Pam Bondi, President-elect Trump’s attorney general nominee, is seen on Capitol Hill on Dec. 17, 2024. Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Democrats are expected to hammer attorney general pick Pam Bondi about her loyalty to President-elect Trump during her confirmation hearing after she bolstered his false claims about a stolen election in 2020.
Why it matters: If confirmed, Bondi’s appointment would install a Trump loyalist in the nation’s highest law enforcement role — empowering a MAGA overhaul of the DOJ, which could include investigating the president-elect’s political enemies.
- Bondi, a veteran prosecutor and former Florida attorney general, was Trump’s second pick for attorney general after his embattled first pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration.
- Bondi’s confirmation chances appear far stronger than Gaetz’s did — but that’s not to say she won’t face tough questioning Wednesday.
- Trump’s nominees can only afford to lose a handful of votes given the GOP’s narrow Senate majority.
Driving the news: Bondi’s hearing, which kicks of at 9:30am ET before the Senate Judiciary Committee, will be split across two days, picking up again Thursday at 10:15am ET.
- Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had originally wanted to hold Bondi’s hearing Tuesday, but delays on her background check and financial disclosures pushed her appearance back, Axios’ Stef Kight and Stephen Neukam report.
- Bondi’s hearing comes a day after Pete Hegseth’s fireworks-filled appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where Democrats pressed him on his qualifications to be Defense secretary and the slate of allegations against him.
Between the lines: Bondi is a longtime Trump ally who has been at his side on multiple occasions when he faced legal jeopardy, including as a member of his impeachment team in 2020.
- She also supported the president-elect’s false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, saying at the time there could be “fake ballots” and appearing beside former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to decry voter fraud, per the Tampa Bay Times.
- The relationship between Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr soured in the waning months of his presidency after Barr undercut Trump’s claims of a stolen election.
Go deeper: Scoop: Schumer’s plan to fire back at MAGA nominees
