Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed the finger at Illinois Senator Dick Durbin for not prioritizing the safety of Chicago over political wars with the Trump administration.

Durbin attacked Bondi over the president ‘illegally deploying troops to Chicago’ after National Guard troops were sent to the Windy City this week. Governor JB Pritzker has sued to block the deployment.

‘Were you consulted by the White House before they deployed National Guard troops to cities in the Untied States?’ he asked.

‘I am not going to discuss any internal conversations with the White House,’ Bondi replied.

The Attorney General noted that there 571 homicides in Chicago just last year and ‘we’re going to be there protecting all Americans in this country.’

She called out Durbin for shutting down the government along with other Democratic senators over their demands to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

‘As you shut down the government, you voted to shut down the government, and you’re sitting here, our law enforcement officers are not being paid,’ Bondi hit back.

‘I wish you could love Chicago as much as you hate President Trump. And currently the National Guard are on the way to Chicago. If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.’ 

Attorney General Pam Bondi appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks at an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

Durbin responded that ‘Chicago is not the enemy. Fellow Americans are not the enemy. Attorney General Bondi is enabling President Trump’s war on Americans.’

Bondi sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to update Senators on the latest activity at the Department of Justice.

Drama at the DOJ has been a constant fixture throughout the Trump administration, largely due to the personalities working within the agency.

FBI director Kash Patel, who works under Bondi, has come under fire for his remarks during the investigation into the death of slain conservative activist Charlie and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. 

Prominent conservatives blasted Patel for his handling of the investigation, which included three botched arrests.

The killer’s capture was announced almost 44 hours after he shot Kirk – and only after his own father turned him in.

Former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey joined the FBI as co-deputy director in September alongside Dan Bongino, who has reportedly been looking to leave the agency.

Still, the White House appears to be squarely behind Bondi and the Department that she leads.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told the New Yorker in August, ‘You know, she looks like Barbie. She’s blonde and beautiful, and I think people will underestimate her because of how she looks.’

Wiles also added at the time that Bondi has ‘got nerves of steel, and she has stood up to some withering situations with a fair amount of grace.’ 

Bondi and Patel’s time leading their agencies has been marred in controversy, most notably by the agency’s refusal to release all files connected to Jeffrey Epstein. Both Patel and Trump previously promised to release the Epstein Files.

Since taking office, President Trump has expressed exasperation about the Epstein files, lashing out on Truth Social to defend his administration, if not Bondi in particular. 

‘We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,’ Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social.

He added at the time that America should ‘not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody nobody cares about.’