CNN’s Elie Honig Argues Pam Bondi Is ‘Without a Question’ Qualified — But Sounds Alarm Over Her ‘Independence’ and ‘Credibility’

CNN’s Elie Honig argued that Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the Department of Justice is “without a question” qualified to serve as attorney general on Thursday, but also sounded the alarm over her “independence” and “credibility.”

“She’s way more qualified than Matt Gaetz, let’s start with that. You know, last week when Matt Gaetz was announced as Trump’s original pick, you and I said there’s two main things you have to look at: qualification and independence. So on the first of those, qualifications, Pam Bondi is, without a question, qualified to be attorney general,” Honig told host Kaitlan Collins. “She’s been a prosecutor for 20 years in Florida. For eight of those, she was the attorney general of the state. That’s a very big, very complicated job. And that level of experience is on par with or better than most United States attorneys general that we’ve seen over the past 50 years or so.”

“When we get into independence, though, things get a little more complicated. Now, there’s nothing wrong or unusual with an attorney general who shares the same politics and ideology as the president,” he continued. “That’s the way these things work. But I think the big problem with Pam Bondi is she was a vocal 2020 election denier. And I think that raises legitimate questions about her independence and her credibility. And I expect that to be a sticking point when she goes in front of the Senate.”

“But I guess the question is: Has the curve changed?” asked Collins. “I mean, we all know we were in school, you got graded on a curve in some cases, and it would help you a lot with ultimately how you  cored. I mean, could that be a dynamic here, given maybe four years ago or eight years ago, she would not have been a conventional choice for attorney general. But in the dynamic of who is being put up for the cabinet now, I think that’s a question of whether that changes this.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a great observation. I think if we compare her to Matt Gaetz, she exceeds him on every level by far. But if we go back to sort of a normal curve, I think it’s a closer call. One person who I think is an interesting historical comparison for Pam Bondi is Janet Reno. Now, I’m not saying Pam Bondi will be Janet Reno, but Janet Reno had a similar background. She had been a state level prosecutor in Florida for about 15 years at the time when Bill Clinton nominated her to become attorney general,” replied Honig. “Now, I think the difference, though, is Janet Reno was probably the single most independent attorney general we’ve had in this country for at least the last 75 years and maybe beyond that, often to the consternation of the Clinton administration.”

“I think every indication is that Pam Bondi will not be anywhere near that independent if she’ll be independent at all,” he concluded. “But again, this is a Republican administration, Donald Trump won the election. We’re not going to have an attorney general Eric Holder, or Sally Yates, or Pete Buttigieg, or Elizabeth Warren. This is elections have consequences”

Watch above via CNN.