WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to provide details to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday of the legal rationale for the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois, as Democrats led by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin chastised her for politicizing the Justice Department.
Durbin, Illinois’ senior senator and the top Democrat on the panel, said the administration’s rationale for mobilizing hundreds of troops was “dubious” and accused Bondi of helping President Donald Trump “play a strongman on television.”
Bondi shot back at Durbin with personal and political accusations about the ongoing federal government shutdown rather than answers after Durbin asked whether Trump consulted with her before he called up the National Guard. The president sent troops to be stationed in cities around the U.S., including Illinois.
“As you voted to shut down the government and you’re sitting here, our law enforcement officers aren’t being paid. They’re out there working to protect you. I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump,” Bondi said. “And currently the National Guard are on their way to Chicago. If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.”
“I’ve been on this committee for more than 20 years,” Durbin replied. “That’s the kind of testimony you expect from this administration. A simple question as to whether or not they have a legal rationale for deploying National Guard troops becomes grounds for a personal attack.”
Other Democrats chafed at Bondi’s answers too.
When a California senator asked whether she thought federal officials needed to follow court orders, Bondi accused him of hating Trump and cited California crime statistics instead of answering the question. “I asked a simple yes or no question,” U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla told her.
“Her contempt is extraordinary,” wrote U.S. Sen Chris Murphy, an outspoken Democrat from Connecticut who is not a member of the Judiciary Committee, commenting on the exchange between Durbin and Bondi. “Trump thinks he’s a king. He believes he’s accountable to no one. Not Congress. Not the American people. And so when his people testify before the Senate, they act like they are bound by no rules and no laws.”
The Senate committee hearing took place at a fraught moment for both Congress and the state of Illinois.
Large swaths of the federal government remain shut down after Senate Republicans failed to gain enough Democratic votes for a spending bill that Trump has tried to cow them into supporting to avoid federal employee layoffs. Democrats have been holding out to stave off price increases for government-subsidized health insurance.
In Illinois, Texas National Guard troops sent by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived Tuesday at a U.S. Army Reserve training center in far south suburban Elwood, while 300 Illinois National Guard members were expected to report for duty soon. Trump officials have argued the troops are needed in Illinois to support federal agents as they continue a surge in deportation efforts, while Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and other local officials sought to block the call-ups in federal court.
A federal judge previously determined Trump’s decision to send Guard troops to California was illegal, and a Trump-appointed judge in Oregon blocked the president’s efforts to deploy the Guard to that state for similar reasons.
A federal judge in Chicago is expected this week to hold a hearing considering whether Trump’s orders to mobilize the Illinois and Texas National Guards in the Chicago area run afoul of an 1878 law designed to prevent the president from using the military as a domestic police force or if it violates the Constitution.
In Washington, Durbin also questioned the legality of the Guard movements. He said Trump was targeting Democratic cities and his actions were about “political theater, not public safety.”
“These hearings have never been more important, as President Trump turns the full force of the federal government on Chicago and other American cities,” Durbin said in an opening statement. “The assault on the city I am proud to represent is just one example of how President Trump and Attorney General Bondi shut down justice at the Department of Justice, even before the president’s party — controlling the White House, Senate and House of Representatives — shut down the government.”
He accused Bondi of “weaponizing” the Justice Department to attack Trump’s political opponents, purging hundreds of senior officials at the agency including civil rights experts and immigration judges, and weakening enforcement of public corruption laws.
Durbin chastised Bondi, who once was a lobbyist for Qatar, for not recusing herself when deciding to allow Trump to accept a $400 million Qatari jet to serve as Air Force One “even though the gift was clearly illegal.” The senator said the Justice Department “abruptly dropped” long-running investigations of two defendants who hired Bondi’s brother, an attorney. And Durbin noted that Bondi’s office dropped an investigation into Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, after the FBI recorded him accepting $50,000 in cash from undercover agents.
Durbin also faulted Bondi’s department for dropping corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams and for indicting former FBI Director James Comey, a Trump adversary.
“What has taken place since January 20th, 2025, would make even President Nixon recoil,” Durbin said of the Republican president who resigned in 1974 to avoid being impeached in connection with the Watergate scandal. “This is your legacy, Attorney General Bondi. In eight short months, you fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain in American history. It will take decades to recover.”
Bondi said she wished Durbin would “condemn the governor (of Illinois) for not cooperating with our law enforcement officers.”
“The National Guard is on the way right now as we speak,” Bondi said. “You’re sitting here grilling me and they’re on their way to Chicago to keep your state safe.”
“Madame Attorney General,” Durbin retorted, “it’s my job to grill you.”
“The investigation of your agency is part of my responsibility and (that of) this committee. You might not like the experience, but others have weathered this storm and answered questions in a respectful manner,” he added.
Bondi clashed with several Democratic senators at the hearing, the first one she attended since being confirmed as attorney general. They sparred over the department’s handling of files the Justice Department has on the late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, on the Homan bribery case and on the legality of military strikes that destroyed boats in international waters.
Bondi and Senate Republicans, meanwhile, objected to what they characterized as the weaponization of the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the committee, said the FBI had obtained data on phone calls made by Republican senators in the agency’s investigation of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The attorney general also said the administration “faced unprecedented judicial attacks” during Trump’s second term.
“We have been sued more than 420 times,” she told the senators. “Lower court judges have issued more than 90 temporary restraining orders against our policies — more than the prior four presidencies combined. This has been a coordinated wave of judicial overreach designed to halt an agenda that won the popular vote and all seven battleground states less than a year ago.”
