Nearly a month later, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s antics during a House Judiciary Committee hearing remain stunning. The Florida Republican, apparently desperate to impress the president who chose her, treated the official proceeding as if she were a tween engaged in a food fight in a junior high cafeteria.
There wasn’t even a pretense of seriousness. MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig explained, “As somebody who’s covered hearings before, we know there is some performance. But this was a little bit like a wrestling match.” A NOTUS report described the event as “a contender” for “the ugliest House hearing ever.”
Bondi refused to answer questions. She smeared members with prepared, prewritten insults. She shouted angrily at those who pressed her on issues she wanted to avoid. She talked over members. She even suggested that one Jewish member, who lost family in the Holocaust, was antisemitic. In one especially memorable instance, the attorney general even insisted that committee members stop asking questions related to the Justice Department and start talking about the stock market.
Over the course of the proceedings, Bondi treated Democratic members with disgust while showing overt contempt for the process. Soon after, I heard some scuttlebutt about a new effort to impeach Bondi.
That effort is now underway. Axios reported:
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) filed articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. … The effort is an extreme long shot, but it shows where Democrats are turning their attention now that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is out. […]
Thanedar introduced three articles of impeachment charging Bondi with obstruction of Congress, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice, and weaponizing and politicizing the DOJ.
While neither Bondi nor the DOJ has commented on the measure, Thanedar said in a written statement, “The Department of Justice’s role is to uphold the rule of law impartially and protect the American people, but time and time again, Attorney General Pam Bondi has placed her loyalty to President Trump over her constitutional duty.”
The Michigan Democrat added, “From illegally withholding the Epstein files past the required deadline, to trying to coerce Minnesota into turning over its state voter files, to weaponizing the Department of Justice against Donald Trump’s political opponents, she has disgraced the office she holds. Congress must use every tool of accountability to uphold our oath to defend the Constitution.”
The attorney general’s critics shouldn’t get their hopes up about the resolution’s prospects: The House Republican majority is vanishingly small, but the GOP still controls the chamber, and it’s unrealistic to think the party will allow an impeachment push against Bondi to advance.
But efforts like these can nevertheless serve as — and in some instances, become — a rallying cry. In January, for example, Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., launched an impeachment push against then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and it picked up 187 co-sponsors, as well as endorsements from House Democratic leadership.
The drive added to the pressures on the hapless DHS chief, who was ultimately forced out under a cloud of scandal and lost credibility.
I’m not saying the same thing will definitely happen with the attorney general, but if Thanedar’s resolution starts picking up a sizable number of co-sponsors, it’ll be an effort worth monitoring, especially as it relates to Democrats’ post-midterm election plans. Watch this space.
