A.G. Nominee Pam Bondi Refuses To Say If Trump Lost 2020 Election At Senate Hearing, Calls Last Transition ‘Peaceful’

President-elect Donal Trump’s Attorney General pick, Pam Bondi, dodged a question in her confirmation hearing on Wednesday about whether he lost the 2020 election.

Despite the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Bondi described the transition after the 2020 election as “peaceful.” She said that the president had been “targeted” for political reasons during President Joe Biden’s administration, an attack on Trump’s twin indictments. Bondi has been widely seen as openly sharing Trump’s belief that the 2020 election was “stolen.”

When asked by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) in Wednesday’s confirmation hearing if she believed Trump lost the 2020 election, Bondi gave a response that did not satisfy Durbin.

“What I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania to advocate for the campaign,” Bondi said. “I saw many things there. But do I accept the results? Of course, I do.”

“I think that question deserved yes or no, and I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren’t prepared to answer yes,” Durbin responded.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) suggested that Bondi offered politically convenient answers.

“I’m not going to sit up here and say anything that I need to get confirmed by this body,” she said. “I will answer the question to the best of my ability.”

The attorney general nominee also deflected questions about whether or not she would prosecute the prosecutors who have gone after Trump.

Bondi’s loyalty to Trump has raised concerns in the Justice Department, which takes pride in its independence from the White House.

Bondi promised that “politics will not play a part” in her work at the confirmation hearing. She told senators that, if confirmed as Trump’s A.G., she would end the Justice Department’s “weaponization.”

“Politics has to be removed from this system,” she said. “This department has been weaponized for years and years and years, and it has to stop.”

“They targeted Donald Trump. They went after him, actually, starting back in 2016, they targeted his campaign,” she said. “They have launched countless investigations against him. That will not be the case if I am attorney general. I will not politicize that office. I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation. Justice will be administered evenhandedly throughout this country.”

Additionally, Bondi clarified that FBI director nominee Kash Patel would answer directly to her and the Justice Department. She suggested upholding policies that would limit the White House’s contacts with department officials and not allow the FBI to pursue inquiries on Trump’s behalf that are not politically motivated.

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