U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the press, outside the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Attorney General Pam Bondi was questioned about the administration's reference to the California protests as an "insurrection" and how it compares to the January 6, 2021, events. She had trouble answering.
Speaking outside the White House to the press, Bondi was confronted with the double standard around the administration's language. Trump claimed that he deployed the National Guard because immigration officers and others were being threatened by the community during raids.
On Jan. 6, police were beaten so severely that some could never return to their jobs, others committed suicide or succumbed to physical injuries and passed away.
"Trump still calls January 6 a 'day of love' and it's total bulls---," former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn told CBS News.
"Hypocrisy is the key word," he added. "Trump thinks anything done in his name is OK. Jan. 6 was done in his name, so our officers don't matter."
Political influencer and podcast host Ed Krassenstein called out the "double standard" on X. He noted that Trump's administration pardoned all of the Jan. 6 attackers.
"Pam Bondi was just asked about the double standard with Trump pardoning those who attacked police officers on January 6. Her answer is pathetic," complained Krassenstein. "She claims that the people in California are violent but those beating police officers in DC apparently were not."
"She then says they will do everything they can to 'prosecute violent criminals in California.' But they literally pardoned violent criminals who stormed the Capitol building while trying to help Trump illegally remain in power," he continued. "She then claims that they are 'waving American flags,' but doesn’t care about those waving Confederate flags on January 6? Can you people not see the hypocrisy? Trump protects those who beat police officers for his own benefit."
Political operative Adam Smithpointed out a recent report from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) "on the people pardoned by Trump for January 6th who have been re-arrested or convicted of other crimes."
Influencer CeliaBedelia accused Bondi of dodging the question because she does not know the law.
Political commentator Vince Wilson noted that as attorney general, Bondi is "the TOP LAWYER in the country" yet she "cannot answer what the legal threshold is for invoking the insurrection act…Houston we have a problem."
"It is a waste of time and energy to hear this dummy. We know very well what kind of rat she is!" wrote Ruben D. ArvizuRuben D. Arvizu the director general for Latin America Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society.
"Dems should have put a law in place that a 'president' cannot pardon people who conspired with him," said Broadway actor and playwright Matthew Mezzacappa.
"'California is burning,' says Bondi, who then cites not burning Waymos (illegal!) but burning American flags (despicable but protected by the First Amendment if it’s your own flag!)," pointed out former Justice Department appointee Eric Columbus.
"Barbara Bondi is just a shill for Trump. She is corrupt and unfit for office. Under her disgusting leadership, DOJ has lost its true purpose and become an arm of Trump's authoritarian movement. History tells us they must be stopped now," said Professor Emerita Edith Miller.