right there. your song is the only song i've ever seen him sing along to. >> you know, i've been on stage with him and we emulate the trump -- sometimes on my show i will just kind of do that just once and the audience goes crazy. it is awful fun. it is a lightness. i think we have to have a lightness about it. we can't be serious all the time in order to have america feel good about itself. >> brian: give you some advice, under armor and sing strong because you will have the biggest crowd in the history of inaugurations. just watch. >> i'm excited to be there. my wife says hi and ainsley, congratulations. >> ainsley: the nicest lady, thank you so much. >> steve: god bless the usa. >> brian: stay within yourself. >> bill: good morning, everybody. a busy day on the hill so hold tight for this. you've got senate confirmation

hearings for a bunch of trump cabinet nominees, among them this morning out of florida pam bondi for attorney general. also out of florida marco rubio for secretary of state. things could get fiery as they did yesterday the pete hegseth. we'll monitor it as they get underway on the hill. the highest level fire alert is back in los angeles. this as resur gent winds threaten to undo progress that firefighters have been working on for more than a week. i'm bill hemmer live in new york city. should be a big program today. >> dana: good morning, i'm dana perino and this is "america's newsroom." wind and fire alerts are blanketing all of southern california. new aerial footage shows neighborhoods left smoldering for more than a week. crews are working around the clock. >> bill: new video here. the giant scooper planes that go right across the pacific ocean. they collect gallons of water,

hundreds if not thousands to try to douse the flames as new fires continue to erupt. >> dana: fox team coverage. jonathan hunt has an exclusive inside a command center compound in pasadena and griff jenkins in malibu where the threatening winds are picking up this morning. >> they are indeed picking up. good morning, dana. we aren't out of the woods. that's the word from the officials as that particularly dangerous situation red flag warning winds are back through 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. we've got gusts out here in malibu but the decimated home behind me is an active crime scene, dana. you can see the l.a. county sheriff's deputies cordoning off this area and posting up because yesterday, look at this video. we spent hours with california's urban search and rescue teams accompanied by the mexican army who specialize in this searching along with cadaver dogs and they

located human remains that haven't yet been identified. we spoke to a california fire spokesperson, israel, he talked a little bit about the difficult task they were undertaking. listen. >> we're here with a team from mexico and task force three. we're validating that everybody evacuated in this section. as you can see there are a lot of structures that have been destroyed so we're working throughout this whole area very detailed. >> the remains are believed to belong to an elderly woman. a tragic story. we contacted the homeowner who told us the elderly woman was a tenant in her home. when they got the order to evacuate, the elderly woman refused to leave. this homeowner is very distraught in our conversations with us. 30 minutes after she evacuated she got word her house was engulfed in flames.

so we wait to find out today what happens here on this scene. this story just one of the many tragic incidences that happened in this terrible storm over a week ago. the death toll officially standing at 24 but yet it may rise once this investigation completes. dana. >> dana: thank you griff. >> bill: from griff jenkins and jonathan hunt continues team fox coverage from a command center in pasadena. you are 40 miles east of griff. you are in the parking lot of the renowned rose bowl. what are they doing there, jonathan? >> the entire region obviously remains on high alert for the next few hours. the entire response is being managed from here, as you say, the unified command center in the parking lot of the rose bowl. this would normally be full of the vehicles that accommodate 90,000 people who come to the rose bowl. now every inch taken over by the

fire department. los angeles county sheriff's department as well. they are hosting fox news for this exclusive today and extraordinary when you look at this how far it stretches. we have a tent city just ahead of me there which we can't show you. it is too dark right now. where all of these exhausted firefighters are trying to get whatever rest they can. talking of firefighters, there is growing controversy today over whether the leadership of the lafd did enough last tuesday when those terrible fires broke out in the palisades in particular. the "l. a. times" reporting that something like 1,000 firefighters were allowed to go off shift last tuesday morning despite the wind warnings, which would be extraordinary, of course, that they weren't kept in place. kristin crowley you have seen her every day at the briefing. she is the l.a. fire chief.

she said quote to the "l. a. times," the plan that they put together i stand behind because we have to manage everybody in the city. i think it is very interesting, bill, that she used the word they. that will not sit well, i can tell you, with a lot of firefighters and a lot of the incident commanders. kristin crowley is the fire chief. so for her to use the word they in referring to incident commanders putting the responsibility on them clearly there is a lot of feeling that the buck stops with her and if the preparations and plan wasn't right, then she should take responsibility. it is a story to watch, bill. >> bill: remarkable report. you have a million stories in that parking lot alone. we'll be with you throughout the day. thank you for being there in pasadena. join fox support of families impacted by the wildfires. your donation enables to red cross to respond to and help

people recover from the disaster. scan the qr code on the screen and you can also support these efforts in california. >> dana: the pedal to the metal to assembly president trump's cabinet. senate confirmation hearings have five nominees heading to the hill this morning. marco rubio for secretary of state and pam bondi for attorney general. senate judiciary chairman chuck grassley moments ago on her qualifications. >> she is going to have to be well received because of her eight years as attorney general in florida. she is well qualified for this job. >> dana: we have fox team coverage. david spunt with a preview of attorney general nominee pam bondi's hearing but first chad pergram on the hill where democrats made headlines with their personal attacks against defense nominee pete hegseth. >> good morning. democrats argued with hegseth. attacked his character, his

qualifications, allegations about alcohol abuse and sexual assault. democrats also blasted what he said about women serving in combat. do not expect many, if any democratic yays on the nomination. >> indeed the totality of your own writings and alleged conduct would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military much less being confirmed as the secretary of defense. >> illinois democrat tammy duckworth questioned what hegseth knew about military structure. she questioned him about military agreements with other nations and about how he handled the books at veterans organizations he led. >> yes or no. what are you afraid of? you can't answer this question, yes or no did you lead an audit? do you not know this answer, yes or no. yes or no. yes or no. i will take that as a no. >> republicans rose to the defense of the nominee.

iowa republican joni ernst had two meetings with hegseth and she will vote yes and work with him to create the most lethal fighting force ever. other republicans argued hegseth has the proper resume to lead the pentagon. >> you have a man who has put his butt on the line. he served 20 years in the service multiple deployments. has heard the bullets crack over the top of his head. what other qualifications does he need? >> the armed services committee to try to send hegseth's nomination to the floor early next week. in 2017 the senate voted to confirm james mattis for defense secretary hours after mr. trump took office on inauguration day. >> dana: looks like that is what will happen here, too. >> bill: also on the hill in moments senate judiciary committee will question the a.g. nominee pam bondi. david spunt is watching that outside the hearing room. what can we expect from this

one, david? hello. >> good morning to you. it will be on interesting one to watch. pam bondi, president trump's attorney general nominee, has the credentials as a local prosecutor. those supporting her say she has the on the ground experience and she is ready to take the job. her critics say she may be a little too close to president-elect donald trump and they will have questions about that. florida born and raised. local prosecutor near tampa and went on to become the florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019. bill, she gained national attention january 2, 0205, years ago this month when she became then president trump's impeachment lawyer during his trial in the u.s. senate. she remained closer to him ever since. following the withdrawal of former congressman matt gaetz to be attorney general, trump named bonde as his pick and received nowhere near the criticism of

gaetz. she focused heavily on working to prevent human trafficking. those who know her expect her to plug into border issues, especially the illegal drugs coming across the border, d.e.a. drug enforcement administration falls under the department of justice. it is a two-day hearing but tomorrow just witnesses talking about her character and credentials. the brunt of the questioning from the nominee herself will happen today. it begins at 9:30. she will start answering questions around 10:00 or so. >> bill: 20 minutes away we'll be on it. nice to see you on the hill today. we're also on supreme court watch. the fate of tiktok could be released in a matter of minutes. so stand by. we may get that ruling from the court coming up. >> dana: president biden pushing through 11th hour policies before he is set to give his final address to the nation tonight. he is simply blocking president-elect trump's agenda at the last minute. is that happening?

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>> dana: fox news alert. president-elect trump is shining a pot light on greenland in his push to expand america's fear of global influence saying he wants the u.s. to annex the territory. what do the people of greenland think? alex hogan got to go there. she is in the capital city. welcome to our show, alex. >> most people say they don't want to be a part of the u.s. the government says it is a

pivotal moment. their voice is finally being heard. >> donald trump has really put us on the global map. we should take this as an opportunity. the upcoming president of the united states, the most powerful country in the world in many terms, is handing -- giving us a hand in regards to what can we do here? >> it's been a constant conversation for residents here in nuuk. there is an icy reaction to trump's words and house republicans trying to pass the make greenland great again talk for the purchase of greenland talks there is international attention on this danish territory. >> i think it is sad we can only think of greenland in times of trump and usa. come and enjoy. it is a beautiful country. >> you can't buy a country. this is people's country. greenland is getting a lot of recognition which is good for me. >> the hope is that recognition

could lead to more tourism after it opened its international airport a couple of months ago. we are exploring the capital. no roads to go to other cities. only travel by boat or by plane and at this time of year there are only four hours of sunlight. this is one of those hours giving you a glimpse into the beautiful place this is. the stunning ice caps, fjords, mountains and warm people here in greenland. >> dana: i will call my travel agent and see if i can go. i want when it is only four hours of darkness. you look beautiful there, alex, thank you so much. >> thanks, dana. >> this is my living room right here. kitchen area. my bedroom was over there. >> bill: the man talking, the man behind the camera is a gentleman by the name of mark acosta.

he lost his home after the eaton fire swallowed nearly everything he owned. he is living with relatives in a home of 15 people packed to the gills. what do you do when you have lost nearly everything? mark has been running around helping others who need it and here now to tell the story. i can't imagine what you are going through. still settling in i'm certain. you had ten minutes to grab your life. what did you get out of your home, mark? >> good morning, bill. i grabbed paper documents. i was able to grab a handful of clothing from my closet. grabbed some things that are dear to me, which was about 50% of my vinyl records, tapes and cds. fish tank. my grabbed things dear to him. that's all we were able to grab just a very limited amount of

time we were able to grab anything. >> bill: remarkable. i have to think you remember every moment of that time. now you can't get back in. the national guard is preventing you from doing that. at some point you will. in the meantime you are living with your brother-in-law. how are you helping others and what do others need? >> oh, others need just about everything. so many people that i know personally have lost their homes and lost everything in their homes. didn't even have the time that i had to go in there and grab anything. so i've been donating my volunteer time and going and donating and helping these foundation groups. yesterday i had the pleasure to help the quarterback of the carolina panthers, his foundation is young nine foundation and we contributed and dropped off a boat load of water, baby wipes, diapers at a high school located just a few

blocks down the street from my home that was impacted. >> bill: the need is endless. i'm not that familiar with altadena but i am pasadena. i suppose you have similar communities where people adore their neighbors and take time to build back community and keep it strong. you yourself don't like to place blame. do you think now this could have been avoided? >> well, i think everything can be avoided with the correct planning and precaution of things. in that regard, you know, i think it's time to look forward and, you know, figure out a solution how this can be possibly avoided in the future. >> a headline. mayor karen bass was at a cocktail party in ghana as palisades fire exploded and pictures of her online. she chose to leave when the national weather service was

giving warnings about tense winds. when she was at the event in ghana, it took her about two hours to get off the ground. to her credit she came back on a military plan, washington, d.c. and later transferred commercial aircraft to los angeles. do you think in hindsight that people who lead your community, all of them now, mayors, governors, could have done better? >> absolutely. i think they could have definitely done better just the awareness of knowing the santa ana winds were coming and there is always fires with these santa ana winds but for the most part it is always under control. >> bill: it's my understanding that people who live there will plan their travel to be at their homes when the santa ana winds come because they want to be ready. that's a common thing in los angeles, is it not? >> it is for those that have the

money to travel. there are a lot of people that just stay back and, you know, they don't think nothing of it that nothing is going to happen. i'm one of those individuals who, you know, i will stay home and i very rarely travel. if i do have travel, i have the money to travel once a year. >> bill: mark, it's almost 6:30 in the morning. sun will come up. what will you do today? >> i am going to volunteer more time and look for other groups. contact some friends that are out there in the streets and contributing to the community. >> bill: the job is endless, as i said. you have a big one. mark, thanks, my best to you, your family and everybody out there in altadena and elsewhere. thank you for coming on. >> thank you, bill and fox news. >> dana: bless him. busy day on capitol hill. pam bondi is tapped by president-elect trump to lead the justice department. we could see her arrive any

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about living. >> bill: if i have a four oh 1k you'll like what you see. the inflation number came in about 8:30 and hotter than expected. price was up for gas and eggs and used cars. the labor department showing the consumer price index cpi rose 2.9% from a year ago. that's a highest since july. the reason why investors like that is because they believe they might get more cuts in the interest rate from the fed come 2025, which is where we find ourselves now. we'll be flying here in about ten seconds on the markets. we'll watch it together as we watch the hearings as well. >> dana: what we're watching now is pam bondi, the president-elect's attorney general nominee is walking into the hearing room. she is being escorted by the

co-chairmen. chuck grassley, the republican, and victor -- they will take their seats. rick scott saying hello to pam bondi, of course, one of the senators from florida. the other senator from florida is nearby in another hearing room soon. marco rubio, he will be also under oath today. she is taking a seat as the hearing is about to get underway. looks like rick scott will be doing the introduction of her and we'll follow this as they get going. there is john cornyn, if we want to show him when we have that shot. he is the senator from texas. just so you know what's happening now they are all just getting into place and bret baier, thank you, he bailed me out and helped me figure out what all we're talking about here as we get underway. good morning, bret. >> bret: good morning, dana and bill. the senate judiciary committee here, chuck grassley overseeing that. pam bondi has a lot of experience, a lot of senators, even democrats talking about that. i don't think there is a

question right now about getting through this committee. there is really little doubt that she is going to get approved. a lot of the questions i think today from the democratic side will deal with loyalty to president trump and how much she is willing to be independent as an attorney general. she spent a lot of time as a state attorney general in florida. 18 years as a prosecutor. she will be overseeing about 6,000 federal prosecutors and this loyalty question and how she will be an attorney general i think is really what democrats are going to get to. but in reality, i don't think that they have any hope of derailing this nomination. much like they aren't seeing that in even other controversial what was considered controversial nominations like pete hegseth yesterday. there is now a consensus on the hill that this is moving forward and the president may get all of

his picks. it may take a while but he may get them all. >> bill: first female a.g. in florida history. she was on the trump train early. we don't recall this, but on the eve of the florida primary in 2016, she endorsed trump over marco rubio. those are some heady days back then. last comment, bret. >> bret: i think you will see someone with a real sense of the legal stance that she has taken in her career going after drugs in florida. she is going to talk about what she wants to do as attorney general, and expect this not to be as bumpy a hearing as we saw yesterday up on capitol hill. >> dana: let's listen to senator grassley, chairman of the committee. >> we work well together on many issues over the years. as he steps into his role as ranking member, i will work closely with senator durbin to

serve the american people. i also would like to welcome four -- three brand-new members to the committee and a person that is repeating his service here after a stint off. i welcome to the committee senator britt, senator schmidt, senator cray poll and senator schiff. welcome. [applause] before we get started, i would like to set out a couple ground rules. i want to handle this hearing using a similar structure to how senator durbin handled the nomination hearing of attorney general garland. i want everyone here to be able to watch the hearing without obstruction. if people stand up and block the view of those behind them, or speak out of turn, it is not

fair or considerate to others, so officers will immediately remove those individuals. now before i turn to my opening statement, let me explain how we are going to proceed today. i will give my opening remarks and then i will invite ranking member durbin to give his opening remarks. then i will call on senator scott and schmitt to introduce this nominee and following those instructions -- introductions and miss bonde's statement we'll begin the first round of questioning. each senator will have an initial seven minute round for questioning. after the first round we'll do a second four minute round of questioning. members should do their very best to adhere to these time limits so that we can proceed

efficiently with the hearing. we're here today to consider pam bondi's nomination to serve as attorney general of the united states. ms. bondi, for a second time i thank you for your nomination, willingness to serve, but more importantly serve the important role of senate advise and consent process. you are nominated to one of the most important offices in our country. it took -- it took -- let's see, a lot of work on your part just to get here today. the more than 14,000 pages of records, hundreds of hours of media files, and more than 3400

responsive entries, you disclosed to this committee are a testament to your long career in public eye and your cooperation with this committee. i would like to also thank your family for being here today. i have know that many of them have traveled some distance to celebrate with you. i would like to explain and expect that ms. bondi be treated fairly. attorney general garland's confirmation hearing republicans treated him with respect. we asked tough but fair questions and we ultimately voted him out of committee on a bipartisan basis, although attorney general garland wasn't who we on this side of the aisle

would have chosen to lead the department of justice, we recognize that president biden won that election and that he was entitled to choose his attorney general. we were ultimately disappointed with some of the things that general garland and his department did, but at the time of his nomination we gave him the benefit of the doubt. as the recent terrorist attacks in new orleans and around the world have shown, our national security must be a high priority. the american people deserve a secure homeland and borders, safe streets, orderly markets, civil rights, and a protected environment.

so delivering on these promises requires the swift confirmation of an attorney general. this committee should give ms. bondi the same benefit of the doubt that this committee gave to attorney general garland. president trump has selected a nominee whose qualifications speak for themselves. ms. bondi made history in 2010 as the first woman to be elected florida attorney general. she held that role for eight years and was comfortably reelected by the people of florida to a second term. eight years of service as attorney general of the third largest state in the nation is excellent preparation for the role of u.s. attorney general. as florida attorney general, ms.

bondi was a member of the cabinet, chief legal officer of the state, and led a large agency that impacted people's lives. and by all accounts, ms. bondi handled her responsibilities well. as the florida attorney general, ms. bondi achieved numerous successes. she engaged in key initiatives to fight human trafficking, counter the opioid epidemic and protect consumers and protect the citizens of florida from violence. she didn't shy away from hard work or complicated problems. she engaged in aggressive campaign to eliminate pill mills. took a leading role in securing

3/$4 billion settlement following the deep water horizon oil spill, and eliminated the backlog of rape test kits that had accumulated in that state's laboratories. ms. bondi experience isn't limited to her experience as florida attorney general. she also served as the prosecutor in hillsborough county for 18 years and prosecuted terrible crimes. she sought tough penalties and justice for victims of violent criminals, domestic abusers, and sexual predators. she prosecuted drug traffickers and thus protected her community. she was also active outside of her professional role serving in the junior league of tampa on the board of special olympics

florida, and is well-known for her animal rescue efforts. her experience and performance as attorney general, prosecutor and community leader speaks volumes about her character and her dedication to the rule of law. she has received multiple letters in support of her nomination including from the fraternal order of police, the republican state attorneys general, more than 100 former senior d.o.j. officials, and a bipartisan group of former state attorneys general. in short, ms. bondi is highly qualified and, of course, as we all know, a change is desperately needed. when confirmed, ms. bondi will

take the helm at a very turbulent time for this country and for that department. the justice department's is infected with political decision making while its leaders refuse to acknowledge that reality. crossfire hurricane was a textbook example of government weaponization. the f.b.i.'s investigation was built on the fake steele dossier which was funded by the democratic national committee and clinton campaign who worked with foreign operatives. my investigative work exposed that the f.b.i. actually knew the dossier was false information and was likely a part of a russian disinformation campaign. even with the knowledge of such

dossier defects and political infections, the justice department sought fisa warrant renewals and took other actions. after directing my oversight staff to investigate justice department's mishandlings of the matter they issued a subpoena for my own staff's phone records. that's right, challenging my constitutional rights of doing my oversight duties. what's next? then a few democratic colleagues pressured the f.b.i. foreign influence task force to supposedly brief me and senator johnson related to our biden family investigations. on august 20th senator johnson and i had that infamous briefing from the f.b.i.

later this f.b.i.'s briefing contents were leaked to the media, even though the f.b.i. promised confidentiality. that leak falsely labeled our oversight work as, you guessed it, russian disinformation. to this day over four years later the intelligence community and the f.b.i. refuse to provide us the intelligence basis for that briefing. the title of this "wall street journal" article sums it up, quote, the f.b.i.'s dubious briefing. did the bureau set two u.s. gop senators up at the behest of democrats? question mark, end of quote. so i know, as other people on this committee and in and out of

congress, know what government weaponization is. and then we get to special counsel jack smith and his lawfare operation. it involved an unprecedented f.b.i. raid on trump's house, including agents that even searched the former first lady's clothing drawers. hillary clinton and joe biden certainly did not receive the same treatment by government regarding their records. indeed, as my oversight exposed, the f.b.i. amazingly agreed to destroy laptop records and records associated with clinton's staff. this orwellian conduct should have no quarter. on top of it all, the f.b.i.

special agent tebow, the anti-trump agent that violated the hatch act for political activities on the job, started one of jack smith's cases. but jack smith wasn't the only department official who tried to influence this past election. the "washington post" reported just last august about a previously undisclosed mueller investigation into trump that was closed for lack of evidence and it being quote, unquote, fishing expedition. that news reporting was based on sealed court records, government records, and potentially classified information roughly 90 days before the last presidential election. the justice department leaked

that information to the press to impact the election against president trump. and they did it while stiff arming congressional requests for information that would prove embarrassing to the biden-harris administration. so let us not forget some of the more -- and other flagrant abuses of power that we've seen from the d.o.j. and the f.b.i. over the last four years. and i don't have the time to spend on these that i spent on the two or three others but just to list them. the department of justice used the might of the federal government to prosecute individuals peacefully praying outside of an abortion clinic. the f.b.i. suggested that traditional catholics could be domestic terrorism threats claiming that these individuals

adhere to anti-semitic, anti-immigration, anti-lgbt and white supremacy ideology and the f.b.i. opened dozens of investigations into parents who voiced their concerns at school board meetings regarding curriculum choices and covid-19 mandates. the f.b.i. applied undue pressure to social media platforms to censor so-called misinformation downgrading or removing flagged social media posts and removing users. these are only a few particularly egregious examples of rot infesting the department of justice. the impact of this political infection in our once storied law enforcement institutions is catastrophic. by every metric, the

biden-harris justice department conduct has failed to live up to our country's ideals. so ms. bondi, should you be confirmed, the actions you take to change the department's course must be for accountability so that the conduct i just described never happens again. the only way to accomplish this is through transparency for the congress and the american people. now to my friend, ranking member durbin. >> thank you, senator grassley. i appreciate your commitment to the bipartisan practices of this committee for vetting presidential nominees. that was in doubt several weeks ago but i spoke to senator grassley and he assured me he is committed to maintaining these practices which we've established over the years. our process is rigorous and it shows how seriously members on

both sides of the aisle take our constitutional responsibility and advise and consent. ms. bondi, thank you for coming to my office last week to discuss your nomination. the importance of the attorney general to our justice system cannot be overstated. as our nation's chief law enforcement officer, the attorney general oversees the department of justice which is responsible for protecting the civil rights of americans, economic freedom and opportunity, public safety, and of course national security. in short, the attorney general has real impact on america's everyday life. it is critical that any nominee for this position be committed first and foremost to the constitution and the american people. not any president or political agenda. president trump claims he has, quote, an absolute right to do what he wants with the justice department. and that's how he conducted his first term. he interfered with the criminal

cases of his friends and allies and successfully pressured d.o.j. to investigate his rivals. he have even tried to use the justice department to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. the president-elect made it clear that he values one thing above all else and he said it over and over again, loyalty. speaking about attorney general sessions, donald trump said the only reason i gave him the job is because i felt loyalty. he was an original supporter. but when then attorney general sessions did the right thing and recused himself from the mueller investigation, trump said he should never have nominated him and he fired him. trump then nominated bill barr to succeed sessions. barr successfully auditioned for the job in an unsolicited memo to d.o.j. that criticized the mueller investigation. once confirmed barr misrepresented and blocked the release of the report. intervined in multiple criminal cases of trump allies and spread

falsehoods about election fraud. but in december of 2020 when bill barr finally announced there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the election, trump dismissed him. fired his second attorney general. this time around president-elect trump has vowed not just to use the justice department to advance his political interests but also to seek quote retribution against quote the enemy within. he has repeatedly threatened to arrest, prosecute, jail and otherwise punish those he considers his enemies. this includes reporters, prosecutors, judges, poll workers, military officials, and even his own former political appointees. even before taking office, trump has forced out his own f.b.i. director that he appointed, chris wray. and he is trying to replace wray with kash patel whose main qualification to be f.b.i. director seems to be his loyalty

to donald trump. patel has even compiled an enemy's list of government gangsters to target that includes former trump appointees like director wray, attorney general barr, and defense secretary esper. the justice department should serve the interests of the american people, not any one president. for those who need a reminder, richard nixon ordered department officials to fire archibald cox, the special prosecutor investigating watergate. two of those officials, elliott richardson and williams -- resigned rathe carry out his order. when they considered loretta lynch, a republican member of the committee emphasized what we need from our next attorney general more than anything else is independence.

that same member who now still serves on the committee said and i quote, the job is not to be the president's wing man. the job is to represent all americans. the attorney general must be willing to stand up to the president and say no when the office demands it. when attorney general nominee merrick garland came before this combaty another one of my republican colleagues told garland my sole criteria for voting for your confirmation is your pledge to make sure that politics does not affect your job as attorney general. so the view that the justice department must be insulated from political influence and should not be weaponizeed against political rivals has historically been bipartisan. certainly on this committee. at this crucial moment in history, that view, not mr. trump's view, must prevail. 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 know need to know you

would tell the president no if you were asked to do something wrong or unconstitutional. you are one of four trump personal lawyers he has selected for top positions in the department of justice. you join mr. trump in working to overturn the 2020 election. you repeatedly described investigations and prosecutions of mr. trump as witch hunts and you have echoed his calls for investigating and prosecuting his political opponents. this flies in the face of evidence like mr. trump's call to georgia secretary of state. we've all heard that audio recording. these are the kinds of anti-democratic efforts that in the past you've defended and critical we understand whether you remain supportive of mr. trump's actions. i also have questions whether you will focus on the needs of the american people rather than the wealthy special interests. i'm concerned that you failed to

identify your extensive lobbying for foreign governments and big corporations as potential conflicts of interest. there will be questions in this hearing on that issue. that's why i've asked the justice department and the national archives for information on your lobbying of the trump white house and your foreign lobbying disclosures. i'm particularly concerned about your work on behalf of the government of qatar which reportedly paid you $115,000 a month to launder their image on human trafficking and issue a bipartisan concern on this committee. we need an attorney general to prevent price fixing and monopolies that lead to higher prices for american consumers, not favorite corporate giants you've lobbied for in the past like amazon and uber and questions about some of your actions as florida attorney general. i am concerned your office failed to investigate more than two dozen complaints about the for-profit trump university and for mr. trump donated to your

re-election campaign and held a fundraiser for you at march lag yeah. you have a long track record on the issue of civil rights, reproductive, voting rights and lgbtq rights that need to be discussed. in contrast, ms. bondi, merrick garland didn't campaign for president biden. never served as his personal attorney and never lobbied. after years of relentless criticism of garland from republican colleagues i hope they are prepared to hold you to the same standard. thank you, mr. chairman. >> it's now time for senators to introduce the nominee. the first one will be senator scott at the table as you see and senator schmitt is a member of his committee at his place on the dais. please proceed. >> mr. chairman, ranking member and committee members, it is an whore to sit before you to

introduce my good friend, pam bondi, for her hearing. like to recognize important people appearing in support of her today, her husband, john as well as her mother, father-in-law, sister, brother, sister-in-law, brothers, friends and family members of john. many more would surely be here if space allowed. i can tell you wholeheartedly president trump couldn't have a better leader than pam bondi for attorney general. she is undoubtedly qualified. brilliant and committed to defending and protecting the laws of this nation and has a track record to prove it. no secret the d.o.j. is facing a public trust crisis after democrats spent years weaponizing the justice system and the entire federal government. they became an agency that attacks american people instead of defending and protecting them. that will change under pam bondi. under her leadership the d.o.j. will actually fairly enforce the laws, protect the rights of the american people and keep our nation safe and crack down on violent crimes and dangerous

drugs. the american people will trust her to do so. i know that well because i worked alongside pam bondi for eight years when i was governor of florida and she was florida's elected attorney general. working to approve the lives of floridians to make it the best state in the nation to live and raise a family. she was an incredible partner working to keep florida safe and uphold the laws of our state insuring crime is pursued by law enforcement and prosecutors. president trump made clear one of his top priorities is reverse the rising rates of crime and violent crime that have playinged our communities over the past four years, pam bondi is equipped to advance this attorney at u.s. attorney general. she has a proven track record of success in achieving dramatic reductions in crime and violent crime during her time as florida's attorney general. from 2010, the year before she took office to 2018, the last year she was in office