Washington – Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who represented President-elect Donald Trump during his first impeachment, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday as she prepares to serve as the nation's top law enforcement official. Want confirmation for.
trump Bondi was selected Former Florida representative Matt Gaetz was nominated for U.S. Attorney General after being his first choice. withdrew my name With consideration. Bondi made history in 2010 when she became the first woman to serve as Attorney General of Florida, a role she held for two terms.
A close ally of the president-elect, Bondy was quick to endorse Trump in his first run for the White House in 2016 and was one of the first Florida elected officials to do so.
Bondi has a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee one of many that happen Before a GOP-led panel this week, as Trump prepares to begin his second term in office. Among those featured are senators fielding questions ahead of Monday's inauguration pete hegsethTrump's intended nominee for Secretary of Defense; Florida Senator Marco Rubiowho is under consideration for Secretary of State; And South Dakota Governor Kristi NoemWhom Trump chose to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Republicans have signaled they plan to give Trump ample deference as he fills his administration's top positions and aim to install key Cabinet officials in their positions immediately after the president-elect's inauguration on Monday. Keeping.
Bondi nomination
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Bondi spent several weeks in her confirmation hearing meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, and she is not expected to face significant obstacles to confirmation by the Republican-led Senate. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley sat down with Bondy in early December and called him “a worthy nominee with an impressive legal career.”
Nevertheless, Democrats may investigate Bondi based on concerns that Trump would weaponize the Justice Department to target his political enemies, including President Biden, former special counsel Jack Smith and others investigating the January 6, 2021 attack. Members of the selection committee of the Vali House are included. US Capitol.
He is also expected to be questioned about his view of the role of the attorney general and the independence of the Justice Department.
Before the hearing, Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, accused Trump of using the Justice Department as his own private law firm and said he was concerned that Bondi would prioritize loyalty to Trump over loyalty to the Constitution. Will give. Last week he met Bondi.
“The obvious concern with Ms. Bondy is whether she will follow the bipartisan tradition of the post-Watergate era and oversee an independent Justice Department that upholds the rule of law,” Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said in a speech on the Senate floor on Monday. ” ,
He may also face scrutiny from Democrats over his lack of federal experience and his work lobbying for foreign nations after leaving state government. The attorney general candidate is a partner at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm that also employed Trump's incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wills.
Bondi was term limited as Florida Attorney General and left office in 2019. While in office, he led lawsuits against the Obama administration, challenging the Affordable Care Act – known as Obamacare – and the immigration policies of then-President Barack Obama.
She began working as an attorney and lobbyist at Ballard Partners. There, he represented major corporations such as General Motors, Amazon, Uber and the American Institute Against Human Trafficking, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks lobbying. And it submitted a registration with the federal government to lobby on behalf of Qatar “with respect to Qatar's relations with U.S. government officials, U.S. business entities, and non-governmental audiences in dealing with matters related to combating human trafficking.” .
During Trump's first term, Bondi briefly left his lobbying position. act as a member of his defense team during the first set of impeachment proceedings pursued by congressional Democrats. He defended Trump's July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and said the then-president had a basis for raising concerns about the Bidens, Ukraine and Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. Mr Biden's son Hunter Biden served on Burisma's board.
During the 2019 call, Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate Mr Biden, who was his main rival for the presidency at the time, and his son. Democratic lawmakers launched investigative proceedings to determine whether Trump Air Conditioned Safety Aid To Ukraine upon public announcement of investigation.
Democratic led house voted to impeach Trump is accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress' investigation, making him the third US president to be impeached. Then the Republican-led Senate acquitted him A trial followed, where Bondy was part of the team representing Trump.
Following the 2020 presidential election, he led legal efforts to challenge the results in Pennsylvania and advance the false claim that Trump won the state.
Bondi was also among Trump's aides who traveled to New York and spoke in defense of the president-elect during his “hush money” criminal trial early last year. a jury blame trump Felony charges were filed in 34 states for falsifying business records in May sentenced last week,
After the Justice Department brought criminal charges against Trump in 2023, Bondi told Fox News, “The Justice Department, the prosecutors, will be prosecuted, the bad guys. The investigators will be scrutinized because of the deep state in the last term for President Trump. They were hidden in the shadows but now the spotlight is on them.”
If confirmed, she will now lead that department and have the power to oversee different aspects of the Trump investigation under Smith's leadership. She will also oversee several law enforcement components within the Justice Department, including the FBI and ATF, two organizations that have been targets of the President-elect and his allies.
Bondy will also oversee the implementation of aspects of Trump's agency and lead the department that will defend the president-elect's actions in federal court.
Contributed to this report.