Pam Bondi was sworn in as attorney general on Wednesday, hours after the Senate confirmed her in a 54-46 vote and installed a key ally of President Trump's to take the helm of the Justice Department. Bondi's nomination for attorney general was approved Tuesday by the upper chamber 54 to 46, with one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, joining all Republicans in voting to confirm her. She will take over as the nation's top law enforcement officer as Mr. Trump has pledged to end what he calls the weaponization of the Justice Department and threatened to target his critics. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the oath of office to Bondi at the White House on Wednesday with Mr. Trump looking on. "Have fun," Mr. Trump told Bondi after she was sworn in, later adding that Bondi will "take crime out of the system.

Pam Bondi was sworn in Wednesday as attorney general, taking charge of the Justice Department as it braces for upheaval with President Donald Trump aiming to exert his will over an agency that has long provoked his ire. The ceremony took place in the Oval Office and it was the first time that the Republican president had participated in a second-term swearing-in of a Cabinet member. It was further evidence of Trump’s intense personal interest in the operations of the department that investigated him during his first term and then brought two since-abandoned indictments after he left office in 2021. Before Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the oath of office, Trump praised Bondi's record as a prosecutor and said she will “end the weaponization of federal law enforcement."

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in to lead the Justice Department on Wednesday, where the nation's newly minted top prosecutor is expected to spend her first days dealing with a firestorm of reassignments, lawsuits and resignations from senior law enforcement officials, despite early efforts to urge calm and head off any fears of politicization. Bondi was sworn in at the Oval Office Wednesday by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in front of an audience packed with her friends and family. President Donald Trump, for his part, praised Bondi after the ceremony as "unbelievably fair and unbelievably good," and someone who he said will "restore fair and impartial justice" at the department.