Attorney General Pam Bondi criticizes Jeffrey Epstein
Attorney General Pam Bondi responded to senators’ questions about the Jeffrey Epstein file.
- President Trump criticized Senator Richard Blumenthal on Truth Social after the latter clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
- During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mr. Bondy revisited past controversies regarding Mr. Blumenthal’s military service.
- Mr. Blumenthal countered that he has slammed President Trump for trying to avoid answering questions about his administration’s actions.
President Donald Trump slammed the Connecticut senator in a Truth Social post on October 7, the same day the senator clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where he repeatedly clashed with Democratic senators who questioned him about investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Trump’s political rivals. She dodged questions and made personal attacks on Democrats, but Republicans praised her performance.
Speaking to Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, she revisited a controversy from his Senate campaign 15 years ago, when he was accused of misrepresenting his military record. Trump echoed her attack on Truth Social.
“This man should not be a United States senator,” Trump’s post reads. “It should be investigated… He should be allowed to speak already!”
In response to President Trump’s Truth Social post, Blumenthal said he was proud of his accomplishments and that Connecticut voters know his record.
“Donald Trump is lashing out because he doesn’t want to answer questions about why he is directing the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents, drop cases against companies that defraud American consumers, cover up the bribery of one of his senior staff members, and cut millions of dollars in funding for law enforcement agencies,” Blumenthal said in a written statement to USA TODAY. “I must have really gotten under his skin.”
Who is Senator Richard Blumenthal?
Mr. Blumenthal is a U.S. senator from Connecticut, currently serving his third term.
He served as Connecticut’s attorney general for 20 years before being elected to the Senate in 2010.
Blumenthal spent six years in a marine reserve starting in 1970, but never went overseas. During the campaign, the New York Times reported that he had misrepresented his military service. At a 2010 Veterans Affairs press conference, he explained that he did not serve “in Vietnam,” as he had previously stated, but rather meant to say he served “during Vietnam.”
“I have made mistakes about my service, and I regret them. I take full responsibility,” Blumenthal said in 2010, according to the New Jersey Herald. “But I will not allow someone to take a few misplaced words and criticize my record of service to my country.”
In addition to serving on the Judiciary Committee, he also serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee, the Armed Services Committee, and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Bondi launches multiple attacks on Senate Democrats
Mr. Bondy’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was highly combative regarding his interactions with Democrats, including Mr. Blumenthal.
At one point, Mr. Bondi interrupted Mr. Blumenthal, who was asking a question about the potential weaponization of the Justice Department, and said, “I’m not going to get into a ditch with you guys.”
“I’m not going to be lectured about integrity by someone who lied about being in the military just to get elected to the Senate,” Bondi added, speaking of Blumenthal.
Some of her attacks appear to have been planned in advance, as Reuters photos captured her notes in a folder she sometimes opened during meetings.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee’s top Democrat, said of the meeting. “These are oversight hearings. Some of the questions are tough and demanding, but her responses were completely out of line. And her refusal to answer the most basic questions about what the department actually was about made many of us feel like she might not be doing the job she was appointed to do.”
Contributor: Josh Meyer, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is a Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky (@kinseycrowley.bsky.social).
