BURSTSen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) reflected on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s fiery Tuesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, describing it as more “like a boxing ring” than a formal inquiry.
Coons said Bondi was “aggressive” and “combative,” specifically with Democratic senators, and displayed a pattern of attacks against lawmakers.
“A key part of what the Judiciary Committee does is conduct oversight. And I was glad that we had a long and full oversight hearing today, 10 minutes for each senator to ask a wide range of questions,” Coons said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Arena."
“But it felt more like a boxing ring than like a Senatorial oversight hearing,” he added
The hearing was intended to be a deep dive into the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey but was filled with combative exchanges between Bondi and senators.
“Senator Blumenthal [D-Conn.], for example, was right after me, and he asked some of the same questions I had at greater length about the indictment of Jim Comey,” Coons told anchor Kasie Hunt.
“And she immediately launched back at him, attacking him with issues raised in his last senatorial campaign that were utterly off the point and had nothing to do with the hearing, but were ad hominem attacks, attacks at him and his truthfulness and his integrity,” he added.
Bondi also tussled with Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla (Calif.) over immigration enforcement in the Golden State. She criticized the California senator for asking a lengthy question with pointed remarks about the Trump administration.
“First, Sen. Padilla, you’ve gone on for over five minutes, and I wish that you loved your state of California as much as you hate President Trump. We’d be in really good shape then, because violent crime in California is currently 35 percent higher than the national average,” Bondi said.
When Padilla attempted to redirect the conversation, Bondi interrupted to finish her response.
“No, you can’t go on for five minutes and criticize my agents who are out working without pay right now,” she said, waving her index finger at him.
Coons described her behavior as, “unusually aggressive and combative performance by Attorney General Bondi.”