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Democratic senators had questions. Attorney General Pam Bondi wasn’t answering them.
Appearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since her confirmation hearing, Bondi was light on direct answers as Democrats pressed her on the ways President Donald Trump might be using the Justice Department to prosecute perceived political foes.
On her terms, she championed the direction of the department as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, deflected questions about legal justifications and ethics, and went on the offense against predecessors and even lawmakers in the room.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., remarked to the attorney general that whenever one of his colleagues tried to pin her down on a subject during questioning, she would “come up with something in their background” to talk about instead.
Watch Bondi’s full opening remarks in the video above.
Meanwhile, Republicans argued that it was former President Joe Biden and his officials who first resorted to weaponizing the agency.
Committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, praised Bondi and said she was “left with the Justice Department freefall” when she arrived.
The attorney general often switched into a combative tone with Democrats on the committee, raising her voice while facing questions early on from ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, who asked about the troop deployment to Chicago, among other questions.
“You’re sitting here grilling me, and [the National Guard and other top officials are] on their way to Chicago to keep your state safe,” Bondi said.
“Madam Attorney General, it’s my job to grill you,” he told her.
Here are three major takeaways from Tuesday’s hearing.
A list of unanswered questions
Watch the video in the player above.
At Bondi’s confirmation hearing in January, a major question for Democrats was whether her loyalty as the nation’s top law enforcement officer would lie with the law or the president.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., reminded Bondi on Tuesday that she’d made a “clear commitment you would not politicize your position.”
The senator, a former prosecutor, said he had a “heavy heart” months into her tenure.
“The department has become President Trump’s personal sword and shield to go after his ever-growing list of political enemies, and to protect himself, his allies and associates,” he said.
Schiff has been among Trump’s targets since he became president again in January. Trump has threatened to investigate Schiff for the senator’s role in his impeachment proceedings and on the committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack.
He noted that several career prosecutors had quit the DOJ because they were worried they’d be forced to commit certain unethical actions at odds with the independence of the agency.
The senator then asked about the DOJ’s decision to end a Biden-era investigation into Tom Homan, now Trump’s “border czar,” for accepting $50,000 in cash in 2024 from undercover FBI agents in exchange for future government contracts.
Bondi refused to directly answer Schiff’s questions. At one point, arms crossed, Bondi asked Schiff if he’d “apologize to Donald Trump” for his role in pursuing impeachments against the president. She also called him “a failed lawyer.”
Watch the clip in the player above.
Schiff met Bondi’s opposition by ticking through a list of questions that she had avoided answering from other Democrats on the panel, including on Homan, as well as how the administration had handled the Jeffrey Epstein case.
“When will it be that the members of this committee, on a bipartisan basis, demand answers to those questions, and refuse to accept personal slander as an answer to those questions?” Schiff said as Bondi continued to interject.
Who’s weaponizing the DOJ? Depends on who’s asking
Watch the clip in the player above.
Before Bondi even spoke, Grassley took aim at Democrats in his opening remarks, saying they have taken “indefensible” actions related to law enforcement, like blocking several “Police Week” bills. The chair also raised concern about reports that the FBI had reviewed phone records of several GOP lawmakers as part of its “Arctic Frost” probe, which preceded the federal investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
This was echoed by Bondi, who in her opening remarks accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the DOJ against Trump and his allies.
“They wanted to take President Trump off the playing field,” she said. “This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people’s faith in our law enforcement system.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Trump embodied the weaponization of justice, exemplified by his public record of “express instructions that certain individuals be investigated.”
An aide then held up the social media post Trump made on Sept. 20 that begins “Pam.”
In it, Trump lamented the lack of apparent action against some of his political opponents, including former FBI Director James Comey and Schiff.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” wrote Trump, who also noted his two impeachments. “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Days later, Comey was indicted on charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding.
Bondi told the senator she wasn’t going to discuss conversations she did or did not have with the president, an answer she repeated through the hearing.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said the Trump post makes it clear that “he considers the DOJ to be his law firm and you his lawyer.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Bondi if the Trump post was a directive.
“President Trump is the most transparent president in American history, and I don’t think he said anything that he hasn’t said for years,” Bondi said.
Ahead of Bondi’s testimony, more than 280 former DOJ employees wrote a letter, urging Congress for more oversight due to the “degradation” of oaths to the U.S. Constitution and to upholding the law under the Trump administration.
“Members in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle must provide a meaningful check on the abuses we’re witnessing,” the letter read.
Senators seek more information about National Guard deployments
Watch the clip in the player above.
Durbin used his time early on in the hearing to inquire whether the White House had consulted Bondi on the deployment of National Guard troops to several cities. In Chicago, home turf for the Illinois senator, neighborhoods have been shaken by ramped-up federal immigration efforts.
Bondi refused to answer the question.
“Why do you want to keep this secret, so the American people don’t know the rationale behind the deployment of National Guard in my state?” Durbin continued.
Bondi quickly went on the attack.
“I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump, and currently the National Guard are on the way to Chicago,” she said. “If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.”
Citing his decades on the committee, Durbin said he was asking a legitimate question about legal rationale — part of his responsibility as ranking member on the committee.
“She refuses to answer as to whether she had any conversation with the White House about deploying national troops to my state,” he said. “That’s an indication, I’m afraid, where we are politically.”
Watch the clip in the player above.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Bondi he was having a “real struggle” right now with the National Guard deployments that may work to mask “the abject failure of leaders at the state and local level.” The senator asked if the move, which has expanded to other cities like Portland, Oregon, are a “best practice” or “necessary evil.”
Bondi said the troops are guarding national buildings and protecting the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents in these cities.
Tillis said he’s not as concerned about protecting buildings as with what happens later when these troops, working more like “an arm of local law enforcement,” leave.
“I don’t believe our National Guard want to be doing that, but they’re going to be where they have to be to keep Americans safe,” Bondi said.
“I just hope we strike the balance so that we’re not fixing a problem temporarily,” he said, only to have it come back even worse in the long run.
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