‘is She On Our Side?’: Jan. 6 Defendants And Allies Puzzle Over Bondi Nomination

Everyone knew where Matt Gaetz stood on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He promoted conspiracy theories, called for sweeping pardons and said the 22-year sentence delivered to Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio for seditious conspiracy was “Orwellian.”

But Pam Bondi is a blank slate. And among the Trump supporters most invested in his vow to upend the massive prosecution of those who breached the Capitol in his name, Bondi's silence is prompting questions about whether she will be the reliable ally on Jan. 6 that Gaetz seemed poised to be.

Bondi — a former Florida attorney general whom Trump picked to lead the Justice Department after the Gaetz nomination collapsed — has made no public comments about the attack. Her X account used to feature two reposted condemnations of the violence — one by Idaho’s attorney general at the time and one by Donald Trump Jr. — that have since been removed.

In the ensuing four years, there’s no record of Bondi commenting on the massive FBI manhunt to apprehend nearly 1,600 people for storming the Capitol that day, including hundreds who assaulted police.

Trump has made the plight of those defendants a centerpiece of his resurgence to power, downplaying the violence and vowing sweeping pardons for all or most of those caught up in the federal dragnet. Gaetz’s nomination was seen as the clearest signal of his intent to make good on those promises.

Bondi's silence on one of the most salient issues to Trump’s MAGA base distinguishes her from most of the other people Trump considered to become attorney general in his second term. And Trump’s allies in that world have noticed.

“I have never seen Pam Bondi speak out on January 6. Hopefully, she isn't too distant from the issue to clean house and investigate DOJ wrongdoing,” said William Pope, an outspoken Jan. 6 defendant facing trial early next year. “This is a top priority for our next Attorney General!”

Julie Kelly, another prominent voice on the right advocating for Jan. 6 defendants, agreed that Bondi is a question mark on matters related to the riot.

“I don't know much about Pam Bondi aside from her representation of the president during impeachment,” Kelly posted on X. “Accounts here that I respect are expressing disappointment and criticism of her nomination, which I will consider.”

Other Jan. 6 defendants and supporters who loudly celebrated the Gaetz pick remained cautious in their comments on Bondi, aware that she has not taken up their mantle in any public forum. Others expressed concern that some Republican figures they distrust — like Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham — heaped praise on the Bondi nomination.

“Donald Trump has nominated Pam Bondi to be Attorney General. She will be confirmed,” wrote Phillip Anderson, another Jan. 6 defendant facing pending charges. “But is she on our side? Will she end the J6 prosecutions and start prosecuting democrats? If not then she’s the wrong choice.”

A spokesperson for Trump’s transition did not respond to an inquiry about Bondi’s position on Jan. 6 riot prosecutions.

Bondi’s limited connection to issues related to Jan. 6 investigations stems from her contact with Cassidy Hutchinson, a witness to the House Jan. 6 select committee who described efforts by figures close to Trump — including Bondi — to line up jobs and legal representation for her. Hutchinson interpreted those overtures as an effort to keep her in the fold amid fears that other allies might reveal damaging information to investigators.

Hutchinson testified that Bondi reached out to her in early February 2022 and indicated she was working on “logistics” with Susie Wiles — now Trump’s incoming chief of staff — about a potential lawyer.

“Pam and I also had a working relationship at the White House, so it wasn't out of the ordinary,” Hutchinson recalled. “And we loosely kept in touch for the past, at this point, a year. … I wouldn't see her as like a friend figure necessarily, but she was frequently at the White House. She would meet with Mark [Meadows] a lot.”

Hutchinson said that the following month, Bondi texted her on Signal and told her she had just had “dinner with POTUS at Mar-a-Lago” and to call Trump ally Matt Schlapp for news about a potential job.

“You are the best. Keep up the good work. Love and miss you,” Hutchinson recalled of Bondi’s signoff.

Bondi also played a role in igniting Trump’s challenge to the 2020 election results. The day after Election Day, she and Rudy Giuliani drove together from Washington, D.C., to Pennsylvania, according to Giuliani’s testimony in his disbarment proceedings. There, they led challenges to the procedures election officials were using for observing vote counts and spread some of the first claims that the results were untrustworthy.

Bondi reposted many of the fraud allegations Trump and his allies promoted in those early days after the election, but most of them — along with many other retweets and reposts — have since been removed from her X account.

And even on election fraud, Bondi played a limited role compared to other allies that ignited the furor. Giuliani would orchestrate efforts to overturn the election via state legislatures and Congress, but Bondi played no discernible role in those increasingly fringe efforts.