Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said she hopes President-elect Trump’s attorney general pick, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, will aim to “uphold the Constitution” if the Senate confirms her for the position.
“Pam Bondi will have a hearing and will be able to make her views clear. I think the things that I look at, is this someone competent? And are they going to uphold the law? It is so important,” Klobuchar said Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week.”
“Does it concern me that revenge would be part of her mission? Of course it does,” she continued. “I hope that’s not the case. I hope that what she wants to do is uphold the Constitution because that is a really important job.”
Trump has begun compiling his nominees, but they've been swarmed by controversy.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was nominated to be attorney general, but a sexual misconduct allegation and House Ethics Committee report tanked his chances. He withdrew his name from the nomination last week, and Bondi was later named.
Bondi served as a senior adviser on Trump’s first impeachment defense team and is now an attorney for Ballard Partners, a group founded by Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard, who is the former 2016 chair of Trump Victory.
She served as attorney general of Florida from 2011 to 2019.
As Klobuchar mentioned, there’s concern that Trump’s choice for attorney general might turn the department into a legal powerhouse that will grant his wishes and go after his enemies.
Klobuchar, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she expects to meet with Bondi one-on-one ahead of the confirmation hearings.
“Our job is to look at the FBI background check and to ask some questions to make sure they’re fulfilling the mission of the department,” she said. “In this case, I am concerned with all these nominees, and I’m not singling her out, if we do not have agreement for FBI background checks.”
