President Donald Trump on Tuesday night called for the investigation of a Democratic U.S. senator following U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During her nearly five hours of questioning, tension escalated between the attorney general and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal when he questioned whether or not she acted under Trump’s political pressure, both in prosecuting Trump’s enemies — like former FBI Director James Comey — and in approving corporate mergers that seem to contradict the administration’s anti-big business stance.
“I understand this issue of weaponization of justice goes to the core of the integrity of our criminal justice system, and I think we can all agree that no individual, no group, should be targeted simply because they are a political opponent, or because the president United States has some personal animosity toward them,” Blumenthal said, also insinuating that Bondi could be complicit in compromising the independence of the Justice Department.
Bondi evaded some of his questions, but defended her actions and those of the federal government, labeling the senator’s questions as hypocritical given his own controversial history of speaking truthfully.
“Sen. Blumenthal, I cannot believe that you would accuse me of impropriety when you lied about your military service. You lied. You admitted you lied to be elected a U.S. senator,” she said. “How dare you? I’m a career prosecutor, don’t you ever challenge my integrity. I have abided by every ethic standard. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial as attorney general,” she said.
Trump brings up Blumenthal’s controversial past
Back in 2010, Blumenthal was caught misrepresenting his military service as he campaigned for senator in Connecticut. On multiple occasions, he had said or implied that he served “in Vietnam” when in reality he served stateside in the Marine Corps Reserve.
On Tuesday night, Trump posted on Truth Social, “This guy shouldn’t even be in the U.S. Senate. It should be investigated, and Justice should be sought,” adding that Blumenthal “would talk about his life in the military in almost every speech, in particular the death defying dangers he faced in his many years ‘fight for freedom’ while in Vietnam. He stated that ‘the battles were violent and long, but there was no going back’ - And then it happened, Blumenthal was found out to be a FRAUD.”
Blumenthal responded to Trump’s post on CNN, saying it was “completely deceptive and distorted,” which he also labeled Bondi’s performance during the Senate hearing.
She was “lashing out because she had no answers or she wanted to avoid answering questions,” he said. “So this kind of personal attack, I think, really was just extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it in 15 years. We’ve had disagreements with the attorneys general in the course of our oversight hearing, but these oversight hearings are supposed to elicit facts and explanations for conduct that we’re asking about,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.