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Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for legal professional 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 considerations that she would possibly use the position to go after Trump’s so-called “enemies” or in any other case weaponize the Division of Justice.
For weeks, Bondi has finished the identical behind closed doorways – assembly with practically each member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a bipartisan attraction offensive designed to move off any sudden encounters and guarantee a straightforward 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 gentle of their earlier in gentle of their earlier one-on-one conferences in non-public.
TRUMP’S AG PICK HAS ‘HISTORY OF CONSENSUS BUILDING’
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to guide the Justice Division as legal professional common, is sworn in earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
“I had an excellent assembly together with her,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., advised Politico Wednesday following the listening to.
Chatting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the beginning of her affirmation Wednesday, Bondi highlighted her early desires of changing into a prosecutor – a dream she mentioned was realized virtually instantly after starting legislation faculty.
“From the second I interned on the State Legal professional’s workplace in Tampa, Florida, all I wished to do was be a prosecutor,” Bondi mentioned, noting that she had 4 jury trials whereas in legislation faculty. “I misplaced most of them,” she laughed, however nonetheless “by no means wished to do anything.”
“If confirmed,” Bondi continued, her tone turned critical, “I’ll combat on daily basis to revive confidence and integrity to the Division of Justice and every of its elements.”
She additionally vowed to collaborate carefully 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 considerations about Bondi’s affirmation and her capability to steer the Justice Division within the face of a willful, and at occasions seemingly impulsive president-elect; lots of them confronted her straight with the names of her would-be predecessors who tried and did not do the identical.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin, D-In poor health., talks with reporters concerning the nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be legal professional 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 in the course of the course of Wednesday’s listening to, which stretched for greater than 5 hours, save for a 30-minute lunch break.
She highlighted her file on combating 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 guide a division free from political affect.
If confirmed, Bondi’s former colleagues have advised Fox Information Digital they count on 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 accountable for smuggling the medicine throughout the border.
Whether or not the strategy will show profitable, nonetheless, stays to be seen.
‘UNLIKELY COALITION’: A CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM ADVOCATE SEES OPPORTUNITIES IN A SECOND TRUMP TERM
Pam Bondi shakes arms 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 collection of interviews and letters previewed completely to Fox Information Digital as an skilled and motivated prosecutor whose file has proved to be extra consensus-builder than bridge-burner.
Democrat Dave Aronberg, who challenged Bondi in her bid for Florida legal professional common, advised Fox Information Digital in an interview that he was surprised when Bondi known as him up after successful the race and requested him to be her drug czar – a task the place they’d go on to work in tandem to crack down on the state’s opioid disaster – among the workplace’s most essential and lasting work.
He credited her in an interview because the “most accountable for ridding the state of Florida of harmful capsule 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 combat the opioid disaster, amongst different actions.
On the time, the Sunshine State was on the epicenter of the U.S. opioid disaster, with an abundance of “capsule 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 mentioned in an interview. There have been additionally “extra ache clinics than McDonald’s areas” in Florida on the time, he mentioned, illustrating the magnitude of the issue. If confirmed as U.S. legal professional common, Bondi has made clear she plans to stay centered on cracking down on illicit medicine – albeit on a nationwide scale.
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to guide the Justice Division, seems earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee for her affirmation listening to, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
Different components of her file in Florida have been additionally highlighted Wednesday, together with client safety victories and financial aid secured by then-Florida legal professional 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 more likely to take middle 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 together with her over time.
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 verify Bondi, praising each her expertise for the position 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 conserving our communities protected.”
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The letter additionally praised what the officers described as Bondi’s “nationwide popularity” for her work to finish human trafficking, and prosecuting violent crime within the state.
Extra lately, Bondi additionally earned the assist of 60 former state attorneys common. 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 position as Florida’s high prosecutor – that they mentioned makes her particularly certified for the position.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to reconvene Thursday at 10:15 a.m. to listen to from a panel of outdoor witnesses regarding Bondi’s {qualifications} for legal professional common.
AG nominee Bondi seen as steadying pressure to steer DOJ in Trump’s second time period
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