Pam Bondi is getting grilled before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
President-elect Donald Trump's choice to head the Justice Department -- former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi -- faces questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Democrats want to ask her about her vow to "prosecute the prosecutors -- the bad ones" -- referring to special counsel Jack Smith and other DOJ lawyers who investigated Trump.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he was "deeply disturbed" by some of Bondi's responses during the hearing, particular her earlier not answering directly when asked whether Trump lost the 2020 election.
"You have to be able to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election," he said. "You dodged that question when you were asked directly by Senator Durbin."
Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons questioned Bondi again about her independence -- and if she would resign from her post if she were asked to do something illegal or unethical.
Coons noted Donald Trump's attorneys general in his first term were fired for failing to cooperate with his orders.
Bondi said she would not talk about hypotheticals and reiterated her statement that she would follow the law.
"Senator, I wouldn't work at a law firm, I wouldn't be a prosecutor, I wouldn't be attorney general If anyone ask me to do something improper, and I felt I had to carry that out, of course I would not do that," she said.
After pressing Bondi over what he called Trump FBI director pick Kash Patel's "enemies list," Sen. Whitehouse shifted to questioning Bondi on whether she would shut down the FBI's national security and counterterrorism work, to which Bondi answered that, while she will look at every agency, she has no "intention of shutting anything down."
She then expanded on her TV appearance with Fox News host Sean Hannity, where she called for "investigating the investigators."
She gave the example of a so-called "bad" prosecutor in the Justice Department as Kevin Clinesmith. Clinesmith was an ex-FBI lawyer who entered into a plea deal with former special counsel John Durham and received a sentence of probation for altering an email that was used to support an application for a foreign surveillance warrant.
Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse questioned Bondi about her past statement that prosecutors who investigated Trump should be prosecuted for what she claimed was wrongdoing.
Bondi reiterated her claims that Trump was unfairly targeted by the Justice Department for years and it was her duty to hold everyone to standards of the law.
"None of us are above the law," she said.
When asked about prosecuting journalists, Bondi said, "I believe in the freedom of speech. Only if anyone commits a crime."
