Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday to lead the Justice Department under President Trump.
Bondi’s nomination was approved by senators in a 54-46 vote, with all but one Democrat — John Fetterman of Pennsylvania — voting against her confirmation.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader 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 committed to keeping politics out of the Justice Department, an agency that under the Biden administration faced accusations of targeting conservatives.
“In recent years, many Americans have lost faith in the Justice Department,” the Senate majority leader said. “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-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, alleged that Bondi, 59, was chosen by Trump for the AG spot because “she is loyal.”
Durbin, 80, criticized Bondi for allegedly being “in lockstep” with the Trump administration’s efforts to remove FBI and DOJ officials responsible for investigating and prosecuting cases stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Bondi faced stiff Democratic opposition in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which narrowly advanced her nomination in a 12-10 party-line vote last week.
At her confirmation hearing last month, Bondi insisted during a heated exchange with Sen. Adam Schiff that “I won’t play politics with any ongoing investigation, like you did, leaking your [House] colleague Devin Nunes’ memo” during the height of the “Russiagate” controversy involving Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Trump, 78, had initially tapped former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to serve as his AG, but the ex-congressman dropped out of consideration amid concerns from GOP lawmakers over a House Ethics Committee investigation of sexual misconduct and drug use.
As attorney general, Bondi will be seventh in line to the presidency and oversee a department with 40 separate sub-agencies and components and more than 115,000 employees.
