Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said he’s not “automatically” opposed to voting for President Donald Trump’s next pick for attorney general.
Kaine said he “never start off as an automatic no,” and added “we’ll see” who Trump proposes.
“If you get elected as president, I think that should carry a mandate to put in an executive team,” Kaine said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “If somebody is not qualified or has lack of character, I’ll vote no. But I never start off as a no.”
Kaine emphasized “the lesson” from Bondi’s time as attorney general is that the position is meant to be led with “an independent gravitas and integrity,” and argued Bondi “threw all that away.” He added the attorney general can either “stand up for the rule of law, and you may make Donald Trump mad,” or try to do all that Trump wants and still make him mad.
“That should be a lesson to whoever is the next nominee for AG,” Kaine said. “Be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, and don’t let the president cause you to trim your conscience or become a toady.”
Bondi’s ouster drew bipartisan support, with House Republicans like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) expressing hope the next attorney general will release all files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Some lawmakers also poked fun at Bondi’s firing, like Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) parodying her as a contestant on Trump’s The Apprentice and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) asking, “DOW fell below 50,000?”
WHO COULD TRUMP REMOVE NEXT AFTER BONDI? CABINET SHAKE-UPS FUEL SPECULATION
Potential replacements for Bondi include Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) shut down speculation that he could step in as attorney general, saying on X, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said Thursday that Trump’s firing of Noem went “really well,” signaling to the president that he can make changes within his administration without any turmoil. Noem was fired as DHS secretary last month and replaced by Markwayne Mullin, who was serving as an Oklahoma senator at the time.
