A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday is poised to offer an unusual face-off: Sen. Adam B. Schiff, who says he’s being targeted by the president for political retaliation, asking questions of the attorney general whose department would sign off on any charges.
Schiff and the other committee Democrats criticized President Donald Trump’s calls last month to indict Schiff and others, as well as an actual indictment of former FBI Director James B. Comey, as brazen use of the Justice Department’s power to intimidate political foes.
“This is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Nixon had his enemies list, but it wasn’t so exhaustive and blatant as this,” Schiff said in a television interview about a Trump social media post that demanded his prosecution. “It’s an effort to try to silence and intimidate people, but I refuse to be silenced or intimidated.”
Trump directed his call for prosecutions at Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since her confirmation hearing in January.
It’s one of a panoply of issues that Democrats could pick from to ask Bondi, a close Trump ally. Bondi is navigating a torrent of controversies as attorney general, including a decision not to disclose investigative materials related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the pushing out and firing of career DOJ officials and her role in pressing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.
Bondi could also face questions from Democrats about what happened with an investigation in which the administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, allegedly accepted $50,000 in cash during an FBI sting last year, an incident reported by MSNBC.
At a panel meeting last week, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Trump brazenly instructed the attorney general to go after his perceived political enemies, including Comey, Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“He ordered the Justice Department to go after the sitting attorney general in the state of New York, and he even ordered the entire Justice Department to go after a member of this committee,” Klobuchar said. “And if that is not chilling to my colleagues and they don’t care about this, I don’t even know what to say anymore.”
Federal prosecutors located in Maryland are looking into mortgage fraud accusations alleged by Trump allies against Schiff, according to The Washington Post. Schiff’s legal team has denied wrongdoing, and the former House member has said he is a target for his work on an impeachment of Trump and on a House select panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary panel have also criticized a federal grand jury indictment against Comey on charges he lied to Congress and obstructed a congressional proceeding. That indictment came after Trump made the post demanding that the Justice Department prosecute him.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump said in the post, addressing the attorney general by her first name. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
The indictment came days after the Justice Department replaced Erik Siebert, who was leading the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, with White House aide Lindsey Halligan. Trump took credit for pushing out Siebert.
“In my almost six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, I never witnessed such a blatant abuse of the department,” Schiff posted on social media. “The DOJ is now little more than an arm of the president’s retribution campaign.”
Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a floor speech that he opened an investigation calling for answers from Bondi about the Comey indictment.
“The American people deserve to know if the chief law enforcement agency of the United States is following the Constitution or pursuing political revenge,” Durbin said.
While Comey is a target today, “tomorrow it could be our fellow citizens who dare to even criticize the policies of the Trump regime,” Durbin said.
And Durbin asked for help from Republicans.
“It’s time for the Republicans to join Democrats and step up and say enough is enough,” Durbin said. “This is a code-red alarm for the rule of law, and unless we come together to stop the president’s abuses, I fear this administration will continue to corrode our American democracy.
“My question is this: Is there one Republican senator in this chamber who gives a damn?”
The post Unusual showdown awaits Pamela Bondi at DOJ oversight hearing appeared first on Roll Call.
