Bondi Stonewalls Congress on the ‘Enemies List’ She Directed DOJ to Compile

Along with refusing to acknowledge the harm her Department of Justice has done to victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and yelling personal insults at Democratic members of Congress, US Attorney General Pam Bondi stonewalled at Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing when Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon asked her direct questions about the Trump administration's attempts to label dissenters "domestic terrorists."

At the hearing focusing on oversight of the DOJ, Scanlon (D-Pa.) asked about National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which President Donald Trump signed in September, weeks after claiming the "radical left" was "directly responsible" for the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

The memo directs federal agencies to develop a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts," with an exclusive focus on anti-fascist or left-wing groups.

It classifies anti-capitalism; "extremism" on migration, race, and gender; and "hostility" toward "traditional American views on family" as some of the viewpoints that are held by groups that the Trump administration aims to disrupt, and the memo was expanded on by another memo in which Bondi directed the DOJ to compile a list of possible "domestic terrorism" groups that hold the views identified in NSPM-7.

The memos were signed months after Bondi said under oath that there would "never be an enemies list" compiled by the DOJ.

Scanlon noted in the hearing Wednesday that "Americans across the political spectrum were immediately alarmed by the memo's blurring of the line between unlawful conduct and constitutionally protected speech and activity, as well as its call to investigate, prosecute, and dismantle groups" with which the administration disagrees.

When the congresswoman asked Bondi to confirm whether the list she called for in her December memo has been compiled, the attorney general said she was "not going to answer yes or no" before saying that "an antifa member" was arrested earlier this month in Minneapolis for "cyberstalking."

The exchange was typical of the proceedings; members of the committee were continually frustrated during the hearing as Bondi refused to respond to straightforward questions about the Epstein files and other issues. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) at one point implored the attorney general not to "go off on a wild goose chase, another tangent," when asked a question.

Scanlon later asked Bondi if she would commit to providing the committee with the list of entities that the DOJ believes should be "designated as domestic terrorist organizations."

"I'm not going to commit to anything to you because you won't let me answer questions," the attorney general replied.

Scanlon responded, "We understand your current position is that you have a secret list of people or groups who you are accusing of domestic terrorism, but you won't share it with Congress."

The exchange came two weeks after independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported that he had learned from senior administration officials that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have already compiled over a dozen "secret and obscure" watchlists of pro-Palestinian and anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters and other people who have been labeled "domestic terrorists."

An ICE agent deployed in Maine also sparked alarm last month when he told a woman who was filming him that doing so would land her in a "nice little database" the department has, where she would be labeled a domestic terrorist. Filming ICE agents is protected under the First Amendment.

And CNN reported that DHS sent a memo to ICE agents deployed in Minneapolis directing them to fill out forms with personal data about protesters and people the department labeled "agitators."

Despite the mounting evidence that the administration is compiling data about dissenters, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said late last month that "there is NO database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS."

While Bondi similarly refused to confirm that DOJ has compiled a list of what it claims are domestic terrorist groups, Scanlon issued a warning that "Americans have never tolerated political demagogues who use the government to punish people on an enemies list."

Doing so "brought down" former Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare, she said, as well as former President Richard Nixon.

"And it will bring down this administration as well," said Scanlon.