A group of more than 60 former Democratic and Republican attorneys general sent a new letter to Senate leaders Thursday urging the confirmation of Pam Bondi to head up the Department of Justice, praising what they described as Bondi’s wealth of prosecutorial experience— including during her eight years as Florida’s top prosecutor—that they said makes her especially qualified for the role. 

The letter was previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital and includes the signatures of more than 20 Democratic attorneys general or attorneys general appointed by Democratic governors. 

The group praised Bondi’s work across the party and state lines during her time as Florida’s attorney general and as a state prosecutor in Hillsborough County, where she worked for 18 years. 

‘Many of us have worked directly with Attorney General Bondi and have firsthand knowledge of her fitness for the office,’ the former attorneys general said in the letter. ‘We believe that her wealth of prosecutorial experience and commitment to public service make General Bondi a highly qualified nominee for Attorney General of the United States.’ 

The letter praised what signatories described as Bondi’s ‘unwavering’ commitment to public safety and the rule of law in her time in the Sunshine State, where she sought to crack down on violent crime, protect consumers and combat the opioid crisis— which was at its height when she was elected as attorney general in 2010.

Bondi ‘was and remains a valued and respected member of the State Attorney General community,’ they wrote. ‘Thus, we are confident that she will serve with distinction as United States Attorney General.’

The letter comes just hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee announced the official dates for Bondi’s confirmation hearing later this month.

Bondi is expected to be confirmed in the Republican-majority chamber. Earlier this week, a group of more than 100 former Justice Department officials sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging her confirmation.

Still, the new letter of support from the state attorneys general comes just hours after the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., issued a statement Wednesday evening expressing fresh reservations about Bondi following their meeting — citing in particular Bondi’s work defending President-elect Donald Trump in his impeachment proceedings and following the 2020 election.

‘The role of the Attorney General is to oversee an independent Justice Department that upholds the rule of law and is free of undue political influence,’ Durbin said in a statement. 

‘Given Ms. Bondi’s responses to my questions, I remain concerned about her ability to serve as an Attorney General who will put her oath to the Constitution ahead of her fealty to Donald Trump.’ 

A former FBI informant who prosecutors say fabricated a phony story of President Biden and his son Hunter Biden accepting $10 million in bribes from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison. 

Alexander Smirnov, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, has been behind bars since he was arrested last February on charges of making false statements to the FBI. 

The indictment came in connection with special counsel David Weiss’ investigation into Hunter Biden. Weiss later indicted Hunter on tax and gun-related charges, but President Biden granted him a sweeping pardon in December before his son was to be sentenced. 

The Justice Department tacked on additional tax charges against Smirnov in November, alleging he concealed millions of dollars of income he earned between 2020 and 2022, and Smirnov pleaded guilty in December to sidestep his looming trial.  

Smirnov was accused of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid then-Vice President Biden and his son $5 million each around 2015. Smirnov’s explosive claim in 2020 came after he expressed ‘bias’ about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, according to prosecutors. The indictment says investigators found Smirnov had only routine business dealings with Burisma starting in 2017 — after Biden’s term as vice president.

Prosecutors noted that Smirnov’s claim ‘set off a firestorm in Congress’ when it resurfaced years later as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The Biden administration dismissed the House impeachment effort as a ‘stunt.’

Before Smirnov’s arrest, Republicans had demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they couldn’t confirm if they were true.

‘In committing his crimes he betrayed the United States, a country that showed him nothing but generosity, including conferring on him the greatest honor it can bestow, citizenship,’ Weiss’ team wrote in court papers. ‘He repaid the trust the United States placed in him to be a law-abiding naturalized citizen and, more specifically, that one of its premier law enforcement agencies placed in him to tell the truth as a confidential human source, by attempting to interfere in a Presidential election.’

Prosecutors agreed to pursue no more than six years against Smirnov as part of his plea deal. In court papers, the Justice Department described Smirnov as a ‘liar and a tax cheat’ who ‘betrayed the United States,’ adding that his bogus corruption claims against the Biden family were ‘among the most serious kinds of election interference one can imagine.’ 

In seeking a lighter sentence, Smirnov’s lawyers wrote that both Hunter Biden and President-elect Trump, who was charged in two since-dropped federal cases by Special Counsel Jack Smith, ‘have walked free and clear of any meaningful punishment.’

His lawyers had asked for a four-year prison term, arguing that their client ‘has learned a very grave lesson,’ had no prior criminal record and was suffering from severe glaucoma in both eyes. Smirnov’s sentencing Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court concluded the final aspects of Weiss’s probe, and the special counsel is expected to submit a report to Attorney General Merrick Garland in accordance with federal regulations. Garland can decide whether to release it to the public. 

Smirnov will get credit for the time he has served behind bars since February. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Canada’s conservative movement could gain significant momentum in this election year as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation amid mounting pressure from domestic critics and tariff threats from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. 

Meanwhile, American conservative strategist Matt Shupe has been leading efforts in Calgary, training activists, consultants and volunteers on how to build winning campaigns, positioning the movement for potential gains in the post-Trudeau era.

‘From my own experience in Canada, I would describe it as California on steroids,’ Shupe, 39, who most recently was the spokesperson for ex-MLB star Steve Garvey’s Senate campaign in California, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Shupe, who began political consulting 10 years ago and founded Praetorian Services, said Trudeau’s resignation is reminiscent of President Biden’s exit from the 2024 presidential race. 

‘They took a page out of the DNC playbook with what they did with Biden,’ Shupe said of Canada’s liberal flank. ‘If American politics serves as any sort of analog, that didn’t work for Kamala.’

Shupe noted that his conversations with Canadians suggest progressive policies have pushed even many liberals toward the center. Working with the Leadership Institute, a conservative mentorship and training organization, Shupe said leaders plan to apply lessons and data from U.S. elections to strengthen the prospects of Canadian conservatives.

‘The [conservative] movement has primarily attracted young people because they don’t have the prospects,’ he said. ‘They’re taxed so heavily there, the cost of living is so high compared to their income, and the cost of owning a home is so hard. Whenever I go there and talk to people my age or younger, even a little older, they all have the same complaints as people I talk to in San Francisco.’

Meanwhile, Canada’s firebrand conservative candidate Pierre Poilievre, who could become the nation’s next leader, has been compared to the likes of President-Elect Donald Trump, vowing to crack down on immigration, inflation and the budget deficit.

‘I think you’re seeing that with the left in Canada and in the United States, is that they just took everything too far, and they hit a threshold with people that it’s just gone too far,’ he said.

Poilievre, whose Conservative Party has nearly three times the support of committed voters (47% compared to 18% for the Liberals) in this year’s general election, was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004. The 45-year-old Calgary native became leader of the Canadian Conservatives in 2022 and has seen his party grow in popularity as Canadians have grown tired of 53-year-old Trudeau, whose Liberals formed the government in 2015.

The incoming Trump administration will likely soon deal with a Poilievre government as the Conservatives are poised to win the next Canadian election, which could come as early as this spring. When the House of Commons resumes sitting on March 24, the opposition parties are likely to defeat the minority Liberal government in a vote of no-confidence, which would trigger a national vote that presently favors the Conservatives.

In his Peterson interview, Poilievre acknowledged that Trump, who has proposed a 25% tariff against Canadian imports, ‘negotiates very aggressively, and he likes to win.’ But as prime minister, the Conservative leader said he would seek ‘a great deal that will make both countries safer, richer and stronger.’

Trudeau, after nearly a decade in power, has faced months of declining approval ratings amid growing frustration over rising inflation and the soaring cost of living.

I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process,’ Trudeau told reporters Monday. ‘Last night, I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process. This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it is become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.’

‘As you all know, I am a fighter, and I’m not someone who backs away from a fight. Particularly when the fight is as important as this one is. But I have always been driven by my love for Canada, by my desire to serve Canadians and by what is in the best interests of Canadians, and Canadians deserve a real choice in the next election,’ Trudeau added. ‘And it has become obvious to me with the internal battles that I cannot be the one to carry the liberal standard into the next election.’

Fox News Digital’s Christopher Guly contributed to this report.

The Biden administration on Thursday announced an additional $500 million of military aid to Ukraine in a security package rushed out the door before President-elect Trump takes office.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the final time at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he made the announcement. Both officials used the occasion to urge the incoming Trump administration to continue to support Kyiv’s fight against Russia.

‘If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,’ Austin warned at the 25th meeting of about 50 member nations who have joined forces to support Ukraine with an estimated $122 billion in weapons and support.

‘If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests, and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war.’

The latest U.S. security assistance to Ukraine includes missiles for fighter jets, support equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems, small arms and ammunition and other spare parts and communications equipment.

The weapons package is funded by the presidential drawdown authority (PDA), meaning the weapons will come from U.S. stockpiles, expediting their delivery to Ukraine. 

Officials noted this is the Biden administration’s seventy-fourth tranche of equipment to be provided from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. 

This latest package leaves about $3.85 billion in funding to provide future arms shipments to Ukraine; if the Biden administration makes no further announcements, that balance will be available to Trump to send if he chooses.

Zelensky pleaded for the next administration to continue U.S. support for his country’s defensive war against Russian invaders. 

‘We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased of the map.’

Member nations of the coalition supporting Kyiv, including the U.S., have ramped up weapons production since the Ukraine war exposed that stockpiles were inadequate for a major conventional land war.

The U.S. has provided about $66 billion of the total aid since February 2022 and has been able to deliver most of that total — between 80% and 90% — already to Ukraine.

‘Retreat will only provide incentives for more imperial aggression,’ Austin said Thursday. ‘And if we flinch, you can count on Putin to push further and punch harder. Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is the security of Europe, the United States, and the world.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.