Trump nominee Pam Bondi vows independence, but won't rule out probes of Trump critics

By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump's choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, vowed on Wednesday not to use the U.S. Justice Department to target people based on their politics, but dodged direct questions about investigating people scorned by the president-elect.

"There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice," Bondi told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I will not politicize that office. I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation."

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 depicted herself as an independent-minded prosecutor focused on issues like the opioid epidemic and human trafficking, but declined to rule out investigations of Trump's adversaries.

"It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment regarding anything," she told Democratic Senator Adam Schiff when asked about investigating Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought two now-dismissed criminal cases against Trump.

Bondi criticized Smith's probe, saying it was evidence of partisan "weaponization" of the Justice Department.

Trump repeatedly vowed during the campaign to use the Justice Department to target people who had investigated or criticized him.

Democratic lawmakers pressed Bondi about her independence from Trump, noting two of Trump's first-term attorneys general fell out of favor after they refused to intervene on matters of interest to Trump.

"The concern is that weaponization of the Justice Department may well occur under your tenure," Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse told Bondi. "We want to make sure that's not the case, that you remain independent."

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 choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, on Tuesday, and are due on Thursday to hear from his choice for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent.

Bondi received broad praise from Republicans, who argued she would restore the reputation of the department, which has faced an onslaught of criticism from Trump and his allies.

Bondi promised to prioritize prosecuting violent crime, gangs, child sex abusers and drug traffickers, protecting the country from terrorists and addressing "the overwhelming crisis at the border."

"Help us restore legitimacy to the Department of Justice," Republican Senator John Kennedy told Bondi, urging her to "find out who the bad guys are" and "get rid of them."

DEMOCRATIC QUESTIONING

Under questioning from Democrats, Bondi said she accepted Biden's 2020 election win, but suggested she saw evidence of irregularities in the swing state of Pennsylvania while serving as an advocate for Trump's campaign.

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.

Bondi said she would evaluate potential pardons for those accused of taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on a "case-by-case" basis if asked.

Trump has vowed to pardon at least some of the roughly 1,600 people criminally charged with taking part in the riot, but has suggested that those who were violent may not get a reprieve.

Bondi defended Trump's nominee for FBI Director Kash Patel, but deflected when the committee's top Democrat, Dick Durbin, alleged that Patel had expressed support for the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that Trump is fighting a cabal of child-abusers in the government.

"I look forward to hearing his testimony about QAnon in front of this committee," Bondi said of Patel, a firebrand Trump loyalist. Bondi said she did not know much about the conspiracy theory.

A spokesperson for the Trump transition said Patel is a "firm opponent of deranged conspiracy theories."

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis, Howard Goller and Alistair Bell)