The chairman of the Republican National Committee expressed little to no concern that Pam Bondi would face significant problems sailing through Senate confirmation hearings to become President-elect Donald Trump‘s attorney general.
“I fully expect that Pam will be confirmed,” said Chairman Michael Whatley in a press call with reporters one day before Bondi’s hearing begins. “And she will be confirmed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis because she is eminently qualified for this position.”
Democrats are expected to question Bondi over her past background as a lobbyist during hearings but her nomination will likely still pass through with the GOP controlling the Senate.
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Bondi was tapped to lead the Department of Justice after former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz ended his bid for attorney general after it appeared his nomination would fail.
In December, Bondi began appearing on Capitol Hill, meeting with the current Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), then the ranking member of the committee.
In contrast to Gaetz, many GOP lawmakers and allies have praised Bondi’s former role as Florida attorney general for eight years, from 2011 to 2019, and her extensive career as a prosecutor.
“I can’t think of a better nominee to go into the Department of Justice to get control of it, to right some of the wrongs that we’ve seen over these last several years, and really just get back to enforcing the law as Congress has intended it to be,” said former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf on the press call.
Despite the GOP praise that Bondi will end the alleged “two-tier” justice system and “lawfare” that was weaponized against Trump, Democrats have pointed to her past lobbying efforts as a conflict of interest.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to the Department of Justice and the National Archives and Records Administration about Bondi registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as a lobbyist with Ballard Partners from January 2019 through November 2019 and then from January 2020 through the present.
Durbin alleged that Bondi did not address her lobbying work on behalf of several foreign nations, including the Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe, and Kosovo, on the Senate Judiciary questionnaire.
“To understand the extent to which her work as a FARA-registered lobbyist may create potential conflicts of interest should she be confirmed as Attorney General, the Committee requires additional information from the Department of Justice that is not otherwise available,” Durbin wrote.
But Republicans dismissed concerns that Democrats will hammer Bondi over the issue when asked by the Washington Examiner on the press call.
“We handle these conflict issues a lot when you’re dealing with these nominations,” said Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project.
“There are measures in place at the Justice Department, where they work with the ethics officials in the Justice Department for each nominee, for each appointee, to make sure that they’re fully complying with their ethical obligations. And there’s not going to be a problem with Pam Bondi,” Davis added.
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Whatley dismissed additional questioning on whether Bondi would act independently of Trump if confirmed pointing to her duty as a public servant of the nation.
“What we see with Pam Bondi is the ability to both serve the president as a member of his Cabinet, where she will be a very, very valuable member of the Cabinet,” Whatley said. “But also she’s going to take an oath to the Constitution of the United States. She will protect the oath, and she will stand for the American family, the American community; that’s who she is going to be fighting for every day.”
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly called for investigations into his top political enemies with Bondi echoing those concerns last year.
Trump has also tapped Kash Patel as his FBI director nominee. Should the pair get confirmed, it could have legal ramifications for Trump’s high-profile targets, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, who served on the committee that investigated him over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two criminal prosecutions against Trump.
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Yet Davis, who previously called for prosecutorial retribution against Trump’s foes, signaled Bondi’s focus is on serving as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
“Pam Bondi has shown as the attorney general for eight years in the state of Florida that she can do her job, and she’s a strong, independent woman,” said Davis. “She’s going to do the same thing as the attorney general of the United States. She’s going to follow her legal responsibilities and her ethical duties, and she’s going to carry out her work on behalf of the American people.”
