Senate tees up final vote on Pam Bondi AG nomination
The Senate on Monday teed up a final vote on Pam Bondi's nomination to lead the Justice Department.
The chamber voted 52-46 to limit debate. Absent an agreement with Democrats, that puts a final confirmation vote on the docket for the early hours of Wednesday.
Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who also worked on Trump’s team to challenge the 2020 election results, has faced tough questions from Democrats throughout the confirmation process but hasn't seen any GOP defections.
She advanced out of the Judiciary Committee last week on a party-line, 12-10 vote.
Democrats have questioned her ability to exercise independence from President Trump, hammering her on the issue during her confirmation hearing.
“I need to know that you would tell the president 'no' if you’re asked to do something that is wrong, illegal or unconstitutional,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the panel, said during the hearing.
Bondi dismissed the repeated questions as hypotheticals, but Democrats argue that Trump's recent actions have made them a reality. They point to him pardoning or commuting the sentences of all 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants and the Justice Department firing attorneys who worked on his criminal cases.
Bondi in her hearing also refused to say that Trump lost the election, instead saying former President Biden was sworn in as commander in chief.
Republicans, however, vehemently defended her.
“On multiple occasions during her hearing, Ms. Bondi stated that President Biden was the president, and that she quote-unquote accepted the results. As I said during the hearing, questioning the results of an election does not make one an election denier,” Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said during the meeting to advance her nomination.
“Some of my colleagues also suggest that Miss Bondi’s loyalty to President Trump is somehow disqualifying. It is not persuasive in any way. There’s nothing wrong with President Trump appointing someone who seriously defended him to a high position. Ms. Bondi publicly supported President Trump, just like 77 million Americans who voted him back into office in November. So this too is not a disqualifying attribute.”
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