From the Epstein case file to prosecutorial integrity, Democratic Congresswoman Summer Lee said Attorney General Pam Bondi is damaging the Justice Department.
Pam Bondi asks for an apology to Epstein’s victims at House of Representatives hearing
Attorney General Pam Bondi did not apologize to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims when asked during a heated exchange at a House hearing.
The second-year member of Congress watched with growing concern as the Justice Department fired its top ethics official, expelled investigators into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and launched investigations into the president’s political rivals.
As the Justice Department’s transformation progressed, she came to the conclusion that the nation’s top law enforcement official was unfit for office.
“This is an administration that is out of control and completely lawless,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania) told USA TODAY on March 18, explaining her decision the day before to introduce articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Lee’s impeachment proposal, drafted with the help of the anti-corruption nonprofit group People for Free Speech, points to investigations and prosecutions that he claims are evidence that the Justice Department is being politicized. These include charges filed at the president’s request against longtime critics of the president, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
A judge dismissed the charges in November.
“When you think about the authoritarianism that the Trump administration is actively promoting, this is ultimately what we’re going to focus on. These are acts that we’ll look back on in history and say that was a clear red flag,” she said.
Lee introduced an article co-sponsored by several other Democrats, including Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
She faces an uphill battle. A majority of the House, currently dominated by Republicans, would need to vote in favor of impeachment. Actual conviction in the Senate to remove Mr. Bondi from office would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
Observers may wonder why Lee went to the trouble of introducing this measure. But she says there is a growing sense of demand for accountability and it is important to apply more pressure.
The article essentially accuses Mr. Bondi of allowing President Donald Trump’s private law firm to serve his political interests and exact revenge.
“The most important message really is that the train is flying off the tracks right now,” she said.
The article also accuses Bondi of breaking the law by failing to turn over files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Lee sees these parts of the article as a potential lever to win Republican support.
On March 4, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein file.
“There’s a growing call for some accountability here, especially with regard to the handling of the Epstein file and parts of the Epstein investigation,” Lee said. “We’re going to have to build on that momentum.”
President Trump indicated earlier this month that he intends to maintain his position as attorney general.
President Trump said at a White House event celebrating the 2025 Major League Soccer champions on March 5 that Bondi was a “great person.” “And she’s proving how tough she is, and I think she’s going to really prove that over the next three years.”
The Department of Justice did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
“Attorney General Pam Bondi has worked tirelessly to successfully implement the President’s law and order agenda. Attorney General Bondi is doing an outstanding job,” White House press secretary Abigail Jackson told USA TODAY in a statement.
In early March, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) filed her own article of impeachment against Bondi without a co-sponsor. Each of these articles accuses Mr. Bondi of using the Justice Department as a weapon against his political opponents and obstructing a congressional investigation into the Epstein family.
Politicization of the Department of Justice?
The article of impeachment lists various ways in which Mr. Lee alleges that Mr. Bondi abused his power by targeting Mr. Trump’s critics for investigation and prosecution.
This includes complying with President Trump’s request to appoint Lindsey Harrigan, an attorney with no experience as a prosecutor, as Virginia’s top prosecutor. Halligan then heeded Trump’s call for grand jury indictments against Comey and James. A judge later dismissed the charges.
The articles of impeachment also cite other investigations into people unfavorable to President Trump, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman Lisa Cook, and six members of Congress who encouraged military personnel to disobey illegal orders.
“This is unacceptable in our political system,” Lee said. “This sets a precedent that our system, our institutions, our departments are all political footballs.”
In a March 11 court opinion, a federal judge blocked a subpoena that was part of a Justice Department investigation into Powell’s handling of building renovations, writing that the government had “essentially zero evidence to impugn Powell’s crimes. In fact, the justification was so tenuous and unsubstantiated that the court had no choice but to conclude that it was a pretext.”
The article also holds Bondi responsible for the department’s efforts to close investigations and dismiss charges and lawsuits against Trump allies or potential allies, including border czar Tom Homan, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Trump campaign major donor Elon Musk.
“The Justice Department’s job is not to protect or in any way protect the president of the United States or protect his friends (in the Trump administration),” Lee said.
The White House has at times suggested that the Justice Department under President Joe Biden has been weaponized for political purposes and that the current administration is reversing that course.
But those charges against Trump were brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose role was meant to establish more than usual independence from Justice Department leadership, and who was also appointed to handle the sensitive investigation into then-Democratic President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Mr. Harrigan filed the lawsuit against Mr. Comey and Mr. James after former officials in charge of deciding whether to prosecute reportedly expressed skepticism about both cases.
Bondi accused of protecting Epstein’s associates
The articles of impeachment also target Bondi’s handling of the Epstein file, which has drawn criticism from both sides of Congress.
In March 2025, Ms. Bondi fueled expectations that the Justice Department would release damaging information against associates of Mr. Epstein, who died while awaiting trial in a Manhattan jail on sex trafficking charges.
But just four months later, Bondi’s Justice Department issued a memo saying that a systematic internal review of the files had uncovered no incriminating list of Epstein’s clients and that “further disclosure is not appropriate or warranted.”
Since then, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have accused the Justice Department of illegally withholding documents, first in the face of Congressional subpoenas and then in the face of the bipartisan Transparency Act.
Mr Bondi defended the department’s action, saying it was a huge undertaking to review and edit the files and missed legal deadlines to release the documents.
“Based on the law that was passed, we had 30 days to redact and release 3 million documents, which when stacked up would be the height of the Eiffel Tower,” Bondi told reporters on March 18.
Bondi’s attorney, Todd Blanche, said many documents were suppressed to protect the victim’s privacy as allowed by transparency laws. But he also said the Justice Department was withholding documents for reasons not permitted by law, including to shield internal Justice Department deliberations about Epstein.
Mr Lee criticized the Bondi Justice Department for not taking new action against Epstein associates, despite Britain making arrests based on the latest file disclosures. He said this shows that America’s elites enjoy protections that working-class Americans do not have.
“The American people are tired of seeing that two-tiered justice system,” Lee said.
“If we have any information about men who have abused women, we will prosecute them,” Blanche said on January 30.
“Attack comes from all angles”
Bondi is not the only senior Trump official accused of breaking the law and undermining ethical standards within the government. Congressional Democrats are also calling for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, accusing her of directing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to violate people’s constitutional rights in their enforcement actions.
Judges may uphold claims that government officials have violated the law or even a direct court order.
For example, Patrick J. Shilts, a federal judge in Minnesota appointed by President George W. Bush, said in a Feb. 26 court order that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had violated the order in 210 cases in 143 separate cases, calling the “continued violations” of the order “beyond common sense.”
Lee believes the administration is showing a pattern of ignoring the checks and balances imposed by Congress and the court system under the Constitution.
“The attacks are coming from all angles,” Lee said. “And it is a fundamental and essential existential threat to our democracy and democratic institutions.”
