Pam Bondi, president-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general of the United States, refused to acknowledge Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election while being questioned by senators during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Bondi — a former attorney general for Florida who previously worked as a defense counsel for Trump during one of his impeachments — was asked by several Democratic lawmakers about Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, which he tried to get former Department of Justice (DOJ) officials to promote in an attempt to overturn the results of the race.
When questioned by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) about the matter, Bondi refused to give a straight answer.
“Do you have any doubts that Joe Biden had the majority of votes — electoral votes — necessary to be elected president in 2020?” Durbin asked during her confirmation hearing.
“I accept the results. I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is president of the United States,” Bondi said in response.
When Durbin pressed Bondi further, asking her to say definitively that Biden had won the race, she claimed she personally saw “many things” to make her question the integrity of Pennsylvania’s election results. No claims of widespread fraud affecting the 2020 election have ever been substantiated.
Durbin was not impressed with her reasoning. “I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren’t prepared to answer,” he said.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) also used her time to question Bondi’s election denialism, asking the nominee: “Who won the 2020 presidential election?”
Again, Bondi refused to answer the question. “Joe Biden is the president of the United States,” she said.
Hirono asked why Bondi couldn’t simply say Biden had won. “I can say that Donald Trump won the 2024 election,” the senator said. “I may not like it, but I can say it. You cannot say who won the 2020 presidential election.”
Bondi went silent after that statement. Hirono concluded by saying it was “disturbing” that Bondi couldn’t “give voice to that fact.”
Asked about Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia — specifically, his call demanding that Georgia election officials “find” him enough votes to overcome Biden’s win — Bondi claimed ignorance, saying she hadn’t read or heard anything about that conversation, which made national headlines and led to criminal indictments in that state. Despite supposedly being unaware of that call, however, Bondi suggested that Trump’s words were “taken out of context.”
Bondi also claimed ignorance about Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI director (who would work within her department, if she’s confirmed to be attorney general), crafting an “enemies list” of Trump’s political opponents.
“Would you have hired into the Florida attorney general’s office who had an enemies list?” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) asked Bondi.
“I don’t believe [Patel] has an enemies list,” Bondi said.
Bondi also sought to assure senators at her hearing that she would not use the department to go after people for political reasons — a statement that contradicts Trump’s many promises to do just that.
There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice. … I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation. Justice will be administered evenhandedly throughout this country.
Despite this promise, Bondi also stated that she believes Patel “is the right person at this time” to be FBI director.
The skepticism of Democratic senators at Bondi’s hearing is perhaps warranted, given her deep loyalty to Trump and her troubling statements and actions as attorney general of Florida.
While in that role, Bondi was preparing a lawsuit against Trump University, alongside one from the state of New York. But Bondi curiously dropped that inquiry shortly after her campaign committee received a hefty donation from a different Trump charity, leading many to question whether her decision was a political favor.
Bondi has also expressed disdain for political speech she disagrees with, saying that she supports deporting pro-Palestinian demonstrators at colleges and universities across the country.
“Frankly they need to be taken out of our country,” Bondi said of the student protesters in 2023.
Observers have said that this and her refusal to accept the 2020 election results should disqualify her from serving in the Trump administration.
Discussing her nomination shortly after it was announced by Trump, Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney who is now a law professor at the University of Alabama, said it was imperative for Bondi to explain her past statements regarding false claims of election fraud.
“Bondi must be asked at her confirmation hearing if Trump lost the election in 2020. Unless her answer is yes, the Senate must reject her nomination,” Vance said in a social media post at the time. “You can’t be an election denier & the attorney general.”
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