A defiant Attorney General Pam Bondi stood up to repeated Democratic attacks — and threw plenty of counter-punches — during a bruising Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that went on for more than four and a half hours.
It was Ms. Bondi’s first oversight hearing during which she repeatedly declined to answer questions on a variety of topics, many because she says they are currently involved in litigation.
When the ranking member, Senator Dick Durbin started questioning the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago, Ms. Bondi went on the attack.
“I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump,” Ms. Bondi said.
“We’re there to help make America safe and Illinois safe, whether or not you want to,” Ms. Bondi told Mr. Durbin.
Democrats on the committee repeatedly asked Ms. Bondi about the Justice Department’s decision to drop an investigation into border czar Tom Homan allegedly taking a bribe of $50,000 stuffed in a restaurant takeout bag from undercover FBI agents. Ms. Bondi said the decision was made to drop the investigation before she took her position at the top of the Justice Department.
Ms. Bondi also declined to say if she talked to Mr. Trump about former FBI Director James Comey before he was charged with lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into another member of the committee, Senator Adam Schiff. Mr. Schiff and Ms. Bondi sparred during the hearing.
“You know, Senator Schiff, if you worked for me, you would’ve been fired, because you were censured by Congress for lying,” Ms. Bondi said during one exchange.
“We can stipulate to — you can stipulate to — all your personal attacks on the Democratic members of the committee,” Mr. Schiff replied.
“Personal attacks? You’ve been attacking my FBI director. You’ve been attacking my office. You’ve been attacking the border czar,” Ms. Bondi countered.
“What we’re interested in is the answer to this oversight question,” Mr. Schiff continued.
“No, oversight? What you want is your five minutes of fame attacking good people,” Ms. Bondi snapped back.
Ms. Bondi received much friendlier questions from Republicans on the committee.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Chuck Grassley started the hearing by mentioning Monday’s disclosure that the FBI under the Biden administration conducted phone record analysis on eight Republican senators.
Mr. Grassley called on Ms. Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to immediately address the controversy.
Senator Josh Hawley was one of the targets of the surveillance. “The FBI tapped my phone,” Mr. Hawley told Ms. Bondi. “Gee, it sure looks like targeting political opponents.”
When Mr. Hawley asked who ordered the surveillance, Ms. Bondi said she could not discuss the details of the incident “for very good reasons.” But she added, “We will be looking at all aspects of this.”
The one topic where Ms. Bondi got pointed questions from both sides of the aisle involved the Epstein Files. Ms. Bondi refused to answer questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and whether she told the White House about mentions of President Trump in the Epstein files.
LUKE FUNK
Source link