Pam Bondi Confirmed Justice Department’s Head After Senate Vote

The Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as US Attorney General Tuesday evening, placing a staunch ally of President Donald Trump at the head of a Justice Department, The Associated Press reports.

The vote was 54-46, with Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, joining all Republicans in supporting Bondi’s confirmation.

Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and corporate lobbyist, is expected to spearhead a significant reshaping of the department, which President Trump has criticized over the criminal cases brought against him. She assumes leadership amidst turmoil within the FBI, which she will oversee, due to scrutiny of agents involved in investigations related to the president, who has expressed a desire for retribution against his perceived adversaries.

Republicans have lauded Bondi as a highly qualified leader who will enact necessary changes within a department they believe unfairly targeted Trump through investigations that resulted in two indictments.

However, Bondi’s close relationship with the president has drawn intense scrutiny. Critics have pointed to Trump’s previous actions, including firing an FBI director who refused to pledge loyalty and forcing out an attorney general who recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into claims of ties between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign, which Moscow has denied.

Bondi declined at her confirmation hearing last month to rule out potential investigations into Trump’s adversaries. She has also echoed Trump’s statements that the prosecutions against him were politically motivated, stating that the Justice Department “had been weaponized for years and years and years, and it’s got to stop.”

Bondi’s confirmation vote coincided with a lawsuit filed by FBI agents against the Justice Department, protesting efforts to create a list of employees involved in the January 6 prosecutions, a move agents fear could foreshadow mass firings.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove recently instructed the acting FBI director to provide the names, titles, and offices of all FBI employees who worked on the January 6 cases — which Trump has labeled a “grave national injustice.” Bove, who previously defended Trump in his criminal cases, said that Justice Department officials would conduct a “review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”

Recently, senior FBI executives have been forced out, prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith’s team who investigated Trump have been fired, and a group of prosecutors in the D.C. US attorney’s office hired to assist with the January 6 investigation have been terminated.

During her confirmation hearing, Bondi repeatedly asserted that she would not pursue anyone for political reasons and vowed to serve the public, not the president.

Trump nominated Bondi for attorney general after realizing that his initial pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, lacked sufficient support from Republican senators for confirmation.

Bondi has been a prominent figure in Trump’s circle for years, frequently defending him on news programs amid his legal challenges. In a 2023 Fox News appearance, she said that “bad” Justice Department prosecutors would be investigated under the Trump administration.