Newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi will arrive for her first day at the Justice Department Wednesday after she was sworn in at the White House.
President Donald Trump joined Bondi in the Oval Office as she was sworn in to serve as attorney general by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
“I will restore integrity to the Justice Department and I will fight violent crime throughout this country and throughout this world and make America safe again,” Bondi said.
To set the tone for her tenure as the nation’s top law enforcement official, Bondi will take several swift and dramatic steps on her first day in office to look into and reverse legal actions taken by the Biden administration, according to people familiar with her plans who spoke to CNN.
“Those actions will be a series of department-wide memos and orders, a law enforcement official said, that officials hope will shift the narrative coming out of the Justice Department away from the January 6 pardons and FBI employee purges that have led the headlines,” CNN reported.
According to sources who spoke to CNN, Bondi is anticipated to retract memoranda that were released during the Biden administration, including one from the FBI field office in 2023 that appeared to indicate the agency was pursuing “radical traditionalist” Catholics. Though it was nearly immediately removed, the memo—which then-Attorney General Merrick Garland described as “appalling”—was never formally withdrawn.
Bondi will also rescind a 2021 memo from Garland that addressed the “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” levied at schools, sources said.
The new AG is also anticipated to mandate an examination of the over 1,500 criminal cases related to January 6.
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted to confirm Bondi late on Tuesday night to serve as attorney general following her nomination to the role by Trump.
Bondi was confirmed on a 54-46 vote by the full Senate.
Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, testified before the Judiciary Committee in a confirmation hearing last month.
“If confirmed, I will fight everyday to restore confidence and integrity to the Department of Justice and each of its components,” Bondi said. “The partisanship, the weaponization, will be gone. America will have one tier of justice for all.”
Bondi made waves when she clashed with some of the committee’s Democrat members, including California Sen. Adam Schiff.
During his questioning, Schiff tried to secure a commitment from Bondi that she would essentially oppose her boss, the president, on certain pardons that Trump has said he is looking to grant, including many Americans convicted of low-level crimes related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“Will it be your advice to the President: ‘No, Mr. President. I need to go over them on a case-by-case basis. Do not issue blanket pardons.’ Will that be your advice to the President?” Schiff pressed.
Bondi replied, “Senator, I have not looked at any of those files. If confirmed, I will look at the files for the pardons as well as the ongoing investigation.”
The newly elected senator pressed further and questioned Bondi’s ability to handle the workload. “And will you be able to review hundreds of cases on day one?” he asked.
“I will look at every file I am asked to look at,” she said before Schiff then insinuated that she won’t because she wouldn’t have the time, which set Bondi off and led her to bring up the fact that Schiff, as a former member of the House Intelligence Committee, was censured by the chamber shortly after Republicans took control following the 2022 elections.
“You were censured by Congress, Senator, for comments just like this that are so reckless!” Bondi fired back as Schiff talked over her.
The tension escalated further when Schiff turned his attention to an apparent investigation involving former Wyoming Republican and Jan. 6 Committee co-chair Liz Cheney.
A GOP-led subcommittee claimed that Cheney secretly communicated with witness Cassidy Hutchinson through encrypted apps, circumventing Hutchinson’s attorney. The panel has called on the FBI to investigate possible legal violations.
Cheney has denied the allegations, describing them as false and politically motivated to shield Donald Trump. The FBI has yet to confirm whether it will act on the subcommittee’s recommendations.
Schiff asked, “I’m asking you, sitting here today, whether you are aware of a factual predicate to investigate Liz Cheney.” Before pivoting to criticize California’s crime rate, Bondi replied, “Senator, no one has asked me to investigate Liz Cheney. That is a hypothetical. The crime rate in California right now is through the roof. Your robberies are 87% higher than the national average. That’s what I want to be focused on, Senator, if I’m confirmed as Attorney General.
If her previous remarks are any indication, Bondi might be the driving force behind the long-awaited public release of Jeffrey Epstein’s client list. In a recent interview with Fox News, she shared her opinions about the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein client list, suggesting it should be made public.
Also, in September, Trump said that he would have “no problem” releasing more official files related to Epstein, including the late sex offender’s “client list.”
Epstein had clients in such high positions that their names could potentially topple the political hierarchy overnight. In 2019, while awaiting prosecution for sex trafficking, Epstein died under controversial circumstances in his prison cell.
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