Former Florida lawyer common Pam Bondi was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday to steer the Justice Division below President Trump.
Bondi’s nomination was accepted by senators in a 54-46 vote, with all however one Democrat — John Fetterman of Pennsylvania — voting in opposition to her affirmation.
Forward of the vote, Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-SD) praised Bondi as an “experienced” and “tenacious” prosecutor with a “deep commitment to the victims of crime and their families.”
Thune declared that Bondi was dedicated to protecting politics out of the Justice Division, an company that below the Biden administration confronted accusations of concentrating on conservatives.
“In recent years, many Americans have lost faith in the Justice Department,” the Senate majority chief stated. “They’ve seen federal prosecutors go after pro-life activists while attacks against churches have gone unprosecuted.”
“The American people should be able to trust that the Department of Justice is not targeting Americans based on their political opinions or religious beliefs,” Thune added. “Pam Bondi has promised to get the department back to its core mission: prosecuting crime and protecting Americans from threats to their safety and their freedoms.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Sick.), the highest Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, alleged that Bondi, 59, was chosen by Trump for the AG spot as a result of “she is loyal.”
Durbin, 80, criticized Bondi for allegedly being “in lockstep” with the Trump administration’s efforts to take away FBI and DOJ officers accountable for investigating and prosecuting instances stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Bondi confronted stiff Democratic opposition within the Senate Judiciary Committee, which narrowly superior her nomination in a 12-10 party-line vote final week.
At her affirmation listening to final month, Bondi insisted throughout a heated change with Sen. Adam Schiff that “I won’t play politics with any ongoing investigation, like you did, leaking your [House] colleague Devin Nunes’ memo” throughout the peak of the “Russiagate” controversy involving Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign.
Trump, 78, had initially tapped former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to function his AG, however the ex-congressman dropped out of consideration amid considerations from GOP lawmakers over a Home Ethics Committee investigation of sexual misconduct and drug use.
As lawyer common, Bondi can be seventh in line to the presidency and oversee a division with 40 separate sub-agencies and elements and greater than 115,000 workers.
