Friday, January 17, 2025

Pam Bondi Reminds Adam Schiff of His Humiliating Past as Confirmation Hearing Gets Heated: 'You Were Censured by Congress' By Randy DeSoto January 15, 2025 at 3:55pm

 

Pam Bondi Reminds Adam Schiff of His Humiliating Past as Confirmation Hearing Gets Heated: 'You Were Censured by Congress'

 By Randy DeSoto  January 15, 2025 at 3:55pm

Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi got into a heated exchange during her confirmation hearing Wednesday with Sen. Adam Schiff of California, which ended with her reminding him that he had been censured by the House of Representatives.

Schiff first questioned Bondi as she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee whether she would have the independence to say “No” to soon-to-be President Donald Trump, when necessary.

“Let me start with one very specific non-hypothetical. The president has said Jack Smith should go to jail. Will you investigate Jack Smith?” he asked.

Smith ended up filing two cases against Trump in 2023, one alleging he mishandled classified documents and another claiming he sought to interfere in the 2020 election. Smith dropped both cases after Trump was re-elected and he resigned as special counsel on Friday.

RELATED NEWS: Pam Bondi Reminds Adam Schiff of His Humiliating Past as Confirmation Hearing Gets Heated: 'You Were Censured by Congress'

Bondi responded to Schiff, “Senator, I haven’t seen the file. I haven’t seen the investigation. I haven’t looked at anything. It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment regarding anything without looking … at a file.”

“Senator, what I’m hearing on the news is horrible. Do I know if he committed a crime? That I have not looked at,” Bondi responded.

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Schiff later questioned how the nominee would advise Trump regarding his plans to issue pardons on his first day in office to most of those who have been prosecuted for engaging in the Jan. 6, 2021, protest at the U.S. Capitol.

“I’m going to look at everything. We’ll look at individual cases,” Trump told NBC News host Kristen Welker last month. “But I’m going to be acting very quickly.”

Welker wondered how quickly.

“First day, I’m looking first day. These people have been there — how long is it? Three, four years,” Trump answered. “They’ve been in there for years. And they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”

Related:
Oversight Committee Chair Recommends Criminal Charges for James Biden in Letter to Incoming Trump DOJ

The president-elect added, “There may be some exceptions to it. I have to look, if somebody was radical, crazy.”

Bondi told Schiff on Wednesday, “I will look at every case, on a case-by-case basis, and I abhor violence to police officers.”

“Will you be able to review hundreds of cases on day 1?” Schiff queried.

“I will look at every file that I am asked to look at,” Bondi began to answer, but Schiff cut her off, “Of course you won’t.”

“You said, ‘Of course you won’t.’ Listen, I’m not going to mislead this body, nor you. You were censured by Congress for comments just like this, that are so reckless,” she asserted.

The resolution identified multiple other reasons for the congressman’s censure, given his position of trust on the committee.

Schiff closed his questioning of Bondi calling on her to commit that none of the evidence from the House Jan. 6 investigation will be destroyed while she is attorney general.

In December 2022, the Jan. 6 committee — which was commissioned by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and on which Schiff served — turned over its work to the DOJ prior to the Republicans taking back control of the House the following month.

“Senator, I will follow the law,” Bondi said regarding the materials.

“Why do you have difficulty answering that question?” Schiff shot back.

“I can’t believe you’re asking such a question,” Bondi replied.

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Randy DeSoto
Contributing Journalist
Randy DeSoto has written more than 3,000 articles for The Western Journal since he began with the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths" and screenwriter of the political documentary "I Want Your Money."

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Measuring the potential impact of mass deportations in San Diego By Gustavo Solis / Investigative Border Reporter Published January 17, 2025 at 7:58 AM PST

 

Measuring the potential impact of mass deportations in San Diego

By Gustavo Solis / Investigative Border Reporter
Published January 17, 2025 at 7:58 AM PSTFacebook
A Border Patrol agent is shown using a headset and computer at a facility in San Diego to conduct a long-distance interview by video with a person arrested crossing the border in Texas, June 5, 2014.
Associated Press
A Border Patrol agent is shown using a headset and computer at a facility in San Diego to conduct a long-distance interview by video with a person arrested crossing the border in Texas, June 5, 2014.

When Border Patrol agents arrested 74 unauthorized immigrants in Bakersfield last week, immigrants throughout the state took notice.

Even though the raid took place in the waning days of the Biden administration, people interpreted it as a sign of what to expect with the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

In San Diego, people posted images of Border Patrol vehicles driving around City Heights on social media. They encouraged followers to “spread the word” and “please stay safe.” And local high school students are organizing protests against immigration enforcement.

It’s unclear whether Trump will be able to fulfill his campaign promise. He’ll need Congress to approve additional funding and hire more personnel. Experts have pointed out a number of logistical challenges including: lack of detention space, the cost of deportation flights and that countries like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua do not accept deportees.

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But if deportations on a large scale do happen, it’s clear San Diego would be significantly impacted, according to Tom Wong, an associate professor and founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at UC San Diego.

“San Diego has a lot at stake when it comes to Trump’s promise to mass deport undocumented immigrants,” Wong said.

Wong uses microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual demographics survey to get a sense of the size and scope of San Diego’s unauthorized immigrant population. The data provides a glimpse of how big the population is, how long they’ve been in the U.S., what kind of industries they work in and how much they contribute to the economy.

Between 150,000 and 170,000 people in San Diego County do not have legal status. And an additional 150,000 people live in mixed-status households — meaning they could be citizens but others in their home are immigrants without legal status.


That’s 300,000 people — or roughly the population of Chula Vista — who could be directly impacted by deportations.

And many of these people have deep roots in San Diego, Wong said.

One out of every six of unauthorized immigrants have lived in the United States 10 years or longer, according to his research. And one out of every three have been here 20 years or longer.

KPBS asked Customs and Border Protection whether the agency has conducted any enforcement operations in San Diego similar to the ones in Bakersfield. In a statement, a spokesperson did not directly answer the question.

“The U.S. Border Patrol conducts targeted enforcement arrests of individuals involved in smuggling throughout our areas of operation as part of our efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” the statement said.

Economic impact

Approximately 1.8 million people without legal status live in California. Collectively, they contribute more than $3.5 billion in state and local taxes each year, according to research from UC Merced’s Community and Labor Center.

Those billions are raised from a combination of property, income and sales taxes, said Ed Flores, faculty director of the Community and Labor Center.

“They are consumers,” Flores said. “They live here and shop at local stores, meaning that they make contributions to local tax revenues.”

In California, immigrants without legal status are eligible for benefit programs like in-state tuition and financial aid, emergency Medi-Cal health coverage and CalFresh food assistance for their children.

More news from the border
  1. From LA wildfires to hurricanes, immigrants help rebuild after disasters. Some may face deportation
  2. Some immigrants are already leaving the US in 'self-deportations' as Trump's threats loom
  3. Democratic attorneys general ask to defend health access for 'Dreamers' since Trump probably won't
  4. Tijuana mayor details plans for large shelter in anticipation of Trump deportations
  5. Can California keep ICE away from schools? Lawmakers want to try as crackdowns loom

But they are not eligible for federally-funded benefits like Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security, or food stamps — even though they contribute taxes toward those programs, Flores said.

“Undocumented immigrants are, through their tax dollars, contributing to a government that isn’t providing them a social safety net,” he said. “But they are subsidizing that safety net for the rest of us.”

San Diego’s tourism has broken records in recent years for economic impact. It was more than $22 billion in the 2024 fiscal year alone, according to the San Diego Tourism Authority.

Given that industry’s importance to San Diego’s economy, mass deportations could be particularly problematic, Wong said. He points to the fact that one out of every five unauthorized immigrants in San Diego County work in the food and service industry.

“San Diego thrives on tourism and the backbone of the tourism industry is service,” Wong said. “Policy promises like mass deportation would significancy impact San Diego economically and devastate our tourism industry.”

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Border & Immigration BorderImmigrationSan Diego
Gustavo Solis
Gustavo became the Investigative Border Reporter at KPBS in 2021. He was born in Mexico City, grew up in San Diego and has two passports to prove it. He graduated from Columbia University’s School of Journalism in 2013 and has worked in New York City, Miami, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and San Diego. In 2018 he was part of a team of reporters who shared a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. When he’s not working - and even sometimes when he should be - Gustavo is surfing on both sides of the border.
See stories by Gustavo Solis
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Our data underscores that Australia is experiencing a new rise in antisemitism, with this week’s Global Antisemitism Report documenting 11 incidents in the country, 120% higher than the previous week, 175% higher than two weeks ago, and 267% higher than three weeks prior.

 

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