Bondi sworn in as attorney general with mission to end 'weaponization' of Justice Department

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in at the Justice Department Wednesday, taking the reins amid a firestorm of reassignments, lawsuits and resignations from senior law enforcement officials.

President Donald Trump speaks before Pam Bondi is sworn in as U.S. Attorney General in the Oval Office of the White House by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, on Feb. 5, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Bondi's nomination had earned praise both from Republicans and some Democrats in the chamber for her composure and her ability to deftly navigate thorny and politically tricky topics and lines of questioning from some would-be detractors – putting her on a glide path to confirmation in the Republican-majority chamber.

Her nomination had also earned the praise of more than 110 former senior Justice Department officials, including former attorneys general and dozens of Democratic and Republican state attorneys general, who praised her experience and work across party and state lines.

Still, her swearing-in comes at a politically charged time for law enforcement agency. Just hours earlier, two groups of FBI agents filed separate lawsuits Tuesday seeking to block any public identification of employees who worked on Jan. 6 investigations, after the bureau complied with a request from Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to obtain information from thousands of agents, or their supervisors, detailing their role in the sprawling investigation. 

FBI AGENTS DETAIL J6 ROLE IN EXHAUSTIVE QUESTIONNAIRE EMPLOYEES 'WERE INSTRUCTED TO FILL OUT'

Pam Bondi, Trump's attorney general nominee, listens during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing.  (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty)

Earlier Wednesday, a senior FBI official also emailed employees at the bureau seeking to head off concerns that they could be terminated or discriminated against in response to their role in the investigation. 

"Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties," this person said in an email shared across the FBI, and confirmed to Fox News. 

President Donald Trump declined to answer questions earlier this week over whether his administration would remove FBI employees involved in the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, telling reporters only that he believes the bureau is "corrupt" and that his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, will "straighten it out."

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And former Justice Department officials have cited concerns that the actions could have an incredibly chilling effect on the work of the FBI, including its more than 52 separate field offices, whose agents have decades of experience in detecting and responding to counterterrorism threats, organized and violent crime, drug trafficking, and more.

But one retired FBI agent urged calm, noting to Fox News that the acting director and deputy director of the FBI still remain in place. This person also stressed that the Jan. 6 investigation and the FBI personnel involved in investigating each case "fully followed Bureau and DOJ guidelines," and that violations of federal statutes were "proven beyond a reasonable doubt in federal courts of law."

Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the 2024 election and other national news.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-sworn-attorney-general-mission-end-weaponization-justice-department