{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-warns-of-politicization-of-doj-during-oversight-hearing-with-attorney-general-bondi/", "WATCH: Padilla Warns of Politicization of DOJ During Oversight Hearing With Attorney General Bondi", "2025-10-07", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Attorney General Bondi has repeatedly undermined DOJ\u2019s independence, pressuring career prosecutors to manipulate politically sensitive cases, shuttering key offices, and dismantling essential programs. Padilla warned that Bondi\u2019s 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 \u201cworking groups,\u201d including a so-called \u201cWeaponization Working Group,\u201d tasked with revisiting investigations involving the President and his allies.\n\nDuring the hearing, Bondi repeatedly refused to answer Senator Padilla\u2019s 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.\n\nVideo of Padilla\u2019s opening remarks and questions at today\u2019s hearing is available here.\n\nKey Excerpts:\n\nThe Department of Justice is supposed to be the nation\u2019s 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.\n\nBut 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\u2019s been realigned, and repurposed in ways that we\u2019ve 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\u2019s missions and priorities, its policies, and its practices.\n\nThe 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.\n\nNow the Justice Department\u2019s credibility depends on the public\u2019s 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\u2019s in that spirit that this Committee has a duty to ensure the department\u2019s work remains lawful, remains transparent, and remains true to its highest duty, the fair and impartial administration of justice.\n\nSenator Padilla has long warned against the Trump Administration\u2019s attacks on the rule of law and has fought to hold Trump\u2019s DOJ accountable. Padilla opposed advancing Bondi\u2019s 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.\n\nMore information on the hearing is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-warns-of-politicization-of-doj-during-oversight-hearing-with-attorney-general-bondi/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.725688274949789, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}