Charged with sex with a minor and who resigned from the US House of Representatives a few hours after his election by Trump.
Loyalty to Trump
Democrats pressed the former prosecutor on the extent of her loyalty to Trump. Bondi was supportive of Trump’s false claims that he won Pennsylvania after the 2020 presidential election.
Bondi, 59, who Chairs The pro-Trump America First Policy Institute’s litigation department is poised to lead a division that is in Trump’s crosshairs after he was indicted on federal crimes for allegedly mishandling classified documents and conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
The department also launched its largest investigation to date. track more than 1,580 defendants who invaded the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, at Trump’s urging, to stop the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Just over 600 people were charged with assault, resisting or obstructing law enforcement. Trump has promised to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he repeatedly referred to on the campaign trail as “patriots,” “hostages” and “warriors.”
Trump defeat against Biden
Ranking committee member Dick Durbin of Illinois began nearly five hours of questioning, asking Bondi about the fallout from the 2020 presidential election.
“To my knowledge, Donald Trump has never recognized the legal results of the 2020 election. “Are you prepared to state under oath and without reservation today that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential contest to Joe Biden?” Durbin asked.
“Biden is the president of the United States,” Bondi responded. “He has been duly sworn in and is the President of the United States. There was a peaceful transfer of power. President Trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024.”
“I think that question deserves a yes or no,” Durbin replied. “And I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren’t prepared to answer yes.”
Moments later, Durbin asked Bondi whether the Jan. 6 defendants convicted of violent attacks on police officers should be pardoned.
“Senator, if confirmed as Attorney General of the United States, pardons are of course the responsibility of the President, but if I am asked to look at these cases, I will review each case and advise on a case-by-case basis. Just as I have throughout my career as a prosecutor,” Bondi responded.
Durbin, who was one of many Democratic senators to raise the issue of pardons on Jan. 6, accused Bondi of being unable to clearly answer a “simple question.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham chided his colleagues across the aisle for “prejudging” how the former Florida prosecutor would recommend pardoning rioters convicted of violent crimes.
“You would look at the proposal and give (Trump) your best advice, and you don’t like people who beat up cops?” the South Carolina Republican asked Bondi.
“Right, I hope no one does,” Bondi replied. “I won’t speak for the president, but the president doesn’t like people who mistreat police officers either.”
Revenge on Trump enemies
Democratic senators also pressed Bondi on whether she would reject Trump’s request for retaliation against his political opponents.
At the beginning of December the president-elect told NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” says Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and former ranking Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming “should go to prison.” Thompson was chairman and Cheney co-chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives special committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Vermont Sen. Peter Welch walked back Trump’s threats and asked Bondi if she had spoken to Trump about prosecuting Adam Schiff of California, a current member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who was on the Jan. 6 investigative panel. Schiff also led the impeachment trial of Trump in 2019.
“Absolutely not,” Bondi said.
The president-elect has “said on multiple occasions that (Schiff) should be prosecuted, that everyone on the January 6 committee should be prosecuted for their lies and betrayal. No discussion about it?” Welch followed him.
“No, Senator,” Bondi said.
“And Liz Cheney has also said that she should also be prosecuted for lying and treason,” Welch continued in the back-and-forth.
“We had no discussions about Liz Cheney,” Bondi replied.
The FBI and the press
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, questioned whether members of the press would be targeted under Trump’s novel law enforcement agencies, particularly if Trump’s controversial FBI director Kash Patel is confirmed.
“If the president or, depending on who the FBI director is — I have some strong views on that — tries to put pressure on the media, how would you respond?”
“Of course he made some statements, but I have not spoken to Mr. Patel about those statements,” Bondi said. “But of course it is wrong to take action against the media just because they are the media.”
Patel’s hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Bondi’s signed ethics agreement and financial disclosure were not yet publicly available at the U.S. Government Office of Ethics on Wednesday database. A spokesman for Grassley said the documents would be available in the coming days.
Senators on both sides expressed confidence that the committee will advance Bondi’s nomination to the full Senate.
“You don’t have to be clairvoyant to see that you’re going to be confirmed,” said Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana.
Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California agreed: “I can count and read tea leaves. “It seems to me very, very, very, very likely that you will be confirmed.”
The panel will meet again on Thursday to hear testimony from legal experts on Bondi’s qualifications.
Last updated on January 15, 2025 at 5:30 p.m
