Ms Bondi’s rise has brought her far from Temple Terrace, the city where she grew up on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Her father, a teacher, was the mayor. While an undergraduate at the University of Florida she considered becoming a paediatrician. But she went to law school, and an internship at the state prosecutor’s office in Tampa sealed the deal.

Kathleen Parker watched the confirmation hearing for our possible (okay, probable) next attorney general, and thought Pam Bondi gave all sorts of nice, “reassuring” answers that were “crisp and succinct.”

Attorney general nominee Pam Bondi faced heated questions from Democratic senators Wednesday in her confirmation hearing as they scrutinized her loyalty to President-elect Donald Trump and demanded she address his 2020 election loss.

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, listens during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) The best thing about Pam Bondi is that she’s not Matt Gaetz,

From the hearing's outset, Democratic senators' questions reflected valid and critical concerns but often in a poorly framed manner.

US attorney general designee Pam Bondi fended off onslaughts from California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla at her confirmation hearing Wednesday, both of whom grilled her about President-elect Donald Trump.

Pam Bondi, Donald Trump's choice for attorney general, survived an at times contentious hearing while declining to say if Joe Biden won the 2020 vote.

Witnesses speaking on her behalf included former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, an outspoken Democrat. Aronberg, who ran for Florida Attorney General the same year Bondi won the statewide office, noted that despite a partisan rivalry, she hired him as Florida’s drug czar.

President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration comes at a pivotal time in American history. Insulated from controversy, Trump will enter the White House more prepared than when he first won in 2016.

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (Ben Curtis/AP)

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