Senate confirms Pam Bondi as US attorney general

The Senate voted late Tuesday to confirm Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, voting 54-46 to install the longtime prosecutor and former Florida attorney general to head the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., bucked his party to make the vote bipartisan. He was the only Democrat to join Republicans in support of the nominee. 

Bondi’s confirmation comes as both the Justice Department and FBI have been under scrutiny by Democrats in Congress who have raised concerns over Trump’s recent decision to pardon or commute the sentences of 1,600 defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and to oust more than 15 inspectors general and special counsel investigators. 

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To date, there are no known plans to conduct sweeping removals or take punitive action against the agents involved in the Jan. 6 investigations.

But U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sparked fresh concerns last week after he directed the acting FBI director to identify all current and former bureau employees assigned to the Jan. 6 cases for internal review. 

Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The effort prompted FBI agents to file two separate lawsuits Tuesday seeking emergency injunctive relief in federal court, arguing in the lawsuits that any effort by the DOJ or FBI to review or discriminate against agents involved in the Jan. 6 probe would be both “unlawful and retaliatory” and a violation of civil service protections.

Bondi has repeatedly said she will not use her position to advance any political agenda, a refrain she returned to many times during her hours-long confirmation hearing. 

“Politics has to be taken out of this system,” Bondi told the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. 

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Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a press conference while on a break from former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial outside Manhattan Criminal Court May 21, 2024, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Bondi’s nomination earned praise both from Republicans and some Democrats in the chamber for her composure and her ability to deftly navigate thorny and politically tricky topics and lines of questioning from some would-be detractors. 

She was widely expected to glide to confirmation after the hearing, and her nomination had 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 by Fox News Digital as an experienced and motivated prosecutor whose record has proven to be more as a consensus builder than a bridge-burner.

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“It is all too rare for senior Justice Department officials — much less Attorneys General — to have such a wealth of experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe,” former Justice Department officials wrote in a letter urging her confirmation.

Bondi’s former colleagues in Florida also told Fox News Digital they expect her to bring the same playbook she used in Florida to Washington, this time, with an eye toward cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl use and cartels responsible for smuggling drugs across the border.

Democrat Dave Aronberg, who challenged Bondi in her bid for Florida attorney general, told Fox News Digital in an interview he was stunned when Bondi called him after winning the race and asked him to be her drug czar.

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference meeting Feb. 23, 2024, in National Harbor, Md. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

He also praised Bondi for staring down political challenges before noting that when she took office in Florida, Bondi “received a lot of pushback” from members of the Republican Party” for certain actions, 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 right the ship and refocus the Department of Justice on policy not politics.” 

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In floor remarks Monday evening, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley praised Bondi’s prosecutorial experience and her time as a public servant, noting that she made history as the first female attorney general in Florida. 

Bondi “fought against pill mills, eliminated the backlog of rape test kits and stood for law and order,” Grassley told lawmakers shortly before the Senate cloture vote, noting that Bondi “was easily re-elected to a second term” as state attorney general “because she did such a great job.”