Democrats are questioning President-elect Donald J. Trump's nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, during her confirmation hearing about how she will ensure, or will ensure, the independence of the Justice Department's criminal investigations. There is a big focus on whether or not.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware asked Bondy if he would drop the lawsuit if the White House objects. She responded that she would not have accepted the nomination if she had thought such a thing could happen.
But something similar happened under Trump. During his first administration, Mr. Trump suggested then-FBI Director James B. Comey halt an investigation into his national security adviser. Comey did not intervene in the incident and was later fired.
Sen. Lindsey Graham advised Trump to choose Bondi, who is an unabashed defender of Trump. At her confirmation hearing, she dismissed concerns that her close relationship with the president-elect would hurt her ability to do her job. He said it was most likely an asset.
“Maybe that's why President Kennedy chose his brother to head the Justice Department,” he joked.
During the hearing, Mr. Bondi reiterated his assertion that the Justice Department has been abused and misguided by politically motivated decision-makers, going far beyond investigating and prosecuting Mr. Trump. suggested that it was a problem.
“Politics has to be taken out of this system,” she said. “This sector has been weaponized for years and years and years, and it has to stop.”
Pressed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, about his past pledge to “prosecute prosecutors,” Bondi said, “None of us are above the law.” . As an example of misconduct within the Justice Department, she cited the case of an FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty in 2017 to altering emails related to an Intelligence Surveillance Court order against a former Trump adviser.
Bondi spoke on Fox News after Trump was indicted by the Fulton County district attorney along with 18 others in Georgia on charges of orchestrating a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the state's 2020 election results. In the next Republican election, he declared: The government, “the Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad guys.” She added, “The investigators will be investigated.”
Attorney general candidates recently pledged to ensure the Justice Department follows the post-Watergate tradition of keeping the White House out of criminal investigations. But Bondi will be the first attorney general to hold the job following a Supreme Court ruling last summer that specifically authorized the president to oversee the Justice Department's investigative work.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stated, “In order to fulfill his constitutional duty to “see that the laws be faithfully executed,'' “We may discuss this with department officials,” the majority opinion wrote. The presidential immunity decision significantly expanded the powers of the executive branch.
