US Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi advanced past the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday on a party-line basis, teeing her up for a full-chamber confirmation vote.
Bondi, 59, cleared the committee in a 12–10 vote, with Democrats lined up in stiff opposition against her. She is favored to clear the full Senate chamber within days, given that no Republican has publicly opposed her.
“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 Wednesday.
“Her record and her testimony showed the American people that she will follow and enforce the law fairly, without fear or favor.”
Democrats had quibbled over Bondi’s responses to questions about whether she could resist pressure from President Trump and be an independent leader of the Justice Department.
“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 Wednesday ahead of the 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.”
Bondi, who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, had publicly raised concerns about the legitimacy of the 2020 election result in Pennsylvania, something many Democrats harped on during her hearing earlier this month.
When pressed about the 2020 election, Bondi told senators that former President Joe Biden won but stopped short of delving into her concerns about the process.
The Floridian also assured Democrats on the panel that she would not “play politics” when she helms the Justice Department.
“Senator, what I can tell you is I will never play politics,” Bondi told Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during a fiery exchange earlier this month. “I won’t play politics with any ongoing investigation like you did leaking your colleague Devon Nunes’ memo.”
A sizeable chunk of the Democratic consternation was directed at FBI director-designate Kash Patel, given that the FBI is housed under the Justice Department.
Grassley, 91, confronted Democratic criticisms of Bondi Wednesday and argued that loyalty to the president should’ve been disqualifying.
“There’s nothing wrong with President Trump appointing someone who seriously defended him to a high position. Ms. Bondi publicly supported President Trump, just like 77 million Americans who voted him back into office in November. So this too is not a disqualifying attribute,” he insisted.
Trump, 78, had initially tapped former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to serve as his AG, but that prompted skittishness from many Republican senators.
Ultimately Gaetz, 42, dropped out of consideration, leading to Trump selecting Bondi to helm the DOJ.
The 47th president had famously acrimonious relationships with two of his ex-AGs — Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr — during his first term.
Senate Republicans are hustling to fill out the second Trump administration as quickly as possible. On Wednesday, Health and Human Services secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy sat for a heated hearing.
Director of national intelligence designate Tulsi Gabbard is slated to have her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
