Donald Trump has repeatedly bashed Bill Barr since the former attorney general refused to buy into the lie that the 2020 election was rigged. He won’t have that problem with Pam Bondi, should the Senate confirm her as the new leader of the Justice Department.
In the aftermath of Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020, Bondi tried to advance the former president’s baseless claims of election fraud, and falsely claimed that Trump “won Pennsylvania.”
When asked during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday whether she was prepared to say Trump lost the 2020 election, Bondi refused to do so. The former Florida attorney general and Trump impeachment lawyer only acknowledged that Joe Biden is the president and that he was “duly sworn in.”
She added that “there was a peaceful transition of power,” despite the violence that unfolded when Trump’s supporters forcibly broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress prepared to certify Biden’s win.
“I accept that Joe Biden is president of the United States,” she continued, adding that as an “advocate” for Trump’s campaign in Pennsylvania, she “saw many things there.” She maintained, though, that she accepts the results. “Do I agree with what happened? I saw so much — no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country.”
“I think that question deserved a yes or no, and I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren’t prepared to answer yes,” replied Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Bondi’s fealty to Trump was of great concern to the Democrats grilling her, and at just about every turn she denied having knowledge about highly publicized comments made by Trump, or said she wasn’t going to answer hypothetical questions about the actions she could take as attorney general.
She said wasn’t familiar with Trump’s statement calling Jan. 6 rioters “hostages” and “patriots,” nor was she familiar with Trump saying that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” She also pleaded ignorance when asked about Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he asked for the election official to “find” the votes he needed to surpass Biden’s 2020 vote total in the state.
When asked whether Jan. 6 rioters who violently assaulted Capitol Police officers should be pardoned, as Trump has pledged, Bondi didn’t say no, but that she will “look at each and every file.” She was evasive when Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked her about her own comments about going after “bad” prosecutors. Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to investigate those involved in his own criminal cases.
“Is Jack Smith one of those bad prosecutors that you will prosecute?” Hirono asked, going on to ask about former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“I am not going to answer hypotheticals,” Bondi said.
Hirono also asked Bondi about the 2020 election. “Who won the 2020 presidential election?” she asked, to which Bondi said again that “Joe Biden is the president of the United States.”
“I can say that Donald Trump won the 2024 election,” Hirono said. “I may not like it, but I can say it. You cannot say who cannot say who won the 2020 presidential election.”
Bondi responded with silence.
Bondi did, however, tout Trump’s “landslide” 2024 win on multiple occasions during the hearing.
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