During the confirmation hearing of Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Attorney General, before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Bondi got into an exchange with Senator Adam Schiff over the prospect of Trump issuing blanket pardons on day one, with Bondi telling Schiff in response to a comment, "You were censured by Congress, Senator, for comments just like this that are so reckless."
Schiff asked Bondi, "It will also be important that you give good advice to the president. Are you prepared to advise the president not to pardon people who beat police officers?"
"Senator, as I said, the pardons are at the discretion of the president," Bondi replied. "We will look and we will advise. I will look at every case — let me finish—on a case-by-case basis and I abhor violence to police officers."
Schiff cut in, "good luck with that. So will it be your advice to the president, 'Mr. President, I know you said you want to issue hundreds of pardons on day one,' will it be your advice to the president, 'no Mr. President, I need to go over them on a case-by-case basis. Do not issue blanket pardons.' Will that be your advice to the president?"
Bondi said she hasn’t looked at the files, but if confirmed she would look at the files for the pardons and the cases. Schiff asked, "will you be able to review hundreds of cases on day one?"
Bondi began to speak, but Schiff cut in, "of course you won’t." Bondi replied she would have "plenty of staff. You said 'of course you won’t?'"
"I’m not gonna mislead this body, nor you," Bondi continued. "You were censured by Congress, Senator, for comments just like this that are so reckless." In June 2023, then-House Rep Schiff was censured by the chamber over his spreading of the Russia collusion hoax.
Schiff asked Bondi whether she could "tell hard truths to the president," and whether she could tell Trump that he "lost the 20202 election. Bondi replied, "Senator, what i can tell you is I will never play politics. You're trying to engage me in a gotcha. I won't play politics with any ongoing investigation like you did leaking your colleague Devin Nunes’ memo."
Bondi also criticized Schiff for the state that California, the state Schiff represents, is in due to the uncontained wildfires. During a question over whether there was a "basis to investigate Liz Cheney," Bondi said, "We're all so worried about Liz Cheney, Senator. You know what we should be worried about? The crime rate in California right now is through the roof. Your robberies are 87 percent higher than the national average. That's what I want to be focused on, Senator, if I'm confirmed as attorney general."
