The U.S. Senate voted to confirm two federal prosecutors in North Carolina to serve as trial judges on the federal bench. Senators approved David Bragdon in a 53–45 vote to become a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.They also voted 60–39 to confirm Lindsey Ann Freeman to the same court. The confirmations bring the total number of judges appointed during President Donald Trump’s second term to 21.
Trump previously appointed 234 judges during his first term, reshaping the federal judiciary with a conservative tilt.Bragdon most recently served as the appellate chief at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Freeman was the second-in-command at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Trump announced Bragdon’s nomination on social media in August and highlighted his previous clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.Bragdon told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump called him to congratulate him and said “that Justice Thomas spoke highly of me.”Democrats and progressive groups opposed Bragdon’s confirmation, citing a Geocities website he operated while in college from 1997 to 2000 where he posted political viewpoints.The website included statements describing abortion as “wrong because person or not, a fetus has just as much right to life as an infant does,” and argued that “there is enough of a logical link between the death penalty and deterrence to call for an increased use of the death penalty.”
He also wrote that “our welfare system should be a safety net and not a hammock.”The progressive advocacy group Alliance for Justice said confirming Bragdon “would legitimize his extreme rhetoric and pave the way for dangerous shifts in the rule of law.”Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and other Democrats pressed Bragdon to explain whether he still agreed with those past writings.
Last week, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate approved three ambassadors appointed by President Donald Trump, stationing them in the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Italy, respectively. All three new ambassadors, Warren Stephens, Tom Barrack, and Tilman Feritta, have been vocal publicly about their support for Trump.
The Senate approved Stephens as the new ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland by a vote of 59-39.
Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton spoke in favor of Stephens, an investment banker from his home state, describing him as a “family man, businessman, philanthropist, and patriot.”
“He is the right person to lead our strong, special relationship with the United Kingdom,” Cotton said.
Stephens served as president and CEO of Stephens Inc., a Little Rock-based investment banking business, until January.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Stephens donated $1 million to “Our Principles PAC,” a nonprofit that opposed Trump’s first presidential campaign.
However, he donated to Trump-aligned entities in 2019 and 2020, and in 2024, he gave $3 million to MAGA Inc., the primary Super PAC that supported Trump, according to FEC records.
“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full-time. I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved allies,” Trump said.
The Senate confirmed Barrack, a private equity executive and longtime Trump ally, in a 60-36 vote.
