Trump’s AG Pick Pam Bondi Says There Won’t Be ‘Enemies List’ At DOJ—But Defends Kash Patel As FBI Head

Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi denied Wednesday that the Justice Department will maintain an “enemies list” to seek revenge against political rivals, as Democrats questioned her during her Senate confirmation hearing—but the prosecutor defended the choice of Kash Patel as the next FBI director, despite him previously vowing to go after his and Trump’s foes.

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in … [+] Washington, D.C., on January 15.

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Key Facts

The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Bondi Wednesday as part of her confirmation process as attorney general, with Democrats particularly grilling Bondi about her plans for the department in light of Trump’s vows to “come after” his political rivals.

Democrats also questioned her about Patel, a former Trump-era intelligence official who’s drawn controversy in part for vowing to overhaul the FBI and go after his political enemies—detailing those opponents in his 2023 book, which included a list of what Patel called “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State,” people whom he believes were “corrupt actors” in the first Trump administration.

Bondi said Wednesday she was not familiar with Patel’s comments, but told senators, “There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice” if she is attorney general.

The former Florida attorney general defended Patel’s nomination, however, saying she believes Patel “is the right person at this time for this job” and noting he “was a career prosecutor, he was a career public defender, and he also has great experience within the intelligence community.”

Bondi said she was unfamiliar with some of the brasher claims Patel has made—including saying he wants to dismantle the FBI’s headquarters—but noted the FBI nominee would be working under her within the DOJ, saying Patel “will follow the law if I am the attorney general of the United States of America, and I don’t believe he would do anything otherwise.”

Bondi broadly declined to respond to statements Trump has similarly made suggesting he wants to take action against his political enemies, claiming she was unfamiliar with his comments, but said she does not want to “weaponize” the DOJ and argued she will not “politicize” her office and “will not target people because of their political affiliation.”

What To Watch For

Bondi is widely expected to be easily confirmed as Trump’s attorney general, viewed as one of the president-elect’s more qualified Cabinet picks due to her broad experience as a prosecutor. Patel has not yet faced his confirmation hearing for FBI director but is expected to be a more controversial choice—though Trump insiders cited by Politico in December said they expected more pushback to Patel’s nomination from GOP senators than they had actually so far received.

Will Pam Bondi Do Trump’s Bidding As Attorney General?

One of Democrats’ primary concerns during Bondi’s confirmation hearing Wednesday was whether the attorney general nominee would remain independent or follow Trump’s orders to go after his enemies, citing concerns that Trump wanted an attorney general who won’t push back and would agree even to requests that may be illegal. “At issue is not your competence nor your experience. At issue is your ability to say no,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Ranking Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Bondi. The nominee did not explicitly say whether or not she would be willing to say no to Trump if he asked her to do something she disagreed with, but said her DOJ would follow a longstanding policy that limits communications between the agency and the White House, and emphasized her interest in following the rule of law. She also declined to say either way whether she agreed with Trump’s vows to prosecute specific enemies of his, such as former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and former Special Counsel Jack Smith.

What Did Pam Bondi Say About The 2020 Election?

Bondi was criticized by Democrats Wednesday for declining to explicitly say President Joe Biden had won the 2020 election, acknowledging that Biden is the president but not saying outright he won—as Trump regularly denies Biden’s win. The nominee also drew criticism for her response to a question about Trump’s phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election, in which Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s election results. Bondi said she had not listened to the full recording of the phone call but pushed back on Durbin’s assertion that Trump asked Raffensperger to find votes in order to “change” the election results, suggesting the comments were taken out of context and saying, “It’s my understanding that is not what he asked him to do.”

Will Bondi Or Trump Enforce Tiktok Ban?

Bondi also declined to say Wednesday whether she would enforce the federal ban on TikTok as attorney general. The ban is scheduled to take effect Sunday unless the Supreme Court rules otherwise, though Trump’s incoming solicitor general Dean John Sauer said in a brief to the court that Trump opposes the law. While there are multiple ways that Trump could try to navigate the TikTok ban after he takes office, one of the possibilities that’s been floated is that his Justice Department could simply refuse to enforce the policy, giving companies like Apple and Google a reprieve from the harsh financial penalties they’re set to face if they were to leave TikTok up on their app stores after the ban takes effect. Legal experts have suggested that may not actually keep the app online, however, as companies would likely be hesitant to violate the law in case Trump ever changed his mind and directed the DOJ to start enforcing the law.

Who Is Kash Patel?

Patel is a longtime Trump ally who served in multiple positions during Trump’s first term, including as the senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, a senior adviser for Trump’s directors of national intelligence, and finally chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. Patel reportedly raised widespread concerns from other intelligence officials during his tenure in the first Trump administration due to his extreme fealty to Trump and desire to restrict intelligence agencies’ power. Trump tried to install Patel to serve as deputy director of the CIA or FBI in the final months of his presidency, according to multiple reports, but backed down after then-CIA Director Gina Haspel and then-Attorney General William Barr threatened to resign, with The Times reporting Barr vowed Patel would help lead the FBI “over my dead body.” Since Trump left office, Patel has continued to be an outspoken ally of the ex-president, speaking out in Trump’s favor in the media, penning children’s books that praise Trump, producing the pro-Jan. 6 rioter anthem “Justice for All” and launching an organization called The Kash Network that funds legal and educational efforts for people in line with Trump. Patel has said he broadly wants to go after Trump’s enemies, including people in the media, and called in his book for a “comprehensive housecleaning” at the FBI, writing, “The FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken.”

Key Background

Trump named Bondi as his attorney general in November after his initial choice, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew his nomination in light of allegations of sexual misconduct. (He has denied the allegations.) While Gaetz had been outspoken in the media about his desire to seek revenge against Trump’s enemies, Bondi has been viewed as a far less controversial choice. The former Florida attorney general has been a longtime Trump ally and personally represented him as a lawyer during his first impeachment trial, becoming one of several of Trump’s defense attorneys who are now joining his second administration. She has not been outspoken in the media regarding Trump, however, or made any vows to go after his foes. Bondi served as Florida’s top prosecutor from 2011 to 2019 and has otherwise worked as a local prosecutor and for the right-wing nonprofit America First Policy Institute, which is reportedly helping to shape Trump’s agenda for his second term. Most controversially, Bondi also worked as a lobbyist for the firm Ballard Partners, where she said she represented companies including Amazon, General Motors, Uber and the GEO Group, a private prison company, and worked on behalf of foreign governments, including in the Dominican Republic, Qatar, Zimbabwe and Kosovo.

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