▶ 0:16:10Chair Moran: Will be called to order for its third but here in a fiscal year 2026 in our appropriation process. This hearing will consider the president but a request for the united states department of justice. We welcome the witness, united states attorney general pamela bondi, who was confirmed earlier this year as the 87th united states attorney general.
▶ 0:16:36Chair Moran: The president has requested 33 point $6 billion for the department of justice for fy 2026. This is a reduction of $2.5 billion or 7% from fy 25 enacted levels. This cut entails the reduction of approximately 5001 hundred positions including attorneys, special agents, deputy U.S. marshal, and professional staff.
▶ 0:16:59Chair Moran: I commend the attorney general for efforts to streamline the department, achieve operational efficiencies, and find savings for the american taxpayer. Even having said that, I'm concerned by the depth of some of the proposed cuts. This includes cuts to doj law enforcement agency and cuts in the doj grant programs that support state and local law enforcement.
▶ 0:17:21Chair Moran: For example, the request proposes cutting funding from the drug enforcement agency administration by 111 million dollars and further proposes a $100 million in prior your appropriations. The benefit of our investments in dea speak for themselves because just last month the department struck a decisive blow against the sinaloa cartel and executed the largest fentanyl bust in d.a. History.
▶ 0:17:48Chair Moran: I don't believe any of us want to forgo the incredible work being done by the dea as well as all of the law enforcement components. The budget proposes a number of reorganizations within the department consistent with this agencies reorganization and reduction plan. I'm open to agency reorganization proposals. Everyone knows how hard they can be to achieve their that should not stop us from finding ways to streamline the federal government and save taxpayer dollars.
▶ 0:18:16Chair Moran: Some of the proposals require further deliberation. I've heard concerns with the proposal to merge the alcohol, bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms into the dea. These concerns come from state and local law enforcement officials in my home state who depend upon atf's network to develop critical intelligence upon crime and guns.
▶ 0:18:39Chair Moran: I've also heard concerns from second amendment advocates, and I believe it has been fairly raised about the impropriety of associating firearms, with a truly evil things such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, and mexican cartels. General bondi, it is my department that the department will work with a subcommittee to evaluate the proposals and where appropriate make changes. General bondi, thank you for the testimony today.
▶ 0:19:06Chair Moran: Look forward to what you have to say today in response to my senate colleagues questions. At the moment, I recognize senator van hollen for his opening statement.
▶ 0:19:15Sen. Van Hollen: Welcome, attorney general bondi. The department of justice is supposed to play a vital role in the pending our -- defending our constitution, upholding the rule of law and keeping the american people safe. Unfortunately, it is currently fitting on all of these fronts. This but it will just add to that situation and make it worse.
▶ 0:19:38Sen. Van Hollen: We are witnessing a level of lawlessness from this administration that is unprecedented in scale and scope . Indeed, when asked, president trump said he didn't know whether he was required to comply with the constitution of the united states. Instead of defending the rule of law, doj attorneys are being deployed to aid and abet in lawbreaking.
▶ 0:19:59Sen. Van Hollen: Just yesterday, madame attorney general, when the administration took the unprecedented step of suing all of the maryland dual district court judges because of actions they took to protect habeas corpus and the constitutional right of due process. To date, the administration has faced nearly 300 legal challenges in courts.
▶ 0:20:21Sen. Van Hollen: There are currently in place a huge number of pulmonary injunctions and temporary restraining orders issued by judges appointed by presidents of both parties including appointed by president trump. At the same time, patriotic, career civil servants have been fired for upholding their constitutional oath's. In january, the then acting attorney general fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors simply because they were assigned to work with special jack smith, and dozens of others have been wrongfully terminated.
▶ 0:20:54Sen. Van Hollen: You picked up where the acting attorney general left off when you fired the pardon attorney after she declined to restore the gun rights to a close friend of president trump with the domestic violence conviction. Perhaps most troubling, madame attorney general, is you have fired attorneys like the acting deputy director of the office of immigration litigation simply for telling the truth in court.
▶ 0:21:20Sen. Van Hollen: As he said yesterday, the whistleblower in a complaint filed, "I didn't sign up to lie." that sends a terrible message to every doj attorney who wants to do their job and upholding the professional ethics and integrity. While spending taxpayer resources to defend this lawbreaking, the administration has proposed a budget that is a gift to our foreign adversaries, to the drug cartels, and to illegal firearms traffickers. Why do I say that?
▶ 0:21:50Sen. Van Hollen: Let's look at each of those categories. On your first day, you disbanded the fbi foreign influence task force officers which was established to combat secret maligned influence campaign by china, russia, and other adversaries. You also restricted the scope of criminal charges under the foreign agents registration act.
▶ 0:22:11Sen. Van Hollen: Your budget cuts that drug enforcement administration and eliminates funding for the organized crime drug enforcement task forces which coordinate interagency efforts to combat the worst drug trafficking cartels. And you are effectively dismantling efforts to go after illegal gun traffickers by attempting to dissolve the atf. At the same time, this budget undermines local law enforcement by stripping away funding that is critical to protecting our local schools and reducing violent crime in rural communities.
▶ 0:22:43Sen. Van Hollen: And many organizations that help the victims of crimes are running out of their fiscal year 25 funds because, for example, the office of justice programs has only posted one grant solicitation for 2025. Meanwhile, under the guise of efficiency, your budget proposes to combine and significantly cut the three distinct doj grantmaking agencies including the office on violence against women, which you propose to slash by 30%.
▶ 0:23:15Sen. Van Hollen: There is nothing efficient about reducing services to victims of crime. Your budget also indicates that transparency and integrity are not priorities of the justice department. Over the last five months, you have decimated the public integrity section. Public reports indicate this office went from 30 attorneys to as few as five. Your budget would also slash the oversight watchdog, the office of inspector general by $42 million.
▶ 0:23:44Sen. Van Hollen: Inspector general horwitz told me the cuts would result in the elimination of 140 positions which would bring investigations to a halt and interfere with the ig's ability to conduct oversight of the department. I would know it was an oig investigation that helped uncover the fbi's serious mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse against former usa gymnastics position larry nasser. By targeting these key areas of public integrity oversight and accountability?
▶ 0:24:16Sen. Van Hollen: Attorney general bondi, I hope you will answer our questions today. I say that because your department has failed to respond to any of the nine inquiries I have made, and have only responded to two of 38 letters sent by my colleagues, the ranking members of the house and senate judiciary committee, senator durbin and congressman grassley. We have much to discuss this morning. I look forward to your testimony.
▶ 0:24:41Chair Moran: Thank you. Attorney general bondi, you are recognized for your statement.
▶ 0:24:48Ms. Bondi: Good afternoon, good morning. Chairman moran, chairwoman collins, ranking member murray, ranking member van hollen, distinguish members of the subcommittee. I'm out or to appear before you today to present the president's fiscal year 2020 six budget for doj. I look forward to working with you to ensure continued support for the department and our many critical missions.
▶ 0:25:15Ms. Bondi: President trump's .26 budget proposal takes $34 billion from the department of justice. The money will support federal law as well as our state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners. My primary objective as attorney general is to return department to its core mission of keeping americans safe and vigorously enforcing the law. This budget will allow us to continue to do just that.
▶ 0:25:46Ms. Bondi: Since january 20, we have dismantled deadly fentanyl networks across our nation. We prosecuted ms 13 and tda members using terrorism and rico charges. We have seized thousands of illegal guns from cartels and extradited key cartel leaders into U.S. prisons. Last month, the fbi arrested 205 child predators in one single operation.
▶ 0:26:10Ms. Bondi: And the dea executed the largest fentanyl bust in the history of our country across four states. We have also surged fbi resources to investigate thousands of violent crime committed against american indian and alaska native people. These are just a few examples of what we have achieved thus far in such a short time. This budget will allow us to continue our crucial work.
▶ 0:26:39Ms. Bondi: We have also led the charge to enforce our immigration laws, rebuild our immigration system after four years of chaos, and help secure our nation's borders. We must guarantee that our laws allow us to process, hold, and remove those who enter our country illegally. Our U.S. attorneys continue to effectively work with law enforcement at all levels to investigate and prosecute the increasing volume of immigration related criminal offenses.
▶ 0:27:10Ms. Bondi: Additionally, the president and I have established and reinvigorated three taskforces to enforce the administration's priority. Homeland security task force is enhancing federal and state local law enforcement throughout our country.
▶ 0:27:27Ms. Bondi: Joint task force alpha will continue to specifically target human trafficking and human smuggling networks that took root while our border was wide open, senator van hollen, and joint task force vulcan will continue successful efforts to arrest and prosecute members of tda and ms 13. We are also committed to making america safe again by reducing recidivism.
▶ 0:27:54Ms. Bondi: The bureau of prisons has suffered years of mismanagement, lack of funding, and low morale. Throughout my confirmation process, bop came up in every single meeting, regardless of party affiliation. The president's budget proposal will address critical staffing shortages, enhanced staff retention, and deliver positive changes to a system that has long needed improvements.
▶ 0:28:21Ms. Bondi: The resources made available through president trump's proposal will also empower the department to continue fighting our war on fentanyl. Since january 20 25, dea has ceased 41.5 million fentanyl pills and 4470 kilos of fentanyl powder. It is a historic rate but it is not enough. We won't rest until this poison is off our streets.
▶ 0:28:50Ms. Bondi: Finally, the budget continues my commitment to find savings in the department, reduce inefficiencies, and deliver value to the american taxpayer. In 2026, the department will merge components that work in overlapping areas and make our law enforcement and our grantmaking efforts more effective. We will emerge from this as a leaner organization better equipped to make american people safe from threats at home and abroad.
▶ 0:29:20Ms. Bondi: Chairman moran, chairwoman collins, chairwoman collins, ranking member murray, ranking member van hollen, it is my pleasure to highlight our efforts and be good stewards of our resources. I am working diligently to restore confidence and integrity to the department and each of its components. Thank you for your continued support of the department's financial needs and the opportunity to present our budget request. I look forward to working with you and I'm happy to take any questions you might have.
▶ 0:29:50Chair Moran: Thank you very much for your testimony. I would not recognize senator collins, chairwoman of the full committee.
▶ 0:29:59Sen. Collins: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I very much appreciate your leadership of this important subcommittee. Welcome, attorney general bondi. It is good to see you. Just yesterday, I met in my office with the advocates who work with survivors of domestic violence in rural maine.
▶ 0:30:24Sen. Collins: Along with chairman moran, other members of this committee, I was one of the lead sponsors of the violence against women act reauthorization of 2022. The programs authorized by this law are critical to reducing violence against women, ensuring that justice is administered and strengthening services to victims and survivors of
▶ 0:30:55Sen. Collins: Domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Despite the vital need of these programs, the department's budget request proposes to reduce funding for the office on violence against women from approximately $713 million in fiscal year 2025 to $505 million
▶ 0:31:25Sen. Collins: In fiscal year 2026. That is a reduction of nearly 30%. And the reductions include cuts to transitional housing assistance, the sexual assault services program, the rural victims program, which I heard a lot about yesterday, and many others. Attorney general bondi, I know that you care deeply about this issue, as do I.
▶ 0:31:58Sen. Collins: So why is the department cutting funding to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and support of survivors? Was this cut imposed on the department by the office of management and a management and budget?
▶ 0:32:20Ms. Bondi: Thank you, senator collins. When I began as a prosecutor, I started in the domestic violence unit. I say it is more frightening to prosecutor domestic violence case than a homicide. Because you never know the next day what will happen.
▶ 0:32:43Ms. Bondi: We used to wake up and read the newspapers in the mornings -- before cell phones -- to see if someone had been injured or hurt or killed, who came in and recanted from a domestic violence incident. It is very personally important to me as well. We also know that many homicides are the result of domestic violence.
▶ 0:33:05Ms. Bondi: This budget includes $505 million to prevent and respond to violence against women including $190 million for grants to combat violence against women. It also gives $60 million for sexual services. This budget is a compromise. It is a leaner budget. We can always do more with more, but we can do more with less.
▶ 0:33:35Ms. Bondi: You have my word that we will do everything in our power to fight for victims of domestic violence throughout this country, as I have done my entire career, senator.
▶ 0:33:46Sen. Collins: I do know and acknowledge that you care deeply about these issues, as do I. I hope we can work together to get to a better place on budget because I am convinced from talking with advocacy groups and with survivors themselves that we need to do more.
▶ 0:34:14Sen. Collins: And that often times, rural areas of america just don't have the services, and that is why I wanted to bring it up as my first issue with you.
▶ 0:34:27Ms. Bondi: May I respond to them briefly? About the rural issues, I didn't realize that until I became united states attorney general and met with you, met with senator murkowski. The rural areas, because florida is so highly populated, the state where I come from. Learning that, that is so true. Not only that, the tribal areas have an extremely high level of domestic violence.
▶ 0:34:55Ms. Bondi: I'm committed to working with you and every state on all of those issues and fighting domestic violence and sexual violence across this country. Thank you, senator collins.
▶ 0:35:04Sen. Collins: Thank you. Let me turn to one other issue. It is one that we discussed prior to your confirmation, in which I described to you a very serious problem in maine, oklahoma, and some other states.
▶ 0:35:25Sen. Collins: And that is the proliferation of the illegal marijuana growing operations that are connected to transnational chinese criminal organizations. When I raised this issue with the fbi director before the subcommittee in may, he testified that the fbi planned to direct more resources to the field in maine and to increase intelligence collection in D.C.
▶ 0:35:57Sen. Collins: To target these illegal grow operations that are producing tainted marijuana that are destroying the houses in which these grow operations occur. I am convinced are involved in human trafficking, as well.
▶ 0:36:20Sen. Collins: Who would want to work in a grow operation with black mold and other dangerous substances everywhere? I am also convinced from some of the charges -- and there has been an improvement with this administration over the previous ones -- that money laundering is occurring, and that it is likely linked to the fentanyl trade as well.
▶ 0:36:49Sen. Collins: Could you provide me with an update on the deployment of federal resources, so that our sheriff's, which have led the way, state and local law enforcement in maine, get the help that they need? I will say, the irs criminal investigation, treasury have been helpful, but we do need more help from the justice department.
▶ 0:37:18Ms. Bondi: Senator, thank you. First, to the issue regarding the chinese marijuana growers. The first -- one of the first things I did was meet with director patel about that, I met with dea about that, and atf about that. It all goes together, as we discussed. I thought you were going to receive a briefing on that. If not, we will make sure that you receive one in a classified setting.
▶ 0:37:49Ms. Bondi: I can tell you we are directly involved in many of those cases. We are looking at that closely. We will continue to fight that and research that. That was something else I learned about in maine from my very first meeting with you. We have had multiple discussions about it. There are active, ongoing investigations regarding that issue. As to fentanyl, we will continue to combat fentanyl. Fentanyl first came on the market when I was a state attorney general.
▶ 0:38:21Ms. Bondi: I fought my own party to get tougher legislation on fentanyl because people thought it was something you get in the hospital. Apples and oranges, it is completely different. As you are aware, the precursors I made in china, shipped to our country. Or the last four years, they were flowing through the mexican border, no longer. Dea, fbi, all of our agencies are committed to eradicating internal and other illegal drugs. Get this poison off of our streets. Kids are overdosing every day.
▶ 0:38:51Ms. Bondi: The department of justice, to combat the drug academic, 10.1 billion dollars, dea, $3.1 billion, total positions, 31,776 trial attorneys, over 1000, total agents, almost 7000, dea agents, almost 5000.
▶ 0:39:14Ms. Bondi: We have had many key successes with the dea including salazar and others or trafficking millions of fentanyl pills into our country. March 7, gonzalez, a mexican dual citizen, trafficking fentanyl. Just constant fentanyl cases we have been making and doing it with limited resources but consolidation of resources and getting our agents back on the street to keep americans safe.
▶ 0:39:46Ms. Bondi: Senator, that is my primary focus is attorney general.
▶ 0:39:48Sen. Collins: Thank you. I look forward to having that briefing. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:39:54Chair Moran: Senator van hollen is recognized.
▶ 0:39:57Sen. Van Hollen: Thank you, Mr. chairman. Madam attorney general, yesterday, an individual filed a whistleblower complaint against the department of justice.
▶ 0:40:12Sen. Van Hollen: As you know, he was a 15-year veteran of the department of justice, received commendations during the trump administration for all of his work at doj, but he filed a detailed account of his recent experience at the department of justice, saying that prior to his termination, after he -- that he was terminated after he refused to sign an appeal brief that was not supported by evidence for the law. He says I didn't sign up to lie.
▶ 0:40:44Sen. Van Hollen: In response to his termination, you made a statement on fox news a little while ago, saying at my direction, every justice department attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the united states and any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.
▶ 0:41:04Sen. Van Hollen: General bondi, I guess the direct question is, he says he was fired because he didn't want to make an untruthful statement to a court of law. I have two questions. Number one, I assume you agree that zealous advocacy does not mean telling untruths to courts of law.
▶ 0:41:36Sen. Van Hollen: Second, if that is not the case, what did you mean by saying he was not a zealous advocate?
▶ 0:41:41Ms. Bondi: Senator van hollen, this is all pending litigation, as you are well aware. The timing -- I cannot discuss pending litigation. This is a whistleblower lawsuit pending within my office. But I will say the timing of it I find suspect as he takes aim at emil bove, one of the smartest, most brilliant men I know, who will soon become a federal judge.
▶ 0:42:11Ms. Bondi: His hearing happens to be today. I find the timing of it pretty remarkable the lawsuit. This has to do with attorney-client privilege information that was disclosed. I cannot talk about the substance. What I will tell you -- and you have my word -- and zealous advocacy needs to be done ethically and honestly, always. That is what I mean by zealous advocacy.
▶ 0:42:37Ms. Bondi: He also accused emil bove of things that todd blanche, one of the best human beings I also know -- my dad, deputy attorney general was in the room and said didn't happen. I wish I could get into greater detail. I can't because it is pending. But I stand by emil bove and I stand by todd blanche every day, and I always will.
▶ 0:42:59Sen. Van Hollen: Met attorney general, I will say, his account seems to have lots of information, so as you say, this will be something that is litigated, reviewed through due process procedures. But I have to say, it is very disturbing.
▶ 0:43:22Sen. Van Hollen: We have also heard from others in other departments who are responsible for implementing the laws of the united states that they feel uncomfortable about having been asked to do things that they thought were unethical. Let me go on to some of the budget questions. I really want to follow up on my colleagues senator moran, senator collins. The doj grant funding is being cut back on two fronts.
▶ 0:43:52Sen. Van Hollen: One, in april, the department terminated hundreds of grant awards, notifying grantees that their current grant funds were gone effective immediately. That included law enforcement training grants, technical assistance awards, some dating back to fiscal year 2017. Question number one, are you going to be releasing those funds?
▶ 0:44:25Sen. Van Hollen: The second concern regarding grants has to do with the moneys that were appropriated in this fiscal year in march. My understanding is doj is withholding an overwhelming number of notices of funding opportunities, meaning that grantees who rely on these grants, including many who provide services to victims of crimes, are literally in some cases running out of money.
▶ 0:44:54Sen. Van Hollen: For example, the department's biggest grant making component, the office of justice programs, has only hosted one notice for fiscal year 25. If you could answer the question with this quest -- respect to both of those pieces.
▶ 0:45:09Ms. Bondi: That is a very valid question, senator. The notices will be going out in the coming weeks about the grants. We did cut grants by 6%. I'm here to tell every senator, if we did cut a grant that you care about, that is specific to your state, please contact me. I have turned on grants that were cut off. If that happens, there is an appeals process.
▶ 0:45:38Ms. Bondi: You can pick up the phone and call me. I would be more than happy to look at that. I never want to take away a grant that is actually helping americans, helping victims, helping law enforcement. We are looking at it on a case-by-case basis and many are being appealed already. You have my word we will look at all of those, absolutely.
▶ 0:45:58Sen. Van Hollen: In terms of the other piece to the question, when notices of information will go out? The fiscal year is obviously running out. We are hearing from lots of entities who are waiting for those notices so they can apply for the grant money.
▶ 0:46:15Ms. Bondi: Yes, senator. The notice of funding is consistent with our priorities and they are finalizing it right now. It will be going out very shortly. It will be posted on a rolling basis I believe.
▶ 0:46:30Sen. Van Hollen: If you could keep us posted on that. I would appreciate, madam attorney general, if your team could respond to a letter from about 30 senators on this topic of the prior fiscal year funds.
▶ 0:46:44Ms. Bondi: I will make sure they look at that letter. I think we received probably thousands of letters.
▶ 0:46:51Sen. Van Hollen: We needed in order to do our job. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:46:56Chair Moran: Attorney general, in the last 72 hours, senior officials of the department of justice, fbi have issued warnings about the possibility of iran or its supporters retaliating on american soil. I'm concerned by these threats particularly to jewish communities and facilities.
▶ 0:47:16Chair Moran: I appreciate the department is taking this seriously and the fbi appears to be taking these threats particularly -- I'm concerned after one of our own state citizens, sarah milgram, was murdered by an anti-israel activist here in washington, D.C.
▶ 0:47:36Chair Moran: My question, I recognize a full assessment of these threats is probably better in a classified setting, but would you describe to the committee today, tell us what you can about specific actions the fbi and the doj law enforcement components are taking to mitigate these threats?
▶ 0:47:52Ms. Bondi: Thank you, senator moran. I spoke with sarah's family in kansas. I also spoke with the young man's family in israel. I went to the scene of the crime, as I have done countless times as a homicide prosecutor in my career. I never dreamed I would do that again. It was truly horrific. They were simply leaving an event, as you know, at a museum.
▶ 0:48:20Ms. Bondi: The ambassador actually told me that night, it has come out since publicly, that he had a ring and was planning to propose to her the following week in israel. It was horrific. Not only that, what happened at governor shapiro's house in pennsylvania was absolutely disgusting. I have spoken to governor shapiro multiple times, and that person will be and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It was a hate crime, I believe it was done during shabbat.
▶ 0:48:55Ms. Bondi: Pending criminal case, so I don't want to get into it too much. That has been public information. Also what happened in boulder, colorado, what happened to a holocaust survivor. A woman who survived the holocaust was hit by a fire bomb from somebody simply because she is jewish. And many others were injured. Also a café in this country called jerusalem café. My civil rights division is all over that.
▶ 0:49:26Ms. Bondi: They will not serve you if you have a jewish star. They have coffee and tea's with despicable names that are anti-semitic. My civil rights division is going after them full force. Not only from a civil rights perspective but from a national security perspective, my national security division, one of my top lawyers is behind me today. We are all over these cases, working hand-in-hand with fbi, with homeland security.
▶ 0:49:55Ms. Bondi: All of our agencies are working so well together to try to combat this throughout our country. Without getting into detail in this setting, iran, of course is a threat. They have been a threat, always will be a threat to our country. We are working hand in hand with all of our agencies to protect americans and to keep us safe.
▶ 0:50:19Ms. Bondi: We have a 24/7 command center at the fbi set up for situations just like you described, senator.
▶ 0:50:30Chair Moran: Thank you for your vehement response about the importance about protecting all americans, particularly those who are singled out because of their heritage or religion. There are a number of grant programs that might be valuable. Precipitous increase in crime program is available to search resources under the justice I assisted grant program.
▶ 0:50:55Chair Moran: I'm looking at ways to further protect synagogues and other religious places in our country from this kind of terror and violence. Let me switch topics, although not unrelated. I've taken a particular interest in making sure judges in the federal courts of our country are protected. We have seen too many circumstances in which a judge or judges family has been harmed.
▶ 0:51:23Chair Moran: The united states marshals service plays a critical role in ensuring federal judges and secure. In this context with this elevated threat environment that there is evidence of, I am pleased the budget is proposing an increase of $30 million in marshall's salaries and expense accounts. That increase, however, is dedicated to the proposal to migrate in pull into the marshals service.
▶ 0:51:54Chair Moran: General bondi, would you support additional resources for the marshall's to make sure they can execute their judicial security responsibilities?
▶ 0:52:01Ms. Bondi: Yes, and to back up, when you said about protecting our jewish friends throughout the country, we are also protecting mosques. We are protecting all religions throughout our country. I didn't want to miss that point.
▶ 0:52:20Chair Moran: You wouldn't single out any particular religious individuals or institutions. We want all americans to be safe and secure.
▶ 0:52:28Ms. Bondi: Yes, senator. Todd blanche, my attorney, has a meeting with the sergeant at arms here to be sure that all of you are protected as well, as well as our judges. Our new U.S. marshal, he is remarkable. He is a floridian, so I am biased. He is from miami. He has been a long-standing U.S. marshal.
▶ 0:52:58Ms. Bondi: He is going to do everything in his power to keep all of our judges safe, and we will work hand-in-hand with all of you that. This has nothing to do with political party, this has to do with keeping americans safe, keeping our lawmakers safe, keeping our judges safe. Where our judges feel like they can go home at night and be safe and not have to worry. All of our governors, all the lawmakers in minnesota, throughout this country.
▶ 0:53:29Ms. Bondi: I spoke to keith ellison. I spoke to senator klobuchar after minnesota. In that case, our U.S. attorney on the ground is working hand in hand with the district attorney. That is what I've done my entire career, and that is what they will continue to do. The federal, state, and local authorities will work hand-in-hand. Our budget includes $190 million , senator, for judicial security, including 303 deputy U.S. marshal.
▶ 0:53:59Chair Moran: I'm pleased to hear you are aware and supportive of those efforts. I would highlight for you that under the daniel andrew act, we are working to have the personal information of judges removed from the internet, from public circumstances, including the addresses and names of their children.
▶ 0:54:25Chair Moran: Senate bill fy25 funded the program at $10 million. I am hopeful the subcommittee and the department of justice can continue to find ways to support that effort to further protect our judges and their families.
▶ 0:54:39Ms. Bondi: Senator, not only the judges but all you need to be protected in the world in which we live.
▶ 0:54:45Chair Moran: Thank you. Senator peters is recognized.
▶ 0:54:53Sen. Peters: Attorney general bondi, welcome to the committee. Leadership at dhs has claimed that ice and others carrying out immigration enforcement activities in support are covering their faces to protect themselves from being doxxed. I fully understand those concerns, appreciate those concerns. They are real concerns.
▶ 0:55:19Sen. Peters: But I'm deeply concerned that the lack of identification during these activities is dangerous both to the public as well as to the officers themselves. The public risks being harmed by individuals pretending to be immigration enforcement, which has already happened. These officers also risk being injured by individuals who think they are basically being kidnapped or attacked. By some unknown assailant my question for you, attorney general bondi.
▶ 0:55:49Sen. Peters: Given the number of officials supporting dhs, how will you ensure the public and the officers, if they continue to not follow the required protocol to identify themselves as law enforcement?
▶ 0:56:03Ms. Bondi: Senator peters, that is the first time that issue has come to me about -- you are saying law enforcement officers when they cover their faces? I know they are being doxxed. They are being threatened, their families.
▶ 0:56:19Sen. Peters: I get that, but they have to identify themselves. There is an insignia often times. They have to identify themselves as law enforcement. People think there is a person coming up to be, not identifying, they are kidnapping. That endangers the officer as well. That is a serious situation. People need to know they are dealing with a federal law-enforcement official.
▶ 0:56:43Ms. Bondi: I would be happy to look at that issue with you and talk to our partner law-enforcement age and. I can assure you if they are covering their faces, it is to protect themselves. They also want to protect all citizens. That is something we can work together on to ensure the safety of everyone and their families.
▶ 0:57:00Sen. Peters: It is protecting themselves if they identify themselves. Someone is going to fight back if you just think a strange person with her face covered is from you into a van. Most people will resist that.
▶ 0:57:13Ms. Bondi: Sounds like you have a specific case. Have to talk about that at a later time. I'm not aware of that happening. I would be happy to talk about that.
▶ 0:57:23Sen. Peters: Earlier this month, the administration announced it was lodging an effort to ramp up immigration apprehensions by shifting more than 5000 personnel from across the federal law and including approximately 2000 from within the justice department, away from their typical duties to focus on immigration cases including targeting individuals who status have been terminated by this administration.
▶ 0:57:51Sen. Peters: This effort is on top of previous directives by officials to focus on immigration enforcement. Many of these officials impacted by these directives unsurprisingly say they are being forced to turn their attention away from other national security missions including counterterrorism and cybersecurity.
▶ 0:58:11Sen. Peters: There has been public reporting that hundreds of fbi agents have been reassigned to immigration related duties, raising real concern among agents themselves that the shift could hinder investigations into terror threats and espionage by china and russia. We have also heard concerns about resources being reoriented at the state and local level.
▶ 0:58:32Sen. Peters: Attorney general bondi, I know the justice department officials have said this president can walk and chew gum at the same time and that you continue to hold all criminals accountable regardless of immigration status. But numerous reports on the ground from career government officials and some basic common sense would beg to differ.
▶ 0:58:52Sen. Peters: Given the attacks on iran over the weekend, this issue has become even more salient with threats from terrorists inspired by iran, cyber attacks often by iran itself or additional efforts by that regime to go after government leaders. My question is how are you ensuring there are enough resources focused on the full range of national security threats -- and there are no shortage of those -- when so many of our doj resources are being reallocated to immigration enforcement?
▶ 0:59:22Ms. Bondi: I talked to director patel or deputy director bond you know seven days a week. I speak to my national security division. We meet every single day. Emil bove, who is currently with us, is doing an incredible job in a national security space as well, helping us. We are using our resources on all fronts.
▶ 0:59:48Ms. Bondi: When you say immigration, immigration is going hand-in-hand with the people who have come into our country through our borders. Over 1500 illegal aliens from iran are here. Chinese individuals, russian individuals, people from every country. That goes hand-in-hand with immigration. Identifying them, finding them, and getting them out of our country.
▶ 1:00:16Ms. Bondi: National security, will it be compromised? Not at all. It will be enhanced. Every day we talk about this multiple times a day, seven days a week, as to what we can do working hand in hand with dea, atf agents, fbi, homeland security, ice, to make sure that our nation is safe. Fbi has a 24/7 center set up now.
▶ 1:00:48Ms. Bondi: We have set some up around the country. You are welcome to see one if you would like. I would love to have you come in and see what we do. We have that set up around our country on a national security level, to be sure americans are safe, and do everything we can to get terrorists in our country out of the country.
▶ 1:01:07Sen. Peters: I don't disagree with any of that, criminal elements need to be taken care of, but we are also looking at cybersecurity, counterterrorism issues which are different. I don't believe we were over resourced in those areas. You may beg to differ. We were making sure they had the resources to deal with the other threats. Now those people are being pulled off of those jobs for another job.
▶ 1:01:32Sen. Peters: I just want to make sure that we are still doing things necessary to protect us from cyber threats, counterterrorism, the long list of other threats that we face every day.
▶ 1:01:40Ms. Bondi: Thank you for the questions. I know your background, and I know that is why it is important to us. Cybersecurity, I could go on for two hours about what is happening. Not only that, the online child predators, but the foreign terrorist threats through cybersecurity that we can talk about in a different setting. I would be happy to discuss all of that with you. And our efforts not only made within our country but with our partners worldwide.
▶ 1:02:08Sen. Peters: Look forward to having that opportunity.
▶ 1:02:11Chair Moran: Thank, senator peters. Senator graham.
▶ 1:02:17Sen. Graham: Attorney general, I think you are doing a fantastic job. I want to say that to you and your team. Lay out where I think we are going here. The threat level to this country is pretty high, agree?
▶ 1:02:31Ms. Bondi: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:02:33Sen. Graham: Every time I turn around there seem to be a new threat coming our way. We are going to have to meet the moment. One thing I want you to reconsider is that there were some terminations that protected details for people who were targeted for assassination by the -- the role they played in the first term. Secretary pompeo and others. I would urge you to reconsider that. I think the threat level is pretty high.
▶ 1:03:04Sen. Graham: That is just something for you to take back. I think iran does want to hurt our country. Back to lawlessness, that was mentioned. Can you briefly give me the scope of the problem you have had to deal with just on the illegal immigration? Yeah.
▶ 1:03:24Ms. Bondi: The drugs, the guns, the terrorists coming into our country. I just say this because it is relevant to where we are sitting. 20 minutes away, we arrested one of the highest level members of one of the biggest gangs in the country, living in virginia. That was through a task force that we set up with governor youngkin, with state, local, federal law-enforcement agencies working together.
▶ 1:03:51Sen. Graham: Would you say it has been a big mountain and you are climbing it?
▶ 1:03:55Ms. Bondi: It has been mount everest. It is monumental.
▶ 1:03:59Sen. Graham: Let us help you climb mount everest. Mr. holman said if we don't get more money into the system, we are going to hit a wall in terms of the president's promise to the poor people that shouldn't be here, represent a danger. Do you agree with that,? That ice need more funding
▶ 1:04:21Ms. Bondi: Always, yes.
▶ 1:04:24Sen. Graham: Reconciliation is on the way. Do you support the president's border security budget?
▶ 1:04:30Ms. Bondi: I do. Senator, the big beautiful bill gives $500 million to us, department of justice to combat drug trafficking.
▶ 1:04:40Sen. Graham: We are going to start the big beautiful bill.
▶ 1:04:43Ms. Bondi: Six hundred million dollars to prosecute immigration matters, which are really all the issues that senator peters discussed with me. $950 million to reimburse noncircular states and locals for costs that they have incurred. 1.20 $5 billion for other immigration issues. I would urge everyone to support the senate version, which is much greater for department of justice than the houses version of one big beautiful bill.
▶ 1:05:15Ms. Bondi: That goes back to what senator van hollen was discussing, increasing our public safety, as well as you, senator moran.
▶ 1:05:21Sen. Graham: As the senate budget chairman, I think I will. I think it is needed. Not joking about it. I think it is very much needed. The but you propose will be reworked. You understand this?
▶ 1:05:37Ms. Bondi: Yes.
▶ 1:05:39Sen. Graham: If we give you my money, you think you can use it wisely?
▶ 1:05:43Ms. Bondi: We will always be a good steward of your money. We will put law-enforcement officers on the streets.
▶ 1:05:50Sen. Graham: This whole dea thing, I don't know who is thinking about that. That just makes zero sense to me. Putting atf over in the dea? We will agree to disagree. I just think you are doing a great job. That is the way our system works. We may have a different view of things but we will work together. I trust your judgment very much so. Is mexico helping us with the drug problem?
▶ 1:06:22Ms. Bondi: Senator, that might be a conversation to better have in a classified setting.
▶ 1:06:28Sen. Graham: Here is what I want to say publicly. No. You are not. [laughter] have your country is run by the cartels. We are never going to be safe until we get mexico to change their gain. I would be glad to talk to you in a private session but enough is enough with mexico.
▶ 1:06:46Ms. Bondi: The sinaloa cartel's have wreaked havoc on our country and continue to wreak havoc.
▶ 1:06:52Sen. Graham: Enough of that crap. We are coming after them with mexico's help or without their help. I don't know what the white response is to a neighbor that allows this kind of lawlessness to come into our country and kill more young people than any other method. More people die from fentanyl poisoning than anything else. That just needs to stop. Back to iran.
▶ 1:07:23Sen. Graham: They have sleeper cells when we think, here?
▶ 1:07:29Ms. Bondi: We have thus far arrested 1500 illegal iranians in our country. That is something I would like to talk about in a classified setting. Have they invaded our country? Absolutely.
▶ 1:07:44Sen. Graham: When people chant death to america, that is a tipoff they are a threat to the country, right?
▶ 1:07:51Ms. Bondi: And to our jewish population.
▶ 1:07:56Sen. Graham: When they swore in the recent president in july last year, they were chanting death to america. The point I'm trying to make, iran is threatening us in many ways. I do not want to live my life or our country's life giving into beliefs and religious nazis. We are coming after your regime to change it. Nobody wants regime change for the sake of regime change.
▶ 1:08:27Sen. Graham: I want the regime to change his behavior. I want them to stop a policy of killing all the jews in israel. Reject that policy. I want them to be better neighbors for the world at large. I want them to change their behavior. And if you don't want them to change your behavior, that is weird. Because they kill their own people, they are hanging people in squares today.
▶ 1:08:52Sen. Graham: They are very oppressive, brutal, they have been trying to build a nuclear weapon and they want to use it against the people of israel and us. My last point is, when it comes to iran, can you say to the iranian regime, you will not intimidate us to do what is best to help israel and our own national security?
▶ 1:09:13Ms. Bondi: I think donald trump has set out loud and clear, we will not be intimidated. We will keep america safe thanks to the leadership of president trump. Not only from iran but from china, russia, and mexico. Any foreign adversary who is trying to kill us physically or trying to overdose our children with drugs. We will do everything in our power thanks to his leadership to keep america safe.
▶ 1:09:36Sen. Graham: Outstanding. Thank you.
▶ 1:09:39Chair Moran: We are joined by the vice chairman of the full committee. Senator murray recognized.
▶ 1:09:46Sen. Murphy: Attorney general bondi, we are in a deeply alarming moment when law enforcement is being replaced by corruption and chaos and whatever trump wants. Your department's independence, in its capacity to do its job have a road before our eyes. We have seen respected career officials who have been fired for doing their job with thousands more are being pushed out, by outcome a threat of mass firings, and entire divisions are being eliminated. And grants have been canceled illegally.
▶ 1:10:17Sen. Murphy: I have questions about how and why those decisions are being made. Importantly, whether you are adequately resourcing doj to do its job. Before I turn to my questions, I want to raise my alarm about the troubling pattern of trampling basic rights. Detainees, including U.S. citizens being shipped overseas without any due process. Elected officials are detained for conducting oversight. And a U.S. senator gets tackled to the ground for asking questions at a press conference?
▶ 1:10:49Sen. Murphy: This is not the country I know or the values I believe in. I hope colleagues on both sides of the aisle will agree with that. Now to the questions. I know that senator van hollen raised this issue. A former doj attorney filed a protected whistleblower complaint accusing deputy ag emil bove and senior leadership of the fine court orders including through lack of candor, deliberate delay, and this information.
▶ 1:11:19Sen. Murphy: The complaint also accuses this information of firing the whistleblower for "telling the truth to the court." these allegations are deeply concerning. I know you said you cannot discuss the case, but can you confirm that you agree that this administration should follow court orders?
▶ 1:11:37Ms. Bondi: We will follow court orders, senator. The entire administration will follow court orders. The problem arises in the district court's. Throughout the country -- here is how we will follow them.
▶ 1:11:55Sen. Murray: I need to ask a number of questions. Let me ask my questions. Can you confirm you will not allow any conduct like what is alleged to continue at the doj?
▶ 1:12:07Ms. Bondi: I'm not going to talk about anything that is alleged. What I will talk about with you. Hold on, you asked me a question and I get to answer it. You asked me about alleged conduct that is part of a pending whistleblower lawsuit that was filed on the people of emil bove's hearing today. It is highly suspicious. Let me keep going. I would run through a wall for emil bove and todd blanche.
▶ 1:12:32Sen. Murray: I have limited time. Thank you. I want you to confirm that you will not allow conduct like that at the. Yes or no.
▶ 1:12:41Ms. Bondi: I will always support and defend emil bove and I will defend todd blanche. They are two of the finest people I know.
▶ 1:12:49Sen. Murray: Let me keep going here. In april, doj abruptly terminated over 300 public grants that had already gone through a very rigorous and fair and apolitical application process with no explanation. This is funding to investigate and prosecute drug trafficking, to support foster care kids who experienced abuse or neglect, to expand access to forensic exams to prosecute violent crimes like sexual assault.
▶ 1:13:20Sen. Murray: These really senseless cancellations have already forced public safety organizations to cut employees and services. I want to ask you, when you cut out the community based violence intervention and prevention initiative funding, were you aware it is used to prevent and reduce violent crimes?
▶ 1:13:38Ms. Bondi: Senator, you were not here for that, so I will have to repeat myself. We have cut grants. I think we have cut 6%, but if we have cut a grant that you feel should not be cut, please reach out to me. I will present and look at it. We have turned multiple grants back on. We have an appeals process. If you want to come to me directly, I would be happy to sit down with you and look at that and help you. We are doing everything we can.
▶ 1:14:08Sen. Murray: When you cut off the expanding access to sexual assault forensic examination grant, were you aware that that grant helps our authorities prosecute rape and sexual assault?
▶ 1:14:20Ms. Bondi: I have no idea about that specific rate you are talking about. That is why I said if you want to sit with me, I would never cut a grant intentionally --
▶ 1:14:31Sen. Murray: I can absolutely do that. My staff will get that to you. Those are two critical ones that I wanted to ask about today.
▶ 1:14:43Ms. Bondi: We have turned many grants back on and will continue to. If you want to call me, we can discuss them with you.
▶ 1:14:56Sen. Murray: You proposed putting the office of women into into thousand two, congress codified it as a separate and independent office temperament the violence against women act. We did that to make sure that violent crimes against women received the necessary attention, expertise, and resources, and to give the office a strong, independent voice within the justice department and federal government.
▶ 1:15:25Sen. Murray: Now, your department wants to fade that into the oj p, which violates the intent of the law that we passed. It makes grant programs less effective. And it places more barriers for victims to get services they need. And I see you are cutting the office's resources by about a third. You commit to us on the appropriations committee to follow the law and maintain it as a separate grant entity?
▶ 1:15:53A.G. Bondi: I will follow the law, but I will not keep that as a separate grant entity. You and I can disagree all day long about what the law is. It is being consolidated into the office of justice programs. Let me answer. I'm not going to cut anything that is going to hurt violence against women. It will eliminate --
▶ 1:16:16Sen. Murray: For your information, in 2002, we codified the office as a permanent, separate and independent office. So you need to go back and take a look at that. I know my time is up.
▶ 1:16:28Chair Cruz: Senator kennedy.
▶ 1:16:30Sen. Kennedy: Thank you, Mr. chairman. General, when you took over at justice and started going through all of the grants under your predecessor, did you find any that in your opinion constituted a waste of taxpayer money?
▶ 1:16:55A.G. Bondi: Yes, senator. I don't have those specifically in front of them, but there were many. And we are going through those grants one by one. We are going through each of those. We have a very unique function in public safety. I will never let a grant be cut that is hurting women, victims of sexual assault, children, law enforcement officers.
▶ 1:17:22A.G. Bondi: So we will look at those, each grant individually, to see what is fluff, what is d.e.I., no longer at the department of justice, and what are viable grants. And that money will go where it should go to protect victims of crime and the law enforcement officers.
▶ 1:17:44Sen. Kennedy: That is your job, isn't it?
▶ 1:17:46A.G. Bondi: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:17:50Sen. Kennedy: And you are doing it because it is your job.
▶ 1:17:51A.G. Bondi: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:17:55Sen. Kennedy: Some people say that you are being overly mean and unfair to foreign nationals that are in the country illegally. Would you care to address that?
▶ 1:18:19A.G. Bondi: I don't think I've been called mean recently.
▶ 1:18:23Sen. Kennedy: You've been called worse.
▶ 1:18:24A.G. Bondi: Probably a lot worse. We will do everything in our power to get the illegal aliens out of our country who are committing crimes in our country. I've met with way too many family members who are parents, mothers, whose children have been murdered and raped by illegal aliens in our country. If that is mean, than I want to be as mean as I can be.
▶ 1:18:53A.G. Bondi: We are going to get them out of our country and we are going to protect americans.
▶ 1:18:58Sen. Kennedy: We can agree, can we not, that legal immigration is legal?
▶ 1:19:01A.G. Bondi: Absolutely.
▶ 1:19:04Sen. Kennedy: And we can agree, can we not, that illegal immigration is illegal?
▶ 1:19:08A.G. Bondi: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:19:11Sen. Kennedy: If you don't like the statutes, with respect to illegal immigration, you can change them. But if you enforce them, as congress has directed you to do, you are not being mean. You are just doing your job.
▶ 1:19:33A.G. Bondi: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:19:37Sen. Kennedy: When you prosecute someone who is in our country illegally, not necessarily for a criminal matter, are you careful to afford them due process?
▶ 1:19:49A.G. Bondi: Yes, senator.
▶ 1:19:52Sen. Kennedy: And would you consider that to be one of your priorities in terms of enforcing the laws against illegal foreign nationals?
▶ 1:20:06A.G. Bondi: Yes, senator. I have been in the courtroom my entire career, and due process will be afforded, and the laws of this country will be enforced.
▶ 1:20:19Sen. Kennedy: Could it be that some people who are criticizing you simply think that illegal immigration should not be illegal?
▶ 1:20:29A.G. Bondi: Absolutely, but we will protect americans. We will protect american families and mothers who have lost children who were killed by illegal aliens. We will protect the trooper who was run down by an illegal alien.
▶ 1:20:46Sen. Kennedy: I will stop you for time. Could it be that some of the people who have criticized you, saying you are mean and otherwise for enforcing the law believe that -- believe that -- that we should have open borders.
▶ 1:21:07Sen. Kennedy: They do not believe -- they believe that anyone should be able to come out of the united states.
▶ 1:21:17A.G. Bondi: It could become a senator.
▶ 1:21:21Sen. Kennedy: Could it be that some of the people who are close to you think that by just allowing everybody to come into our country who wants to, it could help them in terms of winning elections. Could that be part of their motivation?
▶ 1:21:36A.G. Bondi: Well, donald trump won by an overwhelming majority. He won the electoral and the popular vote but an overwhelming majority and made equipped -- crystal clear that he was going to close our borders and keep americans straight, so they are running on the wrong platform. That is the law. I am enforcing law and will continue to.
▶ 1:22:05Sen. Reed: Chairman, thank you. Madam attorney general, on may 16, the department of justice announced that it dropped litigation to enforce the law against forced reset triggers. These are devices that can be installed in a few minutes on guns like in a are 15, which can make the rate of fire of a machine gun.
▶ 1:22:35Sen. Reed: In demonstrations on youtube and elsewhere, you can go through an entire magazine in about four seconds. It is a fully automatic weapon. In the press release announcing the settlement, you said the settlement will enhance public safety. How does putting more automatic weapons enhance public safety?
▶ 1:22:59A.G. Bondi: Thank you for that question, senator reed. What will that -- what that will do to enhance public safety by settling the litigation -- it is a guarantee the manufacturer will not put that in handguns. It was the right decision under the law. Nothing is comical about this. These devices are materially the same as bump stocks. The supreme court said last year that they are not machine guns under federal law.
▶ 1:23:29A.G. Bondi: We followed the law. We will continue to follow the law. I'm a career prosecutor. I'm going to do everything I can in my power to keep americans safe. What we should be concerned about are the illegal guns flowing into our country by illegal aliens who have been free to walk into our country over the past four years. We have taken thousands of those jobs off the street.
▶ 1:23:56Sen. Reed: Excuse me. How can you go ahead and say we will be more safe today because they will not put these automatic firing devices on pistols, which have magazines of maybe 20 rounds at most, and maybe 10, and have a range much less than an automatic weapon question mark have you fired an automatic weapon?
▶ 1:24:16A.G. Bondi: I have.
▶ 1:24:19Sen. Reed: Then you understand that is a device that was designed to kill people. It is not a hunting rifle. It is not a target rifle. It is mass fire. You made a compromise saying don't put it in pistols, but you can put it in automatic weapons.
▶ 1:24:38A.G. Bondi: We follow the law. We will continue to follow the law. You and I clearly disagree on the second amendment.
▶ 1:24:44Sen. Reed: I'd don't -- I don't agree that machine guns are appropriate in the united states. And since the 1930's, we have outlawed machine guns. In the semiautomatic -- and the semiautomatic weapons produced in volume are so easily converted to automatic weapons that you are ignoring the danger, frankly.
▶ 1:25:12A.G. Bondi: I am following the law.
▶ 1:25:17Sen. Reed: How many american weapons go into mexico in a year? What are we doing to stop american weapons going to mexico to their gangs?
▶ 1:25:26A.G. Bondi: We need to support that on both sides.
▶ 1:25:31Sen. Reed: What are you doing to support it on our side?
▶ 1:25:33A.G. Bondi: We are arresting people who have illegal firearms in our country. We are not sending people back to mexico with guns. We are throwing them in our jails.
▶ 1:25:45Sen. Reed: You are allowing them to be purchased in the united states and driven across the border. Most of these gangs have completely turned themselves into military organizations because they are using american weapons, american technology. Your argument is we are not doing anything about that.
▶ 1:26:06A.G. Bondi: Not my argument here that was the policy of the last four years of the biden administration, open borders. You could take guns off the street. Fentanyl in our country. Amphetamines into our country.
▶ 1:26:22Sen. Reed: Excuse me.
▶ 1:26:22A.G. Bondi: Cocaine into our country. That was the previous administration.
▶ 1:26:28Sen. Reed: No, no. What are you doing to stop the flow of weapons into mexico?
▶ 1:26:31A.G. Bondi: We are arresting -- the flow of weapons? Our borders are closed. We are arresting illegal cartel -- the lower from mexico. Ms 13 from el salvador. We are arresting from venezuela. Atf has seized over 14,600 guns since donald trump has been president. That is a 33% increase from the last administration. Think about that.
▶ 1:27:01A.G. Bondi: That is our borders. They were not doing anything.
▶ 1:27:04Sen. Reed: Are they coming into the united states?
▶ 1:27:06A.G. Bondi: Our borders are closed. They are not coming in or out of the united states. We have a 33% increase in firearms seizures. Think about that, senator. From the last administration. A 33% increase and our borders are closed. We are getting these guns off the streets. I'm so proud of the work of the men and women of law enforcement.
▶ 1:27:32Sen. Reed: I don't think we have done anything about mexican gangs. That is what I think your focus should be. But thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:27:42A.G. Bondi: Can I add one thing
▶ 1:27:45Question Mark Sen. Reed: , no.
▶ 1:27:46A.G. Bondi: Because the borders are closed, we are stopping from going to mexico.
▶ 1:27:52Sen. Reed: Let me tell you -- if the borders are closed, why do we have a division headquarters of the united states army and military elements across the border, when the border is closed and border control can handle it?
▶ 1:28:06A.G. Bondi: As former military, I think you would know the answer to that. To keep americans safe.
▶ 1:28:12Sen. Reed: No, I think it is because of the presidents borders -- policies on the border and the readiness of our forces is suffering.
▶ 1:28:22Chair Cruz: Senator britt?
▶ 1:28:27Sen. Britt: Let's actually continue on that line of questioning. I would like to give you an opportunity to answer anything that you would like. Let me thank you for what you have done to actually close our border. When we are looking across our nation, we know that fentanyl is a leading cause of death between the ages of 18 and 25. This administration, under president trump and your leadership, said we are going to shut down the border.
▶ 1:28:53Sen. Britt: You have made significant slide -- significant strides to go after cartel members. You have worked to remove those individuals. We had experts and law enforcement telling us we have thousands of cartel and gang members in our interior. Thank you for your commitment to eliminating that threat.
▶ 1:29:18Sen. Britt: Talk to me about what is in this budget that will allow you to continue the work we are doing and remove these cartel and gang members from our cities, our streets, and our communities.
▶ 1:29:29A.G. Bondi: This budget requests $10 billion to bolster drug enforcement efforts, and $3.2 billion for programs to combat transnational organized crime against america. And transnational crime -- that is these gangs that have infiltrated, through biden's open border policy -- have infiltrated our country. Senna loa. They want to talk about mexico?
▶ 1:29:56A.G. Bondi: They opened their prisons in venezuela and let these people come to our country. No longer. They are so well organized. They have formed huge organizations within our country, and our dea, our fbi, working hand-in-hand, and with state and local authorities -- we are doing everything we can to stop that throughout our country.
▶ 1:30:24A.G. Bondi: That is why I would ask everyone to support the big beautiful bill, because that helps our budget as well for national security.
▶ 1:30:34Sen. Britt: I want to thank you and your team. I know atf has seized more than 2000 firearms going to mexico, despite the conversation we just heard. You have faced a seriousness on securing our border both ways and making sure american citizens are safe. Thank you for the work you are doing, and all law enforcement officers that report to you. I want to talk more about the asylum program.
▶ 1:31:03Sen. Britt: We have seen that be abused massively. Unfortunately, people who actually need it are caught up in backlogs. Under the previous administration, numbers skyrocketed. I know that you and the people who work with you have prioritized this to make sure we get the fraud out of the system. We saw president biden eliminate that program. When there is someone who needs to claim asylum, we want them to do that.
▶ 1:31:32Sen. Britt: Talk to me about what you are doing and what we can do to make sure that we remove that backlog and any duplicity we see in the system.
▶ 1:31:44A.G. Bondi: Thank you for that question. As of may 2025, there were 8 million pending cases, and that was a decrease of more than 235 cases over a four-month period. My budget request, $844 million for immigration, to support the enforcement of the federal immigration laws -- this supports 734 immigration judges.
▶ 1:32:13A.G. Bondi: We have ones in there that are moving cases. We will continue to do that. More importantly, the big, beautiful bill adds 1.2 billion -- 1.2 5 billion dollars for immigration, and that is so important because we have to eliminate that backlog. Our lawyers -- everyone is working tirelessly to do that. As far as the antifraud program, asylum -- we are doing everything to revitalize that.
▶ 1:32:45Sen. Britt: I was heartened to see your memo that created the joint task force on october 7. Thank you for your commitment to getting justice for those victims, for addressing the threat that is posed by hamas, and for combating anti-semitism. We have seen a rise in that in the last two years here on our soil, and particularly on college campuses.
▶ 1:33:10Sen. Britt: We're making sure anti-semitism, terrorism, and civil rights violations are adjudicated and given the proper the proper weight of the department of justice. I could not be more grateful. Can you talk to us a little bit about the work that the task force has done, and any priorities you are seen to make sure we eliminate anti-semitism in the united states?
▶ 1:33:35A.G. Bondi: Yes, thank you, senator. It is staffed with prosecutors, analysts, and linguists. We are working hand-in-hand to support all of the efforts. If you are a jewish college student now, you should be able to freely wear your star around her neck on a necklace and walk into college campuses.
▶ 1:34:04A.G. Bondi: I had a young man tell me he had to take it off at a university because he was scared to death. I was glad he took it off for his safety. You should not have to do that. You should be proud of your religion and you should be safe to practice your religion in this country. And we will continue to do everything through the october 7 task force to protect everyone in this country.
▶ 1:34:30Sen. Britt: Thank you for your commitment to law and order and all you are doing.
▶ 1:34:33Chair Cruz: Sen. fischer:. -- senator fischer.
▶ 1:34:39Sen. Fischer: Welcome. It is good to see you here. I want to thank you, general bondi, and your staff and all the men and women that work for you that keep us safe. I would like to echo senator moran's comments from earlier. I have also had conversations about where federal agencies can find savings and efficiencies. I believe that is critically important.
▶ 1:35:04Sen. Fischer: However, I received outreach from local law enforcement in nebraska about the possible transfer of high intensity drug trafficking areas to the justice department. They fear this recommendation from the office of management and budget could hinder the program's ability to fight drug trafficking. I appreciated your comments before the house appropriators earlier this week, confirming it will remain where it is in the executive office of the president.
▶ 1:35:36Sen. Fischer: We have heard your offers today too many on this committee. I appreciate those offers to work together to make sure that we are going to find effective and needed grants and keep those open. I thank you for that. I continue to be concerned about the threat of the chinese government, general bondi.
▶ 1:36:02Sen. Fischer: The threats they posed to the critical infrastructure in the united states, whether we are looking at vulnerabilities in our communications network or with agriculture. The ccp is trying to exploit our innovation. I want to recognize the good work of the fbi field office.
▶ 1:36:25Sen. Fischer: They have been working proactively to address the state-sponsored cyber threats, especially where nebraska's agriculture operations are concerned. How does the justice department's budget request support the essential work of fbi field offices, so they can address the threats both locally and regionally?
▶ 1:36:52A.G. Bondi: We have numerous threats from china that you discussed. We often talked about the physical threats to our citizens, but as you pointed out, the cyber threats are so very real in our country. There is not a day that goes by that we do not discuss that. There are many meetings about that. We have frightening actors in our country right now. And we are making many cases regarding those.
▶ 1:37:19A.G. Bondi: I know of particular interest in nebraska is the agro terrorism as well, to you. That is a high priority for our justice department. I believe this was in michigan. It was chinese bringing pathogens into our country. And that was a case I am very proud of that our national security division and our fbi made very recently. By a chinese national.
▶ 1:37:50A.G. Bondi: We are working on many in nebraska because of the farmlands. I need to correct one thing that you said about the grants. I am a career prosecutor and the high intensity drug grants are very important.
▶ 1:38:10A.G. Bondi: $196 million of that will go to the office of justice programs, and we will be sure they are administered and that law enforcement continues the money they need.
▶ 1:38:26Sen. Fischer: Law enforcement in nebraska rescues those grants in a very responsible way and they are very effective across the state. I'm glad you brought up the michigan work you did with regards to agriculture. Sometimes this country -- we are very fortunate to have food security.
▶ 1:38:47Sen. Fischer: When we look at the effect it would have on national security, if some of these adversaries we have would interfere with that, it would be devastating not just to my state, but to our country as well. I want to bring to your attention something else. We have seen evidence of rising cases of cargo theft since 2020. The estimates are up to $35 billion annually.
▶ 1:39:20Sen. Fischer: Beyond the immediate harm we see to the multimodal supply chain is the cartel activity. Transnational cartels are increasing to turn over the cargo theft to help fund all their criminal activities. A huge increase. I applaud the administration's ongoing efforts to crack down on violent crime from cartels.
▶ 1:39:48Sen. Fischer: I hope you would look into this new activity. How do you think the department can optimize resources for federal law enforcement and prosecutors to disrupt these did criminal groups like the cartels that are behind these thefts?
▶ 1:40:05A.G. Bondi: On my first day, we offered total elimination of cartels. And I believe what you are talking about is through interstate I-80 trucking, and the rail. But also in our states, there are ports.
▶ 1:40:24A.G. Bondi: Sometimes, we feel like cargo only is a port area, but it is not because it is transported across our country, and we are on high alert and have been working very diligently to prevent all of that and to take out these cartels that come into our country and that is a threat to americans and to our state.
▶ 1:40:49Sen. Fischer: Thank you for the good work you and your team do every day.
▶ 1:40:54Sen. Murphy: Welcome, attorney general. So perhaps this has been addressed. But I think you really are very sensitive to the possibility of foreign agents or foreign influence in our government and making sure that we make sure that does not happen.
▶ 1:41:11A.G. Bondi: Yes.
▶ 1:41:14Sen. Merkley: I want to know if, when the president held his dinner for 220 individuals who purchased the most of his mean coins, were there foreign interests attending that dinner?
▶ 1:41:32A.G. Bondi: Senator, we are here to talk about the department of justice and my budget for the upcoming year. I would think you would want to talk about the leader of the sin a lower cartel, who was living in oregon, one of the top leaders. I would think that is what you would want to talk about with me. When we captured him, he had $3 million cash in his home.
▶ 1:41:58Sen. Merkley: Attorney general, I know you avoided the same question on the house side. We know that many folks were buying those coins because they wanted to influence U.S. policy. One of them said I plan to buy $20 million of these coins because I want it aber from the president to change the policy regarding freight from mexico to the united states.
▶ 1:42:23Sen. Merkley: This solicitation of investments in his personal product, his mean coin -- mean coin, led to many people coming from foreign countries, attending that dinner. Don't you think the american people have a right to know? You said yourself you are very concerned about foreign influence on our government.
▶ 1:42:42A.G. Bondi: Senator, it is wildly offensive that you would accuse president trump of not protecting american interests in our country when he is the president that has shut down our borders, unlike joe biden. President trump has done everything to make america safe, and you asked me a question.
▶ 1:43:04A.G. Bondi: To keep america safe -- you are trying to play a gotcha question at a budget hearing when you have murders left and right in your state, violent crimes, and we are doing everything we can to help your liberal state, whether you are liberal or not. We are going to do everything we can to help the citizens of your state, and you are trying to avoid that because you are trying to play a gotcha question with the president of the united states and it is not going to work it we are going to talk about our budget and public safety.
▶ 1:43:36Sen. Merkley: I do believe that as the leader of the department of justice, you should be concerned about foreign influence. There was a lot of foreign influence in individuals who said they were there for that reason. Will you appoint a special investigator to make sure that the foreign influence does not affect the policies of the united states of america?
▶ 1:43:56A.G. Bondi: I'm not going to tell you what I will or will not do, other than I will do everything to keep the people of your state safe, even though you don't want to talk about anything to do with your state, because of the crime in your state. You also voted no on the laken riley act. We are doing everything we can to protect the citizens of this country. You also said that president trump encouraged protests. It was the opposite.
▶ 1:44:23A.G. Bondi: He has done everything he can to keep us safe, and he will continue to, as well as the department of justice.
▶ 1:44:30Sen. Merkley: You will not answer the question about transparency when the president is asking people to invest in his products, and foreigners are attending these events. I think transparency would be appropriate. Are you going to recommend any ethics guidelines to make sure foreign influence does not find its way through the doors of the white house?
▶ 1:44:49A.G. Bondi: The illegal aliens that have flowed into our country? Is that what you are talking about? You don't want to talk about them. You don't want to talk about the crime that is rampant throughout this country and your state.
▶ 1:45:04Sen. Merkley: These hearings are a chance for us to ask questions and I assure you I am engaged in national security in many ways. That I am concerned about this. Let me turn to a different piece of the puzzle. The president also has another type of currency called ust one, a cryptocurrency, a stable coin. There was a request to produce ai chips that would go to uae.
▶ 1:45:28Sen. Merkley: The national security advisor uae is also the ceo of mdx -- mgx. After their quest for those chips occurred, mgx said they will by 2 billion of the president's coins and then the president went to the middle east and said we will get you those chips.
▶ 1:45:51Sen. Merkley: When the foreign government asks for a big favor and we had previously banned these chips to uae because of national security concerns -- then, they by $2 million of the president's coins. Then the president says we will provide those chips. Does that sequence of events concern you about foreign influence in the united states of america?
▶ 1:46:11A.G. Bondi: The foreign influence I would be concerned about is the mexican national who resided in oregon who we just arrested who had 384 bounds -- pounds of methamphetamine, the foreign individual who I would be concerned about if I were a president from oregon is the honduran drug trafficker who was residing in portland. The foreign national I would be concerned about is a mexican national leader of the drug trafficking ring, another one.
▶ 1:46:43A.G. Bondi: Fentanyl, firearms, fatal overdoses, all in your state.
▶ 1:46:49Sen. Merkley: You have made your point.
▶ 1:46:50A.G. Bondi: 57,005 hundred fentanyl pills and firearms in oregon. That is what we should work together on, not gotcha questions.
▶ 1:47:01Chair Cruz: Senator merkley?
▶ 1:47:06Sen. Merkley: The attorney general has made a point that she is concerned about issues I am concerned about as well guarding securing this country. I will let the record note that in terms of foreign influence and the sale of foreign influence to the president's coins, she refuses to respond and instead turns to a list of different topics.
▶ 1:47:23Sen. Merkley: I think it is important for the leader of the justice department of the united states to be very concerned about foreign influence, and I encourage you to take on that topic and I consider it an offense that those of us who are concerned, democrats and republicans, want americans to make american decisions, not foreign influence being bought through crypto coins.
▶ 1:47:42Sen. Murkowski: Thank you. Attorney general bondi, welcome. When we visited prior to your confirmation, we had a good discussion about some of the statistics that unfortunately we have held the number one place for far too long in areas we really don't like, in terms of the increased number of deaths due to fentanyl, between 2022
▶ 1:48:15Sen. Murkowski: And 2023, an increase by over 40%. Other states around the country, we are seeing that go down. We doing better. Not enough. One death due to fentanyl is one death to many, as we can all agree. But also, when it comes to violent crime.
▶ 1:48:34Sen. Murkowski: It is stunning for many people to hear a senator like me say that alaska's violent crime rate was more than five of 40% of the national average in 2023. It is stunning, right? I think we had good conversation about that -- what you could do in your position to help prioritize combating violent crime.
▶ 1:49:04Sen. Murkowski: I'm going to channel a little bit of alaskan conversations. We do not have much of an ice presence in alaska. We just have not. We had two russians seeking asylum a few years ago, when the war in ukraine broke out. Ice did not know what to do with them because we just did not have a presence. All of a sudden, we are now on the mat.
▶ 1:49:29Sen. Murkowski: We have those that are being detained in our local jail that were flown up to the state several weeks ago to be detained. There is a lot of chatter about what is going on. What I am hearing, the fear I am hearing -- I would like you to put to rest some of the concerns alaskans are having.
▶ 1:49:52Sen. Murkowski: They are worried that immigration enforcement is being prioritized over combating violent crime. And they are worried as they are seeing -- as they are seeing fbi and dea coming in, assisting ice and immigration enforcement. Again, many of the stories that we are hearing, it is not necessarily criminals that are making the news.
▶ 1:50:23Sen. Murkowski: One individual who has been a restaurant owner for the last 20 years, his children are all integrated into the community. You have heard the stories many, many times. So I need to know for alaskans' sake the response as to whether immigration enforcement is being prioritized over combating violent crime, and whether increased resources, whether it is staff or funding, are being sent to the state to help us cover the added cost.
▶ 1:50:57Sen. Murkowski: Help me out.
▶ 1:51:00A.G. Bondi: I learned more about alaska in our meeting prior to my confirmation hearing than I ever knew. Sen. murkowski you are still invited to come yourself.
▶ 1:51:13A.G. Bondi: We have a trip planned. And we wanted to talk about the murder of indigenous people and the tribal resource response plans. We wanted to visit some of those areas in a different setting. We can give you more details on that. But we have dates and locations we would like to go to. We have added two fbi agents in alaska. We are adding more.
▶ 1:51:42A.G. Bondi: Director patel and I talked in great length. We met with you in alaska as well, and what we can do -- I'm going to talk. We have criminally charged 39 different defendants over the last four months under operation take back america. Nationwide, to illuminate the cartels and transnational gangs.
▶ 1:52:06A.G. Bondi: In the district of alaska, excuse me -- we have charged 39 -- I don't know if you knew that -- 39 criminal defendants justin alaska. More throughout the country. But we are going to continue to fight. Your demographic is so unusual, and the hours of temperatures, and the temperatures and your lack of resources and your tribal population.
▶ 1:52:32A.G. Bondi: I have also spoken to our new U.S. marshal about giving you additional resources. I've spoken at length about that. We want to sit down and meet with you about that.
▶ 1:52:51Sen. Murkowski: I look forward to the opportunity for you to come to the state. I am hearing you saying that you are committing more resources to this effort, which we are very thankful for. As you have heard very quickly, we desperately needed it, given the statistics as they relate to violent crime and fentanyl.
▶ 1:53:15Sen. Murkowski: The specific ask is whether or not immigration enforcement is being prioritized over combating violent crime. I just want to know that we are not taking the eye off the ball there.
▶ 1:53:30A.G. Bondi: Before you walked in, I think senators on both sides of the I'll showed that concern. A lot of it does go hand in hand, getting illegal aliens or violent criminals out of our country. I believe we also seized 4.5 kilos of fentanyl since january in alaska. But we will not forget about alaska. We will prioritize alaska and do everything we can to increase resources to help you and the citizens of your state.
▶ 1:54:03Sen. Murkowski: Thank you, and I will be following up with a phone call about the delays. You have given us all encouragement, and we are doing that with regards to mountain village. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:54:23A.G. Bondi: We saw the big map, and it was truly amazing. >> chairman moran and ranking member will -- ranking member, thank you for holding this hearing. I want to raise with you something that has been deeply concerning to me, general bondi. The 2024 democrat nominee for vice president actually called federal immigration agents donald trump modern-day gestapo.
▶ 1:54:56A.G. Bondi: This is dangerous for agents. It is wrong. It undercuts the rule of law. I want to ask you a series of questions. If you would accommodate me, I would appreciate it. You would agree when a bill is signed by the president, it is law, right? So that law is changed by congress, you have a duty to follow it, right? It's with the rule of law is. So let me read the law. I've got it right here.
▶ 1:55:28A.G. Bondi: On a warrant, issued in this case by the secretary of homeland security, an alien may be arrested or detained pending a decision on whether the alien is to be removed from the united states. That is the law, isn't it? The law passed by congress that you have to follow.
▶ 1:55:46A.G. Bondi: Isn't it also the law that once an alien is ordered removed, during the removal period, the secretary of, shall detain the alien. Is that the law? It does not say illegal aliens ordered removed should be allowed to run the country freely, does it? I know it does not. Here is another loft. When an alien is ordered removed , the secretary of homeland security alien from the united states.
▶ 1:56:16A.G. Bondi: Is there any ambiguity to those words? So ice agents enforcing those laws are not the gestapo. There supporting the rule of law, aren't they? Is it a crime to? There are left wing radicals physically attacking. There are sanctuary cities interfering with law enforcement.
▶ 1:56:40A.G. Bondi: How does the department of justice plan to hold those seeking to obstruct federal agents -- how do you hold them accountable?
▶ 1:56:49Chair Cruz: -- a.g. Bondi: senator, I believe you have seen what we are doing. We will charge you federally if you spit on a law enforcement officer. If you loot a building, we will charge you of robbery, all of these people reading these businesses. They let them run out the door. No longer. You touch a law enforcement officer, we will identify you. We have great technology now.
▶ 1:57:14Chair Cruz: And those people in wearing the mask and trying to cover their identities. There will be no negotiations. >> and ice facility, you were not going to stand by, were you?
▶ 1:57:35A.G. Bondi: Absolutely not. >> I'm grateful to you and president trump for upholding the rule of law. Factor in your nomination, I very much appreciated our conversation. It is your commitment to come and see us in memphis, to deal with the fact that we have had rising crime. This is a problem. But I would like to ask your commitment again to deploy law enforcement resources across tennessee, as they are needed.
▶ 1:58:04A.G. Bondi: I know you deeply care about tennessee and the crime in memphis and throughout our state. You have called me numerous times to talk about that and I welcome talking to both sides of the aisle. You care deeply about the citizens of your state. Thank you for your input.
▶ 1:58:33A.G. Bondi: >> I look for to seeing you in my home state.
▶ 1:58:38Sen. Crapo: Thank the ranking member and general bondi for being here today. I want to pay you a complement to begin, because you speak with such forceful cap -- forceful clarity. It is nice to hear exactly where you want to go, how you were going to get there, and how important it is to uphold the laws of this country, so thank you for that. I wanted to point out the ats national tracing center in west virginia is the only one of its kind to trace U.S.
▶ 1:59:05Sen. Crapo: And foreign manufactured firearms. The facility provides critical information and help solve crimes, detect trafficking, and track the movement of firearms. The national tracing center process more than 600,000 requests. I just want to make certain that in the budget that there is enough in the budget to meet the demands and that these critical services can be sustained with the budget requests you have made.
▶ 1:59:39A.G. Bondi: Senate, senator, our budget continues to fully fund the national tracing center. I will personally make sure that that is funded. It will continue to be operated by atf as well. And it does such important work. Even in my years in the courtroom -- they do amazing work. I seen the work they do firsthand. In my spare time, I would love to visit. I really want to visit that center and see what we can do to enhance it.
▶ 2:00:10A.G. Bondi: And work with you on that. It is so important. These are issues that come across party lines -- this is what every american in our country -- we should be working together on it. I'm glad senator van hollen has stayed. I know others have other committee meetings. He stayed here and listened to this. This tracing work helps every american, democrat and republican, victims -- all victims across every state.
▶ 2:00:38A.G. Bondi: It is such important work, and you have been a true advocate for your state, and thank you for that.
▶ 2:00:46Sen. Crapo: Thank you. It is a good experience to see it firsthand. I am a little concerned about the atf proposed merger. I'm not one to ask you a question. We have received a lot of concern from constituents if that would dilute any of the different functions that each of those does. Also, on the task force, there is a proposal to move that to doj.
▶ 2:01:17Sen. Crapo: In maryland, we share a task force of the baltimore region into the panhandle. We have one in southern west virginia. This is critical for our area, the coordination of resources. How are you saying that? I know it has been proposed in the past. What is your perspective on bringing it within the doj?
▶ 2:01:41A.G. Bondi: It would go under office of justice programs, but it will continue to help americans. I don't think you were here when we spoke about it earlier, but it transfers 100's -- $196 million. I will do everything in my power to be sure that those areas and those local law enforcement officers are funded, and I see why people are concerned, to go back to the merger. Change is hard.
▶ 2:02:08A.G. Bondi: What we want to do with atf -- we want to put them back on the street, so instead of going to the homes of lawful gun orders in the middle -- gun owners in the middle of the night, we want them to be out arresting the bad guys from illegal firearms. The bureaucracy at the top is being streamlined. Atf will go back to its core function.
▶ 2:02:31A.G. Bondi: Those agents will be on the street, going after the guns, the drugs, working hand-in-hand with dea, and they will continue to do great work. I think they are excited to be out there doing the work they signed up to do.
▶ 2:02:50Sen. Crapo: We will see how that evolves. I appreciate your response. Hazelton is also in my district, which is a large prison with over 3000 inmates. They have had some big issues out there. Allegations with staff shortages , abuse, cover-up, falsifying documents. I'm sure you are tracking those issues.
▶ 2:03:14Sen. Crapo: I did want to complement the president on his appointment of william marshall, a former state trooper from the state of west virginia. He is going to do a fantastic job. Thank you for bringing in such a strong advocate. He has already been responsible. Hazleton has had chronic issues regardless of what administration it has been. Lastly, I will say I have been a big supporter of the violence against women act.
▶ 2:03:44Sen. Crapo: I am proud of the work we have champion here on the appropriations committee for this. It is really sad when you think of what happens in families, sometimes. And the proliferation of violence is extremely concerning. I have worked in this area for a long time. I just wanted to let you know my passion in this area. Thank you for being here.
▶ 2:04:06A.G. Bondi: Thank you, senator, and thank you for letting us steal bill marshall, our director of the bureau of prisons. >> senator capital, we don't intend to have a second round of questions, what will call on senator van hollen for his concluding questions and ramp up, and then I will do the same.
▶ 2:04:28Sen. Van Hollen: I have some budget related questions here. First, with respect to the proposal with the atf, I heard your testimony here. I heard it in the house. I really don't want to get into -- I'm not questioning you about the policy at this point in time. I think you here there is bipartisan disagreement here.
▶ 2:04:54Sen. Van Hollen: But I do want to understand your view with respect to the appropriations law, because current appropriations law does require congressional optimization to make this change, to make this merger. My question to you as the chief law enforcement officer -- will you comply with the budget authorization?
▶ 2:05:24A.G. Bondi: We will comply with the budget law. I'm glad you brought this merger up. If I was still a state prosecutor and hearing this, I would be concerned about what is happening to atf atf will keep its brand. Dea will keep its brand. But what they are doing -- they are going under one umbrella, one umbrella come up with the bureaucracy at the top. These agents -- they want to be out, hunting down criminals. That is what they want to do.
▶ 2:05:56A.G. Bondi: So much of this work is the same work, going back and forth, and now they will be working collaboratively, together, to keep america safe. And we are going to put hundreds of agents, thousands, back on the streets, and that is where they want to be. And I would have had the initial concerns you had about that. But give us a chance. Let it work. Let the dea and atf work together. Give those agents out there -- get those agents out there.
▶ 2:06:27A.G. Bondi: Do away with the bureaucracy.
▶ 2:06:31Sen. Van Hollen: I will say this was not just my reaction, but hearing from atf agents as well. We will obviously review that question in a bipartisan way on the committee. I just wanted your assurance, and I appreciate it. This would require congressional action in order to go forward. Sen. bondi we don't need congressional action forsen. Van congressional action forsen. Vai just got clarification.
▶ 2:07:02Sen. Van Hollen: It is going to be important for the chairman and myself to understand your position as attorney generalmerger without l action.
▶ 2:07:12A.G. Bondi: We are keeping atf. We are keeping dea. We are putting them under the department of justice.
▶ 2:07:26Sen. Van Hollen: Again, I'm not arguing with you here. I want to understand the position. The appropriations law currently would require that congress approve this merger. My question to you as attorney general is do you agree with that or disagree with that.
▶ 2:07:48A.G. Bondi: Reorganization thatl look at that under the law. We will not violate the law, senator. We will work with congress regarding that.
▶ 2:07:59Sen. Van Hollen: I appreciate that. The second point I wanted to raise had to do with the prosecution of hate crimes, and I share your vigor in wanting to go after hate crimes. I would point out that the budget you submitted zeros out funding for the doj hate crimes programs.
▶ 2:08:26Sen. Van Hollen: The hate crimes training program -- the no hate act, and the community for advancing justice, I hope you will work with the community.
▶ 2:08:47A.G. Bondi: I just pulled up the details. I would be happy to discuss those with you further. All three of those.
▶ 2:09:00Sen. Van Hollen: I want to go back to the issue of grant determinations, because there continues to be some confusion between grants that have already been obligated -- and to my knowledge there are about 400 of those still that it would be helpful to get from your team, if you have a different number.
▶ 2:09:22Sen. Van Hollen: And then there is what we call notices for information, which relates to notices for future grant awards in this current fiscal year.
▶ 2:09:32A.G. Bondi: There is a difference. With regard to the notices you do plan, you, the department, plan to issue those very shortly, is that right?
▶ 2:09:51A.G. Bondi: You are correct. We notified the affected grantees and members of congress regarding determinations and how to appeal. That was the $811 million of grants that were initially terminated in 2025. We're also talking about upcoming ones as well.
▶ 2:10:16Sen. Van Hollen: I want to leave the hearing with some clarity. When it comes to notices of funding opportunities, because the clock is ticking on this -- do you and the department of justice intend to quickly notify people of those opportunities, going forward?
▶ 2:10:34A.G. Bondi: Yes, and it will be done on a rolling basis. We are absolutely doing that, on a rolling basis.
▶ 2:10:44Sen. Van Hollen: On the other category, the grants which have been previously obligated, I do have concerns, madame attorney general, with the idea that the way we are going to get them to stop his members of congress calling.
▶ 2:11:05Sen. Van Hollen: I appreciate the attention, and I will wait to see, but this category of grants relates to people who already went through the process and already had those grants obligated, and they are currently being held. My question to you is, can you tell us how many are still being held today?
▶ 2:11:30Sen. Van Hollen: I don't like the idea that in order for somebody to get there -- to get the grant on held, that they have to call. How many are left? How many of these grants?
▶ 2:11:47A.G. Bondi: I don't know, exactly, but I know many of them are the subject of ongoing litigation, so I would not be able to speak of that in detail in this forum.
▶ 2:12:01Sen. Van Hollen: It would be helpful to narrow the scope of this. This was the subject of a letter I referenced earlier.
▶ 2:12:12A.G. Bondi: I have not read that letter. I would be happy to.
▶ 2:12:18Sen. Van Hollen: These were grants that were previously obligated, some many years ago. The question is, how can we get them unfrozen? Members of congress will call, but not everybody can -- just thinks of calling their member of congress.
▶ 2:12:40A.G. Bondi: And actually, citizens are called as well.
▶ 2:12:46Sen. Van Hollen: Exactly. This is an ongoing issue. I know colleagues on both sides of the aisle are hearing from folks. Mr. chairman, unless something else comes up, I look forward to continuing the conversation. >> it is not my intention to ask any topics or questions that cause you to come back again.
▶ 2:13:10A.G. Bondi: Thank you, senator moran.
▶ 2:13:14Sen. Moran: First, I want to tell you how much I appreciate the service. While I am not a floridian, I do know him, because I visited the U.S. marshals in florida to learn what they do and what their jobs are, and he was a great host and very knowledgeable, and I look forward to his public service now, nationwide.
▶ 2:13:35Sen. Moran: You mentioned in your testimony about the bureau of and I am pleased -- it is one thing that probably does not get the attention it deserves among us, and perhaps others. And kansas is the home to a federal prison. Hiring and retention has been a significant, I assume, issue. Lack of personnel. And I just would give you the opportunity to tell us how things are going.
▶ 2:14:05Sen. Moran: I think where the federal prison is located in kansas, there are a number of state prisons as well, and they compete for offices and employees, nationwide, more staffing the bureau of prisons, I would be interested in knowing if you would address that.
▶ 2:14:22A.G. Bondi: I had a handwritten note for you on the leavenworth, kansas -- kansas $51. We are building in kansas. I feel like, for lack of a better term, it has been a stepchild of the department of justice.
▶ 2:14:45A.G. Bondi: That is probably not the right term, but if feel like they have been left out, and that was one thing, as a career prosecutor -- that was one of the positions that we searched high and low for, for the best person for the job. As a prosecutor, I know you can't lock everyone up forever. You don't want to lock everyone up forever. But you want people to succeed when they go to prison. You want them to be able to succeed when they get out.
▶ 2:15:17A.G. Bondi: Otherwise, you will have a revolving door. That is where I feeling this. That is one of the areas where we are greatly increasing funding beautiful bill gives us a lot of money for easing that. Not only that, but for the first step act, for halfway houses, to give people an opportunity after they have served their time to get out and be successful.
▶ 2:15:45A.G. Bondi: And I believe there are many programs that should have been instituted in the federal prisons that have not been. Programs while you are an inmate. But you also have to have attention and bonuses and reasons for our prison guards to want to work in that environment. I think that is one of the toughest things that, as attorney general, I have to tackle. But I know we are going to be able to do that.
▶ 2:16:20Sen. Moran: One of the areas we sometimes overlook, and I don't want to diminish the significant support that this subcommittee and people individually give to law enforcement, federal, state, and local -- we pay attention to the fbi, dea, U.S. marshals in this subcommittee, we sometimes overlook U.S. attorneys and prosecutors. We can arrest people, but we need to have a process by which prosecution occurs and justice is ultimately obtained.
▶ 2:16:52Sen. Moran: Anything you would like us to know in this subcommittee as we pay attention to the total arena of law enforcement, but also the aspect of prosecution?
▶ 2:17:01Sen. Bondi -- A.G. Bondi: Thank you for saying that. I have the privilege of working with the brightest lawyers in the entire country in the department of justice. Not only are incredible U.S. attorneys, but throughout our criminal division, throughout every division in the department, but yes, the U.S. attorneys are second to none, and they are out there tirelessly fighting to keep people safe.
▶ 2:17:28Sen. Bondi -- A.G. Bondi: I think what a lot of people don't realize is when we talk about fbi, dea, atf -- those cases are being done hand-in-hand with the U.S. attorneys, even in the investigative stages. You see them in the courtroom after the cases have been made. But they are working tirelessly, and they are the best of the best of her law enforcement officers. The bravest of the brave in the country.
▶ 2:17:54Sen. Moran: At a young age of maybe 32 or something, I thought I should be the U.S. attorney for my home state, and I was terribly unqualified, I'm quite certain, it was a very appealing job for the combination of public service, law enforcement, and protection of people. I think we need to make sure that those individuals are recognized and honored.
▶ 2:18:19Sen. Moran: And then, I helped create and pass legislation -- this program exists, but not in the way that I hoped. There are so many small, local law enforcement offices. It is the city police department, the county sheriff's office. They don't have great writers.
▶ 2:18:47Sen. Moran: What I was trying to accomplish with the legislative effort, just getting the support of the previous attorney general's, was to create a grant program that eliminated much of the bureaucracy, paperwork, the efforts that are so time-consuming for a department that has a handful of officers, none of them grant writers. If someone is writing a grant, they are being taken off the street.
▶ 2:19:12Sen. Moran: But I want to make certain you are aware of that effort and would be supportive about and encourage it. Find ways to get those law enforcement agencies, small in nature, to provide such tremendous support in our communities -- to make sure they have access to the dollars, as do some of the larger departments.
▶ 2:19:33A.G. Bondi: I have learned more about grants in the last six months than I thought I would in my entire career. We have been working to improve accessibility by funding and simplifying the grant process. Reading these convoluted grants makes your head spin. We are working to streamline that and to help our rural communities as well.
▶ 2:19:58Sen. Moran: You highlighted something I would be remiss if I did not correct. I'm happy to have you reduce the bureaucracy and to work with any grant for any agency, whatever size, not just small and rural communities, but they have a particular problem that it is really hard for them to meet.
▶ 2:20:16Sen. Moran: And then, to follow up with what the senator was saying -- he was asking you about following the law with regard to dea, atf, but was called a merger. What I heard you say -- he used the word merger, and we used the word umbrella. And I think the differences the two agencies -- this is to confirm what I understand you were saying.
▶ 2:20:44Sen. Moran: The agencies continue to exist, but the oversight that occurs at the department of justice would be an umbrella over the two agencies. There is no actual official merger between the two. There is supervision. The umbrella -- to me, the word is different than a merger. Does that make sense?
▶ 2:21:05Sen. Moran: And then finally, as I shook your hand and say good morning to you this morning, you volunteered the importance of -- I wanted to give you a chance to extend those remarks during this hearing. Atf has a particularly strong presence in wichita, kansas.
▶ 2:21:29Sen. Moran: It includes a crime gun intelligence center at wichita state university, a new correlation center that works in tandem with the one in alabama, and a new lab that would support revolutionary techniques to analyze dna that comes from crime guns and casings.
▶ 2:21:52Sen. Moran: My question is -- I want to give you a will or opportunity to tell me about the importance of science and technology in atf and other law enforcement agencies being able to complete their jobs.
▶ 2:22:05A.G. Bondi: Thank you, senator. It is a crucial tool in our fight against gun violence and gun crime. I believe I used them many times when I was a state prosecutor, very early in my career and throughout my career. Analyzing the ballistics information is vitally important. We will continue to do everything we can.
▶ 2:22:28A.G. Bondi: I know it is important to our sheriffs, to our state and local law enforcement officers, and we are going to do everything to ensure it is fully funded. Let me assure all americans we will do that.
▶ 2:22:45Sen. Moran: Thank you. If you will give me just one moment. Again, this is probably an issue for the department of homeland security more than the department of justice. To highlight this as the nation's law enforcement officer -- in those rural counties where we have a county or district attorney, and we have the human trafficking occur and arrests take place, the victims of human trafficking, there is no
▶ 2:23:16Sen. Moran: Interpreter. There is no place to house the victims. They begin to disappear within the community, and there is no prosecution because there is no victim to provide the testimony to convict the potential perpetrator of the crime. I don't know whether you have anything you want to say about this, but I want this to be known.
▶ 2:23:38Sen. Moran: The federal government in its involvement in trying to help us deter and eliminate human trafficking -- we struggle to have the resources necessary to meet the needs of those who are being trafficked.
▶ 2:23:53A.G. Bondi: Yes, we do, and I recognize that is a very important aspect in your state. Interpreters are a huge way. I witnessed it when I was a prosecutor in florida. We have to do everything we can to support our state and local law enforcement, working hand-in-hand, because many of those communities are very -- can I clarify one thing? I'm glad you are back, senator van hollen.
▶ 2:24:20A.G. Bondi: You do have to, of course, appropriate the funds for our reorganization. You called it a merger. I called it a reorganization. The funds would be appropriated by congress, and we of course will work with you to follow the law, and we hope you support that. The funding for the atf and the dea to work under one umbrella. I think we were saying the same thing in a different way.
▶ 2:24:51Sen. Moran: We are probably on the same page. >> let the record show it was you who provoked senator van hollen to return to the microphone. Thank you for your cooperation today and to our committee members who were here. It is a busy time in the U.S. senate. Our appropriations process is hugely important. We want to complete all of our appropriation bills, and we want those appropriation bills to march their way across the senate floor.
▶ 2:25:18Sen. Moran: It is hugely important to your department into the country that we not once again and up in a situation in which we are incapable of doing that, and we have a continuing resolution that leaves things in limbo. If there are no further questions, senators may submit their additional questions for the official hearing record. We request your response within 30 days. So there may be written questions to you, to the department of justice.
▶ 2:25:54Sen. Moran: With that, the subcommittee sent in recess the call of the chair.