Defiant Bondi Tangles With Democrats at Hearing

Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, and one word in particular is coming up in coverage: "combative." Bondi frequently sparred with Democrats on the panel on a range of issues. A look at early highlights:

• When Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin asked Bondi about the legal rationale for sending National Guard troops to Chicago, she shot back, "I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump." Politico reports that Durbin appeared to be surprised by the aggressive pushback. "That's the kind of testimony you expect from this administration," he said. "A simple question as to whether or not they had a legal rationale for deploying National Guard troops becomes grounds for personal attack. I think it's a legitimate question. It's my responsibility."

• Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse asked Bondi about the Justice Department's decision to drop an investigation into border czar Tom Homan, who was recorded accepting a bag with $50,000 in cash during an undercover FBI operation. Bondi said an investigation had cleared Homan, then asked Whitehouse why he took campaign donations from a donor the GOP has linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The BBC reports that Bondi could be seen with a page of bulleted notes about Whitehouse. "You are a total hypocrite," one reads. "You rail against dark money, but you work with dark money groups," says another.
• Bondi also brushed off questions from Democrats about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, as well as the suggestion that she has weaponized the Justice Department. It was Democrats who did that, she asserted, per the New York Times. "They wanted to take President Trump off the playing field," she said of the indictments of Trump. "This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people's faith in our law enforcement system."