The Senate has confirmed former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the new U.S. Attorney General and head of the Department of Justice. The vote was along party lines, with only Democrat Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman crossing the invisible party boundary to vote in favor of Bondi.
Bondi is Trump’s 11th cabinet nominee to win confirmation from the Senate. Both Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan voted for Bondi, who will be sworn in on Wednesday.
Bondi worked as a state prosecutor in Florida for two decades before being elected as Florida’s first female attorney general in 2010.
In 2016, she endorsed Trump for president and she also was part of his legal team defending him in his first impeachment trial in the U.S. House and Senate.
She replaces Merrick Garland, who last year was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over interview tapes from a probe into former President Joe Biden’s handing of classified documents. He also charged and his department prosecuted more than 1,200 J-6ers — people who were present in Washington, D.C. during the turmoil of the Jan. 6, 2021 election of Joe Biden. All of the J-6ers have now been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Crosses now de rigueur. Memo to DOJ staff going out tomorrow. The bigger the better.