Bondi described hundreds of homicides in Chicago and argued
Trump’s decision to send in the Guard was aimed at addressing violent crime
that local police had not been able to contain. She noted that her deputy, Todd
Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel were en route to Chicago Tuesday morning.
“I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump,” Bondi said. “If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.”
Though Bondi’s appearance was expected to generate intense sparring with Democrats, Durbin seemed surprised by the intensity of Bondi’s posture in response to a relatively mild question about the work of the department.
Durbin, a lawyer by trade, opted to explain rationally and logically
I've been on this committee for more than 20 years. That's the kind of testimony you expect from this Administration. A simple question as to whether or not they had a legal rationale for deploying National Guard troops becomes grounds for personal attack. I think it's a legitimate question. It's my responsibly.
It is a legitimate question, it is his responsibility, and no one cares, not in this environment. In a decision totally predictable, the news media ran with Bondi's attack on Durbin as someone who hates Trump and Chicago and doesn't want to protect the city's citizens as the President does. Durbin's response? Boring.
Senator Durbin asked Bondi also about Jeffrey Epstein, as did Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island when
"There’s been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos of President Trump with half naked young women. Do you know if the FBI found those photographs?" Whitehouse asked.
Bondi responded: "You sit here and make salacious remarks once again trying to slander President Trump left and right when you’re the one who was taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants, I believe.”
NBC 10 News asked Whitehouse about Bondi's claim.
"Contrary to what the Attorney General said multiple times today, nobody by the name of Reid (or Reed) Hoffman has donated to any of my campaigns – not in 2018, not in 2024, not ever," a statement from Whitehouse said.
The junior senator from Rhode Island at least made an effort to refute Bondi's incendiary claim insofar as
Whitehouse left the room during Bondi’s testimony but then returned toward the end of the hearing in an effort to correct the record and dispute the attorney general’s claim.
But the presiding chair, Republican Sen. Ashley Moody
(Fla.), refused to grant Whitehouse’s request for a point of personal privilege
to correct the record, even though he’s the second-most-senior Democrat on the
panel.
Of course, there is no video widely circulating of Whitehouse's post on X or press release refuting Bondi's claim, probably because they were boring. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, it makes a sound. But no one hears it. and therefore no one cares.
It's uncertain whether an aggressive response would have made it to local, network, or cable news, or even onto social media. But Bondi's intemperate, false claim did.
The Attorney General's performance, as well as the refusal of the Senator Moody- a colleague of Senator Whitehouse- to give him the chance to expose Bondi's lie, should be a reminder to Democrats of the different, and perverse, environment we're now in. Democratic strategy must adjust from defense to offense, facts to accusation. Do a pivot.
When Durbin was confronted by Bondi, he could have pivoted to Bondi's own checkered past, reminding everyone that her office was investigating Trump University when her Florida state A.G. campaign received a $25,000 bribe and her office dropped the investigation. It was not she herself who got the money, but rather a PAC associated with her campaign; and it was not necessarily a bribe, instead generally characterized as a "donation." No matter; make the charge- more truthful than most of her allegations- and let her do the explaining.
Or the Illinois senator could have addressed the loving Chicago charge by noting that he loves Chicagoans much more than Donald Trump loves Americans. In 2022, it was the USA as "rigged, crooked, and evil." In February, 2025, it was that Americans are "bloated, fat, and disgusting." She might then denied- falsely- that Donald had ever used those characterizations. However, tens of millions of Americans would have been learned of contemptuous remarks they were never aware of but which Trump has made.
Senator Whitehouse also might have pivoted toward the illegal donation- which should have been termed "bribe" in order to get attention- from Trump to Bondi. Better yet, Whitehouse could have referred to Bondi's pivot from Epstein and refusal to deny that Epstein showed Trump pictures of half-naked women. Her refusal to answer that question, he would have noted, indicated that these acknowledging the salacious claim. For emphasis, he could have commended, or congratulated, her for finally answering a question.
Instead, Senator Whitehouse and Senator Durbin reacted in a calm, professional, and relatively traditional manner (below, Whitehouse from 4:19-5:01, confident that courts are acting by the old rules). By contrast, Bondi was putting on a performance, one which comes across as fairly compelling when not aggressively challenged by her questioners.
Democrats have allowed the narrative of Trump as a patriotic American go unchallenged for years and currently there is evidence of racy photos which delighted the current President. They have the opportunity to paint a realistic portrait of Donald Trump, which they have thus far avoided and probably won't do now. Unfortunately, most prominent Democrats do not fully comprehend the changed cultural and communications landscape. They should publicly assert unequivocally that there are racy photos while informing voters of the contemptuous attitude the incumbent attitude has toward them. Expose him.
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