Bondi hearing live updates: Trump’s attorney general pick faces grilling over loyalty
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(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the Justice Department — former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi — faces questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Democrats want to ask her about her vow to “prosecute the prosecutors — the bad ones” — referring to special counsel Jack Smith and other DOJ lawyers who investigated Trump.
Durbin raises concerns Bondi’s connections to Trump cases Durbin said he had concerns about Bondi’s work for Trump in his attempts to cast doubt on his 2020 election loss.
“You repeatedly described investigations and prosecutions of Mr. Trump, Trump as a witch hunt, and you have echoed his calls for investigating and prosecuting his political opponents. This flies in the face of evidence,” he said.
Durbin also as said he had concerns about Bondi’s controversial move to not investigate fraud claims against Trump University in 2016 when she was Florida’s attorney general.
“I also have questions whether you will focus on the needs of the American people rather than the wealthy special interests,” he said.
Durbin to challenge Bondi as hearing gets underway
In his prepared opening statement, top committee Democrat Dick Durbin will tell Bondi, “Ms. Bondi, you have many years of experience in law enforcement, including nearly a decade of service as attorney general in one of the largest states in the nation. But I need to know you would tell President Trump ‘No’ if you are faced with a choice between your oath to the Constitution and your loyalty to Mr. Trump.”
Trump says Bondi will end alleged ‘weaponization’ of DOJ
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote in his announcement of Bondi for attorney general.
Bondi boosted Trump’s false claims of 2020 election fraud
Pam Bondi has developed a reputation as one of President-elect Donald Trump’s most loyal defenders — a vocal political and legal advocate who represented Trump during his first impeachment, boosted his efforts to sow doubts about his 2020 election loss, and stood by him during his New York criminal trial. Read more about her background here.
Democrats to grill Pam Bondi over loyalty to Trump Bondi – Trump’s pick to head the Justice Department – has vowed, in a 2023 interview on Fox News, to ‘’prosecute the prosecutors – the bad ones’’ who investigated Donald Trump.
Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — whose members will question Florida’s former attorney general – has said ‘’she has echoed the President[-elect]’s calls for prosecuting his political opponents, and she has a troubling history of unflinching loyalty to the President-elect.”
(WASHINGTON) — President-Elect Donald Trump teased pardoning some of the Jan. 6 rioters on Day 1 of his administration, telling his supporters that they will be “very happy” with his decision.
“Tomorrow, everybody in this very large arena will be very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages,” Trump said Sunday at his rally at Capital One Arena. “Very happy. I think you’ll be very, very happy. I would say about 99.9% in this beautiful arena.”
A violent mob of pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, fighting with officers, breaking into offices and destroying property.
After the attack on the U.S. Capitol by rioters seeking to overturn the 2020 election, more than 1,580 people were charged criminally in federal court, according to the Department of Justice. Over 1,000 have pleaded guilty.
Trump’s team has drafted a list of potential pardons for Jan. 6 defendants to issue on Day 1, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News on Sunday.
The pardons could come very soon after Trump is sworn in at the Capitol Rotunda. One option that has been discussed is to issue these pardons inside the Capitol.
Trump said last March that he was “inclined to pardon many” of the rioters.
“I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,” he said on social media at the time.
Nearly 1,600 individuals have faced charges associated with the Capitol attack, according to figures released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
That includes 608 individuals who have faced charges for assaulting, resisting or interfering with law enforcement trying to protect the complex that day, the office said. Approximately 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the riot, the DOJ has said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it is evaluating whether to bring charges in roughly 200 cases that have been referred to them by the FBI, about 60 of which involve potential felony charges involving allegations of assault or impeding law enforcement.
At least 221 individuals have been found guilty at contested trials in U.S. District Court, the DOJ said. Another 40 individuals have been convicted following an agreed-upon set of facts presented to and accepted by the Court.
President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons to potential targets of the incoming Trump administration, including lawmakers who served on the House Jan. 6 Committee.
Trump, in his 2024 campaign, repeatedly vowed “retribution” on his political enemies, specifically singling out lawmakers like Liz Cheney, who investigated the attack on the Capitol. Trump said Cheney and other committee members should be put in jail.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Commerce Department on Thursday announced its intent to explore proposing a rule to secure the technology and supply chain of drones from foreign adversaries, including the potential ability of China and Russia to remotely access and manipulate the devices.
The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), seeks to implement a rule that would explain how foreign adversary involvement in “supply chains, including acute threats from China and Russia — may offer our adversaries the ability to remotely access and manipulate these devices, exposing sensitive U.S. data,” according to a department news release.
If implemented, the rule would restrict or even ban drones from China — the source of most of the commercial drones sold in the U.S.
BIS is hoping to get feedback on how information from drones is used and how it could pose a national security risk from adversaries, according to the Commerce Department.
“Securing the unmanned aircraft systems technology supply chain is critical to safeguarding our national security. This [rule making notice] is an essential step in protecting the United States from vulnerabilities posed by foreign entities,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The deadline for public comments on this rule is March 4, 2025.
It is the latest step in rulemaking from the Commerce Department.
Last year, BIS proposed a rule to ban Chinese software in cars from entering into the United States due to national security risks.
(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of Linda McMahon’s hearing to become the next secretary of the Department of Education, America’s state teachers of the year for 2024 have said they worry the future of public education is under direct attack.
De’Shawn C. Washington, the 2024 Massachusetts teacher of the year, said he will be heartbroken if the Department of Education is dismantled under McMahon.
“This is a great opportunity to invest even more in our children right now, instead of retracting,” Washington told ABC News. “To pull further in, to watch those seeds grow and become a harvest, so that our country could thrive.”
President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education. The order, which has not been signed yet, reportedly calls for the education secretary to submit a proposal to diminish the department and urges Congress to pass legislation to get rid of it.
McMahon has vowed to carry out the president’s policies, and her allies have said they believe she has the business acumen to make budget cuts as she sees fit.
The looming department changes could be devastating for vulnerable students, according to Jeff Keller of Virginia. Keller warned shuttering the federal agency could mean students will have less protections and schools will have less oversight.
“When I think about what the Department of Education means, it means safeguarding kids’ civil rights,” Keller told ABC News.
“Whether that’s students with disabilities having the ability to get into the building and to get around the building … whether that’s safeguarding, you know, racial minorities to make sure that educational outcomes are equitable for them — I mean, I think it’s across the board,” Keller said.
Colorado’s Jessica May said she fears her students’ basic needs won’t be met if the department is abolished.
“What I am most afraid of is they are not going to get the attention and the care and the dedication that they need to survive, to live,” May said.
However, abolishing the Department of Education can only be done if Congress passes legislation to eliminate it. Clare McCann at American University said it is illegal to “uncreate” the department without congressional authorization — and it would require 60 votes in favor of the legislation in the Senate to pass.
Still, these teachers, who were all awarded their states’ top teaching honors in 2024, said they’re a nervous group right now.
Zach Arenz, the New York teacher of the year, predicted lost educators, increased class sizes and a widening achievement gap in which wealthy communities get wealthier through school voucher programs.
“All of these things are going to lead to a weak public education system,” he told ABC News. “If our public education system isn’t successful, there is no future.”
Arenz said he hopes teachers are listened to moving forward. Kentucky’s Kevin Dailey said he is also worried about student opportunities, arguing a conservative school voucher push would privatize the public school system and enrich private businesses.
“Kentucky schools receive over $1 billion a year in federal funds [from the Department of Education] in order to facilitate the growth of our communities,” Dailey told ABC News. “Kentuckians, not just teachers, not just public school students, but Kentuckians believe in strong public schools.”
McMahon is ‘in over her head’
McMahon, the president’s pick to carry out his vision for injecting school choice throughout the nation’s schools, will go before lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Her nomination to become the next secretary of the Department of Education has been loathed by many top educators.
“She’s well in over her head,” Greg Kester, the 2024 Missouri teacher of the year, told ABC News. Kester has been teaching over 30 years and said McMahon is a step down from billionaire Betsy DeVos, Trump’s first education chief, arguing education isn’t McMahon’s “calling.”
However, McMahon earned a teaching certification from East Carolina University before pivoting to the wrestling arena. McMahon spent most of her career as a business executive and wrestling mogul, and the president has praised her for her knowledge of both business and education.
But Indiana’s Eric Jenkins told ABC News there’s a distinct difference between the two fields.
“There are similarities between business and education, but the core difference — the purpose,” Jenkins said. “So the purpose of a business is to increase profits. The purpose of education is to increase opportunity for all students.”
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency made sizable cuts to the Department of Education this week, slashing critical independent research contracts at the department’s Institute of Education Sciences worth nearly $900 million. Jenkins said he embraces a department that works to create efficiency — so long as the budget cuts don’t hamstring students.
“What brings us together, these different state teachers, regardless if they’re blue or red, is that we see those numbers actually as our students’ faces,” Jenkins said. “I think that’s where we’re coming from, is that we truly see the faces and the impacts that cuts are going to make.”
Conservatives such as Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, said McMahon has the business mindset to create innovative solutions for all students.
However, Virginia’s Keller said he disagrees, noting the nation’s next education chief should run the country’s public school system like it’s the “backbone” of society, not a corporation.
“I don’t think you got to be a K-12 teacher, but I do think you have to have a mindset that understands schools don’t exist for the benefits of teachers or the benefit of students: They exist for the benefit of society,” Keller said. “It’s not a business. We’re not in business. That’s not what schools are.”
