Trump AG nominee Bondi sails through Senate Judiciary despite stark warnings from Dems

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday easily cleared Pam Bondi’s nomination to be attorney general under the second Donald Trump administration, rising above fears from Democrats that the former Florida attorney general would put her loyalty to the president ahead of the rule of law.

It was smooth sailing for Bondi in the GOP-dominated Judiciary Committee, where the president’s pick to lead the Justice Department was favorably reported to the full Senate on a 12-10 vote. But no Democrats crossed the aisle to support her nomination, with some lawmakers saying they hadn’t been moved by her performance during a hearing earlier this month.

“It is absolutely critical that any nominee for this position be committed, first and foremost, to the Constitution and the American people, not the president and his political agenda,” said Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the committee’s top Democrat. “Unfortunately, I’m unconvinced that Ms. Bondi shares my belief.”

Since she was tapped in November, critics have pointed to Bondi’s close ties to the president as a potential impediment to her ability to run a Justice Department insulated from political influence. During Trump’s first administration, Bondi served as White House counsel defending the president at his first impeachment. She later worked as a principal legal advisor for the Trump-affiliated America First Policy Institute.

Bondi’s loyalty to the president was a central pillar of Democratic cross-examination during her nomination hearing. Lawmakers needled her for her position on the 2020 election, arguing that she had played a central role in efforts to subvert election results. The nominee, for her part, acknowledged that former President Joe Biden had indeed become president, but stopped short of saying that he had beaten Trump in a fair contest.

Democrats also demanded to know whether she could tell Trump or his allies “no” if they asked her to use her position as head of the Justice Department to benefit them illegally.

But Durbin said Thursday that those questions remained “basically unanswered.”

“Since Watergate, there’s been bipartisan support for the idea that the Justice Department must be independent from the White House,” he said. “President Trump’s conduct during his first term underscored that need. I do not believe that Ms. Bondi will provide it.”

Delaware Senator Chris Coons, speaking following the committee’s vote, expressed a similar gripe with Bondi’s nomination, explaining that he thought that the Florida attorney general had the necessary experience to be the country’s top law enforcement official.

“It came down to … whether or not Ms. Bondi possesses the character to run the DOJ independent of orders from President Trump and the White House that would put at risk our system of order, liberty and our Constitution.”

Coons pointed to what he said was the nominee’s refusal to answer — in private meetings and during her public hearing — whether she would obey an illegal order from the president. He added that Bill Barr, who served as attorney general in the latter part of the first Trump administration, had flatly told lawmakers during his own 2019 confirmation hearing that he would resign if faced with such a challenge.

“How hard is it to say that you would refuse an illegal order?” Coons said.

Republicans, meanwhile, pushed back on some of Democrats’ concerns. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said his colleagues had engaged in a “partisan double standard” by accusing Bondi of being an election denier — arguing that Democrats have themselves questioned election results.

“[Q]uestioning the results of an election does not make one an election denier,” Grassley said.

The Iowa Republican also rejected the contention that Bondi’s loyalty to Trump could be a disqualifying factor. “There is nothing wrong with President Trump appointing someone who has fiercely defended him to a high position,” he said. “Ms. Bondi publicly supported President Trump, just like the 77 million Americans who voted him back into office in November.”

Meanwhile, joining the Judiciary Committee for her first vote Thursday was Florida Senator Ashley Moody, tapped to fill a vacancy left by Secretary of State and former Senator Marco Rubio. Moody, who succeeded Bondi as the Sunshine State’s attorney general, offered her own words of support for the nominee and pointed to her record as a state prosecutor.

“She was a trailblazer,” Moody told her new colleagues after casting her vote for Bondi. “She never compromised her integrity, prosecutorial independence or fidelity to the rule of law — and everyone in Florida would say she never backed down from a challenge, no matter how large the corporation on the other side.”

Now that she’s cleared the Judiciary Committee, Bondi heads to a vote on the full Senate floor, where she is expected to secure enough votes to be confirmed.

The Florida attorney general was Trump’s second pick to lead the Justice Department. The president in November nominated former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz to the position, but the lawmaker withdrew himself from consideration just weeks later as he faced scrutiny over an impending congressional ethics report. Gaetz has since resigned from Congress.

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