Attorney General Pam Bondi came prepared for challenges from Senate democrats, using quick one-liners and prepared arguments to dodge questions on the Epstein investigation, national guard deployments, and accusations that she has used the Justice Department for political purposes.
The attorney general fended off questions about her firing of senior prosecutors for what Democrats allege were political reasons, saying “the personnel issue that I’m having right now is that all of my agents, all of my lawyers, are…working without a paycheck because your party voted to shut down the federal government.”
As Democratic senators pushed her on President Donald Trump’s connections to accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the attorney general repeatedly claimed that those same Democrats had connections to another alleged associate of Epstein’s, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.
She also questioned why Democrats hadn’t raised concerns about the Epstein investigation before her term, at one point challenging senators with “did you ask Merrick Garland any of this over the last four years when he sat before you?”
And when Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin pushed Bondi on the legal rationale for sending National Guard troops to Durbin’s state against the governor’s wishes, the attorney general shot back: “I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump.”
In one exchange during which Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse accused Emil Bove of prosecutorial misconduct during his brief stint as principal associate deputy attorney general, Bondi interrupted Whitehouse to say that his “time has expired.”
After the shocked Democrat regained his time and said the attorney general could answer the question, Bondi was ready: “To correct you for one moment, that would be the Honorable Judge Emil J Bove III to you.”
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