Pam Bondi downplays politics at confirmation hearing

What happened

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, sparred with Senate Democrats during her confirmation hearing Wednesday about whether her avowed loyalty to Trump would turn the Justice Department into a tool of retribution against the president's perceived enemies.

Who said what

Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, said she would not "politicize" the office and "politics will not play a part" in prosecutorial decisions. But she "also refused to rule out" investigating Trump adversaries, "including investigators who investigated him," during the "often-testy" hearing, The Associated Press said.

Republicans cast Bondi as a "qualified pick," while Democrats "repeatedly accused her of dodging basic yes-or-no questions about election denialism," prosecuting "Trump's political enemies" and how she would handle attempts by Trump to influence Justice Department actions, The New York Times said. Senators in both parties predicted she "would be easily confirmed" and "expressed relief" that Matt Gaetz, Trump's first pick, "had stepped aside."

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What next?

There was "much more skepticism expressed" at Bondi's hearing about Kash Patel, Trump's controversial pick to lead the FBI, The Washington Post said. At times the questions for Bondi seemed more a "prelude" to Patel's "as-yet unscheduled confirmation hearings," the Times said. Bondi faces the Judiciary Committee again Thursday for a second round of hearings.