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By Nicole Sganga
/ CBS News
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice, told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that “partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice will end,” if she is confirmed as attorney general.
“America must have one tier of justice for all,” the former Florida attorney general said. Her opening statement was earlier obtained exclusively by CBS News.
The declaration comes as Democrats are expected to pepper the close ally of the president-elect with questions over whether she might weaponize the Justice Department to target Trump’s political enemies, including President Biden and former special counsel Jack Smith.
The longtime prosecutor, who represented the president-elect during his first impeachment trial, says her “overriding objective” is to “return the Department of Justice to its core mission,” and vows to get the department “back to basics – prosecuting violent crime and gang activity, stopping child predators and drug traffickers, protecting our nation from terrorists and other foreign threats, and addressing the overwhelming crisis at the Border.”
While seeking the job of the nation’s highest ranking law enforcement officer, Bondi also plans to take aim at the Bureau of Prisons, promising to reduce recidivism and reform the federal agency long afflicted by understaffing, abuse, disrepair.
“We must fix the Bureau of Prisons and follow through on the promise of the First Step Act by building new halfway houses,” Bondi said, referencing the president elect’s hallmark criminal justice reform law. Signed by then-president Trump in 2018, it aims to reduce prison sentences and federal spending, but has been plagued by persistent implementation failures.
“The Bureau has suffered from years of mismanagement, lack of funding, and low morale. Federal corrections officers serve in challenging conditions on minimal pay and need more support. Our prison system can and will do better,” Bondi told lawmakers Wednesday.
Echoing the president-elect’s promise of a “new golden age,” Bondi told lawmakers that Trump is “unafraid to do things that have been deemed ‘too difficult’ and to reach across the aisle” to address criminal justice reform.
Trump selected Bondi to be his nominee for U.S. attorney general after his first pick, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration. Bondi formerly made history in 2010 when she became the first woman to serve as Florida’s attorney general, and became an early advocate for Trump during his first bid for the White House in 2016.
Harking on her early days as “an intern at the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office,” Bondi spotlighted her 18 years of experience as a prosecutor and two terms as Florida attorney general, which she claims was defined by a fight to eliminate drug dealers in a state “overwhelmed by pill mills and opioid deaths.” While serving as Florida’s top cop, Bondi established a prescription drug monitoring program which requires opioid-prescribing clinics to register with the state and have a physician-owner.
“On the civil side, we worked to protect consumers,” Bondi said, touting her efforts to tackle “overreach by big tech companies.”
If confirmed as attorney general, Bondi would inherit a slew of legal fights against the world’s largest technology companies, including ongoing litigation with TikTok and the department’s ongoing defense of a law that would force its parent company to sell the platform altogether.
In the weeks leading up to her confirmation hearing, Bondi walked the halls of Capitol Hill, attending back-to-back meetings with senators. Unlike Trump’s Gaetz, she is not expected to face significant hurdles to confirmation by the Republican-led Senate.
Considered one of the less controversial choices for Trump’s new cabinet, Democrats are still likely to probe Bondi on her interpretation of the role of attorney general and commitment to the independence of the Justice Department.
Ahead of the hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who met with Bondi last week, accused Trump of using the Justice Department as his personal law firm, expressing concern that she might prioritize loyalty to Trump over the Constitution.
“The Department of Justice must also return to defending the foundational rights of all Americans, including free speech, free exercise of religion, and the right to bear arms,” Bondi said, name-checking a campaign tagline of the president-elect. “That is what the American people expect and deserve from the Department. If confirmed, I will do what it takes to make America safe again.”
Melissa Quinn and Robert Legare contributed to this report.
Nicole Sganga is a CBS News reporter covering homeland security and justice.
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