IAt a hearing examining whether she would stand up to President-elect Donald Trump as the nation’s top law enforcement official, Pam Bondi repeatedly declined to say she would resist pressure from the White House and refused to answer whether Trump lost the 2020 election.

While Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee appeared satisfied with Bondi’s answers, Democrats pressed her on whether she could be trusted as attorney general to protect the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) independence and uphold the rule of law if Trump would take political initiative to conduct motivated investigations. Bondi, a Trump ally who served two terms as Florida’s attorney general, vowed to maintain “a level of justice for all” and suggested keeping the department away from any partisan agendas.

While Bondi is likely to receive all Republican support in the committee and the broader Senate, which would ensure her confirmation, Democrats on the committee expressed concerns about her support for Trump as his personal lawyer during his first impeachment trial in 2020 and her central role in his challenges move forward after the election.

“This nomination hearing is not about your competence or your experience,” said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee. “It’s about your ability to say no.”

Asked whether Trump lost the 2020 election, Bondi said twice: “I accept the results” and claimed she saw evidence of possible election interference during her visit to Pennsylvania after President Joe Biden’s victory. Her loyalty to Trump was the focus of the hearing, particularly the question of whether she would allow political influence to influence Justice Department decisions. Democrats noted that Trump has expressed a desire for retaliation against perceived enemies, possibly including prosecutors who investigated him or the House committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, and that it was on It is up to Bondi to decide whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate these people. “No one has been prejudged and no one will be prejudged,” Bondi said.

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Bondi claimed he never heard Trump’s highly publicized phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state after the 2020 election, in which he repeatedly pressured him to “find 11,780 votes.” She said she was unfamiliar with several of Trump’s comments, particularly from the campaign, such as his assertion that the Jan. 6 defendants were “hostages” and “patriots” or that illegal immigration was “poisoning the blood of our nation.”

Trump has said that one of his first acts after taking office on January 20 will be to pardon most, if not all, of those charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol. “It will start in the first hour,” he recently told TIME. “Maybe the first nine minutes.” While pardon power rests solely with the president, the attorney general would have to defend Trump’s actions in court if they are challenged. Bondi told senators that she would consider requests from the White House to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters, but “condemned” any violent attacks on police officers.

Bondi denied any intention to politicize the DOJ and insisted that her legal experience qualified her to take a fair and professional approach to the attorney general position. “The partisanship, the weaponization will be gone,” Bondi said in her opening speech.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat, suggested that Bondi was offering politically convenient answers to help her get confirmed. “I’m not going to sit here and say anything that I need to in order to be confirmed by this board,” she said in one of the most tense moments of the hearing. “I will answer the question to the best of my knowledge and belief.”

When asked by Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat, whether she would drop a case if the White House asked her to do so – which Trump had asked then-FBI Director James Comey in one situation in his first term, which involved then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn – Bondi said: “If I thought this was going to happen, I wouldn’t be here.”

Bondi also faced several questions from Democrats about what role she would play as attorney general in keeping in check Kash Patel, a polarizing Trump loyalist who has been nominated for FBI director and has vowed to back Trump’s perceived rivals track. If confirmed, Patel would work closely with the attorney general. Bondi defended Patel’s promise to target a list of people he sees as “government thugs” but said she would not use her power to pursue a so-called “enemy list.”

“I know Kash and I believe Kash is the right person for this job at this time,” she said.

Bondi was asked to clarify her comments in a 2023 Fox News appearance that “prosecutors are being prosecuted” and “investigators are being investigated” under a Trump Justice Department, to which she responded that she only “in the worst case” they would be prosecuted. When Bondi pressed further on the level of prosecution, she did not promise that she would not prosecute journalists. “None of us are above the law,” she said, adding that she “believes in freedom of expression.”

In a question about the news affecting many Americans this week, Bondi said he has not committed to pushing through a new law enforcing a TikTok ban.

In addition to questions about her political independence, Bondi is expected to face scrutiny over her work after leaving public service as the hearings continue. After leaving the Florida attorney general’s office in early 2019, she joined Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with close ties to the first Trump administration. Critics argue that her lobbying work – particularly her representation of foreign governments and large companies – could undermine her credibility as a champion of the rule of law.

Trump nominated Bondi for the position after his original nominee for attorney general, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct.