Bondi Rebuffs Democrats Pressing Her on Trump’s DOJ Influence

Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to address Senate Democrats’ questions about the president’s influence on the Justice Department, while Republicans helped her rewind the focus onto scrutinizing Biden administration actions.

During a Senate oversight hearing Tuesday, she dismissed Democratic lawmakers’ demands for details about her communications with President Donald Trump, troop deployments to Chicago, or firings of career employees. Instead, she was unified with Senate Republicans rallying her to continue her department’s emphasis on rooting out what they’ve cast as a law enforcement regime weaponized against Trump and his allies during President Joe Biden’s term.

The combative hearing marked Democrats’ latest effort to grill a member of Trump’s Cabinet while wielding limited oversight power as the minority party in both chambers of Congress.

“That’s the kind of testimony you expect from this administration. A simple question as to whether or not they had a legal rationale for deploying National Guard troops becomes grounds for a personal attack,” said the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) after Bondi accused him of hating Trump.

Several Democrats pressed Bondi to explain how Trump’s public pressure on her to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey led to his indictment in Virginia.

She cited her inability to discuss ongoing cases, before adding, “James Comey was indicted by one of the most liberal grand juries in the United States.”

Bondi also didn’t answer when Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) pressed her on the terminations of prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 insurrection cases.

“DOJ losing these career prosecutors and the thousands of hours of experience they have prosecuting criminals, that is not a reassuring situation,” Hirono said.

Bondi replied that many employees voluntarily departed. “DOJ is hiring committed prosecutors who will actually come into the office and work—and not work remotely—and prosecute violent criminals around the country and terrorists,” she said.

Weaponization Claims

Republicans tried to help Bondi rebut Democrats’ narrative by urging her to review the circumstances behind an FBI document—released Monday by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)—showing the FBI obtained phone records from eight Republican senators to advance their investigation into Trump’s alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) later asked her how she’s dealing with perceived weaponization.

Rather than offer specifics, Bondi replied: “We saw the Biden administration weaponize the entire Justice Department—all of the law enforcement agencies against Donald Trump, against his family members, against his friends—for years and years.”

Bondi showed more interest in compromise with Democrats on less politically divisive topics, such as restoring canceled grants and ensuring judicial security.

In an otherwise testy exchange, she pledged to meet with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) about his request that the US Marshals Service investigate the orchestration of threats against judges. Bondi, asked later about courthouse threats, said DOJ has 63 investigations “involving judges and officials throughout this country.”

She also addressed criticism from Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and others that DOJ canceled public safety grants by promising to consider turning those funds back on if any senator brings her an appeal that shows the grant supports law enforcement or victims. Bondi said the department reviewed 5,800 discretionary grants and terminated only 7% of them. DOJ has restored 18 of those grants after appeals and denied 17 others, she said.

“I will be calling you,” Coons said.