Blumenthal to Bondi: You Have to be Able to Say "No" to the President of the United States

[WASHINGTON, DC] – During today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Pam Bondi to be U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) raised concerns about the future of an independent Department of Justice (DOJ) under Bondi’s leadership, pointing to her persistent denial of the 2020 election results and promises to weaponize the DOJ for President-elect Trump’s political purposes. 

“You say the right things, that you are going to be the people’s lawyer, that’s what you have to say to be here. But I believe being the people’s lawyer means you have to be able to say ‘no’ to the President of the United States. You have to speak truth to power. You have to be able to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. You dodged that question when you were asked directly by Senator Durbin. You have to be able to say that January 6 insurrectionists who committed violence should not be pardoned,” said Blumenthal.

Blumenthal also pressed Bondi to disavow troubling comments made by Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick to be FBI Director, “Well, let me ask you, an individual who says that he is going to ‘come after’ people he alleges ‘helped Joe Biden rig the presidential elections,’ that he has a list of people who are part of this deep state who should be prosecuted, that he is going to close down the FBI building on his first day in office, is that a person who appropriately should be the FBI Director? Aren’t those comments inappropriate?”

“Well, let me just submit that the response that I would have hoped to hear from you is that those comments are inappropriate and that you will ask him to disavow or recant them when he comes before this Committee. Because they are indeed chilling to fair enforcement and the rule of law,” Blumenthal concluded.

Text of Blumenthal’s exchange with Bondi is copied below. Video of Blumenthal’s remarks is available for download here.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome, Ms. Bondi, and to your family. Thank you for visiting with me in my office. And I have to say, I am sympathetic always to a former Attorney General, particularly having been one myself, but I am, I have to say, also really troubled, deeply disturbed by some of your responses and nonresponses to the questions that you have been asked today.

You say the right things, that you are going to be the people’s lawyer, that’s what you have to say to be here. But I believe being the people’s lawyer means you have to be able to say no to the President of the United States. You have to speak truth to power. You have to be able to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. You dodged that question when you were asked directly by Senator Durbin. You have to be able to say that January 6 insurrectionists who committed violence should not be pardoned. You have to be able to say that a nominee for the FBI Director who says he has an enemy list—and that is just the beginning of what he has said in terms of politicizing, deeply weaponizing the FBI against political opponents—that he should not be the FBI director.

You know, we have some history here with your predecessors, Barr, Sessions, and others, who perhaps sincerely, when they sat where you are now, said that they would say no, but they were working with a President that expected them to be his Roy Cohn, his personal attorney. Do you really think that you can avoid the disgrace that they encountered? Or the repercussions from the White House if you say no to the President? And so, my question to you is, can you say no to the President of the United States when he asks you to do something unethical or illegal?

Pam Bondi: Senator, first I need to clarify something that you said, that I have to sit up here and say these things. No, I don’t. I sit up here and speak the truth. I am not going to sit up here and say anything that I need to say to get confirmed by this body. I do not have to say anything. I will answer the questions to the best of my ability and honestly.

Blumenthal: Well, let me ask you, an individual who says that he is going to “come after” people he alleges “helped Joe Biden rig the presidential elections,” that he has a list of people who are part of this deep state who should be prosecuted, that he is going to close down the FBI building on his first day in office, is that a person who appropriately should be the FBI Director? Aren’t those comments inappropriate? Shouldn’t you disavow them and ask him to recant them?

Bondi: Senator, I’m not familiar with all his comments. I have not discussed those comments with Mr. Patel—

Blumenthal: Well, I'm asking you for your view—

Bondi: Excuse me. What I do know, is Mr. Patel was a career prosecutor, he was a career public defender defending people, and he also has great experience within the intelligence community. What I can sit here and tell you is Mr. Patel, if he works running the FBI, if he is confirmed, and if I am confirmed, he 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.

Blumenthal: Well, let me just submit that the response that I would have hoped to hear from you is that those comments are inappropriate and that you will ask him to disavow or recant them when he comes before this Committee. Because they are indeed chilling to fair enforcement and the rule of law.

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