Ex-FBI counsel examines 'red flags' raised during Pam Bondi’s confirmation hearing
15 January
Andrew Weissmann — legal analyst and former FBI counsel — on Wednesday highlighted the biggest "red flags" raised during Donald Trump's attorney general nominee Pam Bondi's confirmation hearing.
Speaking with Weissmann during the latest episode of MSNBC's Deadline: White House, host Nicolle Wallace noted, "The Department of Justice is predicated on a politically unintentioned administration of the rule of law, and she couldn't make it clear that that's what she would do in the post."
The ex-FBI counsel replied, "Look, she's helped by the fact that you have [Trump defense secretary pick Pete] Hegseth the day before, and that everyone knows that [ex-Rep.] Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was the first choice [for AG nominee]. So, compared to that, she's doing great."
READ MORE: 'I just familiarized you': Senator exposes Pam Bondi in tense exchange
Weissmann then pointed to several video clips Wallace played from Bondi's hearing earlier in the segment, in which he identified several "red flags."
The first, he said, "In her answer about who won the presidency, and whether there was outcome determinative fraud, she threw in there —not just that Donald Trump had a massive, current win — which overplays what happened, which is concerning, but also said there was a peaceful transfer of power."
Weissmann continued, "We all saw with our own eyes that that is not true. So that is very concerning because it's just it's a spin that is completely counter to a DOJ indictment, and charge and something we all saw. And the second is in response to Senator [Adam] Schiff (D-CA) when she throws in we should be talking about is the crime rate in your state."
"That is such a political answer," the legal expert emphasized. "If this was a political debate, if you were advising politicians, maybe that's an okay answer, right?That's not the right response for somebody who's supposed to be the role of the attorney general of the United States is to be dispassionate, is to be apolitical. And she agreed with that, that it should be just based on the facts and the law. But those statements belie that. And it gives you a sense of that whatever she's trying to portray, she still has in her all of the realness of the Fox News clips that you were playing."
READ MORE: 'Major problem': CNN legal expert pinpoints potential answer that could derail Pam Bondi
Watch the video below or at this link.