OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be the next U.S. attorney general, but she is keeping her options open.
When a reporter on Capitol Hill asked Bondi if the Senate would confirm her next year, she did not respond.
“Trump Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi declines to answer whether any January 6th prosecutions will continue under her,” Florida’s Voice correspondent Eric Daugherty wrote on his X account. He added: “To be clear, this is angering Democrats because they want her to say ‘yes.'”
Bondi, meanwhile, has been on Capitol Hill meeting with senators ahead of her confirmation hearings, Politico reported.
Given her long-standing political ties to Trump, the outlet further reported that Bondi is likely to face tough questioning about Trump’s alleged threats to seek retribution if re-elected.
While she has been vocal in criticizing the criminal cases against Trump, she has said relatively little about the January 6 riot at the Capitol nearly four years ago or the Department of Justice’s prosecutions of those involved in the riot.
Asked for his input, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said he’d advise Bondi not to “try to be liked by the bureaucrats” if confirmed to lead the DOJ.
“Expect to be attacked relentlessly by the corporate press,” he said on “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News. “And know when that happens that’s a badge of honor, that means you’re doing the right thing.”
Trump revealed this week that he plans to use the beginning hours of his presidency to pardon people convicted of participating in the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, begin deportations of illegal immigrants, and increase oil production.
During an interview with Time magazine, Trump said the pardons would go to “nonviolent” people at the Capitol.
“We’re going to do it very quickly, and it’s going to start in the first hour that I get into office. A vast majority should not be in jail, and they’ve suffered gravely,” Trump said about pardons in Jan. 6 cases.
Trump’s comments came during an in-depth conversation on Nov. 25 that was part of the magazine’s selection of Trump as its “Person of the Year.”
On foreign policy, the president-elect criticized President Joe Biden for letting Ukraine use U.S.-made weapons against some targets in Russia. He called this a worsening of the fighting that started when Russia invaded Ukraine in full in 2022. He suggested that efforts to end the war could intensify once he returns to office.
“But I would imagine people are waiting until I get in before anything happens. I would imagine,” he told Time. “I think that would be very smart to do that.”
“I think that the Middle East is an easier problem to handle than what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine. OK, I just want to say that up front. The Middle East is going to get solved,” he said, adding, “I think it’s more complicated than the Russia-Ukraine, but I think it’s, it’s, it’s easier to solve.”
In another part of the interview, Trump said Vice President Kamala Harris’ biggest mistake of the election was “taking the assignment” of running for president in the first place.
Trump said that it was a mistake because it’s important for people to “know what you’re good at.”
“I think that when she wouldn’t talk to anybody, it shone a light on her,” Trump said. “In other words, if she would have gone out and just did interviews where they’re comparable to Steve, if there is anybody comparable, would say, could you do an interview here? An interview there? You know, she didn’t do anything.”
“And people said, is there something wrong with her?” he continued. “Why would they? I mean, I’m doing this interview with you. I did interviews with, if I had the time, anybody that would ask, I’d do interviews. I think the Joe Rogan interview, you know, that went on for almost three and a half hours.”
Trump said her campaign “made a big tactical mistake by literally not talking to the press, even if [it was] a really friendly” publication.
