Hours before Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a former high-ranking Department of Justice official accused her of implementing a “Trump-first approach” to running the DOJ.
In a column for MSNBC, Anthony Coley, who previously headed the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs, accused the former Florida attorney general, who has long-time ties to the president, of implementing a "no-holds-barred, anything-for-Trump playbook has left the Justice Department in chaos.”
Coley then urged Democrats to “shine a bright light” on what has occurred in the eight months Bondi has been at the helm, and pointed out, “Bondi has a lot to answer for.”
“Under her watch, the Justice Department stands accused of unjustly firing senior FBI executives, experienced prosecutors and other civil servants; it has sought to rewrite the narrative of the Jan. 6, 2001, attack on the U.S. Capitol; and it has opened investigative inquiries in the apparent absence of a factual pretext,” he wrote before focusing on Bondi helping Trump deal with his Jeffrey Epstein problem.
Noting that, although they have limited authority as the minority party, he wrote Democrats have a golden opportunity to put Bondi on the spot during the televised hearing.
“Democrats would do well to make the connections to Watergate clearly and repeatedly and make the case that Trump’s unqualified appointments and his disregard for the rule of law undermine the very principles upon which our democracy depends,” he wrote before suggesting, “Bondi, of course, is adept at being evasive. She doesn’t have to answer any of the Democrats’ questions. But how she evades them can help shape public narratives.”
“While Bondi alone is responsible for how she answers questions, Congress has a duty to confront her for the sake of the Justice Department and the health of our democracy,” he concluded.
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