Attorney General Pam Bondi faced harsh grilling on Capitol Hill Wednesday from Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), who demanded to know, among other things, why her Justice Department pulled down a report on the dangers of violent right-wing extremists — and the congresswoman grew visibly frustrated as Bondi sidestepped the question.
"I wantto go back to what [President Donald Trump] saidabout [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz," said Kamlager-Dove, referring to the president's promotion of conspiracy theories that Walz had a hand in the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband. "Do you agreethat President Trump underminedpublic trust in law enforcementby suggesting that GovernorWalz was involved in themurders?"
"I am not familiar with thatstatement," said Bondi.
"Well, that is adisappointing response," said Kamlager-Dove. "And itis also why your office andDonald Trump have zerocredibility, because I know andyou know, it was a right-wingextremist who murdered theHortmans. And you and thepresident are being dishonestwith the American people. Lastfall, after the horrific shooting of Charlie Kirk, President Trump was asked if there were extremists on boththe left and the right, and hisexact words were, 'I'll tell yousomething that's going to getme in trouble, but I couldn'tcare less. The radicals on theright oftentimes are radicalbecause they don't want to seecrime. The radicals on the leftare the problem, and they'revicious and they're horribleand they're politically savvy.'Do you agree with thisstatement?"
Bondi took a deep breath, but said nothing for several seconds.
"You're taking toolong, Madam Attorney General," said Kamlager-Dove. "But you know the answer, becauseyour own department hasaddressed the question. In 2024,the DOJ research arm issued areport on domestic terrorism,stating that the number offar-right attacks continues tooutpace all other types ofterrorism and domestic violenceextremists ... and after thepresident made those comments,the DOJ took the report down.And I sent you a letter askingyou a simple question: Why didthe Justice Department removethe data that shows right-wingextremists have killed more innocent people than left-wingextremists?"
"Did you refer to immigrationenforcement as domesticterrorism?" said Bondi.
"You should answer myquestion," said Kamlager-Dove. "You're on my time,but you won't. And what I amasking you to do is put thereport back, restore the data,stop scrubbing important datafrom your website. Stop takingdown reports that you know theAmerican people need to knowabout."
"There are violent,dangerous people out here withreal threats, and the dishonesty from your agency comes from thecovering up of these threatsthat could hurt American peopleand put our lives at risk," said Kamlager-Dove. "Dobetter."