Pam Bondi, the nominee for U.S. attorney general, advanced past the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line basis Wednesday, setting her up for a full-chamber confirmation vote.
Bondi, 59, cleared the committee on a 12-10 vote, with Democrats standing in strong opposition. She is likely to be approved by the full Senate in a matter of days, as no Republicans have publicly opposed her.
“What we’ve learned is that she is a tough but fair career prosecutor who has built her reputation on enforcing the rule of law,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said of her nomination on Wednesday.
“Her record and her testimony showed the American people that she will impartially follow and enforce the law without fear or favor.”
Democrats had debated Bondi’s answers 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 believes have wronged him, and it’s a long list,” Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) warned ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
“Ms. Bondi has undermined our democracy by joining President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It appears she does not repudiate that decision.”
Bondi, who served as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, has publicly raised concerns about the legitimacy of the 2020 election result in Pennsylvania, which was emphasized by several Democrats during her hearing earlier this month.
When pressed about the 2020 election, Bondi told senators that former President Joe Biden won but did not elaborate on her concerns about the process.
The Florida native also assured Democrats on the panel that she would not “play politics” when she takes the helm of the Justice Department.
“Senator, I can tell you I will never play politics,” Bondi told Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during a heated exchange earlier this month. “I will never play politics with any ongoing investigation, like you did by leaking your colleague Devon Nunes’ memo.”…
A big part of Democrats’ concern was over FBI Director-designate Kash Patel, given that the FBI is under the Justice Department.
Grassley, 91, countered Democratic criticisms of Bondi on Wednesday and argued that loyalty to the president should not be a disqualifying factor.
“There’s nothing wrong with President Trump appointing someone who has seriously defended him. Ms. Bondi publicly supported President Trump, just like the 77 million Americans who voted to put him back into office in November. So that’s not a disqualifying characteristic either,” he insisted.
Trump, 78, had initially chosen former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) to serve as his AG, but that prompted hesitation from several Republican senators.
Gaetz, 42, was eventually dropped from consideration, leading Trump to choose Bondi to lead the DOJ.
The 47th president had acrimonious relationships with his two former AGs — Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr — during his first term.
