Pam Bondi, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, was confirmed as U.S. attorney general, setting the stage for a potential overhaul of the Justice Department. Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, faces scrutiny over her close ties to Trump and his demands for loyalty. The confirmation vote came amid turmoil at the FBI, which is under review for its handling of investigations related to Trump.
The Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general on Tuesday evening, placing a long-time ally of Donald Trump at the helm of a Justice Department already shaken by the dismissals of career employees deemed disloyal to the Republican president. The vote largely followed party lines, with only Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joining all Republicans in approving her confirmation, 54 to 46.
Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and corporate lobbyist, is anticipated to oversee a significant restructuring of the department, which has been the target of Trump's ire over the criminal cases brought against him. She assumes her role as the FBI, which she will oversee, grapples with turmoil due to the scrutiny of agents involved in investigations connected to the president. Trump has made his desire for retribution against perceived adversaries abundantly clear.Republicans have lauded Bondi as a highly qualified leader who, they believe, will usher in change to a department whose investigations into Trump resulted in two felony indictments. 'Pam Bondi has promised to return the department to its core mission: prosecuting crime and protecting Americans from threats to their safety and their freedoms,' stated Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). Bondi has faced intense scrutiny regarding her close relationship with the president, who, during his term, dismissed an FBI director who refused to pledge loyalty and pressured out an attorney general who recused himself from the Justice Department's investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Although Bondi assured Democrats that politics would not influence her decision-making, she declined at her confirmation hearing last month to rule out investigations into Trump's adversaries. Furthermore, she has echoed Trump's assertions that the felony prosecutions against him constitute political persecution. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) acknowledged Bondi as 'accomplished and competent' but expressed 'grave concern' about President Trump and his apparent demands. 'That clearly is a loyalty oath to him as opposed to a demand for straightforward, candid advice, including if the president is asking for something to be done like the prosecution of a political adversary,' Welch stated.Bondi's confirmation vote occurred just hours after FBI agents filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department over attempts to compile a list of employees involved in the January 6th prosecutions. Agents fear this list could foreshadow mass firings. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove last week directed the acting FBI director to provide names, titles, and offices of all FBI employees who worked on the January 6th cases — which Trump has characterized as a 'grave national injustice.' Bove, who defended Trump in his criminal cases before joining the administration, stated that Justice Department officials would conduct a 'review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.' Justice Department officials have also recently forced out senior FBI executives, fired prosecutors on Special Counsel Jack Smith's team who investigated Trump, and terminated a group of prosecutors in the D.C. U.S. Attorney's office who were hired to assist with the extensive January 6th investigation. Bondi repeatedly emphasized during her confirmation hearing that she would not pursue anyone for political reasons and vowed that the public, not the president, would be her client. However, her responses occasionally echoed Trump's campaign rhetoric about a politicized justice system. 'They targeted Donald Trump,' Bondi told lawmakers. 'They went after him — actually starting back in 2016, they targeted his campaign. They have launched countless investigations against him.' She added, 'If I am attorney general, I will not politicize that office.'Trump nominated Bondi for attorney general after it became evident that his initial choice, Republican former Rep. Matt Gaetz, lacked sufficient support from Republican senators to secure confirmation. Bondi has been a constant presence in Trump's circle for years and a frequent defender of him on news programs amidst his legal battles. In a 2023 Fox News appearance, she suggested that 'bad' Justice Department prosecutors would be investigated under the Trump administration. 'The investigators will be investigated,' she stated. Smith has maintained that politics played no role in his decisions and that the evidence his team gathered was sufficient for Trump to have been convicted at trial on charges of scheming to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Smith dropped that case and a separate one charging Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, citing longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting criminal cases against a sitting president. Trump's felony conviction stemmed from a New York state case in which a jury found him guilty of falsifying business documents related to a hush money payment to a porn actor
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