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U.S. lawyer wide Pam Bondi was sworn successful astatine the Justice Department on Wednesday, wherever the nation's recently minted apical authoritative is expected to walk her archetypal days dealing with a firestorm of reassignments, lawsuits and resignations from elder instrumentality enforcement officials, contempt aboriginal efforts to impulse calm and caput disconnected immoderate fears of politicization.
Bondi was sworn successful astatine the Oval Office Wednesday by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, successful beforehand of an assemblage packed with friends and family.
Trump congratulated Bondi aft the ceremonial arsenic "unbelievably just and unbelievably good."
"I cognize I'm expected to accidental 'she's going to beryllium wholly impartial with respect to Democrats,'" Trump told reporters, "and I deliberation she volition beryllium arsenic impartial arsenic a idiosyncratic tin be."
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Bondi's information had earned praise some from Republicans and immoderate Democrats successful the enclosure for her composure and her quality to deftly navigate thorny and politically tricky topics and lines of questioning from immoderate would-be detractors – putting her connected a glide way to confirmation successful the Republican-majority chamber.
Her information had besides earned the praise of much than 110 erstwhile elder Justice Department officials, including erstwhile attorneys wide and dozens of Democratic and Republican authorities attorneys general, who praised her acquisition and enactment crossed enactment and authorities lines.
Still, her swearing-in comes astatine a politically charged clip for instrumentality enforcement agency. Just hours earlier, 2 groups of FBI agents filed abstracted lawsuits Tuesday seeking to artifact immoderate nationalist recognition of employees who worked connected Jan. 6 investigations, aft the bureau complied with a petition from Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to get accusation from thousands of agents, oregon their supervisors, detailing their relation successful the sprawling investigation.
Questions ranged from agents' information successful immoderate expansive assemblage subpoenas, whether the agents worked oregon responded to leads from different FBI tract office, oregon if they worked arsenic a lawsuit cause for investigations.
The plaintiffs said that immoderate effort to reappraisal oregon discriminate against FBI employees progressive successful the Jan. 6 investigations would beryllium "unlawful and retaliatory," and a violation of civilian work protections nether national law.
Bondi, a erstwhile Florida authoritative and authorities lawyer general, vowed repeatedly successful her confirmation proceeding past period to caput up a Justice Department escaped from governmental power oregon weaponization.
If confirmed, she told lawmakers past month, the "partisanship, the weaponization" astatine the Justice Department "will beryllium gone."
"America volition person 1 tier of justness for all," she said.
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Still, her enactment volition beryllium chopped retired for her.
Earlier Wednesday, a elder FBI authoritative besides emailed employees astatine the bureau seeking to caput disconnected concerns that they could beryllium terminated oregon discriminated against successful effect to their relation successful the investigation.
"Let maine beryllium clear: No FBI worker who simply followed orders and carried retired their duties successful an ethical mode with respect to January 6 investigations is astatine hazard of termination oregon different penalties," this idiosyncratic said successful an email shared crossed the FBI, and confirmed to Fox News.
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President Donald Trump declined to reply questions earlier this week implicit whether his medication would region FBI employees progressive successful the probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, telling reporters lone that helium believes the bureau is "corrupt" and that his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, volition "straighten it out."
And erstwhile Justice Department officials person cited concerns that the actions could person an incredibly chilling effect connected the enactment of the FBI, including its much than 52 abstracted tract offices, whose agents person decades of acquisition successful detecting and responding to counterterrorism threats, organized and convulsive crime, cause trafficking, and more.
But 1 retired FBI cause urged calm, noting to Fox News that the acting manager and lawman manager of the FBI inactive stay successful place. This idiosyncratic besides stressed that the Jan. 6 probe and the FBI unit progressive successful investigating each lawsuit "fully followed Bureau and DOJ guidelines," and that violations of national statutes were "proven beyond a tenable uncertainty successful national courts of law."
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