Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing sharp criticism after strongly suggesting she will not authorize a criminal investigation into a major national security breach involving 18 top national security and defense officials from the Trump administration. Critics have pointed to her recent confirmation hearing, during which she vowed to keep the U.S. Department of Justice free from political influence.
Asked whether the Justice Department is investigating the Signalgate scandal, and if not, why not, the Attorney General claimed the information shared was “not classified”—in direct contradiction to the judgment of numerous national security and military experts.
"Well, first, um, it was sensitive information, not classified, and inadvertently released and what we should be talking about is it was a very successful mission," she said, attempting to move the focus to the Yemen bombing. “Our world is now safer because of that mission. We’re not gonna comment any further on that.”
But Bondi then moved to attack top Democrats.
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“If you want to talk about classified information, talk about what was at Hillary Clinton’s home that she was trying to bleach bit, talk about the, that classified documents in Joe Biden’s garage that Hunter Biden had access to, she said, perpetrating right-wing misinformation about the former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential nominee, and re-introducing the Biden classified document issue, which was fully investigated by the Department of Justice.
“This was not classified information, and we are very pleased with the results of that operation and that the entire world is safer because of it,” Bondi re-iterated.
The New York Times, reporting on the Attorney General’s remarks, noted that the Justice Department “opened investigations into Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Biden in those instances, but neither ultimately faced criminal charges. She did not mention the prosecution of Mr. Trump over his handling of classified documents after his first term in office — a case which was ultimately abandoned when he won a second term.”
But the Times also noted that “Dating back to at least the Reagan administration, the government has considered the details of ‘military plans, weapons, or operations’ to be classified.”
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) is calling for a special counsel to investigate.
After noting that DOJ investigated Clinton and Biden, he added:
“Bondi sees the Justice Department as a political arm of Trump’s White House, she won’t do her job. That’s why we need a special counsel,” he wrote, adding, “Defense officials say Hegseth likely shared classified info on Signal. DOJ has to investigate this too.”
“Bringing up Hillary Clinton is not the own you think it is,” Congressman Beyer continued. “Republicans made her testify for 11 hours on her handling of classified information. I was there. Now the same Republicans are bending themselves into pretzels to justify what Hegseth did. They think you are stupid.”
Investigative journalist Roger Sollenberger remarked, “For what it’s worth, Joe Biden’s administration directed a Trump-appointed Republican to independently investigate Joe Biden for potentially mishandling classified information.”
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Sollenberger also chastised Bondi: “Openly political attorney general running an openly political protection racket in an openly politicized Justice Department after sworn Senate confirmation testimony that she would keep politics out of it.”
Calling Bondi’s remarks “Pathetic,” Political Science professor William Muck noted: “This is why a wall between the Attorney General and the president is so fundamental. Bondi most certainly knows the information was classified and warrants an investigation, but is unwilling to do her job because she fears it will upset the president.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
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