Senate votes to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general

Washington
CNN
 — 

The Senate voted Tuesday night to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general, making the tenacious litigator the latest official to help fill out President Donald Trump’s administration.

The vote was 54-46. The vote was mostly along party lines though Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joined Republicans in supporting Bondi.

Fetterman told reporters after the vote that he decided to support Bondi because of her qualifications, even though she is not his “ideal” choice.

“I’m saying that she’s, she’s qualified, and it’s not my ideal pick, but it turns out that (former Attorney General) Merrick Garland wasn’t anyone’s ideal one either,” he said.

Bondi was Trump’s second pick to lead the Justice Department, after former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida withdrew due to a lack of support from GOP senators.

Bondi’s nomination was approved out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 12-10 vote last week. During her confirmation hearing, Bondi blasted the “weaponization” of then-President Joe Biden’s Justice Department and said that she would not improperly target people with criminal probes like those against Trump.

She also told lawmakers that she accepts Trump lost the 2020 election, but falsely claimed at her confirmation hearing that “there was a peaceful transition of power” that year, ignoring the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol that disrupted the election certification.

Bondi is known for her battles in court for conservative causes. She prosecuted several high-profile cases during more than a decade as a state attorney. She was elected in 2011 to her first political position – Florida attorney general – and was the first woman to hold that office. During that time, Bondi had a reputation for being a media-savvy and effective litigator.

While her cases often handled hot-button issues, Bondi herself landed in the headlines for her political maneuvers, as she grew increasingly partisan during her two terms in office.

During the 2016 presidential election, Bondi became a top Florida surrogate for the Trump campaign, and her support for the president has not wavered. When Trump was first impeached, Bondi joined the defense team for his trial in the Senate and baselessly accused then-private citizen Joe Biden of corrupt business dealings with his son Hunter.

Since leaving the Florida attorney general post in 2019, Bondi has worked at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with deep ties to Trump and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles.