Ms Bondi’s rise has brought her far from Temple Terrace, the city where she grew up on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Her father, a teacher, was the mayor. While an undergraduate at the University of Florida she considered becoming a paediatrician. But she went to law school, and an internship at the state prosecutor’s office in Tampa sealed the deal.

Pam Bondi refused to acknowledge President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden in her Senate confirmation hearing for U.S. attorney general on Wednesday, intensifying Democratic concerns that the former Florida attorney general would be a rubber stamp for the White House.

Sen. Chris Coons suggested that there might be common ground with Congress and the attorney general to institutionalize reforms to the clemency process.

President Trump’s nominees for Health secretary, Commerce secretary, and Small Business Administration administrator are testifying before Senate committees, while Pam Bondi, Trump's choice for attorney general,