Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, warned that Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice, will lead an agency “infected” with politicized decision-making and in need of reform.
Grassley made his remarks at Bondi’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“When confirmed, Ms. Bondi will take the helm at a turbulent time,” Grassley said. “The Justice Department’s infected with political decision-making, while its leaders refuse to acknowledge that reality.”
“By every metric, the Biden-Harris Justice Department’s conduct has failed to live up to our Country’s ideals,” he said.
He told Bondi that she must ensure that the conduct “never happens again” and must commit to transparency “for Congress and the American people.”
Pam Bondi, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice, promised on Wednesday to return the DOJ to its “core mission” of keeping Americas safe and prosecuting criminals.
Bondi spoke to lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee at her confirmation hearing.
“If confirmed as the next attorney general of the United States, my overriding objective will be to return the Department of Justice to its core mission of keeping Americans safe and vigorously prosecuting criminals and that includes getting back to basics gangs, drugs, terrorist cartels, our border, and our foreign adversaries,” she said.
“That is what the American people expect, and that is what they deserve from the Department of Justice. If confirmed, I will do everything in my power and it will be my great responsibility to make America safe again,” she said. “Making America safe again also requires reducing recidivist some. We have to fix the Bureau of Prisons, and I am looking on both sides of the aisle.”
“Time and again the CIA has produced inaccurate analysis,” Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton said at the top of a hearing on John Ratcliffe’s nomination to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
“In just the last few weeks, members of this committee—and, I presume, the president—had no forewarning of the New Orleans terrorist attack or the collapse of the Assad tyranny in Syria. The same goes for Hamas’s October 7 atrocity against Israel in 2023. I could give other examples but suffice it to say we’re too often in the dark,” Cotton, R-Ark., went on.
He said the CIA had grown to rely on the work of journalists instead of its own human intelligence.
I’ve seen way too many reports over the years with phrases like “according to,” “based on,” or “judging by” followed only by diplomatic accounts and press reports,” said Cotton. “We might as well get briefed by the State Department or a think tank, or just read the newspaper.”
“Likewise, the CIA’s misplaced priorities have yielded too many reports on matters like the prospects for gay-rights legislation in Africa or climate change. These topics may have their place in the government, but it’s not at the CIA.”
Trump attorney general nominee Pam Bondi said Wednesday that she plans to fight against mismanagement and politicization of the Justice Department if confirmed, seeking to assuage early concerns that she will work too closely with the president-elect and his efforts to investigate his political “enemies.”
Speaking to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bondi highlighted her early dreams of becoming a prosecutor, a dream realized almost immediately after beginning law school.
“From the moment I interned at the State Attorney’s office in Tampa, Florida, all I wanted to do was be a prosecutor,” Bondi said, noting that she had four jury trials while still in law school.
“I lost most of them,” she laughed, “but had four jury trials and never wanted to do anything else. “
Bondi also highlighted her work cracking down on the state’s opioid crisis, including the many “pill mills” operating in the Sunshine State in 2010 when she was elected as the state’s attorney general.
At the time, Florida was considered to be at the heart of the nation’s opioid crisis, and a hub for so-called drug tourism from out-of-state residents who traveled from across the country to purchase opioids in bulk.
“Lastly and most importantly, if confirmed, I will fight every day to restore confidence and integrity to the Department of Justice and each of its components,” Bondi said in her opening remarks. “The partisanship, the weaponization will be gone. America will have one tier of justice for all.”
She also vowed to collaborate closely with the Judiciary committee, building on earlier relationships developed with Senate offices in the run-up to today’s hearing.
Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, served for 18 years in the state prosecutors office, winning her the backing of senior Justice Department officials, as well as former Democrat and Republican state attorneys general.
Reporting by Breanne Deppisch
CIA nominee John Ratcliffe is telling senators on Wednesday about how he’ll reshape the intelligence community in what he calls “the most challenging national security environment in our nation’s history.”
Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during President-elect Trump’s first term, is testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee will then vote on his nomination before a full Senate vote to confirm him as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Ratcliffe ticked off the nation’s biggest threats – China, the border, the Russia-Ukraine war and risk of nuclear fallout, Iran, North Korea and “increasing coordination among America’s rivals.”
At a time when intelligence and law enforcement agencies have found themselves front and center in the political realm, a source familiar with Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital he’s focused on “depoliticizing” the agency, and “eliminating any distractions” to its core mission of obtaining intelligence.
CIA nominee John Ratcliffe is telling senators on Wednesday about how he’ll reshape the intelligence community in what he calls “the most challenging national security environment in our nation’s history.”
Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during President-elect Trump’s first term, is testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee will then vote on his nomination before a full Senate vote to confirm him as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Ratcliffe ticked off the nation’s biggest threats – China, the border, the Russia-Ukraine war and risk of nuclear fallout, Iran, North Korea and “increasing coordination among America’s rivals.”
At a time when intelligence and law enforcement agencies have found themselves front and center in the political realm, a source familiar with Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital he’s focused on “depoliticizing” the agency, and “eliminating any distractions” to its core mission of obtaining intelligence.
This post is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ Morgan Phillips
The confirmation hearing for Pam Bondi, President-elect Trump’s pick to run the Department of Justice, is underway.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley gaveled in the hearing at 9:30 am.
Bondi is a former Florida attorney general and she was nominated in November after the withdrawal of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to be attorney general in his new administration faces the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning at a confirmation hearing.
Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ) in late November after former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew from consideration.
The Wednesday hearing begins at 9:30 a.m., and Bondi will be questioned by both Republican and Democrat members of the committee.
“I hope that the Democrats give the same … courteous consideration to [her] that Republicans did of [Attorney General Merrick] Garland,” Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital ahead of the hearing.
“[A]nd I hope people stay within their timeline, because we’ve got to move right along,” he added.
Members of the committee include Grassley and Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Katie Britt of Alabama and Mike Crapo of Idaho.
Also on the committee are ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., as well as Democrat Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Chris Coons of Delaware, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Alex Padilla of California, Peter Welch of Vermont and Adam Schiff of California.
Chris Wright, President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, is planning to tell senators in charge of his confirmation that he will focus on restoring American “energy dominance” at home and abroad.
Wright, a fossil fuel executive who in the past has been critical of the media blaming climate change for repeated wildfires, is expected to deliver his opening statement before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday morning.
Fox News Digital obtained a copy of the statement in advance ahead of the hearing scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET.
“I am humbled by the great responsibility this position holds,” Wright is expected to say in his opening statement. “America has a historic opportunity to secure our energy systems, deliver leadership in scientific and technological innovation, steward our weapons stockpiles, and meet Cold War legacy waste commitments.”
Describing himself as a “science geek, turned tech nerd, turned lifelong energy entrepreneur,” Wright will tell the committee how his “fascination with energy started at a young age in Denver, Colorado.” His opening statement discusses how he enrolled at MIT “specifically to work on fusion energy” and later started graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley where he worked “on solar energy as well as power electronics.”
Two GOP senators said they believe Pete Hegseth will have the votes to be confirmed as the next U.S. defense secretary following a contentious hearing on Tuesday.
Sens. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., joined “The Ingraham Angle” to share their assessments of Hegseth’s path to becoming a part of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
“I believe, without question, Pete’s going to be confirmed, and I think you’re going to have strong support from all the Republicans, men and women alike,” Mullin said. “I think he is the right person for the job, and President Trump did a wonderful job by picking him to be the next secretary of defense.”
Mullin also praised his Republican colleague, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, for throwing her support behind Hegseth after she initially appeared skeptical about his nomination because of remarks he made about women in combat and allegations of sexual misconduct. Hegseth denies the allegations.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan.
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is bracing himself for the hot seat as he prepares for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Rubio is President-elect Trump’s nominee to serve as America’s top diplomat as Secretary of State.
Though Rubio is not expected to get off easy in front of the panel of his colleagues, he is expected to have a smoother experience than other candidates that Trump has nominated.
In a copy of Rubio’s remarks obtained by Fox News Digital ahead of his address to the Senate body, he highlights the security threats that have emerged following the end of the Cold War and the belief that democracy could succeed across the globe and international free trade was the way of the future.
“While America far too often continued to prioritize the ‘global order’ above our core national interests, other nations continued to act the way countries always have and always will, in what they perceive to be in their best interest,” the remarks read. “And instead of folding into the post-Cold War global order, they have manipulated it to serve their interest at the expense of ours.”
“The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us,” he added.
“An irrational zeal for maximum freedom of movement of people has resulted in a historic mass migration crisis here in America and around the world that threatens the stability of societies and governments. And across the West, governments now censor and even prosecute domestic political opponents, while radical jihadists openly march in the streets and drive vehicles into our people,” his remarks read.
Trump announced his nomination of Rubio for the top diplomatic job in November, which the senior member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said was not only a “tremendous honor” but a “tremendous responsibility.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Caitlin McFall
A group of more than 60 former Democratic and Republican attorneys general sent a new letter to Senate leaders Thursday urging the confirmation of Pam Bondi to head up the Department of Justice, praising what they described as Bondi’s wealth of prosecutorial experience— including during her eight years as Florida’s top prosecutor—that they said makes her especially qualified for the role.
The letter was previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital and includes the signatures of more than 20 Democratic attorneys general or attorneys general appointed by Democratic governors.
The group praised Bondi’s work across the party and state lines during her time as Florida’s attorney general and as a state prosecutor in Hillsborough County, where she worked for 18 years.
“Many of us have worked directly with Attorney General Bondi and have firsthand knowledge of her fitness for the office,” the former attorneys general said in the letter. “We believe that her wealth of prosecutorial experience and commitment to public service make General Bondi a highly qualified nominee for Attorney General of the United States.”
The letter praised what signatories described as Bondi’s “unwavering” commitment to public safety and the rule of law in her time in the Sunshine State, where she sought to crack down on violent crime, protect consumers and combat the opioid crisis— which was at its height when she was elected as attorney general in 2010.
Bondi “was and remains a valued and respected member of the State Attorney General community,” they wrote. “Thus, we are confident that she will serve with distinction as United States Attorney General.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Breanne Deppisch.
President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday to head up the U.S. Department of Justice in his second term—a swift decision but one met with little surprise among many in Trump’s orbit.
That’s because Bondi, 59, has emerged as a close ally of the president-elect in recent years—including defending him in his impeachment proceedings, and more recently, in the run-up to Election Day, where she serves as the co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) a think tank set up by former Trump staffers.
Like former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general Thursday afternoon, Bondi is from Florida and is considered by many to be a staunch loyalist of the president-elect, dedicated to rooting out what the president-elect has described as the “weaponization” of the Justice Department.
Beyond that, however, the two appear to have little in common.
A Florida native, Bondi has spent years as a prosecutor in the Sunshine State—spending 18 as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office before being elected in 2010 to serve as Florida’s first female attorney general.
More recently, Bondi has used her perch at AFPI to voice concerns about election security—a major issue that Republicans sought to emphasize as they filed a flurry of re-election lawsuits, mainly in major swing states.
If confirmed, it is likely that Bondi will use her post to implement many of Trump’s tough-on-crime policy proposals, including cracking down on cartels, fentanyl, trafficking and more.
This is an excerpt from an article by Breanne Deppisch.
Dozens of former Justice Department (DOJ) officials sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday urging confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, later this month— praising both her commitment to the rule of law and her track record as Florida’s former attorney general that they said makes her uniquely qualified for the role.
The letter, previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, was signed by more than 110 senior Justice Department officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including former U.S. attorneys general John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr and Edwin Meese.
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, deputy attorneys general Rod Rosenstein and Jeffrey Rosen, and Randy Grossman, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California under the Biden administration, are among the other notable signatories.
The DOJ alumni expressed their “strong and enthusiastic support” for Bondi, Florida’s former attorney general, who also spent 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office.
“It is all too rare for senior Justice Department officials—much less Attorneys General—to have such a wealth of experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe,” they wrote.
“As a career prosecutor, Attorney General Bondi will be ready from the first day on the job to fight on behalf of the American people to reduce crime, tackle the opioid crisis, back the women and men in blue, and restore credibility to the Department of Justice,” they wrote in the letter sent to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
The letter praised Bondi’s work as Florida’s attorney general, where she led an aggressive crackdown on opioid drugs and the many “pill mills” operating in the state when she took office. They also praised what they described as Bondi’s “national reputation” for her work to end human trafficking, and prosecuting violent crime in the state.
Officials also emphasized Bondi’s other achievements in Florida, where she secured consumer protection victories and economic relief on behalf of residents in the Sunshine State. After the 2008 financial crisis, her work leading the National Mortgage Settlement resulted in $56 billion in compensation to victims, the letter said — and in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Bondi’s lawsuit against BP and other companies responsible resulted in a $2 billion settlement in economic relief.
The letter also stressed Bondi’s commitment to the rule of law, and what the former officials touted as her track record of working across the aisle during the more than two decades she spent as a prosecutor.
“Some of us have worked directly with Attorney General Bondi during her time in office and can personally attest to her integrity and devotion to the rule of law,” they wrote. “Many more of us know and admire her well-earned reputation from her long and accomplished career in government service in Florida, her litigation and advocacy on the national stage, and her demonstrated courage as a lawyer.”
“As former DOJ officials, we know firsthand the challenges she will face as Attorney General, and we also know she is up to the job.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Breanne Deppisch.
Scott Bessent, a Wall Street investor chosen by President-elect Trump to be his Treasury secretary, defended tariffs from economists’ criticisms in an op-ed for Fox News Digital.
“For months, economic commentators parroted the Harris campaign’s misleading talking point that tariffs are a ‘sales tax.’ Like much of economists’ conventional wisdom, this view is fundamentally incorrect. The reflexive opposition to tariffs represents political ideology and advocacy, not considered economic thought,” Bessent wrote.
“The truth is that tariffs have a long and storied history as both a revenue-raising tool and a way of protecting strategically important industries in the U.S. President-elect Trump has added a third leg to the stool: tariffs as a negotiating tool with our trading partners.
“Prior to the 16th Amendment, which authorized the individual income tax, tariffs had been one of the federal government’s chief sources of funding. Our first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, also happened to be America’s original proponent of tariffs. But after World War II, a consensus coalesced around multilateral tariff disarmament. The promise of this new free-trade consensus was that any economic dislocations caused by globalization would be offset by increased prosperity for all. In the U.S. especially, this conviction was accompanied by a faith that free trade would lead to political freedom in other countries, such as Communist China. Neither of these predictions has proven to be correct.
“The U.S. opened its markets to the world, but China’s resulting economic growth has only cemented the hold of a despotic regime. In the interim, we’ve hollowed out our manufacturing base, leaving a trail of devastation through swathes of our country’s heartland. We’ve also created key national security vulnerabilities. The truth is that other countries have taken advantage of the U.S.’s openness for far too long, because we allowed them to. Tariffs are a means to finally stand up for Americans.
“Tariffs are also a useful tool for achieving the president’s foreign policy objectives. Whether it is getting allies to spend more on their own defense, opening foreign markets to U.S. exports, securing cooperation on ending illegal immigration and interdicting fentanyl trafficking, or deterring military aggression, tariffs can play a central role.
“Lastly, tariffs can raise significant revenue. Last year, we imported some $3.1 trillion in goods. We are the largest importer in the world and thus the single most important market for other countries’ exports. Our size gives us market power and the ability to dictate terms — other countries need us more than we need them. We have but to use that power.”
President-elect Trump nominated GOP Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state, shifting focus to the state of Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis will be tasked with appointing a replacement in the Senate.
Rubio was re-elected in 2022 to serve another six-year term in the Senate, which means DeSantis’ choice to replace him would serve until a special election is held in 2026 that would determine who serves in Rubio’s seat for the last two years of his term.
Whoever DeSantis appoints to serve until 2026 is eligible to run in that special election to serve until 2028, when another election will take place.
DeSantis can appoint whoever he desires to fill the seat, including himself or his wife Casey, and many names have already surfaced as potential replacements barring a last-minute change of heart from Trump.
Likely candidates include Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier and others. Former Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump, the president-elect’s daughter-in-law, has removed herself from consideration.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Julia Johnson contributed to this update.
President-elect Trump has chosen South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security, an agency that addresses border security, emergency relief and cybersecurity.
In his announcement, Trump emphasized Noem’s moves as governor to send National Guard soldiers to the southern border in Texas, arguing she is “very strong” on border security. Noem’s confirmation hearing was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but has now been postponed to Friday.
“She will work closely with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to secure the border and will guarantee that our American homeland is secure from our adversaries. I have known Kristi for years and have worked with her on a wide variety of projects. She will be a great part of our mission to make America safe again,” Trump said in a statement.
Noem said she was “honored and humbled” by the selection.
“With Donald Trump, we will secure the border and restore safety to American communities so that families will again have the opportunity to pursue the American dream,” she said.
Noem, a former member of Congress, was elected governor of the state in 2018 and won re-election in 2022. She has three children with her husband, Byron.
Noem’s selection came as a surprise to some political watchers, but a source familiar with the appointment told Fox News Digital Noem had set a precedent for other states by sending National Guard soldiers, rather than more generic assistance, to the border. She also brings experience of other parts of the agency’s mission.
Noem banned TikTok from state-owned devices in 2022, citing the company’s ties to China. Separately, Dakota State University has one of the top cyber units in the country, and cybersecurity is the fastest growing industry in South Dakota, an expansion encouraged by Noem. The governor’s website says the state has invested $90 million to equip DSU in expanding cyber programs and allowing high school students to take classes for college credit. The state said last year the sector has added thousands of jobs in a few years and grown by 25%.
Noem has in-depth experience with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) because the state has dealt with flooding, including in June when there were record-setting floods in the state. FEMA sparked controversy over its handling of hurricanes this year and is likely to be under significant scrutiny in the months and years ahead.
With respect to border security, Noem has backed a pause on accepting migrants from terrorist hot spots. As governor, she pledged in 2021 not to take any more migrants from the Biden administration. She is particularly in line with President-elect Trump on border security and prioritizing national security and public safety threats for deportations, a source noted to Fox News Digital.
This is an excerpt from an article by Adam Shaw.
Just hours after former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration to be attorney general, President-elect Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his AG nominee.
Bondi, 59, is a Tampa native and earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Florida and her law degree from Stetson Law School. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1991.
She worked as a prosecutor out of the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office for more than 18 years, trying a variety of cases from domestic violence to murder.
Bondi made history in 2010 as the state’s first female attorney general. Her campaign emphasized challenging the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and later focused on human trafficking issues once in office. She also notably shut down pill mills and tackled the state’s opioid crisis.
She held the post until 2019.
Bondi worked as one of Trump’s defense lawyers in 2020 after he was first impeached on allegations that he had abused his power and obstructed Congress.
“They have not charged the president with any crime because the president did nothing wrong,” Bondi said when articles of impeachment were sent by the House to the Senate. “There was no crime. The transcript of that phone call speaks for itself.”
Bondi also worked on Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first administration. In her role on the commission, Bondi collaborated with national leaders on drug prevention and treatment.
Bondi is a partner at Ballard Partners, a Florida-based lobbying firm founded by Brian Ballard. Bondi splits her time between Florida and Washington, D.C., chairing the firm’s corporate regulatory practice.
The D.C. office notably earned more than $70 million in lobbying fees during Trump’s first term by representing various corporate clients, according to federal disclosures.
Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, also works for the firm after becoming a partner there following Trump’s 2016 victory.
This is an excerpt from an article by Haley Chi-Sing.
