*

Senate Judiciary Committee approves Bondi's nomination in

divided 12-10 vote

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Bondi's nomination expected to be approved by U.S. Senate

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Career DoJ employees facing firing, re-assignments amid

fears of

retribution

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The Republican-led U.S.

Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday advanced President

Donald Trump's attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, paving the

way for the full Senate to vote to confirm the former Florida

attorney general as soon as this week.

The panel approved her nomination in a 12-10 vote with

Democrats opposed amid concerns over whether Bondi will resist

potentially improper or illegal orders from Trump.

Bondi, 59, vowed to maintain the Justice Department's

independence during her confirmation hearing earlier this month,

telling lawmakers she will not inject politics into criminal or

civil investigations.

"There will never be an enemies list within the Department

of Justice," Bondi told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I will

not politicize that office. I will not target people simply

because of their political affiliation."

Even before her arrival, the Trump administration has

already taken some steps that appear to do just that.

The Justice Department employs approximately 116,000 people.

Reuters has been able to identify so far at least 15 career

employees who have been reassigned to their positions, while

more than two dozen others have been fired or placed on paid

administrative leave.

On Monday, the department fired more than a dozen career

prosecutors who worked on Special Counsel Jack Smith's two

criminal investigations into Trump's retention of classified

records and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Previously, the incoming administration also fired at least

five senior career officials from the Executive Office for

Immigration Review.

More than a dozen senior career officials, including the top

public integrity prosecutor and the senior career ethics

official, have also been removed from their posts and ordered to

report to a newly-created sanctuary city working group.

One of those officials, the Public Integrity Section Chief

Corey Amundson, resigned from the department on Monday.

On the day Trump was sworn into office, he signed an

executive order lamenting the "weaponizing" of federal law

enforcement and intelligence agencies and ordered the attorney

general to "review the activities of all departments and

agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority."

"The president has repeatedly threatened to weaponize the

justice system against those he feels have wronged him, and

that's a long list," Ranking Democrat Dick Durbin said on

Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, we are seeing these threats emerge in real

time."

Bondi, who spent decades as a prosecutor, previously

represented Trump during his first impeachment trial and she

also in the past has echoed some of his false claims about voter

fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

She holds a stake in Trump's media company, the Trump Media

and Technology Group ( DJT ), according to financial disclosures she

filed with the Office of Government Ethics.