(GAZETTE BLOG EDITOR'S NOTE: In case you missed Attorney General Pam Bondi's beyond the pale performance before a House committee Wednesday, the Gazette Blog hereby proudly presents the lowlights from three uniquely different vantage points:)
1: Pam Bondi is performing for an audience of one
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday gave one of the most dreadful congressional hearing performances any Cabinet-level official has ever given, ranting like a lunatic and hurling personal insults at Democratic lawmakers rather than answering fair questions about the horrific conduct the Department of Justice has exhibited both under her watch and at her direction.
If they tuned in, normal Americans who do not live their lives in terminally online right-wing media circles likely watched her embarrassing antics and wondered what on earth she was trying to accomplish.
But the answer is simple: She was trying to appease President Donald Trump, who gets perverse pleasure from insulting his perceived enemies.
In fact, Bondi's histrionics may have been an effort to save her own skin. Despite her corrupt attempts to weaponize the DOJ to Trump's liking, the department has failed to notch a single notable victory in Trump's vindictive prosecution attempts. It has reportedly led Trump to grow disillusioned with Bondi, to whom he once mistakenly posted a message on Truth Social complaining about her lack of results.
At one point, Bondi ridiculously called Trump "the most transparent president in the nation's history," even as he withholds countless documents on Jeffrey Epstein that he's legally obligated to release due to legislation passed last year. Instead, Bondi said Democrats were just trying to distract from the stock market.
"The Dow is over 50,000! I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader, as I hear, Raskin," Bondi screamed at Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who was likely laughing at how absurd she sounded as she tried to evade his questions. "The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P [500] at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. That's what we should be talking about."
Of course, the hearing’s topic was "Oversight of the Justice Department," which has nothing to do with the stock market. But Dear Leader Trump loves to brag about stock gains, so Bondi did just that.
Or how about this brown-nosing remark, in which she demanded all of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee apologize for impeachment hearings against Trump.
“Have you apologized to President Trump?” she said. “Have you apologized to President Trump, all of you who participated in those impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump? You all should be apologizing. You sit here, and you attack the president, and I am not going to have it. I'm not going to put up with it."
Yeah, we all know who that insane act was for.
Bondi also refused to apologize to Epstein survivors, who at one point raised their hands when asked if they felt they’d been ignored by the DOJ.
The refusal to apologize likely appeased Trump, who never apologizes for his conduct, no matter how despicable. But the image of her refusing to even look at the victims likely gave Democrats more ammo for attack ads during the upcoming midterm elections.
Then there were the insults.
Bondi refused to answer how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators she’s indicted. Instead, she yelled that Raskin is a “washed-up loser lawyer.” Totally normal stuff.
She accused Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky—who successfully passed a law that required Bondi to release the Epstein files—a “failed politician” who suffers from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Of course, if anyone has Trump Derangement Syndrome, it’s Bondi, whose ass-kissing of Trump is so over the top that it’s vomit inducing.
"She didn't answer anything," Massie told reporters after he tried to get answers from Bondi during the hearing but was instead met with personal insults. "She came here ready to talk about the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq, which seems kind of crazy to me."
During a recess from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chaotic testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky spoke with reporters about how he thought the hearing was going.
“She didn't answer anything,” Massie said in the hallway, after Bondi was peppered with questions about the notorious Epstein files. “She came here just ready to talk about the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ, which seems kind of crazy to me.”
Massie—a problematic ally for Democrats as of late—has been exceptionally dogged in his pursuit of accountability for the victims of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The outspoken Republican told reporters that Bondi can behave as erratically as she wants, but that there will ultimately be a reckoning.
Related | Pam Bondi loses her sh-t at Epstein hearing
“The recourse, and I keep reminding the folks at DOJ of this—is that the next attorney general can bring charges against them for breaking the law,” Massie said. “I think that's what's compelled them to produce 3 million documents and now they're claiming that it's incompetence. Like their defense today is incompetence for why they haven't given us all of the documents they should, why they have over-redacted in the case of coconspirators, and why they failed to redact the names of the victims.”
Bondi flipped out any time she was pressed on the Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein files, whose release was mandated by a Congressional vote.
Her bizarre defensiveness wasn’t limited to questioning from Democrats. During one exchange, Bondi accused Massie of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and dismissed him as “a failed politician."
3. Pam Bondi loses her sh-t at Epstein hearing
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday went off the rails shortly after Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington asked Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors in the audience to raise their hands. Jayapal pressed Bondi to apologize to them, accusing her of protecting “powerful predators” in the release of Epstein-related files while also failing to safeguard survivors in the documents.
“Congresswoman, you sat before—former Attorney General] Merrick Garland sat in this chair twice,” Bondi said.
“Attorney General Bondi,” Jayapal interrupted.
“Can I finish my answer?” Bondi said.
“No,” Jayapal shot back. “I'm gonna reclaim my time because I asked you a specific question that I would like you to answer, which is: Will you turn to the survivors? This is not about anybody that came before you.”
Things didn’t get any better as other Democrats on the committee asked Bondi to defend the criminally slow rollout of the Epstein files. Trying to deflect, Bondi lied about the findings of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. She also falsely claimed that President Donald Trump “overwhelmingly” won “the majority” of the popular vote in 2024. In reality, he won 49.7% of the vote.
She also brought up … the stock market?
“The Dow is over 50,000! I don't know why you're laughing,” Bondi said during one extensive detour. “The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P [500] at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. … That's what we should be talking about."
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, repeatedly asked Chair Jim Jordan to remind the attorney general to stop ranting through members' questions.
It seems that when Trump’s Cabinet officials aren’t defending their appearances in the Epstein files, they are scrambling to cover for their powerful friends.
