Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, said she will not use the US Department of Justice to target people based on their politics during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“There will be no enemy list within the Justice Department,” he told the chiefs as he was repeatedly pressed about his loyalty to Trump. “I will not include politics in that office.”
But Bondi, who would become the country's top law enforcement official if confirmed to participate in the Senate's vote, did not directly decide to open an investigation into those the president-elect has clashed with.
“It would be reckless for me to commit to anything,” he said when asked if he would investigate Jack Smith, who led the two criminal charges against Trump.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to investigate and possibly prosecute his political enemies during the election campaign.
Bondi, who is likely to be confirmed as the 87th US attorney general given the Republican majority in the chamber, has insisted throughout the hearing that he will remain independent.
But he also echoed Trump's view that federal prosecutions of him are political prosecutions, saying the department has been “back in arms for years and years and years”.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, said the department has been “influenced by political decision-making” and that it is “armed” under the Biden administration, especially against Trump.
These comments were echoed by other Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Bondi agreed with their assessment.
Meanwhile, the questions of members of the Democratic Alliance focused on whether Bondi would refuse the president-elect to be elected.
“The concern is that the weapons of the justice department may happen in your time,” said Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse told Bondi. “We want to make sure that's not the case, that you stay independent.”
They also focused part of their questions on FBI director-designate Kash Patel, who, if confirmed, will report to Bondi.
The FBI nominee said he has an “enemy list” of people he will go after if confirmed. Several senators asked Bondi about those comments, but he said he had never heard of them and that the Justice Department would not have such a list.
Bondi also told the committee that he would look at possible pardons for the Capitol protesters “on a case-by-case basis” but added that he condemned “any violence against a law enforcement officer in this country.”
The attorney general serves as the head of the Department of Justice, which enforces federal laws. If the role is confirmed, Bondi will provide legal advice and opinions to the president and heads of senior departments.
His confirmation vote has not yet been scheduled, but is expected in the coming days.
On Wednesday, senators again questioned Marco Rubio, who is expected to be confirmed as Trump's secretary of state.
He warned that Washington must change its behavior to avoid over-reliance on China and promised to reform American foreign policy to focus on American interests.
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