Rep Zoe Lofgren: ‘Good riddance to Pam Bondi, but good luck to us for who might come next’

[0:00] With lawmakers today demanding that Pam Bondi still appear for her scheduled deposition on [0:05] April 14th, despite her firing, it's worth a reminder of how things went the last time [0:11] Bondi appeared before Congress under oath. Watch. The Dow is over $50,000. I don't know [0:18] why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader, as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over $50,000 [0:24] right now. The S&P at almost $7,000. And the Nasdaq smashing records. Americans' 401ks and [0:34] retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be talking about. Now you'll recall that [0:42] was her answer to a line of questioning on her handling of the Epstein files. I want to bring [0:48] in Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California. She is a member of the House Judiciary [0:53] Committee. Congresswoman, you were in that hearing. [0:55] We just played. Do you think that was the beginning of the end for Pam Bondi? [0:59] You know, it's hard to know with this president what's motivating him. [1:05] She completely embarrassed herself. But, you know, it could be that she's failed to [1:13] convict people without any cause, people who are his enemies. Certainly, [1:20] the Epstein files have not been handled well. People across the country now believe [1:26] that. [1:27] That there may be a reason why President Trump is trying to hide the files when before people [1:33] were giving him the benefit of the doubt. So this has been a bad situation for her and for the [1:40] president. But I don't assume that her replacement will be something we'll cheer. I understand Todd [1:47] Blanch is going to be filling in. He's the guy who went down and coddled Ghislaine Maxwell, who's [1:54] serving time for child abuse. [1:56] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [1:56] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [1:57] So let's look at this statement here. [2:00] My husband, Christ Travel, moved her to a country club prison after the interview. so [2:08] good riddance to Pam Bondi. But good luck to us for who might come next. [2:14] Let's talk about some of the other names that are circulating. You referenced Todd Blanch. [2:19] We've also heard from our colleagues Lee Zelden, Alina Haba, Jeanine Pirro. The question, [2:24] of course, who on that list is actually you confirmable. [2:27] Is there someone here Republicans can get behind? None. No. Say more. [2:27] Not those names. I mean, Zelden is violating necesit spot- european başkanci Memphis. [2:27] Do they research Packer to get over him? Who did Major deacula andRecord or Jimmy EPA? [2:27] the law constantly in his current position. He's been called out on it by myself and others in the [2:33] science committee. Pirro has been, you can indict a ham sandwich, but not Trump's political [2:44] enemies. She's been a failure and an embarrassment. Habba got thrown out of court. I mean, [2:50] these people are jokes. I mean, they cannot be confirmed, I would imagine. [2:55] OK, let me throw one more name into the mix, because there's reporting today that some [2:58] senators are trying to pitch Donald Trump on replacing Bondi with Senator Mike Lee. It was [3:03] posited to me that his Republican colleagues just want him out of the Senate so badly that they saw [3:07] an opening and thought they could potentially position him. Do you think Mike Lee would make [3:11] a good AG? No. I mean, I've worked with Mike actually on some FISA reforms. So he's not [3:21] somebody I can't talk to, but I don't think he would be a good AG. And I imagine that some of [3:28] his fellow Republican senators might want him. [3:30] I mean, I don't want to get rid of him. Whether he would take that deal, turn in a Senate seat [3:36] where he probably could serve for the foreseeable future for a job that, you know, he could get [3:43] fired in a few months by Trump. He's so volatile. So would he even take it? I wouldn't if I were him. [3:49] I'm stuck on something that my colleague Michael Feinberg, who served as a special agent at the [3:56] FBI, said in our previous block, which was, here you have a president, [4:01] who is frustrated that Pam Bondi has not succeeded sufficiently, in his view, [4:05] in bending the DOJ to his whims and to his will. Michael Feinberg's argument was that she didn't [4:12] just bend it. She broke the institution that once was the Department of Justice. [4:19] In your mind, what does accountability look like for Pam Bondi, even as she returns to [4:24] being a private citizen? Well, she has to come to Congress. She's been subpoenaed. [4:30] And the fact that she's been fired, [4:32] doesn't excuse her from complying with that subpoena. She has information that the Congress [4:38] needs to get about the Epstein files. Whether she will escape Bar Association accountability, [4:47] it's hard to say. A number of Trump defenders who are lawyers lost their bar licenses. [4:54] I don't know if there's anything going on in that regard relative to her, but certainly [4:59] some of her conduct as AG, [5:03] might lead to questions about her ethics and her ability to adequately [5:10] serve as an officer of the court. I'm just so struck that if you read the reporting, [5:16] it seems as though the president's biggest critique or frustration was her inability to [5:22] prosecute his perceived enemies. But from your vantage point, how much damage did she actually [5:28] do? Even if she didn't succeed, there wasn't a home run. Simply the time, [5:33] money, the pain, the damage to our democratic institution that has been inflicted. [5:40] How are you going to look back on her tenure? [5:42] That was the point, I think, to try and harm people who the president doesn't like and who [5:50] he considers his enemies, whether or not they're, I mean, they hadn't committed crimes, any of them, [5:56] which is why the effort to indict them fails miserably. Obviously, if you are a defender, [6:05] president in a matter, it costs money. It's aggravating. I think in some cases, [6:11] it may end up helping people. They're now going after my colleague, Eric Swalwell, [6:17] who is running for governor of California. And I think, since they've singled him out as the [6:24] biggest enemy of Trump, that probably helps Eric in California. People are wondering who among [6:29] the Democrats they should vote for. And I've heard a lot of people say, well, if Trump is against him [6:35] that much, she should be voting for Eric Swalwell. And I think, you know, I think, you know, [6:35] people are gonna vote for Eric Swalwell. I think, you know, I think she should vote for her. [6:35] much. He must be our guy.