President Trump’s pick for US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, inched closer to Senate confirmation after legislators on Monday voted to end debate over her nomination.
Lawmakers voted 52-46 along party lines, setting up a final confirmation vote for early Wednesday, absent an agreement with Democrats.
The former Florida attorney general had cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in a 12-10 vote last week despite strong Democratic opposition.
“What we learned is that she is a tough but fair career prosecutor who built her reputation by enforcing the rule of law,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said about her nomination at the time.
Bondi, 59, was lauded by Republicans for her long career as a prosecutor but was bashed by Dems for her part in publically raising concerns over the legitimacy of Trump’s 2020 election loss without real evidence.
“The president has repeatedly threatened to weaponize the justice system against those he feels have wronged him, and that’s a long list,” Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) warned last Wednesday ahead of the committee vote.
“Ms. Bondi undermined our democracy by joining President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It appears she does not reject that decision.”
The prosecutor who served as the Sunshine State’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, however, tried to ease the party’s concerns.
“Senator, what I can tell you is I will never play politics,” Bondi told Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during a heated exchange last month. “I won’t play politics with any ongoing investigation like you did leaking your colleague Devon Nunes’ memo.”
The Floridian replaced Trump’s original AG pick, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), after the scandal-scarred lawmaker withdrew his name from consideration over allegations of sexual misconduct and a House Ethics Committee investigation into him.
