Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, and the hearing frequently got heated as Bondi held her ground and fired right back at attacking Democrats.
Democrats raged against the recent indictment of former FBI director James Comey, and fumed over President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to cities where Antifa rioters are attacking ICE agents.
Meanwhile, Republicans are furious over the news that former Biden DOJ special counsel Jack Smith and his “Arctic Frost” team investigating the events surrounding Jan. 6, 2021 were tracking the phone calls of multiple Republicans, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
Early Tuesday morning, ahead of the hearing with Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that FBI employees involved in the monitoring of the Republican lawmakers have been FIRED.
Below is Bondi’s opening statement during Tuesday’s hearing.
“We learned that former FBI secretly investigated you and your colleagues,” Bondi told Republicans. “Why? They wanted to take President Trump off the playing field. They were playing politics with law enforcement powers and will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust. This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people’s faith in our law enforcement system.”
.@AGPamBondi: “We learned that former FBI secretly investigated you and your colleagues. Why? They wanted to take President Trump off the playing field…This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people’s faith in our law enforcement system.” pic.twitter.com/FRr65KtHsH
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) wildly claimed, “There’s been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos of President Trump with half-naked young women. Do you know if the FBI found those photographs…? in their search of Jeffrey Epstein’s safe or premises or otherwise?”
Without skipping a beat, Bondi fired back, “You sit here and make salacious remarks once again trying to slander President Trump left and right. When you’re the one who was taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants, I believe…”
.@SenWhitehouse: “There’s been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos of President Trump with half-naked young women. Do you know if the FBI found those photographs…? in their search of Jeffrey Epstein’s safe or premises or otherwise?”@AGPamBondi: “You sit… pic.twitter.com/b0gc9srrgX
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) voiced his fury over the news that his and other Republicans cell phone records had been obtained by Jack Smith and his crew.
In a later post on X, Hawley declared:
Here’s what we need a special prosecutor to find out:
– Who approved spying on sitting U.S. senators?
– Who signed off on the Biden FBI’s anti-Catholic memo?
– Who was behind the prosecution of Mark Houck?
We need oversight hearings NOW!
WATCH the full exchange below, as Hawley is clearly furious.
Sen. @HawleyMO: “Who ordered the tapping of the phones of United States Senators?@AGPamBondi: “I cannot discuss the details of that right now for very good reason…We will be looking at all aspects of this and I have talked to Director Patel at length about this.” pic.twitter.com/8OEwJ24gsr
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) slammed the “weaponization of government,” but he was not referring to the Biden administration’s attacks on Republicans and President Trump. Instead, he claimed President Trump has committed weaponization of government, and blasted Trump’s calls for certain people to be investigated, including NY AG Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff, former FBI director James Comey and others.
Blumenthal demanded to know details of conversations Bondi has had with President Trump, and she informed him she wasn’t about to discuss personal conversations with the President.
The exchange got HOT and then hotter, as Bondi demanded to know why Blumenthal didn’t speak out against weaponization during the Biden administration.
“I am not going to be lectured about integrity by someone who lied about being in the military just to be elected a senator,” Bondi told him.
Attorney General Pam Bondi to Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT): “I am not going to be lectured to you about integrity by someone who lied about being in the military just to be elected a senator.” pic.twitter.com/86b7Pw1Im8
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) attacked Bondi, and she fired right back.
Schiff: “You refused to answer that question. This is supposed to be an oversight hearing.”
Bondi: “Oversight!?! I think you owe the president an apology…clearly you’re a failed lawyer because you don’t understand when someone can and cannot answer a question.”
WATCH:
.@SenAdamSchiff: “You refused to answer that question. This is supposed to be an oversight hearing.”@AGPamBondi): “Oversight!?! I think you owe the president an apology…clearly you’re a failed lawyer because you don’t understand when someone can and cannot answer a question.” pic.twitter.com/StEHJE3udv
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blasted the former Justice Department over their involvement in the salacious and debunked Russian dossier, efforts to go after President Trump, and spying on the Republicans, including himself. His comments were for the benefit of Democrats in the room, and Bondi clearly agreed with his outrage.
Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC: “Can you tell me why my phone records…were sought by the Jack Smith agents? Why did they ask to know who I called and what I was doing from January 4th to the 7th? Can you tell me that?@AGPamBondi: “No Senator. And there were eight Senators in total.” pic.twitter.com/MaYkWUNj6V
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) voiced his outrage over the Democrat-fueled attacks on ICE agents.
.@AGPamBondi to @SenMikeLee: “Our federal agents lives have been threatened. We spoke with Apple and Google to get the ICE block app taken down.” pic.twitter.com/wMpqN0srff
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) wants the judge impeached who recently gave a “slap on the wrist” sentence to the many who tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
.@SenTedCruz on attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “Because he identifies as Transgender apparently it’s okay to try and kill a Supreme Court Justice if your politics are sufficiently woke…I believe this judge should be impeached.” pic.twitter.com/AKT0bS1K6B
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.): “Maybe they should have gone to Amazon and buy some testicles online, instead of just saying sure, I’ll just show you the phone records of a United States Senator on the basis of an administrative subpoena.”
.@SenJohnKennedy: “Maybe they should have gone to Amazon and buy some testicles online, instead of just saying sure, I’ll just show you the phone records of a United States Senator on the basis of an administrative subpoena.” pic.twitter.com/iCk8dhUEH1
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
.@SenThomTillis asks Attorney General Bondi: “If the deployment of the National Guard to Chicago or Portland is necessary to kind of create a shock to the system, do you believe that that’s a best practice or just a necessary evil…? pic.twitter.com/jYnz98Kc3z
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
The full hearing is in the video below:
BREAKING: FBI fires employees after discovery of ‘baseless monitoring’ of GOP senators’ calls