The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to favorably report Pam Bondi’s nomination for U.S. attorney general to the Senate, a widely expected vote that clears her for a vote in the full chamber later this week.
She secured the votes of the committee’s 12 Republicans, with all 10 Democrats voting against.
Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, made a name for herself in Florida by cracking down on drug trafficking, violent crime and the many “pill mills” operating in the state. She also spent 18 years as a prosecutor for the Hillsborough County state attorney’s office, giving her the experience that many believe she will need to serve as the top U.S. attorney.
Bondi was expected to see a glide path to confirmation ahead of Wednesday’s vote. Her nomination to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general also earned the praise of more than 110 former senior Justice Department officials, including former attorneys general, and dozens of Democratic and Republican state attorneys general, who praised her experience and work across party and state lines.
‘UNLIKELY COALITION’: A CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM ADVOCATE SEES OPPORTUNITIES IN A SECOND TRUMP TERM
Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general, speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA)
Those backers described Bondi in interviews and letters previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital as an experienced and motivated prosecutor whose record has proved to be more consensus-builder than bridge-burner.
In her confirmation hearing earlier this month, Bondi stressed that, if confirmed to head up DOJ, the “partisanship, the weaponization will be gone. “America will have one tier of justice for all.”
Whether the approach will prove successful, however, remains to be seen.
The confirmation vote Wednesday was held against a strikingly different political backdrop than just two weeks ago, when Bondi testified days before Trump’s swearing-in.
In his first nine days in office, Trump has fired more than 15 inspectors general from top federal agencies, ousted more than a dozen special counsel members tasked with investigating him and reassigned or removed officials from top posts at the department.
TRUMP FIRES 17 GOVERNMENT WATCHDOGS AT VARIOUS FEDERAL AGENCIES
Pam Bondi is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
He also froze new hiring at DOJ, issued a sweeping clemency grant for more than 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol and installed as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia a criminal defense attorney who represented several high-profile rioters.
Combined, Democrats have raised serious concerns about these actions— and about Bondi’s ability to steer the Justice Department in the face of a willful, and at times seemingly impulsive president-elect, and…
Read More: Trump AG pick Pam Bondi clears Judiciary, will get confirmation vote in
