Democrats are looking to turn the GOP's "silence" in the face of Donald Trump and his Department of Justice's "lawlessness and gross abuse of power" into a bigger liability, according to Politico, as a major hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi gets underway.
In a Wednesday morning report, Politico spoke to various lawmakers set to take part in the House Judiciary Committee hearing. Ordinarily, the outlet explained, the DOJ's recent "barrage of controversies" might portend a thorough grilling from both sides of the aisle. However, aside from prominent Trump critic Rep. Thomas Massie, "Republicans on the panel don’t appear to be clamoring to challenge Bondi on any of it."
While Democrats are eager to grill the attorney general over a variety of issues, including the slow, haphazard release of the Epstein files and the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents, Republicans who spoke with Politico seemed more interested in pursuing the party's typical fixations, such as "the rights of parents" and the department's effort to combat "fraud." Committee Chair Jim Jordan also suggested to Politico that he wished to commend Bondi for "the good work they’ve done on just regularly prosecuting bad guys."
Despite this lack of cooperation from Republicans, Politico noted that Democrats believe they might get the "upper hand" at the hearing by exploiting the GOP's silence on these mounting controversies.
"It’s not unusual for Cabinet officials to confront a hospitable audience when the majority shares the party affiliation of the administration in power, but Democrats think the stack of high-profile dramas encircling Bondi could give them a unique opportunity — namely by drawing out the GOP’s anticipated silence on the hot-button issues and the attorney general’s expected refusal to engage in Democratic questioning," Politico explained.
Various Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee laid out their plans for confronting Bondi in interviews with Politico, including the sorts of tactics they might employ against her and how they hope the public will react.
“The Department of Justice has been found to be lying by federal courts across the land — they have withheld evidence, they have misled the court, they’ve shown spectacular disrespect for the rule of law and the integrity of the courts,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told the outlet. “So, I think as little respect as they have for the courts, they probably have less for Congress.”
“We’ve all noticed that at prior hearings, when she’s afraid to answer a question, she attacks the members of Congress,” Rep. Ted Lieu said. “So if she starts doing that, you know she’s afraid to answer a question, and she’s engaged in a cover-up, so the American people will be able to see what she does on Wednesday.”
“It’s very hard to narrow down all of the lawlessness and gross abuse of power that this Department of Justice has engaged in in just one year,” Rep. Dan Goldman added. “She’s been trying to avoid us, but she can’t avoid us any longer.”