Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi endorsed FBI Director-designate Kash Patel Wednesday after Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked her about an alleged “enemies list.”
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Bondi to be attorney general after former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida withdrew his name from consideration after Trump initially nominated him. Whitehouse questioned Bondi during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing about whether she would hire a job candidate with a so-called “enemies list.”
“Would you have hired someone into the attorney general’s office who you knew had an enemies list?” Whitehouse asked Bondi.
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“Senator, to cut to the chase, you’re clearly talking about Kash Patel, I don’t believe he has an ‘enemies list.’ He made a quote on TV, which I have not heard,” Bondi responded. “I saw your sign or Senator Durbin’s sign about Kash, but I know that Kash Patel has had sixty jury trials as a public defender, as a prosecutor. He has great experience in the intel department, Department of Defense. I have known Kash and I believe that Kash is the right person at this time for this job. You’ll have the ability to question Mr. Patel.”
Trump nominated Patel, who has a history of criticizing the FBI over its probes into Trump, to be the agency’s director Nov. 30, to replace Christopher Wray.
Bondi served two terms as Florida’s attorney general after she worked as a prosecutor for 18 years, according to America First Policy Institute. She also served as an attorney for Trump during his first impeachment trial, during which he was acquitted by the Senate.
Later during the questioning, Whitehouse questioned Bondi about a vow to “investigate the investigators.”
“We all take an oath, Senator, to uphold the law. None of us are above the law,’ Bondi said. “Let me give you a really good example of a bad lawyer within the Justice Department, a guy named Clinesmith, who altered a FISA warrant, one of the most important things we can do in this country. So will everyone be held to an equal, equal, fair system of justice if I am the next attorney general? Absolutely.”
Kevin Clinesmith pled guilty to altering an email about Carter Page before submitting an application for a warrant to FISA court in August 2020. He was sentenced to probation in January 2021.
Bondi also reminded Whitehouse of the targeting of Trump when she was asked about the Justice Department going after individuals for political purposes.
“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 watched countless investigations against him.”
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