Jen Psaki tore into Pam Bondi after her contentious appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, telling viewers the attorney general made an “absolute fool of herself” by refusing to answer questions about the Justice Department’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
According to Psaki, Bondi spent the entirety of the five-hour hearing “evading questions, childishly shutting down lawmakers, talking back and even resorting to name-calling, all while attempting some of the most ridiculous and poorly executed diversions I have ever seen.”
“It’s like she was kind of a social media bot of sorts, replying with random non sequiturs and AI-generated images of Donald Trump with a six-pack, or the verbal version of that,” Psaki said.
The MS NOW host played a supercut of moments from Wednesday’s hearing, showing some of Bondi’s heated exchanges with Democrats and her repeated attempts to evade questions, and what Psaki referred to as one of the day’s “most absurd moments,” when the attorney general used her time in front of Congress to talk about the performance of the stock market.
“Bondi was asked why she hadn’t investigated any of Epstein’s co-conspirators, and she basically said, ‘Because the Dow is over 50,000.’ I mean, I guess her argument is, do we really want our Justice Department investigating an elite cabal of pedophiles at a time when their stock portfolios are doing so well?” she said.
Those exchanges, according to Psaki, showcased what she labeled as Bondi’s “go-to move” while dealing with lawmakers: to “repeatedly behave like some sort of overcaffeinated high school mean girl.”
“The whole thing is giving a grown-up version of Regina George from ‘Mean Girls,’” she added.
The former Biden White House official said the attorney general’s performance showed that her appearance was not about defending the department’s investigation or pursuing justice for Epstein’s survivors, but “about putting on a show” for the president.
“But Donald Trump was not the only one watching this hearing,” Psaki explained. “Whether it’s the Epstein files or the killing of American citizens in Minneapolis, the entire country has taken an interest in what this Department of Justice is doing.”
“They’re paying attention, and if they tuned in to this hearing, they saw an administration making a mockery of their priorities,” she continued. “They saw a Department of Justice that only cares about one person, one man, sitting in the White House.”
You can watch Psaki’s full commentary in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”