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WASHINGTON (CN) — It was a less than productive Tuesday morning for Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, as they attempted to needle Attorney General Pam Bondi on her leadership of the Trump administration’s Justice Department.
The defiant attorney general not only sidestepped questions about National Guard deployments and the Jeffrey Epstein files but went on the offensive against Democrats who she claimed were interested in scoring political points against President Donald Trump.
Judiciary Committee Democrats hoping to grill Bondi had no shortage of material, with her appearance coming just days after the White House orchestrated National Guard deployments to Portland and Chicago. The president and administration officials have claimed the troops — which include members of the Texas National Guard — are part of efforts to clamp down on rampant crime in the two cities.
But Bondi flatly declined to give lawmakers on the judiciary panel any details about the Justice Department’s involvement in those National Guard deployments.
Asked by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin whether she had been consulted by the White House prior to the announcement that troops were headed to Portland and Chicago, Bondi said she would not discuss “any internal conversations.”
“What’s the secret?” Durbin replied. “Why do you want to keep this secret? The American people don’t know the rationale behind the deployment of National Guard troops in my state.”
Bondi offered a fiery rebuke, pointing to the ongoing government shutdown and blaming Durbin and Democrats for forcing federal law enforcement officers to work without pay. “I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump,” she retorted. “If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.”
Bondi also sparred with Durbin over proposed cuts to law enforcement programs, such as a planned 35% drawback to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, which he framed as counterproductive to addressing crime in places such as Chicago. Bondi said that the would be “happy” to meet with the Illinois senator on the proposed cuts, but again excoriated him for the line of questioning.
“The National Guard is on the way right now as we speak — so is Director [Kash] Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche,” she said. “You’re sitting here grilling me, and they’re on their way to Chicago to keep your state safe.”
Durbin was visibly frustrated by the attorney general’s attack. “It’s my job to grill you,” he fired back. “Investigation of your agency is part of my responsibility and this committee’s.”
Bondi was similarly combative with Democrats who pushed her on the White House’s approach to the Epstein files.
The Justice Department over the summer said that it would not make public any more information from its investigation into the late financier and convicted pedophile — despite past comments from Bondi that such a release was on the way. The agency also concluded that there was no so-called “client list” of Epstein’s associates, which many of Trump’s supporters believed would shed light on a cabal of elite sex traffickers.
Responding to lawmakers on Tuesday, Bondi reframed the argument against Democrats, claiming they had not taken action on requests from Republicans to publish Epstein’s flight logs while they held the Senate majority. She was particularly incredulous after Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse asked her about reports that Epstein had showed people photos of Trump with “half-naked young women.”
“You sit here and make salacious remarks, once again trying to slander President Trump left and right,” Bondi said, claiming that he and other Democrats received donations from one of Epstein’s “closest confidants,” tech CEO Reid Hoffman. “Yet you’re grilling me on President Trump and some photograph with Epstein — come on.”
Bondi also sought to contextualize her statements about the release of more Epstein files, which she had said publicly were “on her desk.” She pointed out she had also said that she had not reviewed the documents, which she had alongside “the JFK files, the Martin Luther King files.”
“Our memo on Epstein clearly points out that there was not client list,” she added.
On several occasions during Tuesday’s hearing, Bondi refused to answer questions from Democrats about a range of topics, from reports that the Justice Department had closed a bribery investigation into White House border czar Tom Homan and the recent firings of federal prosecutors who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. She repeatedly explained her unwillingness to discuss ongoing litigation or “personnel matters.”
Meanwhile, Bondi also faced scrutiny from Democrats on the Justice Department’s move to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, indicted in September by a grand jury on charges that he lied to Congress about his knowledge of agency leaks to the media.
Comey’s indictment came despite reports of reservations from Justice Department officials, including former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert, who resigned just before the charges were unsealed in his district. Siebert’s replacement, former White House aide Lindsey Halligan, moved ahead with the case.
But asked about the issue on Tuesday, Bondi similarly stonewalled lawmakers. She told Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal that she would not disclose any conversations she had with the president.
“You’re an attorney, you have a law degree,” she told the Democratic senator. “You know that I’m not going to do that.”
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