WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, vowed to end “the partisan weaponization” of the U.S. justice system if confirmed, echoing the president-elect’s assertion that the prosecutions he faced were politically motivated.
“I will work to restore confidence and integrity to the Department of Justice – and each of its components,” Bondi told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Under my watch, the partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice will end.”
Bondi, 59, served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, and helped defend Trump during his 2019 impeachment trial which ended in his acquittal on charges of pressuring Ukraine to investigate his rival, now-President Joe Biden.
The Republican-majority Senate is evaluating a wave of cabinet picks, some controversial, ahead of Trump’s return to office on Monday. Lawmakers held a fiery hearing with Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, on Tuesday, and are due on Thursday to hear from his choice for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent.
Trump has threatened to use the U.S. justice system to seek revenge against his political enemies when he returns to power.
“President-elect Trump has vowed not just to use the Justice Department to advance his own political interests, but also to seek ‘retribution’ against ‘the enemy within,'” the committee’s top Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin, said in a prepared opening statement.
“I need to know you would tell President Trump ‘No’ if you are faced with a choice between your oath to the Constitution and your loyalty to Mr. Trump.”
Bondi pledged to prioritize prosecuting violent crime, gangs, child sex abusers and drug traffickers, protecting the country from “terrorists and other foreign threats” and addressing “the overwhelming crisis at the border.”
She added that she also will focus on protecting free speech, religious freedom and “the right to bear arms,” and work to fix the Federal Bureau of Prisons which she said has suffered from “years of mismanagement, lack of funding, and low morale.”
She was not specific as to how she would accomplish her goals.
Top committee Republican Senator Chuck Grassley praised Bondi’s experience.
“The Justice Department’s infected with political decision-making, while its leaders refuse to acknowledge that reality,” Grassley said in his prepared opening statement. “Ms. Bondi, should you be confirmed, the actions you take to change the Department’s course must be for accountability, so that the conduct I just described never happens again.
PAST, LOBBYING IN SPOTLIGHT
Panel Democrats were expected to question Bondi’s history in office and her work as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners since 2019.
In 2013, while serving as Florida attorney general, Bondi declined to join with other states to investigate Trump University shortly after a political action committee supporting her campaign received a $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation.
She denied any connection between the donation and her decision not to investigate Trump University.
Following Trump’s 2020 election defeat, she appeared at press conferences and on television shows where she echoed some of Trump’s false claims about election fraud.
In a more recent role at the Trump-affiliated America First Policy Institute, she co-signed two court briefs that supported efforts by Trump’s legal defense team to beat federal and state criminal charges against him in Florida and New York.
Federal ethics rules generally require government employees to recuse themselves from participating in matters that could have a direct financial impact on them and for a period of time to recuse themselves from working on cases involving parties with whom they have personal or business relationships.
Bondi’s current or former lobbying clients include the Dominican Republic, Qatar, Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister and Kosovo, as well as Amazon.com, Fidelity, Carnival North America LLC, Uber Technologies Inc, Major League Baseball, General Motors, The GEO Group Inc, Alden Torch Financial and the Major County Sheriffs of America.
Several of the companies, such as Uber, Amazon, Carnival and General Motors have been in the crosshairs of various Justice Department investigations during Biden’s administration.
The GEO Group, a private prison company, has some outstanding contracts with the Justice Department, federal spending records show. Some of the law enforcement groups Bondi has lobbied for as recently as 2024 have members whose offices receive Justice Department grant funds.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis and Howard Goller)
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