Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general, speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA)
Those backers described Bondi in interviews and letters previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital as an experienced and motivated prosecutor whose record has proved to be more consensus-builder than bridge-burner.
In her confirmation hearing earlier this month, Bondi stressed that, if confirmed to head up DOJ, the "partisanship, the weaponization will be gone. "America will have one tier of justice for all."
Whether the approach will prove successful, however, remains to be seen.
The confirmation vote Wednesday was held against a strikingly different political backdrop than just two weeks ago, when Bondi testified days before Trump's swearing-in.
In his first nine days in office, Trump has fired more than 15 inspectors general from top federal agencies, ousted more than a dozen special counsel members tasked with investigating him and reassigned or removed officials from top posts at the department.
TRUMP FIRES 17 GOVERNMENT WATCHDOGS AT VARIOUS FEDERAL AGENCIES
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to favorably report Pam Bondi's nomination for U.S. attorney general to the Senate. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images | MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
If confirmed, Bondi's former colleagues have told Fox News Digital they expect her to bring the same playbook she used in Florida to Washington – this time with an eye to cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl use and the cartels responsible for smuggling the drugs across the border.
Democrat Dave Aronberg, who challenged Bondi in her bid for Florida attorney general, told Fox News Digital in an interview that he was stunned when Bondi called him up after winning the race and asked him to be her drug czar.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
He noted that she has stared down political challenges before. When she took office in Florida, Aaronberg said, Bondi "received a lot of pushback" from members of the Republican Party for certain actions she took," including appointing a Democrat to a top office.
"But she stood up to them and she did what she thought was right, regardless of political pressure," Aaronberg told Fox News Digital on the eve of her confirmation vote. "So that's what gives me hope here, is that she'll editorship and refocus the Department of Justice on policy and politics. You know, I'm hopeful she'll focus on and I know that the border and the and human trafficking and the rise of anti-Semitism in our country and on college campuses, those won't be popular positions."
Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the 2024 election and other national news.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-ag-pick-pam-bondi-clears-judiciary-committee-get-confirmation-vote-senate