(NewsNation) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sparred with Democratic lawmakers while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the annual Department of Justice oversight hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
During the nearly five-hour hearing, Bondi faced intense questioning from lawmakers on various topics, including the alleged weaponization of the Department of Justice to target perceived political opponents of President Donald Trump, the deployment of federal troops and law enforcement to American cities, the Epstein files and more.
Bondi elected not to address certain topics and instead took several opportunities to fire back at her political opponents during the hearing.
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Alleged weaponization of the DOJ
Bondi faced a litany of questions from Democrats regarding what they argue is a weaponization of the DOJ by Bondi and the Trump administration to target the administration’s perceived political enemies.
The allegations of the weaponization of the DOJ follow a growing trend of Trump going after political foes, including the investigation into Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for mortgage fraud and the recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
“The Department has become President Trump’s personal sword and shield to go after his ever-growing list of political enemies and to protect himself, his allies and associates,” Schiff said at the hearing.
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Schiff, who managed Trump’s first impeachment trial, has denied the allegations. At one point during the hearing, he asked Bondi about whether the Justice Department had dropped a bribery investigation into border czar Tom Hohman following Trump’s inauguration in January.
“Will you apologize to Donald Trump for trying to impeach him?” Bondi replied.
Bondi rejected the weaponization claims by repeating Trump’s assertion that the DOJ was weaponized during the Biden administration against Trump and his allies. She also argued that she is vehemently against the politicization of the department.
“The partisanship, the weaponization will be gone,” Bondi told lawmakers during the hearing. “America will have one tier of justice for all.”
Federal troops and law enforcement in American cities
Bondi was also repeatedly questioned about Trump’s decision to send federal troops and law enforcement to American cities, something for which she has been a vocal advocate.
Recently, Trump has sought to deploy the National Guard to several Democratic-run cities, most notably Chicago and Portland. Over the summer, Trump sent hundreds of troops to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Lawmakers used the hearing as an opportunity to express dismay over the federalization of the military.
“As President Trump turns the full force of the federal government on Chicago and other American cities, the assault on the city I am proud to represent is just one example of how President Trump and Attorney General Bondi shut down justice at the Department of Justice,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during his opening statement at the hearing.
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Durbin later questioned Bondi directly about the legal justification for sending National Guard troops to Chicago.
“Why do you want to keep this secret?” Durbin asked. “The American people don’t know the rationale behind the deployment of National Guard troops in my state.”
Bondi snapped back and said, “I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump. And currently, the National Guard are on the way to Chicago. If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.”
Handling of the Epstein files
Bondi mostly deflected questions about the Jeffrey Epstein files during the hearing. The Trump administration has faced criticism for its management of these files, with allegations suggesting that Trump had close connections to the disgraced financier, which could be uncovered in the documents.
In July, the DOJ and FBI released a memo claiming that they found no evidence to support that Epstein had a “client list” and determined that no more files would need to be released to the public.
Bondi accused Democrats of not being transparent with information on the case when Biden was in office and at one point brought up Democratic ties to alleged Epstein associate and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.
In February, Bondi came under fire after telling Fox News that the alleged Epstein client list was on her desk, ready to review, only for the July memo to contradict its existence entirely.
When asked by Durbin about the comment to Fox at the hearing, Bondi replied: “I said I had not yet reviewed it, and if you see our memo on Epstein, you will see our memo on Epstein clearly points out that there was no client list.”
