WASHINGTON — The Senate approved Pam Bondi as the new U.S. attorney general on Tuesday evening, marking the appointment of a close ally of Donald Trump to lead a Justice Department that has already experienced significant upheaval due to the dismissal of employees viewed as disloyal to the Republican president.
The confirmation vote displayed a strong partisan divide, with Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, being the sole member of his party to support her, resulting in a final tally of 54-46 in favor of Bondi.
Bondi, who previously served as the attorney general for Florida and worked as a corporate lobbyist, is anticipated to initiate a substantial transformation within the Justice Department. This agency has faced Trump’s criticism, particularly regarding criminal cases linked to him. She steps into her role as the FBI, which falls under her jurisdiction, faces controversies surrounding the actions of agents involved in investigations pertinent to the president, who has expressed intentions to retaliate against those he views as adversaries.
Republican senators have lauded Bondi as a leader well-equipped to enforce essential changes within a department they accuse of unfairly targeting Trump through various investigations that have resulted in two separate indictments against him. Senate Majority Leader John Thune from South Dakota remarked, “Pam Bondi has pledged to refocus the department on its primary mission: investigating crime and safeguarding the American people from threats to their safety and freedoms.”
Nonetheless, Bondi has endured scrutiny over her close ties to the former president, who previously dismissed an FBI director for not demonstrating loyalty and ousted an attorney general who recused himself from probing potential connections between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
In her confirmation process, Bondi assured Democratic senators that political motivations would not influence her decisions. However, during her hearing last month, she did not commit to refraining from investigations into Trump’s opponents. She echoed Trump’s stance that the legal actions taken against him represented political bias, asserting that the Justice Department had been misused over the years and needed reform.
Senator Peter Welch from Vermont described Bondi as “accomplished and competent” but expressed concern regarding what he interpreted as Trump seeking a loyalty pledge instead of straightforward legal guidance, particularly regarding potential prosecutions of political opponents.
The timing of Bondi’s confirmation coincided with a lawsuit filed by FBI agents against the Justice Department concerning efforts to compile a list of employees involved in the January 6 prosecutions, raising fears of potential widespread firings.
Last week, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove instructed the acting FBI director to prepare a report detailing the names and roles of all employees engaged in the January 6 investigations, which Trump has labeled a “grave national injustice.” Bove, who previously defended Trump in his legal battles, stated that Justice Department personnel actions would undergo a review process to evaluate any additional necessary measures.
Additionally, officials from the Justice Department have recently let go of several senior FBI figures and dismissed prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s team, who were involved in investigating Trump. They also terminated a contingent of prosecutors from the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office who had been engaged in the extensive January 6 inquiry.
During her confirmation hearing, Bondi reassured senators that she would not launch politically motivated investigations and declared that her responsibility would be to the public rather than the president. However, at times, her comments reflected familiar rhetoric from Trump’s campaign regarding a politicized justice system.
“They targeted Donald Trump,” she insisted to the legislative body, stating that the investigations initiated against him began as far back as 2016. She affirmed, “If I become attorney general, I will not politicize that office.”
Initially, Trump had nominated former Rep. Matt Gaetz for the attorney general position, but it became evident that he was unlikely to secure the necessary backing from Republican senators for confirmation.
Bondi has remained a prominent supporter of Trump, consistently defending him in media appearances during his legal troubles. In a 2023 discussion on Fox News, she suggested that “bad” prosecutors from the Justice Department would face scrutiny under Trump’s administration.
Smith has maintained that political considerations were absent from his decision-making process and asserted that the evidence collected by his team was sufficient for a trial that could have led to Trump’s conviction for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
However, after Trump’s election victory in November, Smith dropped the case along with another related to the illicit retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, citing a long-standing Justice Department policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.
