Trump Has A Pam Bondi Problem

Bondi’s performance in her much-anticipated congressional testimony earned poor marks from both the left and the right.

Photo courtesy of Politico

Attorney General Pam Bondi testified under oath before Congress in the most anticipated appearance of a Trump official on Capitol Hill so far this year. Lawmakers from both parties had lots of questions, particularly over her department’s handling, and mishandling, of the Epstein files.

Given the chaotic and apparent cover-up underway, Bondi had two choices. She could have sounded reasonable, answered questions calmly, sympathized with victims in attendance, and promised cooperation while pleading for understanding given the sheer volume of files.

Instead, she shouted and sneered, evaded basic questions, refused to look at the victims, and used a “Burn Book” of petty insults while demonstrating obsequious fealty to Donald Trump.

She may think that plays well to her audience of one. It’s clear Bondi was out to impress her boss in order to save her job, which is in serious jeopardy given her repeated failure to successfully prosecute his political enemies.

But what took place yesterday was a political miscalculation based on a profound misreading of the country’s mood on the Epstein files and the ongoing cover-up. And that includes many on the far right who watched Bondi’s performance and didn’t like what they saw.

Shouting, evading, lying and being a cold b*tch didn’t cut it

Bondi went into the hearings apparently thinking it was still early 2025, when the Trump White House controlled the Epstein files narrative. Back then, Trump’s popularity was still high, and the MAGA playbook was to sound as tough, partisan and uncooperative as possible to “own the libs.”

Ranking Democratic member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) had anticipated how Bondi would act, and he warned her that it would not be tolerated.

Perhaps Bondi would have been better off playing by the rules and at least trying to appear cooperative. Here are a few snippets from the hearing.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) asked Bondi how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators she had indicted. The answer is zero, as we all know, but Bondi attempted to burn up time on the clock and chose a shouting match rather than answer that basic question. (Were this a court of law, she would have been admonished by any judge to answer the question.)

In one bizarre moment that’s now gone viral and spawned a whole new line of jokes, Bondi began shouting about how the Dow is over $50,000 (yes, dollars) and we should all just focus on that.

At one point, Bondi sycophantically demanded that committee members apologize to Donald Trump.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) accused Bondi of lying under oath when she claimed there was “no evidence that Trump had committed any crimes.” Rep. Lieu pointed to a witness’s statement that he had overheard Donald Trump speaking to Epstein about a victim who later wound up shot in the head. Lieu noted that no one even so much as investigated that lead or interviewed that witness.

And in a memorable moment, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) had victims of Epstein seated behind Bondi in the hearing room stand up and raise their hands if they had not yet met with the Department of Justice. She then asked Bondi whether she would apologize to those victims for releasing their private information, but Bondi sat stone-faced before trying to change the subject to former Attorney General Merrick Garland and accusing Jayapal of “theatrics” that she refused to “get in the gutter” with.

Republicans were wary of running interference for Bondi

Republican lawmakers correctly sensed that Bondi and the Epstein files generally have become radioactive, even among their own voters. They were uncharacteristically accommodating of Democratic demands.

As reported, Scott MacFarlane noted,

Not sure I’ve seen this before

Republicans simply surrendered time they were allotted to ask Pam Bondi questions.

A few minutes ago, they opted to defer back to Democrats early

Even Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is usually pugilistic when it comes to partisan hearings, was relatively restrained, even if he didn’t do much to rein in Bondi’s outbursts and failure to respond to direct questions.

Many on the MAGA right are done with Bondi

For now, Bondi’s belligerent performance may help her keep her job, which is at risk given her continuing failure to jail Trump’s enemies. But it won’t impress voters, including many on the far right.

Trump’s MAGA conspiracy-driven base continues to demand full transparency over the Epstein files that Bondi had once promised. Notably, prominent MAGA spokespersons and popular influencers took strong issue with her performance and attitude during the hearings yesterday. As The Daily Beast reported,

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson said Bondi should quit or be fired. Referring to a clip of the AG ranting about stocks instead of answering a question, he wrote on X: “When the Attorney General of the United States is asked why she has prosecuted no one related to Jeffrey Epstein and this is her answer, she should be fired or resign.

“But neither will happen, which is another reason the Democrats are going to have a good election year.”

As Media Matters reported, even right-wing podcaster Tim Pool declared after watching the hearings, “Man, we are a nation of adult children.” He added, “I think Pam Bondi has done a... I give her more credit than people do. I was about to say that ‘I think she’s done a decent job,’ but I can’t. It’s just... I can’t say it.” He explained, “I think they’ve miserably handled the Epstein files,” adding “I don’t think we’re serviced as the American people by this kind of yelling.” Pool even praised Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), the co-sponsors of the Epstein Transparency Act, “for getting the job done.”

Darling of the right (and guy who brought a loaded gun to a protest and still got away with murder) Kyle Rittenhouse has turned on Trump’s top law enforcement officer, too. “Pam Bondi needs to resign,” Rittenhouse wrote in a post that received over 1.5 million views. “Harmeet Dhillon for AG!”

This all adds up to a serious political problem for Trump. He needs someone as loyal as Bondi to continue to run interference on the Epstein files, but she isn’t skillful under the spotlight, and she lacks awareness of how despised and mistrusted she now is by nearly everyone, both on the left and the right.

As Hailey Fuchs of Politico observed,

Democrats think Bondi’s hostile performance throughout the hearing will help their cause in the midterms as they make a case for a return to normalcy. At times, even House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan had to interrupt to ensure lawmakers could ask their questions.

Fuchs quoted Rep. Raskin on his assessment of Bondi’s performance:

“I can’t believe that the Attorney General of the United States of America would appear before hundreds of millions of Americans this way and then have a book of insults that she’s ready to lob at members of Congress ... we’ve got to get back to the America that we had before they dragged us down into the mud like this,” Raskin said following the hearing.

Fuchs agreed, adding, “In many ways, Bondi played directly into Democrats’ hands” by trash-talking lawmakers and refusing to meet the victims’ eyes and apologize.

Rep. Massie, the only Republican to actually ask tough questions of Bondi, and whom Bondi snidely claimed has “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” predicted that more Republicans will start acting like him later this year.

“Nobody wants to get on the bad side of Trump,” Massie explained. “That’ll change once we get past our primaries.”