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.
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.
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 questioned her willingness to go after political ‘enemies’ and asked her to give credence to certain remarks made by Kash Patel, Trump’s FBI nominee.
However, Bondi appeared composed and largely unflappable during the course of her confirmation hearing, which stretched for more than five hours, save for a 30-minute lunch break.
She highlighted her record of fighting violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking as Florida’s top prosecutor, and outlined her broader vision for heading up the Justice Department, where she stressed her desire to lead a department free from political influence.
If confirmed, Bondi’s former colleagues have told Fox News Digital they expect her to bring the same playbook she used in Florida to Washington – this time with an eye to cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl use and the cartels responsible for smuggling the drugs across the border.
Democrat Dave Aronberg, who challenged Bondi in her bid for Florida attorney general, told Fox News Digital in an interview that he was stunned when Bondi called him up after winning the race and asked him to be her drug czar.
He noted that she has stared down political challenges before. When she took office in Florida, Aaronberg said, Bondi ‘received a lot of pushback’ from members of the Republican Party for certain actions she took,’ including appointing a Democrat to a top office.
‘But she stood up to them and she did what she thought was right, regardless of political pressure,’ Aaronberg told Fox News Digital on the eve of her confirmation vote. ‘So that’s what gives me hope here, is that she’ll editorship and refocus the Department of Justice on policy and politics. You know, I’m hopeful she’ll focus on and I know that the border and the and human trafficking and the rise of anti-Semitism in our country and on college campuses, those won’t be popular positions.’