After Peter Brian Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump nominee as the Secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND), torched the Democrats during his confirmation hearing, it was the turn of attorney general nominee Pam Bondi to impress the lawmakers.
Conservatives on social media celebrated her quick-witted response to a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., during her confirmation hearing last 15 January.
"It would not be appropriate for a prosecutor to start with a name and look for a crime?" Whitehouse said during his line of questioning. "It's a prosecutor's job to start with a crime and look for a name. Correct?"
Bondi responded by highlighting the federal government’s investigations into Trump.
"Senator, I think that is the whole problem with the weaponization that we have seen the last four years and what's been happening to Donald Trump," Bondi said.
"They targeted Donald Trump. They went after him, actually starting back in 2016. They targeted his campaign. They have launched countless investigations against him. That will not be the case. If I am attorney general, I will not politicize that office," Bondi said. "I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation. Justice will be administered evenhandedly throughout this country. Senator, we've got to bring this country back together. We've got to move forward, or we're going to lose our country."
Next, she engaged with Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono in a tense exchange that resulted to more praises from conservatives on social media.
"You have an incoming president who said, 'I have the absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department,' and in fact, President-elect Trump considers the DOJ to be his law firm," the Hawaii senator said to Bondi on Wednesday. "I ask you this: If President-elect Trump asks, suggests or hints that you as attorney general should investigate one of his perceived political enemies, would you do so?"
"Sen. Hirono, I wish you had met with me. Had you met with me, we could have discussed many things and gotten to –" Bondi began to respond.
"I'm very happy to listen to your responses under oath, Miss Bondi," Hirono said.
"So I think it's really important to us that the attorney general be independent of the White House, and you have a president-elect who considers the AG’s office his law firm. I would like to know whether if the president suggests, hints, asks, that you, as attorney general, should investigate one of his perceived enemies."
Bondi responded, "I certainly have not heard the president say that. But what I will tell you is two-thirds of Americans have lost faith in the Department of Justice, and its statements like that, I believe, that make people continue to lose faith."