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Under Bondi's Leadership, DOJ Has Become the White House's Revenge Arm
Today Attorney General Pam Bondi is testifying before Congress amid mounting concerns that the Justice Department under her leadership is being weaponized to go after President Trump's perceived enemies.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:
“The abuse of the Justice Department under Bondi’s watch has been rampant, including the recent high profile and scandalous move to secure an indictment against former FBI Director Jim Comey after the President publicly demanded they do so, and despite the previous prosecutor's claims of insufficient evidence.
“The DOJ has been in constant turmoil since Bondi took the helm, firing prosecutors who worked Capitol riot cases or investigated Trump and pushing out senior officials at the FBI.
“At the same time, under her leadership, the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ, the section dedicated to fighting corruption from federal officials, has been reduced from a total of thirty-six employees to two. The Department of Justice is intended to be independent from the White House, not its revenge arm. Her tenure shows they have become exactly that.”
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Schiff Lists All the Questions Pam Bondi Refused to Answer During Contentious Senate Hearing
"This is supposed to be an oversight hearing!" Sen. Adam Schiff exclaimed after documenting Bondi's obstruction.
Oct 07, 2025
US Attorney General Pam Bondi received a grilling from Senate Democrats on Tuesday, although much of her testimony was notable for the numerous questions she refused to answer.
Near the conclusion of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that lasted nearly five hours, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) confronted Bondi by running down a list of questions asked his colleagues that she had either dodged or outright refused to answer.
Among other things, Schiff noted that Bondi refused to answer if she had consulted with professional ethics attorneys before she signed off on President Donald Trump receiving a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari government; if she had played any role in allegedly ordering federal agents to flag any mentions of Trump in the Jeffrey Epstein criminal case files; if Trump border czar Tom Homan had kept a $50,000 cash bribe he allegedly received from undercover FBI agents; or if the DOJ had provided any legal guidance or justification for bombing attacks ordered by Trump on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean.
Additionally, Schiff said that Bondi had refused to answer if she supported a "restoration fund" to pay money to Trump supporters who violently attacked the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021; if she had fired career Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors because of their work on January 6-related cases; and if she believed that government officials are obligated to abide by court rulings.
Schiff: I think it's valuable that the American people get a sense of what you have refused to answer today. So these are just some of the questions you refuse to answer, but or have answered with personal attacks on members of this committee. You were asked whether you consulted… pic.twitter.com/SP0l0PY082
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 7, 2025
After running down his list, Schiff exclaimed, "This is supposed to be an oversight hearing!"
This prompted Bondi to interject, to which Schiff replied, "You can attack me later, I know you have plenty of canned attacks, we've heard them all day."
Schiff then pivoted back to his original statement.
"This is supposed to be an oversight hearing of the Justice Department," he said. "And it comes in the wake of an indictment called for by the president of one of this enemies. This is supposed to be an oversight hearing, and it comes in the wake of revelations that a top administration official took $50,000 in a bag, and this department made that investigation go away. This is supposed to be an oversight hearing in which dozens of prosecutors have been fired simply because they worked on cases investigating the... president."
At this point, Bondi interjected with an apparent non-sequitur.
"What about the fires in California, do you care about that, Sen. Schiff?" she demanded to know.
Shortly after, she suggested that Schiff should "apologize to Donald Trump for slandering him."
Schiff: This is supposed to be an oversight hearing when dozens of prosecutors have been fired simply because they worked on cases investigating the former president.
Bondi: What about the fires in California? Are the riots in LA serious? pic.twitter.com/GUkOQvBDxM
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 7, 2025
The day before the hearing, nearly 300 former DOJ employees released a letter blasting Bondi's leadership of the department, while accusing her and other administration officials of "taking a sledgehammer to... long-standing work the department has done to protect communities and the rule of law."
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As Bondi Testifies to Senate, DOJ Alumni Blast 'Appalling' Leadership
"It is incumbent on all of us to fight for the Justice Department before it's too late."
Oct 07, 2025
In the lead-up to US Attorney General Pam Bondi's Tuesday testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, hundreds of former employees of the Department of Justice and outside watchdog groups sounded the alarm about the current state of the DOJ.
"From prosecutors, special agents, and intelligence analysts to immigration judges, grant managers, civil rights attorneys, and more, we all carried out our duties faithfully, regardless of who occupied the White House. Until we no longer could," the 282 ex-DOJ employees wrote in a Monday letter released by the alumni network Justice Connection.
"Each of us left the department, either voluntarily or involuntarily, because of actions taken by this administration," they continued. "It is incumbent on all of us to fight for the Justice Department before it's too late."
The letter, first reported by MSNBC, calls out the DOJ for carrying out President Donald Trump's "retribution campaign," spreading lies about the "deep state," violating court orders, and inappropriately dismissing employees, including at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and attorneys in the Civil Rights Division.
"The administration is taking a sledgehammer to other long-standing work the department has done to protect communities and the rule of law, too," the letter notes, citing attacks on the Tax Division, the Public Integrity Section, FBI public corruption squads, and hundreds of millions of dollars in grants for at-risk communities.
"As for its treatment of its employees, the current leadership's behavior has been appalling," the letter adds. "Demonizing, firing, demoting, involuntarily transferring, and directing employees to violate their ethical duties has already caused an exodus of over 5,000 of us."
The letter urges DOJ leadership to "adhere to the legal guardrails and institutional norms," Congress to "exercise its oversight responsibilities far more vigorously," and fellow alumni and all Americans to speak out. It concludes that "our democracy is only as strong as the rule of law, and the rule of law can't survive without the principal institution that enforces it."
In a statement, Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, echoed that warning: "For decades, the guiding tenet for those working at the department was to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons. Many believe that's no longer possible."
"They're being asked to put loyalty to the president over the Constitution, the rule of law, and their professional ethical obligations," she added. "We're seeing the erosion of the Justice Department's fabric and integrity at an alarming pace. Our democratic system cannot survive without the primary institution that enforces the law."
Bondi and other DOJ leaders—particularly FBI Director Kash Patel—have faced mounting criticism throughout the second Trump administration, including for the attorney general's Day One memo arguing that department employees are expected to "zealously defend" the president's interests and policies.
"The abuse of the Justice Department under Bondi's watch has been rampant, including the recent high-profile and scandalous move to secure an indictment against former FBI Director Jim Comey after the president publicly demanded they do so, and despite the previous prosecutor’s claims of insufficient evidence," Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said in a Tuesday statement.
"The DOJ has been in constant turmoil since Bondi took the helm, firing prosecutors who worked Capitol riot cases or investigated Trump and pushing out senior officials at the FBI," she continued. "At the same time, under her leadership, the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ, the section dedicated to fighting corruption from federal officials, has been reduced from a total of 36 employees to two."
"The Department of Justice is intended to be independent from the White House, not its revenge arm," Gilbert stressed. "Her tenure shows they have become exactly that."
Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk also issued a statement ahead of the Senate hearing. He said that "in her eight months as Attorney General, Pam Bondi has confirmed all warnings about her treating the office as an enforcer for Donald Trump's personal whims while also acting as a walking conflict of interest for her former lobbying firm and clients."
"It says it all that the former Qatar lobbyist Bondi penned a DOJ memo—i.e. corruption 'get out of jail free card'—allowing Donald Trump to use a gifted luxury super jet from the nation he's doing billions of dollars in crypto business with during and after his presidency," he continued.
"During her first Senate hearing," he wondered, "will Bondi answer for all these sweetheart deals she's supporting for the president and former lobbying clients while millions of working Americans are asked to choose between a continued government shutdown or losing their healthcare?"
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Renewables Surging Worldwide—But Going Backward in US Under Trump
Despite US backsliding, solar and wind generated more electricity than coal worldwide for the first time this year.
Oct 07, 2025
Led by Chinese expansion, global adoption of renewable energy is accelerating, with the world’s wind and solar farms generating more electricity than coal for the first time this year—however, the US embrace of fossil fuels under President Donald Trump is proving a drag on humanity's transition to clean power.
The climate think tank Ember on Tuesday published its Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights report, which found that solar and wind outpaced demand growth in the first half of 2025. Solar generation grew by a record 306 terawatt-hours (TWh)—a 31% increase—with China accounting for more than half the world's increase.
In a major milestone, solar and wind overtook coal electricity generation for the first time ever, as renewables grew by 363 TWh (+7.7%) to reach 5,072 TWh, while coal generation decreased by 31 TWh to 4,896 TWh.
"This analysis confirms what we are witnessing on the ground: Solar and wind are no longer marginal technologies—they are driving the global power system forward," Global Solar Council CEO Sonia Dunlop said in a statement Tuesday.
"The fact that renewables have overtaken coal for the first time marks a historic shift," Dunlop added. "But to lock in this progress, governments and industry must accelerate investment in solar, wind, and battery storage, ensuring that clean, affordable, and reliable electricity reaches communities everywhere."
NEW | Solar and wind OUTPACED global electricity demand growth in the first half of 2025, leading to a fall in fossil fuels compared to this time last year ☀️🌪️Record solar and steady wind growth is reshaping global power as renewables OVERTAKE coal for the first time.https://loom.ly/c-MNZSk
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— Ember (@ember-energy.org) October 7, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Two years after agreeing at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, many key nations have failed to make significant progress toward that goal. Chief among these countries is the United States, where the return of Trump and his "drill, baby, drill" policies has resulted in the International Energy Agency (IEA) revising the country's renewables growth outlook for 2030 downward by a staggering 45%.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by Trump on July 4 includes billions of dollars in handouts for the fossil fuel industry, boosts drilling on millions of acres of public lands, mandates oil and gas lease sales, and imposes new fees on renewable development.
Additionally, the US Department of Energy recently announced a $625 million investment “to expand and reinvigorate America’s coal industry." This, as the DOE dramatically slashes funding for clean energy projects. Other federal agencies have similarly turned their backs on renewable development under Trump.
The good news is that despite backsliding by countries including the US and Japan, the IEA says that global renewable generation could double by the end of the decade, with 80% of new clean energy capacity expected to come from the sun.
Even in the United States, the combination of all renewables—wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal—produced 9.9% more electricity during the first half of 2025 than it did a year ago, providing more than a quarter of all US electricity generation.
"Notwithstanding enactment of the anti-renewables provisions in the Trump megabill, solar and wind continue to power ahead," noted SUN DAY Campaign executive director Ken Bossong. "Meanwhile the electrical output [year-to-date] by the Republicans' preferred technologies—nuclear power and natural gas—has actually fallen."
Climate campaigners hailed the continued growth of clean energy.
“Renewables overtaking coal for the very first time is a sign of how the economics of power generation have been transformed," Julia Skorupska, head of secretariat at the Powering Past Coal Alliance, said in a statement Monday.
"There is a clear economic case for replacing coal with renewables, which are now the cheapest forms of energy in most of the world," Skorupska continued. "The transition from coal to renewables underpins competitiveness, enables energy security, creates good jobs, and lowers electricity prices and air pollution risks for citizens."
“With COP30 around the corner, countries have the opportunity to work together to accelerate this shift," she added, referring to next month's UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil. "We need genuine partnerships that enable coal-dependent countries to speed up their coal-to-clean transition, placing them right at the cutting edge of the energy revolution."
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