Bondi spars with Schiff during testy confirmation hearing: ‘You were censored’

Pam BondiPresident Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department was involved in a sharp clash with Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on Wednesday as the California Sen. questioned Bondi about whether she would prosecute Trump’s political opponents.

Schiff, an outspoken critic of the president-elect, asked Bondi whether she would investigate former special counsel Jack Smith and former Rep. Liz Cheney.

“I’m asking you here today if you are aware of any factual basis for investigating Liz Cheney,” he said.

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“Senator, no one asked me to investigate Liz Cheney, that’s hypothetical,” she said.

She then turned the tables on Schiff and noted the crime rate in California.

‘You know what we should worry about? California’s crime rate has skyrocketed. Your robberies are 87% higher than the national average,” she said. “That’s what I want to focus on, Senator.”

Schiff said that Bondi’s answers suggested she does not have the independence to say ‘no’ to the president. He then asked her if she wanted to tell Trump he lost the 2020 election. Bondi accused Schiff of “playing politics” and leaking Rep. Devin Nunes’ memo.

‘What I can tell you is that I will never play politics, you are trying to draw me into a trap,” she said.

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Schiff fired back, asking her if she would advise against blanket pardons from President-elect Trump and suggesting she wouldn’t be able to review every file on day one.

“You can assess hundreds of cases on the first day. … Of course not,” Schiff said.

Bondi was outraged by Schiff’s comments.

“I’m not going to mislead this body or you, you were censured by Congress, Senator, for comments like this that are so reckless,” she said.

Schiff was censored in 2023 for promoting claims that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia, a vote that made Schiff only the third member of the House of Representatives to be censured since the turn of the century.

The incident was one of a number of sharp exchanges the former Florida AG had with Democratic lawmakers. She was asked by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., about the weaponization of the DOJ.

“Wouldn’t it be appropriate for a prosecutor to start with a name and look for a crime?” Whitehouse said during questioning. “A prosecutor’s job is to start with a crime and look for a name. Is that right?’

Bondi responded by highlighting the federal government’s investigation into Trump.

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“Senator, I think this is the whole problem with the weaponization that we’ve seen over the last four years and what’s happened with Donald Trump,” Bondi said.