Ted Cruz

Oct. 7 (UPI) — Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, and refused to answer questions on several topics.

Bondi declined to answer questions about the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey regarding her discussions with President Donald Trump as well as the firings of Department of Justice attorneys who worked on Jan. 6 cases and her refusal to prosecute certain cases of Trump’s allies.

Bondi also avoided questions about the files of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and Trump’s alleged friendship with him. She responded that the Democrats should explain their own relationships with him, CNN reported.

Sen Richard Blumenthal, D-N.Y., said Bondi’s testimony was a new low for attorneys general.

“Her apparent strategy is to attack and conceal. Frankly, I’ve been through close to 15 of these attorney general accountability hearings, and I have never seen anything close to it in terms of the combativeness, the evasiveness and sometimes deceptiveness,” Blumenthal told reporters after leaving the hearing. “I think it is possibly a new low for attorneys general testifying before the United States Congress, and I just hope my Republican colleagues will demand more accountability than what we have seen so far.”

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., agreed with Blumenthal.

“She was fully prepared for, with specific and personal comebacks, accusing various of my colleagues, of challenging their integrity or challenging their basis for their questions in a way I’ve not ever seen,” Coons said.

The White House has already praised Bondi’s performance.

“She’s doing great,” a White House official told CNN. “Not only is the AG debunking every single bogus Democrat talking point, but she’s highlighting the Democrats’ own hypocrisy and they have no response.”

Bondi, along with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, criticized the judge in the case of Sophie Roske, the woman who planned an attack on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Roske, who called the police on herself before making contact with Kavanaugh, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the plot.

“My prosecutors did an incredible job on that case,” Bondi said. She said the Justice Department would appeal the sentence, which was 22 years below the federal guidelines and the minimum sentence prosecutors wanted. “The judge also would not refer to the defendant by his biological name,” Bondi said. Roske is transgender.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Bondi what conversations she has had with the White House about investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Comey. Bondi again declined to answer.

“I’m not going to discuss any conversations,” Bondi said to Klobuchar, CBS News reported.

Klobuchar asked her about a Truth Social post by Trump last in which he asked Bondi why she hadn’t brought charges against Comey, Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“President Trump is the most transparent president in American history, and I don’t think he said anything that he hasn’t said for years,” Bondi said.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., pressed her on whether the FBI found any pictures of Trump “with half-naked young women,” saying that Epstein was reported to have shown them around.

“You know, Sen. Whitehouse? You sit here and make salacious remarks, once again, trying to slander President Trump, left and right, when you’re the one who was taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants,” Bondi responded, referring to tech entrepreneur and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, who has said he regretted his contacts with Epstein, CBS reported.

Since Bondi took over at the Justice Department, she and her team have fired prosecutors who worked on capitol riot cases and pushed out career FBI agents.

The Public Integrity Section is nearly empty now, and more than 70% of the lawyers in the Civil Rights Division are also gone, NPR reported.

In a letter Monday, nearly 300 former Justice Department employees asked the Oversight Committee to closely monitor the department.

“We call on Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities far more vigorously. Members in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle must provide a meaningful check on the abuses we’re witnessing,” the letter said.

The letter also alleged poor treatment of staff.

“As for its treatment of its employees, the current leadership’s behavior has been appalling. … And demonizing, firing, demoting, involuntarily transferring, and directing employees to violate their ethical duties has already caused an exodus of over 5,000 of us — draining the Department of priceless institutional knowledge and expertise, and impairing its historical success in recruiting top talent. We may feel the effects of this for generations.”

Bondi said the DOJ stands by the “many terminations” in the department since Trump took office. “We stand by all of those,” she said.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in an opening statement, “What has taken place since Jan. 20, 2025, would make even President Nixon recoil.”

Durbin said Bondi has left “an enormous stain in American history.”

“It will take decades to recover,” he said.

The hearing is just two weeks after she sought and secured an indictment of Comey at the direction of the president. Democrats have said she’s weaponizing the Department of Justice, breaking with the longstanding tradition of keeping the department independent of political goals.

Comey was indicted on one count each of lying to Congress and obstructing justice for his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020. Before the indictment, U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert refused to indict because of a lack of evidence against Comey. Trump accused him of waiting too long to indict and nearly allowing the statute of limitations to run out. Siebert resigned under pressure from the administration.

Last week, Durbin said the targeting of Trump’s political enemies is “a code-red alarm for the rule of law” in a floor speech, The Washington Post reported.

“Never in the history of our country has a president so brazenly demanded the baseless prosecution of his rivals,” he said. “And he doesn’t even try to hide it.”

But Republicans claim that Bondi’s leadership is necessary after years of what they say was politicized attacks from the Justice Department under the President Joe Biden administration.

“If the facts and the evidence support the finding that Comey lied to Congress and obstructed our work, he ought to be held accountable,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Judiciary Committee.

During her confirmation hearing, Bondi vowed that weaponization of the Justice Department is over.

“I will not politicize that office,” Bondi said at the time. “I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation.”

Sept. 26 (UPI) — After the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, President Donald Trump said that more indictments are coming.

As he left the White House to head to the Ryder Cup in New York, he was asked by reporters who would be next on his list.

“It’s not a list, but I think there will be others. They’re corrupt. These were corrupt, radical-left Democrats,” The Hill reported Trump said.

“They weaponized the Justice Department like nobody in history. What they’ve done is terrible. And so I hope — frankly, I hope there are others. Because you can’t let this happen to a country.”

Trump added that the Comey indictment wasn’t about revenge.

“It’s about justice. … It’s also about the fact that you can’t let this go on. They are sick, radical-left people, and they can’t get away with it,” Trump said. “And Comey was one of the people. He wasn’t the biggest. But he was a dirty cop.”

A U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia grand jury indicted Comey on Thursday with one count each of making a false statement and obstruction. The indictment was based on oral testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020.

The indictment did not elaborate, but the charges seem to stem from when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked Comey if he had allowed his deputy to speak with a reporter about an investigation into Trump.

Comey told Cruz that he didn’t.

Comey, a Republican, said after the indictment that he understood there was a price for standing up to Trump.

“We will not live on our knees,” he said. “And you shouldn’t either.”

Besides Comey, some people Trump has mentioned who should be prosecuted are New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and former President Barack Obama.

1 of 6 | Marine One carrying U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump lifts off from the South Lawn of the White House on Friday in Washington, D.C. The president and his wife are heading to Kerrville, Texas, to meet with local officials and first responders after a deadly flash flood a week ago killed at least 120 people with at least 160 people still missing. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo

July 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Friday toured areas devastated by flash flooding in central Texas that has killed more than 100, including at least 36 children, on the Fourth of July.

The president and first lady arrived in Kerr County, Texas, shortly after 12:20 p.m. CDT to meet with people and families in Kerr County, where the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet and killed at least 121, including several children who had been staying at a Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic.

“This is a tough one,” Trump said during a roundtable discussion in Kerrville, Texas. “We were just making a little tour of the area. It’s hard to believe the devastation.”

He called the Guadalupe a “little narrow river that becomes a monster” when torrential rains pummeled the area during the early morning hours on Independence Day.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “We just gave our warmest condolences, but how do you give condolences?”

The president praised the first responders and community members who risked their lives to save others during the tragedy.

The first lady also met with victims’ families and offered her “deepest sympathy to all of the parents who lost beautiful young souls.”

“We are grieving with you,” Melania Trump said. “Our nation is grieving with you.”

The president and first lady were joined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both of Texas, during Friday’s visit.

Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Texas earlier this week. He told NBC’s Meet the Press on Thursday that the flood was a “once-in-every-200-year” event and said he supported the installation of a dedicated alarm system to warn of future floods.

“After having seen this horrible event, I would imagine you’d put alarms up in some form,” he said.

According to Abbott, search and rescue operations still continue with some sources saying more than 170 people are still missing, including many children.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday that “We remain laser focused in our work with Governor Abbott and local Texas leaders to support those impacted by the tragic flooding.”