Florida prosecutor, Pam Bondi has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new Attorney General under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The former Florida attorney general was appointed by senators 54-46 to lead the U.S. Justice Department, an organisation that Trump has targeted since federal prosecutions focused on his activities after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
Bondi easily gained the support of the Republican-led Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which put her on a glide path to confirmation.
The panel split along party lines Wednesday to advance her to a full floor vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that Americans have “lost faith” in the Justice Department.
“Pam Bondi has promised to get the department back to its core mission: prosecuting crime and protecting Americans from threats to their safety and their freedoms,” the South Dakota Republican said.
Democrats spoke out against Bondi ahead of the confirmation vote, highlighting Bondi’s indirect response to Democratic committee members’ questions over who won the 2020 election.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that Bondi’s responses during her confirmation hearing were cause for “real concern.”
The former president faced charges for scheming to overturn the 2020 election results and for hoarding classified documents in his Florida estate.
The Justice Department dropped the cases after Trump won the election, citing a long-term policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
Trump’s interim U.S. attorney in Florida’s Southern District last week dropped the classified documents case against Trump’s two co-defendants.
Trump has fired a round of Justice Department officials who were involved in prosecuting him as well as those involved in prosecutions of those charged after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
On his first night in office, Trump granted clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 defendants charged in the attack.
