Tensions at the confirmation hearing for Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, boiled over Wednesday afternoon, as Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) pressed Bondi about her role in Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“You pointed your finger at me and said you were speaking,” Bondi interjected, as the two attempted to speak over one another in the line of questioning around Bondi’s involvement in the campaign to block Joe Biden’s win in Pennsylvania. “I’m not going to be bullied by you Senator Padilla.”
Bondi’s previous confrontations with Democratic senators had been relatively uncontentious, even as they pushed Bondi to answer questions around the results of the 2020 election that Bondi largely obfuscated. But the interaction with Padilla got testy.
When Padilla moved on to a line of questioning related to the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which concerns birthright citizenship, Bondi quipped that the senator did not want to hear her answer regarding the activities in Pennsylvania. Padilla again questioned Bondi about her interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
“I didn’t take your homework assignment,” she said. “I’m sorry, I was preparing for today.”
