Trump attorney general pick Pam Bondi: FBI’s targeting of Catholics, parents, pro-lifers ‘must stop’

CV NEWS FEED // During her confirmation hearing Wednesday, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) targeting of Catholics, concerned parents, and pro-life Americans “must stop.”

Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT, asked Bondi: “As attorney general, how will you prevent the weaponization of the Department of Justice against Americans?” 

Immediately before asking the question, Lee listed several instances in which the Biden administration’s DOJ has been accused of targeting citizens for ideological reasons – including the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) memos targeting Mass-going Catholics and parents who had spoken at school board meetings.

Lee also referenced the current DOJ’s prosecutions of pro-life citizens who engage “in peaceful protesting outside abortion clinics.” The FBI is an agency of the DOJ, which the attorney general leads.

Bondi replied: “Senator, you just gave the classic example of what’s been happening regarding the weaponization. Going after parents at a school board meeting has got to stop. For practicing your religion – sending informants into Catholic churches must stop.”

Lee followed up: “What about branding parents as domestic terrorists or trying to incarcerate one’s political opponent as a sitting president of the United States?” 

“Will stop,” Bondi emphatically declared. “Must stop.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, asked the nominee: “Will you protect churches and pregnancy care centers when they are targeted for violence, when they are targeted for intimidation, when their members or parishioners are threatened with violence and other acts of illegal behavior?”

“Yes, Senator,” Bondi answered.

>> TRACKER: OVER 400 ATTACKS ON CATHOLIC CHURCHES SINCE MAY 2020 <<

>> TRACKER: ATTACKS ON PREGNANCY CENTERS AND PRO-LIFE GROUPS <<

“Will you stop the disparate treatment of Americans on the basis of religious faith?” Hawley asked.

Bondi replied that she would.

Bondi also answered affirmatively when the senator asked her: “Will you stop the deliberate persecution of pro-life Americans for nothing more than their pro-life beliefs?”

“Will you ensure that nothing like the Mark Houck case happens again?” Hawley asked Bondi. 

He was referring to the pro-life Catholic father of seven who was indicted by Biden’s DOJ and whose home was raided by the FBI. A jury eventually acquitted Houck, who faced up to 11 years in prison, in January 2023.

The senator asked Bondi if she would make sure “Americans do not have SWAT teams arriving on their front doors with armed weapons to terrorize their children and their spouses, only in the end, of course, to have the case lost because there was nothing to it?”

“Will you put an end to that kind of deliberate intimidation of the good American citizens on the basis of their religious beliefs?” asked Hawley.

“Yes, Senator,” Bondi said.

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Hawley commented after Bondi had answered “yes” each time to the string of questions he asked. “Because we need it.”

President-elect Donald Trump selected Bondi as his nominee to lead the DOJ during his second term on Nov. 21st, hours after his original pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, withdrew his name from consideration. Bondi had previously served two terms as the attorney general of Florida from 2011 to 2019.

As of Wednesday afternoon, leading prediction website Polymarket gives Bondi a 97% of being confirmed by the Senate.