GEOFF BENNETT: Senators today also questioned nominees who will be powerful forces in energy and law enforcement.

AMNA NAWAZ: Our Lisa Desjardins was on the Hill all day, and she was in the room for the hearing of attorney general nominee Pam Bondi.

Lisa, let's start right there with a reminder of who Pam Bondi is and why her nomination is so important to watch.

LISA DESJARDINS: Well, Bondi is well-known in political circles and is a very close ally, longtime friend of president-elect Trump's.

But in her own right, she has a lengthy legal resume.

Let's talk about it, 18 years as a prosecutor.

She's a former Florida attorney general for two terms.

Among her priorities then was the fight against the opioid epidemic, as well as some conservative culture war issues.

Now, she served on the first impeachment defense team for president-elect Trump.

Then she also more recently has done election-related legal work for pro-Trump groups, including filing lawsuits in the most recent election.

She's now nominated, of course, to be the top prosecutor in the country and the top law enforcement agent.

She would oversee the FBI itself.

Most of all, this hearing was about the Republican concern and contention that the DOJ has become politically weaponized against the right.

It's a powerful agency, but the thing is, Democrats fear that, if she was in this office, that she could weaponize it the other way.

So there's a question of how the politics work here.

Bondi told senators what she sees as her priority.

PAM BONDI (R), U.S. Attorney General Nominee: My overriding objective will be to return the Department of Justice to its core mission of keeping Americans safe and vigorously prosecuting criminals.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, she declined to answer questions specifically about would she prosecute people like Jack Smith, the current special counsel who Donald Trump has spoken against?

She said it's a hypothetical, but she did say she would follow the rule of law.

AMNA NAWAZ: How did she answer questions about keeping herself independent from president-elect Trump, also keeping her agency independent from him?

LISA DESJARDINS: This was absolutely the focus for Democrats.

They referenced the fact that Trump dismissed his first attorney general, who refused to go along with his request, his demand that he intervene in an investigation on his behalf.

So Bondi was asked by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who is your client?

PAM BONDI: The people of America would be my client.

And it is also my job to advise the president.

My client is the -- are the people of America.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Is president-elect Trump eligible to run for another term as president in 2028?

PAM BONDI: No, Senator, not unless they change the Constitution.

LISA DESJARDINS: That was really her primary area of disagreement with Trump.

She didn't really talk about the independence of the agency very much.

She kept saying she would follow the law.

She would not answer a question over a hypothetical illegal order from Trump.

She said she didn't expect one, again, that she would follow the rule of law.

AMNA NAWAZ: What about specific issues that deal with that rule of law, things around January 6, also this issue of the potential targeting of Mr. Trump's political opponents?

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes, she was asked especially about Trump's nominee for the FBI director, Kash Patel, who has, in a memoir, listed people, he says, who are, what is his wording, deep state members of the government.

Bondi did two things.

Notably, she defended Kash Patel and she said she doesn't think that's an enemies list.

And she did say there will be no enemies list at the DOJ if she is confirmed.

Now, she, of course, has been herself involved in raising claims of election fraud, that, of course, unproven.

She was an election denier about 2020.

She was asked about the question, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?

Here's her answer.

PAM BONDI: President Biden is the president of the United States.

He was duly sworn in and he is the president of the United States.

There was a peaceful transition of power.

President Trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024.

LISA DESJARDINS: OK, so, notice that answer.

I know we have been over this ground.

A lot of Americans are tired of it, but it's important because of the job she is about to undertake if confirmed.

Democrats pointed out she did not say that Biden won or that Trump lost and said she said only that Trump won this time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Right.

LISA DESJARDINS: So, Democrats push back and they say this raises important questions about her independence and her own potential bias, as we sit now.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): You have to be able to say no to the president of the United States.

You have to speak truth to power.

You have to be able to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, you will notice she is actually on track.

If you look at the hearing room, I took a couple of photos of it, it really was not as well attended as I expected.

I think all of these nominees at once have taken some pressure off their big nominations like this.

Right now, she had a very good day all in all.

She is on track to be confirmed.

AMNA NAWAZ: You were keeping an eye on another here that unfolded today as well, that for energy secretary nominee Chris Wright.

What did we learn?

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

Let's talk about him.

He is an energy executive known especially for fracking and really kind of pioneering that industry.

In the past, he has said that there is no climate crisis.

But, today, Amna, he told senators that climate change is real and he agreed that it is manmade.

So there's a lot of question marks about where he really stands on that issue.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, our Lisa Desjardins, thank you so much.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.