Pam Bondi Brings Up President Biden's Pardons When Asked Point Blank About Jan. 6 Pardons

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi asked President Trump's January 6th pardons.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Meng for holding this important hearing,

00:05and thank you, Attorney General Bondi, for appearing before us today.

00:09Madam Attorney General, I serve, in addition to the Appropriations Committee,

00:13as a ranking member of the Committee on House Administration.

00:16I sent you a letter last week, along with my Republican counterpart, Chairman Brian Stile,

00:22requesting an increase in federal prosecutory resources to address threats against members of Congress,

00:27particularly in light of what happened last week in Minnesota, that tragedy.

00:32In 2024, the U.S. Capitol Police identified and received nearly 9,500 concerning statements or threats against members.

00:40Federal prosecutors have only secured eight convictions so far,

00:44and the heightened threat environment demands an all-hands-on-deck approach.

00:48Will you commit to assigning an assistant U.S. attorney or a special assistant U.S. attorney

00:53to each of the 94 federal districts to, at least on a part-time basis,

00:57investigate and prosecute threats against members of Congress?

01:02So, thank you for bringing that up, and I take that very seriously.

01:07Not only what happened in Minnesota was horrible.

01:09I've spoken to Keith Ellison.

01:11I've spoken to Amy Klobuchar about that.

01:13It's horrible.

01:14We are involved in that.

01:16The FBI was involved.

01:17Our U.S. attorneys are involved.

01:18Many of these are district-to-district, so the way we're doing that is,

01:23I will tell you, my National Security Division is involved in all of those and assisting in those.

01:29We meet every single morning, and we discuss that.

01:33But many of those, Minnesota, will be handled in the state in which it happened.

01:40Another one is, um...

01:41So, may...

01:42I'm sorry, if I can keep going.

01:43I'm sorry.

01:44I don't mean to...

01:44Quickly, though.

01:45...filibuster.

01:45Governor Shapiro and what happened in Pennsylvania with Governor Shapiro.

01:51I've spoken to Governor Shapiro.

01:53We are working hand-in-hand, our U.S. attorney, with the district attorney there, hand-in-hand,

02:00just like in Minnesota.

02:02I made sure our U.S. attorney and our district attorneys there were working hand-in-hand.

02:07Political party doesn't matter when something like this happens.

02:10And I also want to make sure all members of Congress are safe as well.

02:13Okay, and I would reiterate, Chairman Stile and I, I think, I think Chairman Stile and I agree

02:19that at least a part-time in each of the 94 districts would be appropriate.

02:23Let me change topics for just a moment.

02:26Really quick on that.

02:27Yes, we're doing that through our National Security Division, so I think that's already in the works,

02:31and I would be glad to meet with you in a secure facility to talk about that.

02:35Very good.

02:36Continuing, in addition to my role here, the committee that I serve on as an authorizer

02:43oversees capital security as well as federal elections, so I'm closely following the aftermath

02:48of January 6th.

02:50Recently, several defendants who received presidential pardons related to that day are now arguing

02:55in court that the pardon covers crimes, like, for instance, illegal firearm possession discovered

03:00in a search of an individual's home in California months after January 6th.

03:04What's your position on whether the pardons cover these separate offenses?

03:09The pardon power rests with the President, not the Department of Justice, and some of that is

03:13pending litigation, and I cannot discuss pending litigation.

03:16Well, I'm not asking you about who has the right to a pardon.

03:20I think as the Department of Justice in February wrote, the pardon is an act of grace which removes

03:25the punishment from a crime a person has committed.

03:29It further said, in its effect, the granting of a pardon is in no sense the overturning of a judgment

03:34of conviction.

03:34It is an executive action that mitigates or sets aside punishment.

03:39So, as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer, what's your opinion?

03:42Not the President's power of whether he can offer a pardon.

03:45That's pretty clear in the Constitution.

03:47But for crimes committed, unrelated to January 6th, would you suggest that the pardons would

03:56cover activities or crimes potentially committed outside of that by the same person?

04:01Well, I don't know if you're referring to Joe Biden pardoning his son after he said he

04:05would not pardon Hunter Biden or the commutation of all the sentences that the people that were

04:13on death row.

04:14I've met with those families and all of those sentences were commuted.

04:18I'm not going to comment on pardons on either side of the aisle.

04:22So, well, I'm not asking about either side.

04:25I'm asking, you're the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the United States.

04:29You have a responsibility directly.

04:32You've sworn an oath to the Constitution, not the President.

04:34I want to know what your views are on the extent to which pardons cover potential crimes

04:39committed by individuals who have been pardoned but unrelated to January 6th.

04:44Do you mean the ones that were done by the auto pin?

04:46I'm not going to discuss anything that could be or not be pending litigation.

04:50Respectfully, you know, Ms. DeLauro accused you of filibustering.

04:55I think that's the height of filibustering.

04:57This is a serious, serious topic.

04:59And for you to suggest that you don't have an opinion or to divert to other things that

05:03had nothing to do with January 6th pardons, I think, is frankly demeaning to your responsibilities

05:09and your job.

05:10With that, I'll yield back.

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