By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, will face a Senate panel on Wednesday where Democrats are expected to grill her over the Republican president-elect’s threats to use the Justice Department to seek revenge against his political enemies.
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.
She was Trump’s second pick for the job after former U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
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 pick for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent.
Bondi has emerged as a major Trump supporter. In 2013, while serving as Florida attorney general, she 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 in 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.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are expected to hammer Bondi on whether she will be willing to put the interests of the U.S. ahead of Trump’s personal interests.
Trump on the campaign trail repeatedly accused the Justice Department of launching two criminal prosecutions of him to prevent him from returning to office. Both cases were dropped after Trump’s November election victory.
LOBBYING WORK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Panel Democrats are expected to question Bondi’s work as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners since 2019.
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 they have personal or business relationships with.
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, 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.
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.
“In the event of a potential conflict of interest, I will consult with the appropriate Department of Justice ethics officials and act consistent with governing regulations,” Bondi told lawmakers in her Senate questionnaire.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)
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