Durbin: Bondi Used the Department of Justice as a Tool

Contentious Oversight Hearing on Justice Department

Senator Dick Durbin, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from Illinois, opened a tense oversight hearing by accusing Attorney General Pam Bondi of undermining the Justice Department by removing experienced staff.

Durbin claimed that Bondi had “systematically weaponized” important law enforcement agencies to shield President Trump and his supporters while attacking his opponents and, ultimately, the American public. In his opening remarks, he stated, “The Attorney General has made significant changes that harm our nation’s most powerful law enforcement institutions.”

He expressed concern over what he described as the purging of hundreds of career employees who were devoted to public service, resulting in the loss of “literally thousands of years of legal expertise.”

Durbin was critical of Bondi’s decision to disband the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, especially given the escalating risks of foreign interference in elections and rising crypto-related crimes.

He mentioned that Bondi pushed to fire around 75 percent of lawyers in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during a period marked by increasing hate crimes, and she also dismissed over 100 immigration judges even as the immigration case backlog exceeded 3 million.

Furthermore, he noted a drastic reduction in prosecutors within the Justice Department’s public order division, dropping from 30 to just two during a time when political corruption was on the rise.

Durbin voiced his dismay over the dismissal of career ethics officials, emphasizing that they were replaced by “inexperienced political appointees.” He argued that this effectively dismantled the Office of Professional Responsibility, creating a situation where misconduct among Justice Department attorneys has thrived. “Without those ethical safeguards,” he remarked, “corruption is rampant at the Department of Justice.”

Additionally, Durbin criticized Bondi for not addressing a past jet ride he took from the Qatari royal family, despite having been a registered foreign agent of Qatar.

The Illinois Democratic Party also brought attention to media claims that an official connected to President Trump’s border strategy received $50,000 in cash tied to immigration agreements, noting that this was investigated but subsequently closed under Bondi’s watch.