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Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump nominee for attorney general, has vowed to lead a Justice Department free of political influence and mismanagement if confirmed, using her confirmation hearing Wednesday to calm concerns that she could use the role to go after so-called “enemies” of Trump or , in other words, arm the Department of Justice.
For weeks, Bondi has done the same behind closed doors — meeting with nearly every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a bipartisan charm offensive designed to avoid any unexpected encounters and ensure an easy path to confirmation.
As of Wednesday, the careful strategy appears to have paid off, with even Democrats on the panel praising the former Florida AG in light of his previous in the light of his predecessors individual meetings in private.
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Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
“I had a good meeting with her,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told Politico Wednesday after the hearing.
Speaking to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the start of his confirmation Wednesday, Bondi highlighted his early dreams of becoming a prosecutor, a dream he said came true almost immediately after starting college. of right
“From the moment I interned at the state attorney’s office in Tampa, Florida, all I wanted to do was be a prosecutor,” Bondi said, noting that he had four jury trials while in law school. “I lost most of it,” he laughed, but still “never wanted to do anything else.”
“If confirmed,” Bondi continued, his tone turning serious, “I will fight every day to restore trust and integrity to the Department of Justice and each of its constituents.”
He also promised to work closely with the Judiciary Committee, building on past relationships developed with Senate offices before Wednesday’s hearing.
Trump’s Democratic detractors wasted little time in the hearing detailing their concerns about Bondi’s confirmation and his ability to lead the Justice Department in the face of a self-willed and sometimes seemingly impulsive president-elect; many of them directly confronted her with the names of her possible predecessors who tried and failed to do the same.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., speaks to reporters about the nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be attorney general outside a Senate Judiciary Committee markup on Thursday, November 14, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
They questioned his willingness to go after political “enemies” and asked him to give credit to certain statements made by Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for the FBI.
But Bondi appeared composed and largely unfazed during Wednesday’s hearing, which lasted more than five hours, except for a 30-minute lunch break.
He highlighted his record of fighting violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking as Florida’s top prosecutor, and outlined his broader vision for leading the Department of Justice, where he highlighted the his desire to run a department free of political influences.
If confirmed, Bondi’s former teammates have he told Fox News Digital they expect him to bring the same playbook he used in Florida to Washington, this time with the intention of cracking down on drug trafficking, the illicit use of fentanyl and the cartels responsible for smuggling drugs across the border.
However, it remains to be seen whether the approach will be successful.
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Pam Bondi shakes hands as the confirmation hearing resumes. (Breanne Deppisch/Fox News Digital) (Fox News Digital)
Sunshine State Approvals
Those who have worked with Bondi in her decades-long prosecutorial career have described her in both a series of interviews and letters previewed exclusively on Fox News Digital as an experienced and motivated prosecutor whose record has proven more consensus generator rather than a bridge. .
Democrat Dave Aronberg, who challenged Bondi in his bid for Florida attorney general, told Fox News Digital in an interview that he was surprised when Bondi called him after winning the race and asked. to be their drug czar – a role where they would work together to crack down on the state’s opioid crisis, one of the bureau’s most important and enduring jobs.
In an interview, he credited her as the “biggest person responsible for ridding the state of Florida of destructive pill mills,” citing her push for state legislation and her work to enforce the “Road Map for Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse Statewide” in Florida to coordinate federal, state and local efforts to combat the opioid crisis, among other actions.
At that time, the state of the sun was at the epicenter of the US Opioid Crisiswith an abundance of “pill mills,” cash-only clinics, and a lack of statewide prescription laws that allowed the largely unrestricted purchase of addictive drugs.
When Bondi took office, opioids were killing about seven people every day, Aronberg said in an interview. There were also “more pain clinics than McDonald’s locations” in Florida at the time, he said, illustrating the magnitude of the problem. If confirmed as US attorney general, Bondi has made it clear that she plans to remain focused on cracking down on illegal drugs, albeit on a national scale.
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, January 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
others parts of his album in Florida Also highlighted Wednesday were consumer protection victories and economic relief won by then-Florida Attorney General Bondi on behalf of residents in the Sunshine State.
After the 2008 financial crisis, his work leading the National Mortgage Settlement resulted in $56 billion in compensation to victims and, in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Bondi’s lawsuit against BP and others responsible companies resulted in an agreement of 2,000 million dollars in economic aid. .
Those questions are likely to take center stage at Thursday’s hearing, the second day of Bondi’s two-day confirmation hearing, which will focus on testimony from others who have worked with her over the years.
National accolades
In the weeks leading up to Bondi’s hearing, dozens of former state attorneys general and more than 100 former senior Justice Department officials urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to confirm Bondi, praising his experience for the role and commitment to the rule of law.
The letter from former Justice Department officials was signed by senior officials who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, and by former U.S. Attorneys General John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr and Edwin Meese, who noted: ” It’s too rare for high-ranking Justice Department officials, let alone attorneys general, to have extensive experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe.”
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The letter also praised what officials described as Bondi’s “national reputation” for his work in ending human trafficking and prosecuting violent crime in the state.
More recently, Bondi also gained the support of 60 former general prosecutors of the state. The delegation included both Democratic and Republican attorneys general, who touted what they described as Bondi’s wealth of prosecutorial experience, including her role as Florida’s top prosecutor, which they said makes her uniquely qualified for the role .
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to reconvene at 10:15 a.m. Thursday to hear a panel of outside witnesses related to Bondi’s qualifications as attorney general.
