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Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, in a few minutes--probably shortly, I should say--we will vote to confirm Pam Bondi as the Attorney General of the United States. Before we do, I would like to speak in support of her nomination and, in doing that, urge my colleagues to vote for her, hopefully in a bipartisan way like we did for Garland under the Biden administration.

Ms. Bondi has been nominated to one of the most important offices in our country, and she has shown that she is up to that task. Her impressive record and presentation at her hearing are proof that she is ready to take the helm of the Justice Department.

Ms. Bondi made history in 2010 as the first woman elected to be Florida's attorney general. She held this role for 8 years after she was comfortably reelected by the people of Florida to that second term. Eight years of service as attorney general of the third largest State in this Union is excellent preparation for the role of Attorney General of the United States.

As Florida's attorney general, Ms. Bondi was a member of the Florida cabinet, its chief legal officer, and led a very large agency. She handled many issues at the State level that she will be handling at the Federal level, and by all accounts, she has handled those jobs expertly.

As attorney general, Ms. Bondi didn't shy away from hard work or complicated problems. She engaged in an aggressive campaign to eliminate pill mills, took a leading role in securing a $3\1/4\ billion settlement following the Deepwater Horizon oilspill, and eliminated the backlog of rape kits. She also stood for law and order and sought justice for victims of violent criminals. Her record shows that she is highly qualified to be Attorney General of the United States.

During her confirmation hearing, Ms. Bondi answered questions for more than 5 hours. What we learned during her hearing reinforced what we knew from her existing record as attorney general of Florida: She is a tough, fair, career prosecutor who built her reputation by enforcing the rule of law--pretty simple.

We also heard from witnesses who praised Ms. Bondi's character, fairness, and willingness to work with members of both parties to solve the problems in Florida, and we are sure she is going to work the same way as Attorney General of the United States.

What did we hear from these witnesses? We heard from an elected Democrat who never voted for President Trump. He said Ms. Bondi was fair, tethered to the rule of law, and could work with both Democrats and Republicans to serve the American people.

We heard from Florida's statewide prosecutor, who praised her competence running the legal department, as I have said, of the third largest State in the Union.

We heard from a Florida sheriff, who testified about her commitment to law and order and to her partnership with law enforcement to keep Floridians safe.

These witnesses have worked with Ms. Bondi for decades, and they all vouch for her capability and character.

Ms. Bondi's nomination has also received a flood of support from all across America. I have a group of people here that have expressed their view through letters to the committee. Law enforcement groups representing more than 650,000 officers wrote to urge us to support Ms. Bondi's nomination. A few of these groups include the National Association of Police Organizations, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, Major County Sheriffs, National Narcotic Officers' Associations, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and still some others. This support is a testament to Ms. Bondi's history of backing the blue.

We should all be backing the blue. I just met with some law enforcement people just before coming over here, and I tell every one of them, I am not for defunding the police, and thank you for keeping the peace.

We have also received letters of support from more than 100 former senior Department of Justice officials, scores of former U.S. attorneys, dozens of State attorneys general, women's rights groups, Second Amendment groups, and, of course, others.

Between her record, her presentation in committee, and the support she has received from across the country, I am convinced that Ms. Bondi is the right choice.

When confirmed, Ms. Bondi will take the helm of what we all know is a turbulent time and also a Justice Department infected with political decision making and its leaders refusing to acknowledge that reality; in other words, political decision making at least on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building overtaking the major role of the FBI, and the FBI is part of the Justice Department. They aren't putting first things first.

Here are a few examples of political decision making and infection in the Department: Crossfire Hurricane; secondly, the Justice Department's targeting my staff--yes, that is right, my investigative staff--who at the time was investigating, at my direction, the government's abuse in Crossfire Hurricane; thirdly, coverup of the Hunter Biden laptop story and sweetheart plea deals offered by the Department of Justice to Hunter Biden; fourth, the FBI's inappropriate briefing to me and Senator Johnson during our Biden family investigation that was later leaked, and nothing is supposed to be leaked from what we call the SCIF; fifth, Special Counsel Jack Smith's lawfare operation--in other words, trying to put now-President Trump in jail; sixth, the targeting of traditional Catholics, concerned parents, and abortion protesters as security threats; and, seventh, the coordination of censorship of political speeches.

I don't have an eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, but they exist. I am not going to take your time on that.

All of these things that I mentioned, plus things I haven't mentioned, are very serious breaches of the public trust, and we can't tolerate that sort of breach.

I am confident Ms. Bondi will not tolerate that breach, and I am looking forward to working with her to shed sunlight on these abuses. And sunlight, as some Supreme Court Justice said, is the best attack against--oh, my gosh, I forgot exactly what it was. But sunshine coming in will really solve a lot of problems. This is the way I put it.

I say we need more transparency in government, and transparency brings accountability. I have already released new FBI records, in fact, just last week, with Senator Johnson that show even more political bias within the Justice Department and the FBI. These records prove that former FBI Special Agent in Charge Thibault, a known anti- Trump agent, authored the initial language for what ultimately became Jack Smith's Federal case against Trump regarding the 2020 Presidential election. That case was code-named ``Arctic Frost.'' I don't know where they get the name ``Arctic Frost,'' but that is what the case was called.

These records that we released last week showed a scheme in place between the Justice Department and FBI officials to get Trump. I had to rely on brave whistleblowers to uncover the truth because I was stonewalled by the Justice Department and the FBI, and I was stonewalled even after they promised, at their own confirmation hearing, that they would answer the letters that Congressmen wrote them.

We never got any answers. In fact, there are 58 questions, in the last 4 years, that I have written to the FBI on my investigations that I have not gotten answers to.

So if you wonder why I am so passionate about Pam Bondi, I am confident that she is going to take a different approach and when she says ``yes'' for answering her letters, it will be yes, instead of what the other people should have said as the answer to that question, which is ``maybe.''

As the recent terrorist attacks in New Orleans and around the world have shown, we are faced with very serious threats to our national security. The President needs his team in place to protect our country, and the American people deserve a secure homeland and borders, safe streets, and orderly markets. We need to swiftly confirm a capable and serious Attorney General to get to work.

I am disappointed that none of my Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee voted for Ms. Bondi in committee. I hope it will be different when we get to the full Senate. We had a bipartisan vote, as I have said previously, for Attorney General Garland. Maybe, in hindsight, we shouldn't have had, but we did.

There is no doubt that Ms. Bondi is highly qualified. In committee, several of my Democratic colleagues even acknowledged as much. She is qualified for the job. She represents mainstream views shared by at least the 77 million Americans who voted for change on November 5. This should earn her the same bipartisan support this body gave Attorney General Garland. That is the third time I have said that.

If my colleagues will not cross the aisle to vote for this qualified nominee, they will show that Senate Democrats are intent on opposing President Trump's Cabinet picks for purely partisan reasons, even at the same time they admit how fully qualified she is to do the job.

So ending now, I say once again, I proudly support Ms. Bondi. I look forward to confirming her. She is ready and able to serve our country well and I know she will work with President Trump to restore faith in the Justice Department. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in confirming Ms. Bondi.

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