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Bondi hearing live updates: Democrats frustrated by Bondi on 2020 election answers

Pam Bondi is getting grilled before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Last Updated: January 15, 2025, 1:54 PM EST

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.

2 hours and 48 minutes ago

Bondi doesn't commit to enforcing pending TikTok ban

Blumenthal asked whether she would enforce the TikTok ban, which is slated to begin on Sunday.

Bondi cited the pending Supreme Court case and claimed she could not comment. Trump once pushed for a ban but has come against the bipartisan bill approved last year that would ban it unless its owners divested from Chinese ownership.

2 hours and 56 minutes ago

Blumenthal calls out Bondi for dodging question about 2020 election integrity

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."

PHOTO: Pam Bondi Attends Confirmation Hearing To Be Attorney General
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 15, 2025.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

3 hours and 8 minutes ago

Bondi questioned about resigning if asked to do illegal act

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.

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 15, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

3 hours and 19 minutes ago

Bondi says no 'intention of shutting anything down' on FBI national security work

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.

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