WATCH: Padilla Warns of Politicization of DOJ During Oversight Hearing With Attorney General Bondi

Attorney General Bondi has repeatedly undermined DOJ's independence, pressuring career prosecutors to manipulate politically sensitive cases, shuttering key offices, and dismantling essential programs. Padilla warned that Bondi's actions have jeopardized public safety by diverting resources away from organized crime, counterterrorism, and civil rights cases to prioritize immigration enforcement. Padilla also denounced the creation of internal "working groups," including a so-called "Weaponization Working Group," tasked with revisiting investigations involving the President and his allies.

During the hearing, Bondi repeatedly refused to answer Senator Padilla's questions regarding the abrupt dismissal of the investigation into former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan and allegations that he accepted a $50,000 payment from undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents posing as business executives looking to secure contracts with a future Trump Administration. Bondi also evaded questions about the firing of DOJ prosecutor Michele Beckwith, who was reportedly terminated six hours after reminding Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino that he was obligated to comply with a court order and the Constitution.

Video of Padilla's opening remarks and questions at today's hearing is available here.

Key Excerpts:

• The Department of Justice is supposed to be the nation's guardian of fairness and the rule of law. The power of the Department of Justice is built on public trust and a belief that prosecutions are based on facts and law, not on politics or personal loyalty. And I call that out, Mr. Chairman, because when that breaks down, when the public trust breaks down, then justice itself is at risk.

• But under this Trump Administration and the leadership of Attorney General Bondi, I believe the independence of the Department of Justice has come under attack. The department has been reorganized, it's been realigned, and repurposed in ways that we've never seen before. Important offices have been closed, key programs dismantled, and agents diverted, all without congressional authorization or transparent justification. Now these are not minor bureaucratic changes. They represent a fundamental shift in the Department of Justice's missions and priorities, its policies, and its practices.

• The American people expect a Department of Justice to pursue violent crime, as do I, to pursue corruption and threats to national security, not to serve as an arm of immigration policy, and in so doing, underresource other critical missions.

• Now the Justice Department's credibility depends on the public's faith in justice, and that the justice will be applied equally to every person and not reserved for the powerful or the connected, and that faith must be protected. And so it's in that spirit that this Committee has a duty to ensure the department's work remains lawful, remains transparent, and remains true to its highest duty, the fair and impartial administration of justice.

Senator Padilla has long warned against the Trump Administration's attacks on the rule of law and has fought to hold Trump's DOJ accountable. Padilla opposed advancing Bondi's nomination after she refused to affirm the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship and declined to disavow false claims that the 2020 election was stolen during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Last month, Padilla joined Senate Judiciary Democrats in demanding answers from Bondi about the continued weaponization of the DOJ following the forced resignation of Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Seibert and the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.

More information on the hearing is available here.

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