Attorney General Pam Bondi faced a grilling on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as she appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing that quickly devolved into acrimony, accusations, and deflection. Over the course of nearly five hours, Bondi—appointed under President Trump—adopted a combative stance with Democratic senators, repeatedly refusing to answer questions about high-profile investigations, including those involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and former FBI Director James Comey.
From the very start, the hearing was charged. According to The Hill, Senator Richard Blumenthal pressed Bondi about her alleged lobbying connections, specifically referencing the role of Brian Ballard, a longtime backer and head of the law firm where Bondi previously worked. Blumenthal asked, “In the merger … involving American Express GBT … I understand that Brian Ballard, longtime backer and head of the law firm where you worked, was instrumental in lobbying the Justice Department to drop that lawsuit. … What conversations did you have with Mr. Ballard?” Rather than answer, Bondi pivoted sharply, launching a personal attack. “Senator Blumenthal, I cannot believe that you would accuse me of impropriety when you lied about your military service. You lied, you admitted you lied to be elected a US senator,” she retorted. “How dare you? I’m a career prosecutor. Don’t you ever challenge my integrity … Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial as attorney general, and anything [about] my former firm Ballard Partners.”
Blumenthal’s 2010 admission that he had “misspoken” about serving in Vietnam was thrust back into the spotlight, but Bondi’s response set the tone for the rest of the proceedings: attack the questioner, dodge the question. As Axios reported, Bondi’s approach mirrored the combative style often displayed by other Trump administration officials under Congressional oversight.
When the subject turned to the Epstein investigation, the fireworks only intensified. Senator Dick Durbin asked Bondi point-blank who ordered a Justice Department statement that President Trump’s name was in the Epstein files. Bondi’s reply was terse: “I’m not going to discuss anything about that with you.” Durbin, undeterred, warned, “Eventually you’re going to have to answer for your conduct in this, you won’t do it today, but eventually you will,” as quoted by the Miami Herald.
Throughout the hearing, Bondi steadfastly refused to engage on substantive questions about the handling of the Epstein files. She also cited a July 2025 Justice Department memo stating that no new information had been uncovered in the Epstein investigation, but declined to elaborate further. Instead, Bondi repeatedly shifted the spotlight back onto her critics, questioning why Democrats had not released Epstein flight logs or donor records when they held majorities in Congress. In a particularly pointed moment, she invoked tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, a Democratic donor previously linked to Epstein fundraising, and pressed Democrats about undisclosed ties.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse attempted to probe allegations that Epstein possessed compromising photos of Donald Trump with “half-naked young women.” Bondi, however, sidestepped the inquiry by launching an attack on Whitehouse’s own political ties, saying, “Senator Whitehouse, instead of making baseless insinuations about President Trump, perhaps you should address your own political ties—especially your connections to one of Epstein’s known associates.”
Questions about the Justice Department’s handling of former FBI Director James Comey’s indictment also went unanswered. Bondi stated that Comey was indicted by “one of the most liberal grand juries in the country,” referencing last month’s charges in Virginia federal court for making false statements to Congress and obstructing the Russia probe. When Senator Amy Klobuchar asked if the White House had instructed her on who to investigate, Bondi again refused to discuss such conversations. Notably, Axios revealed that Bondi and President Trump met for dinner at the White House the night before Comey’s indictment, but Bondi would not elaborate on whether the dinner influenced her actions.
The hearing’s scope extended beyond Epstein and Comey. Allegations surfaced that Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” had accepted a $50,000 bribe from undercover FBI agents in exchange for promises of government contracts. When pressed by Senator Alex Padilla about who decided to close the investigation into Homan, Bondi shifted focus, remarking, “I wish that you loved your state of California as much as you hate President Trump. We’d be in really good shape then because violent crime in California is currently 35% higher than the national average.” This response, reported by the Los Angeles Times, drew criticism for its deflection and lack of substantive engagement.
Senator Adam Schiff summed up the frustration felt by Democrats on the committee, stating, “This is supposed to be an oversight hearing in which members of Congress can get serious answers to serious questions about the cover-up of corruption about the prosecution of the president’s enemies. When will it be that the members of this committee on a bipartisan basis demand answers to those questions?” Schiff also listed a litany of topics Bondi had skirted: Trump receiving a jet from Qatar, the president’s name in Epstein’s records, the alleged Homan bribe, and the firing of lawyers who opposed a Hewlett Packard merger, among others.
Bondi, for her part, defended her tenure, touting her eight months in office as a period focused on combating illegal immigration, violent crime, and restoring public trust in the Justice Department. She accused Biden-era officials of weaponizing the department against Trump and insisted, “They wanted to take President Trump off the playing field. This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people’s faith in our law enforcement system. We will work to earn that back every single day. We are returning to our core mission of fighting real crime.”
She also justified the deployment of federal troops to Washington, D.C., and Chicago, stating the move was necessary to “protect” citizens from violent crime. However, when Senator Chris Coons questioned the legal justification for military action against vessels off the Venezuelan coast, Bondi again refused to discuss the legal advice her department had given, only emphasizing the threat posed by “narcoterrorist” Nicolás Maduro and the flow of drugs from Venezuela.
Bondi’s performance at the hearing did little to quell concerns about the politicization of the Justice Department. As Senator Dick Durbin remarked, “In eight short months, you have fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain on American history. It will take decades to recover.”
For now, Bondi remains defiant, her approach emblematic of the broader tensions between the Trump administration and its critics in Congress. The hearing underscored not only the partisan divides that define Washington but also the growing scrutiny over the independence, transparency, and integrity of the nation’s highest law enforcement agency.
