Pam Bondi to face questions on loyalty to Trump, lobbying ties in AG confirmation hearing

Pam Bondi has developed a reputation as one of President-elect Donald Trump's most loyal defenders -- a vocal political and legal advocate who represented Trump during his first impeachment, boosted his efforts to sow doubts about his 2020 election loss, and stood by him during his New York criminal trial.

After more than a decade of defending him, Bondi is now the president-elect's nominee to be the country's top prosecutor and reform the Department of Justice as his nominee for attorney general.

The role of the country's top law enforcement officer gives Bondi an opportunity to fulfill Trump's campaign promise to transform the DOJ that has investigated and prosecuted him for the last two years, with Bondi vowing to "clean house" prosecute members of the so-called "deep state."

"When Republicans take back the White House, and we will be back in there in 18 months or less, you know what's going to happen? The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted -- the bad ones -- the investigators will be investigated," Bondi said on Fox News in 2023.

On Wednesday, Bondi will kick off two days of hearings to secure confirmation as the next attorney general, as lawmakers prepare to question her over her extensive legal, political and lobbying background -- and whether her longtime loyalty to Trump will impact her oversight of the nation's top law enforcement agencies.

If confirmed, Bondi would lead a Department of Justice staffed at the highest levels by Trump's former defense attorneys and facing a potential morale and resignation crisis by the career prosecutors who carry the bulk of the department's workload.

"For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore," Trump wrote in his announcement of Bondi for attorney general.

What is Bondi's law enforcement background?

While Bondi lacks any federal prosecutorial experience, she was a county prosecutor in Florida before serving two terms as Florida's attorney general between 2011 and 2019 -- the state's first female AG -- where she fought in court to challenge Obamacare and uphold Florida's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

In his announcement, Trump touted Bondi's work combating the trafficking of fentanyl and reducing overdose deaths. Bondi's office sued multiple drug manufacturers as well as pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS for their role in the opioid crisis, alleging the companies worked together to increase the supply and demand for the drugs while downplaying the risk of addiction. Her office claimed that efforts to shut down pill mills led to a 52% decline in oxycodone deaths statewide.

Bondi's time as Florida attorney general was not without controversy, garnering criticism for her attempt to delay the execution of a man convicted of murder because of a conflict with a campaign fundraiser. Both Bondi and Trump also attracted criticism during the 2016 race over a $25,000 contribution that the Trump Foundation made in 2013 to a political group backing Bondi's reelection campaign.

The contribution came days after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a lawsuit against Trump University, which Bondi's office considered joining. The office had received at least 22 complaints regarding Trump University and related entities between 2008 and 2011, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a complaint that the donation was a violation of rules prohibiting nonprofit foundations from making political donations.

One month after the donation, Bondi's office declined to join New York's lawsuit, justifying the decision by noting that Florida consumers would still be compensated if Schneiderman won his lawsuit.

Both Trump and Bondi have denied that the donation was related to the lawsuit. The Trump Foundation eventually paid a $2,500 penalty to the IRS for improperly reporting the donation.

Trump University and the Trump Foundation were closed following multiple lawsuits, and a judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his foundation.

What has she done in the private sector?

After leaving office in 2019, Bondi joined the lobbying firm Ballard Partners – the same firm that once employed Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles – where she represented major corporate clients like Amazon, General Motors, Uber and the private prison company the GEO Group, among others.

On her Senate questionnaire, Bondi also listed several foreign governments she lobbied on behalf of while at Ballard, including the Dominican Republic, Qatar, Zimbabwe and Kosovo. Senate Democrats have pushed for more information over Bondi's foreign lobbying work to determine any potential conflicts of interest that might surface should she be confirmed as attorney general.

Beyond her work as a lobbyist, Bondi solidified her reputation as a Trump loyalist by defending him on the floor of the Senate during his first impeachment and helping his efforts to discredit the 2020 election results.

Hired by the Trump administration in November 2019 during his first impeachment, Bondi used her role to raise doubts about then-Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden's role with the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, alleging it was a conflict of interest with his father's position in the Obama administration.

Bondi served as an adviser on Trump's 2020 campaign, helping file a string of unsuccessful lawsuits alleging voter fraud and pushing to delegitimize vote counting in Pennsylvania.

"We do have evidence of cheating," Bondi told Fox News. "We are still on the ground in Pennsylvania. I am here right now, and we are not going anywhere until they declare that we won Pennsylvania."

Despite her legal efforts, Trump lost the state and the 2020 election to Biden.

What will Bondi inherit at the Department of Justice?

Trump announced Bondi as his nominee for attorney general almost immediately after former Rep. Matt Gaetz announced he was withdrawing his nomination for the position amid increasing questions about sexual misconduct and other allegations that were later detailed in a report from the House Ethics Committee.

Several career officials who spoke to ABC News following the initial announcement of Gaetz's nomination, however, said it put on full display Trump's intentions for the Justice Department after years of battling prosecutors from Special Counsel Jack Smith's office. Nearly every other major nominee put forward thus far by Trump for a leadership position at DOJ served as his defense attorney in at least one of the criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to use the DOJ to target his political opponents while issuing sweeping pardons for the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The career officials who spoke to ABC News described such actions as nightmare scenarios directly compromising the traditional independence of the Justice Department, which could prompt many career officials to resign.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in recent weeks has repeatedly messaged to DOJ's career workforce that they should remain and carry out their duties in accordance with the Constitution and longstanding department norms of political independence.

The overt threats by Trump and his allies to clean house of any officials who had significant involvement in the investigations led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, however, have already led some career officials to head to the exits -- including some who have reached out to attorneys in recent weeks for potential legal representation should they ultimately be targeted by the incoming administration.