US Legal professional Common designee Pam Bondi fended off onslaughts from California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla at her affirmation listening to Wednesday, each of whom grilled her about President-elect Donald Trump.
Padilla, 51, went first in questioning Bondi, 59, harping on the previous Florida legal professional common’s go to to Philadelphia through the 2020 election aftermath the place she appeared with Rudy Giuliani for a press convention and proclaimed, “We’ve won Pennsylvania.”
“Do you have any evidence of election fraud or irregularities in the 2020 election,” Padilla pressed her.
Bondi, who served as AG of Florida from 2011 to 2019, started responding, “I traveled to Pennsylvania….”
However Padilla repeatedly reduce her off as she tried to complete the sentence and reminded her of the oath she had taken to function the Sunshine State’s high cop.
The senator’s prodding prompted Bondi to hit again.
“You pointed your finger at me and said you were speaking. Let me answer your question. I’m not going to be bullied by you, Senator Padilla,” Bondi fired again via crosstalk. “I guess you didn’t want to hear my answer about Pennsylvania.”
The Golden State Democrat requested about birthright citizenship and what the 14th Modification says, prompting one other clapback from the aspiring US legal professional common.
“Senator, I’m here to answer your questions, I’m not here to do your homework and study for you,” Bondi jabbed as Padilla repeated his query. “Hey, you cut me off — can I please finish,” she added earlier than answering that the “14th Amendment — we all know — addresses birthright citizenship.”
Earlier within the affirmation listening to, Bondi affirmed to senators that she accepts President Biden is presently the commander-in-chief, some extent on which Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have often centered.
However maybe the extra dramatic encounter Bondi had was with Schiff, 64, who was the lead impeachment supervisor throughout Trump’s first impeachment trial.
“My first set of questions has to do whether you have the independence to say no, when you must say no,” Schiff started, earlier than asking whether or not she would reject a request to analyze former particular counsel Jack Smith.
“Senator, I haven’t seen the file. I haven’t seen the investigation. I haven’t looked at anything. It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment,” she replied.
Schiff, who was a high Trump foe within the Home throughout his first administration, needled that she appeared “reluctant to answer a simple question.” He then requested her about whether or not there’s a factual predicate to analyze former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
“No one has asked me to investigate Liz Cheney,” she mentioned. “We’re all so worried about Liz Cheney, senator. You know what we should be worried about? The crime rate in California right now is through the roof.”
“Your robberies are 87% higher than the national average — that’s what I want to focus on, senator.”
The freshman senator ignored the swipe and pressed whether or not Bondi had the “intestinal fortitude” to inform Trump that he misplaced the 2020 election. Bondi shrugged that off as a “gotcha.”
“Senator, what I can tell you is I will never play politics. You’re trying to engage me in a gotcha,” she countered via crosstalk. “I won’t play politics with any ongoing investigation like you did leaking your colleague Devon Nunes’ memo.”
Again in 2018, Schiff, who was the rating member on the Home Everlasting Choose Committee on Intelligence, had hit again at a memo from former Chairman Devin Nunes alleging that the Justice Division, FBI and former particular counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation have been rife with bias.
Later through the change with Bondi, Schiff drilled down on whether or not she would advise Trump’s resolution on whether or not to pardon scores of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters.
“You were censured by Congress, senator, for comments just like this that are so reckless,” Bondi mentioned, exasperated, throughout that conflict.
Schiff was censured in 2023 by the GOP-led Home over his dealing with of the Home Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Trump through the first administration.
After subsequent questioning from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who went over his allotted time by a minute, Bondi later joked about deducting that minute from Schiff’s second spherical of questioning later within the affirmation.
Throughout her listening to, Bondi additionally reassured Democrats that “there will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice” and that she doesn’t “believe Kash Patel has an enemies list.”
FBI Director designee Patel included a listing of so-called “deep state” enemies in his 2022 tome “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” which has rattled Democratic critics.
