Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for lawyer common, has vowed to move up a Justice Division free from political affect and mismanagement if confirmed – utilizing her affirmation listening to Wednesday to assuage issues that she may use the function to go after Trump’s so-called “enemies” or in any other case weaponize the Division of Justice.
For weeks, Bondi has carried out the identical behind closed doorways – assembly with almost each member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a bipartisan allure offensive designed to move off any surprising encounters and guarantee a simple path to affirmation.
As of Wednesday, the cautious technique appears to have paid off, with even Democrats on the panel praising the previous Florida AG in mild of their earlier in light of their earlier one-on-one conferences in personal.
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Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to steer the Justice Division as lawyer common, is sworn in earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
“I had a superb assembly along with her,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., instructed Politico Wednesday following the listening to.
Chatting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the beginning of her affirmation Wednesday, Bondi highlighted her early goals of turning into a prosecutor – a dream she stated was realized nearly instantly after starting legislation faculty.
“From the second I interned on the State Legal professional’s workplace in Tampa, Florida, all I needed to do was be a prosecutor,” Bondi stated, noting that she had 4 jury trials whereas in legislation faculty. “I misplaced most of them,” she laughed, however nonetheless “by no means needed to do the rest.”
“If confirmed,” Bondi continued, her tone turned severe, “I’ll battle each day to revive confidence and integrity to the Division of Justice and every of its elements.”
She additionally vowed to collaborate intently with the Judiciary Committee, constructing on earlier relationships developed with Senate workplaces within the run-up to Wednesday’s listening to.
Trump’s Democratic detractors wasted little time within the listening to detailing their issues about Bondi’s affirmation and her skill to steer the Justice Division within the face of a willful, and at instances seemingly impulsive president-elect; lots of them confronted her instantly with the names of her would-be predecessors who tried and didn’t do the identical.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Unwell., talks with reporters in regards to the nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be lawyer common, exterior a Senate Judiciary Committee markup on Thursday, November 14, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Name)
They questioned her willingness to go after political “enemies” and requested her to offer credence to sure remarks made by Kash Patel, Trump’s FBI nominee.
However Bondi appeared composed and largely unflappable throughout the course of Wednesday’s listening to, which stretched for greater than 5 hours, save for a 30-minute lunch break.
She highlighted her document on preventing violent crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking as Florida’s high prosecutor, and outlined her broader imaginative and prescient for heading up the Justice Division, the place she pressured her need to steer a division free from political affect.
If confirmed, Bondi’s former colleagues have told Fox News Digital they anticipate her to carry the identical playbook she utilized in Florida to Washington – this time with an eye fixed to cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl use, and the cartels chargeable for smuggling the medication throughout the border.
Whether or not the strategy will show profitable, nevertheless, stays to be seen.
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Pam Bondi shakes palms as her affirmation listening to resumes. (Breanne Deppisch/Fox Information Digital) (Fox Information Digital)
Sunshine State endorsements
Those that have labored with Bondi in her decades-long prosecutorial profession have described her in each a sequence of interviews and letters previewed solely to Fox Information Digital as an skilled and motivated prosecutor whose document has proved to be extra consensus-builder than bridge-burner.
Democrat Dave Aronberg, who challenged Bondi in her bid for Florida lawyer common, instructed Fox Information Digital in an interview that he was surprised when Bondi referred to as him up after successful the race and requested him to be her drug czar – a job the place they might go on to work in tandem to crack down on the state’s opioid disaster – a few of the workplace’s most vital and lasting work.
He credited her in an interview because the “most chargeable for ridding the state of Florida of damaging tablet mills,” citing her push for statewide laws, and her work in implementing Florida’s “Statewide Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse Street Map” to coordinate federal, state and native efforts to battle the opioid disaster, amongst different actions.
On the time, the Sunshine State was on the epicenter of the U.S. opioid crisis, with an abundance of “tablet mills,” cash-only clinics, and lack of statewide prescribing legal guidelines that allowed for the acquisition of addictive medicines largely with out restrictions.
When Bondi took workplace, opioids have been killing round seven individuals every day, Aronberg stated in an interview. There have been additionally “extra ache clinics than McDonald’s places” in Florida on the time, he stated, illustrating the magnitude of the issue. If confirmed as U.S. lawyer common, Bondi has made clear she plans to stay centered on cracking down on illicit medication – albeit on a nationwide scale.
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to steer the Justice Division, seems earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee for her affirmation listening to, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
Different parts of her record in Florida have been additionally highlighted Wednesday, together with client safety victories and financial aid secured by then-Florida lawyer common Bondi on behalf of residents within the Sunshine State.
After the 2008 monetary disaster, her work main the Nationwide Mortgage Settlement resulted in $56 billion in compensation to victims, and within the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Bondi’s lawsuit towards BP and different firms accountable resulted in a $2 billion settlement in financial aid.
These points are prone to take heart stage in Thursday’s listening to – the second day of Bondi’s two-day affirmation – which can concentrate on testimony of others who’ve labored along with her through the years.
Nationwide reward
Within the weeks forward of Bondi’s listening to, dozens of former state attorneys common and greater than 100 former high Justice Division officers urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to substantiate Bondi, praising each her expertise for the function and dedication to the rule of legislation.
The letter from the previous Justice Division officers was signed by high officers who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, and by former U.S. attorneys common John Ashcroft, Jeff Classes, Invoice Barr and Edwin Meese, who famous: “It’s all too uncommon for senior Justice Division officers – a lot much less Attorneys Normal – to have such a wealth of expertise within the day-to-day work of preserving our communities secure.”
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The letter additionally praised what the officers described as Bondi’s “nationwide fame” for her work to finish human trafficking, and prosecuting violent crime within the state.
Extra lately, Bondi additionally earned the help of 60 former state attorneys general. The delegation included each Democrats and Republican attorneys common, who touted what they described as Bondi’s wealth of prosecutorial expertise – together with in her function as Florida’s high prosecutor – that they stated makes her particularly certified for the function.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to reconvene Thursday at 10:15 a.m. to listen to from a panel of out of doors witnesses regarding Bondi’s {qualifications} for lawyer common.
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