By Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told a Senate panel on Tuesday that the Justice Department was ending the “weaponization of justice” even as several political adversaries of President Donald Trump face federal investigations and prosecutions.
Bondi, appearing before the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee, said the department under Trump was “returning to our core mission of fighting real crime,” citing the surge in federal law enforcement activity in Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee.
Bondi slammed the FBI investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat as “unconstitutional, undemocratic abuse of power.”
Her remarks came days after the Justice Department indicted former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime critic of Trump who investigated ties between his 2016 campaign and the Russian government, after Trump called for his prosecution and demanded the resignation of a prosecutor who did not think the evidence warranted criminal charges.
Comey is set to appear in court to face charges of making false statements and obstruction of Congress on Wednesday.
Others who have criticized or investigated Trump are also under federal investigation, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California.
Bondi’s testimony, her first since she was confirmed in February, followed months of tumult at the Justice Department as Trump administration officials challenge long-standing norms meant to insulate investigations from political influence and align the department closely with Trump’s agenda.
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, criticized Bondi for firing career prosecutors and agents who worked on investigations condemned by Trump and scaling back the department’s efforts to combat corruption and white-collar crime.
“In eight short months, you have fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain on American history,” Durbin said. “It will take decades to recover.”
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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