Like me, you were likely appalled at Attorney General Pam Bondi’s performance in front of Congress this week. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Bondi rejected legitimate oversight questions using what appeared to be a prepared list of personal insults of the members of the committee. She called ranking Democratic member Jamie Raskin a “washed-up, loser lawyer” and Republican member Thomas Massie a “failed politician” with “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” In fact, Raskin is one of our nation’s most distinguished constitutional lawyers, and Massie has broken with his party to drive the effort to release the Epstein files – an extraordinary example of political leadership.
Even worse was her callous attitude toward Epstein victims, refusing to apologize to — or even look at — them despite DOJ’s gross mishandling of their data on her watch:
Wednesday was extreme, but this kind of bizarre, pugilistic behavior has been constant since Bondi took office. That’s why — powered by your paid Contrarian subscriptions — my colleagues and I at the Democracy Defenders Fund this week took aim at another one of her low points. We filed a Department of Justice Inspector General complaint calling out her response to the crisis precipitated by ICE violence: to demand Minnesota’s voter registration database!
Bondi’s Jan. 24 letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, exploiting the situation on the ground to try to grab voter data, was dissociated and provocative in an already fraught and charged environment. Her demand for this information lacked any lawful justification, as we pointed out to the Inspector General. Because voter data is protected by state and federal safeguards, federal authority may not be used to illegitimately pressure a sovereign state, and such actions inflict predictable harm on voter participation, this was a destabilizing assertion of power that warranted OIG review.
Will it get that review? That remains to be seen. Unlike many of our over 250 legal cases and matters, there’s no Article III judge to force action on an OIG complaint. But that does not mean that we should neglect these kinds of accountability tools. I often write in this column about our court cases, but administrative and regulatory complaints are also a critically important public marker. And they lay down a trail of breadcrumbs for Congress to follow should pro-democracy forces achieve the majority again, do real oversight, and decide whether to apply constitutional accountability measures such as impeachment. We have the receipts, and we are saving them up.
Supported by your paid subscriptions, we go to court constantly. (We just filed our latest case Friday, working with great colleagues to stop the Trump administration from taking over a leading public golf course in D.C.) But through actions like our Bondi complaint, we also act as an administrative and regulatory watchdog to call out violations of the rule of law at the Department of Justice and across the administration. It is a powerful one-two punch.
To take another example, we are litigating under the Freedom of Information Act to get Epstein files that are being wrongly withheld. And, complementing our FOIA litigation, our team has now filed three comprehensive complaints to the OIG calling out DOJ’s cover-up under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Your paid subscriptions support all of that, as well as our many court cases, and our great Contrarian coverage. It’s the most unique bargain in journalism. And, of course, the sparkling content at the Contrarian also provides an important form of documentation. To see why, just take a look at this week’s amazing coverage.
From Dog-whistle to Klaxon
LIVE w/April Ryan: The Tea ft. Maria Teresa Kumar & Dr. Bernice King
Dr. Bernice King and Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) joined April Ryan on this week’s essential episode of The Tea to talk about the Trump administration’s erasure of Black history, Bondi’s awful hearing, and how we resist. “Go make sure that you’re still on the voter roll because they’re actively trying to purge black and brown communities as we speak.”
The Sad Truth Behind the Reaction to Trump’s Sick Meme
Shalize Manza Young wrote on Republicans’ weak condemnations of Donald Trump’s latest openly racist meme—hollow lip service in the face of unchallenged systemic racism.
Question Republicans and white evangelicals — not Black people — about Trump’s racism
Carron J. Phillips analyzed the public tendency to ask anyone but Trump’s own supporters about his every fresh outburst of overt racism. “Republicans and white evangelical Christians: ‘is this your king?’”
Epstein Accountability
The Pathetic Price of Entry to Epstein’s World
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf wrote on the Epstein files’ ever-expanding cast of sordid characters — people of unimaginable power and privilege for whom just a little more “was apparently enough to continue to associate with a sex trafficker.”
The Epstein Files Release is a Failure. Survivors Deserve Better.
Rachel Foster wrote on the administration’s total failure to pursue justice for those who deserve it most in the Epstein saga — while perpetuating further harm. “Our own government published nude photographs of women, and possibly minors, in the released materials, which constitutes the dissemination of child sexual abuse material.”
DOJ Can Give the Survivors Answers
Joyve Vance and Mimi Rocah wrote on what legislators can do to expose the full extent of Epstein’s crimes and hold his network accountable — even in the face of DOJ’s refusal to engage. “The survivors have kept Epstein and his circle from walking away from all of this with impunity. Now it’s Congress’s turn.”
The Epstein Cover-Up is Coming From Inside the DOJ
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) joined Jen Rubin after Bondi’s atrocious House Judiciary performance to break it all down — including Bondi dodging the question of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s connection to Epstein, and how DOJ is monitoring the activity of lawmakers researching the Epstein files.
Elections & the Court of Public Opinion
U.S. Olympians Give Voice to American Realities
Megan Armstrong highlighted the U.S. athletes speaking their mind about the state of the union — and how much Trump hates it. “Holding a mirror up to our country’s reality is the most patriotic thing our Olympians could do. Anything else is a lie.”
The United States Has Started Campaigning Abroad
Brian O’Neill wrote on how Trump’s endorsements in foreign elections are turning U.S. alliances into personal bets — with real strategic costs and implications for his election plans at home. “When outcomes are seen as externally shaped, the politics that follow tend to harden rather than settle. The record is uneven at best.”
How Democrats Can Flip Back Latino and Rural Voters
On this week’s podcast, Carlos Eduardo Espina and Jess Piper looked at why voter outreach programs are having success on the ground. “Since Trump regained office, Democrats have flipped 27 seats. Republicans haven’t flipped any.”
The GOP’s Voter Integrity Sham
Norman Ornstein wrote on the partisan scam that is the SAVE Act, which House Republicans passed this week in a bid to require proof of citizenship for all voters. “They are using their lies about voter fraud to push a bill designed to eliminate the right to vote from people who are likely to vote in a way Republicans don’t like.”
Fighting Back
How to Fix the Washington Post, and Media in General
Josh Levs gave us a modest proposal for transforming American journalism. “What if it stopped rushing to tell audiences what people said, and instead investigated whether what they said was accurate?”
Gov. Josh Shapiro Won’t Be Intimidated
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro joined Jen to talk about his strategy for not backing down from Trump or ICE, even in the aftermath of personal attacks on his family. “The mission [of ICE is] absolutely compromised. It needs to end, and there need to be firm legal guardrails.”
The Contrarian Covers the Democracy Movement
This week, we saw protests against ICE, Epstein unaccountability, and much more in Minnesota, Texas, New York, New Mexico, and elsewhere nationwide. Get help organizing from Indivisible, find protests in your area at mobilize.us, and send us your protest photos at submit@contrariannews.org. And check out our weekly Calls to Action for more ways to stay involved.
Culture, Cartoons & Fun Stuff
This week, our cartoonists took on what the Trump administration is saying loud and clear (The Racist Megaphone, Michael de Adder), what they’re silencing (Six Questions for Pam Bondi, RJ Matson), what’s in plain sight (Getting the Ick, Nick Anderson), what’s in plane spite (Source Neutralized, Michael de Adder), and what’s new in the public domain (Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling).
Bad Bunny Embodies the American Dream
“Ten years ago, he was bagging groceries. Now he’s on top of the world.” Meredith Blake wrote on Bad Bunny’s dazzling, record-breaking halftime show—which was far more “all-American” than its feeble right-wing alternative.
When someone uses the TDS moniker with me I always counter it with you mean Trumps Deportation Scam.
The news today about the battle between the FAA and the Pentagon is just more confirmation that this regime is getting its kicks from a desire for destruction fueled by incompetence, ignorance, indifference to human life, narcissism. Not one of us is safe.