Reporter's Notebook: Bondi’s binder strategy turns House hearing into political firestorm
Ask who never gets charged.
The overstuffed white binders appeared a few moments before Attorney General Pam Bondi exited her motorcade, and strode through the horseshoe entrance of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Roll Call photographer Tom Williams and I stood in the hallway, negotiating our positions for Bondi’s entrance. Williams would position himself on the far side. I slid to the wall nearest the horseshoe entrance. Ali Vitali of MS NOW and Jay O’Brien of ABC worked the sidewall.
A coterie of Bondi’s aides appeared. One bogged down by the massive binders.
BONDI HEARING DEVOLVES INTO CHAOS OF SHOUTS AS AG ACCUSES TOP DEMOCRATS OF 'THEATRICS'
"Let her get into the room," instructed the aide.
I politely reminded the aide that the corridor was an open hallway on Capitol Hill. It wasn’t closed off by the U.S. Capitol Police. So, tossing questions at the Attorney General was fair game.
And, thus began another dance between reporters, security details, the U.S. Capitol Police, aides and Cabinet members when they appear for major Congressional hearings.
At the time, we had no clue what was in the binders. But you couldn’t ignore the sheer size of them.
It’s not uncommon for aides to haul in briefing books for a principal when they testify. However, no one has seen binders like this since Kinko’s was still in business.
The contents of what the binders contained was about to play a central role in Bondi’s testimony to the House Judiciary Committee.
But the first charge of the morning was to query Bondi. There was so much going on. All of which were subjects that the Attorney General could address.
Speaking of files…
Bondi wasn’t there to testify about the Epstein files, per se. But Democrats – and one Republican – would make the Justice Department’s release of partially redacted documents the focus of the hearing. So there was plenty to ask Bondi about that.
DOJ’S EPSTEIN DISCLOSURE DRAWS FIRE FOR WEBSITE GLITCHES, MISSING DOCUMENTS, REDACTIONS
However, there were overnight developments from Arizona. Authorities detained a person near the Mexico border in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. What Bondi might know about the FBI’s role in this was worth a question.
Then, there was a cryptic alert that officials were shutting off the airport in El Paso to all air traffic for ten days. Was there a threat of terrorism? Something about cartels? Finally, a story broke overnight that the Justice Department sought to indict six Democratic lawmakers for their video telling service members they didn’t have to comply with unlawful orders. A District of Columbia grand jury …
Ask who never gets charged.
The overstuffed white binders appeared a few moments before Attorney General Pam Bondi exited her motorcade, and strode through the horseshoe entrance of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Roll Call photographer Tom Williams and I stood in the hallway, negotiating our positions for Bondi’s entrance. Williams would position himself on the far side. I slid to the wall nearest the horseshoe entrance. Ali Vitali of MS NOW and Jay O’Brien of ABC worked the sidewall.
A coterie of Bondi’s aides appeared. One bogged down by the massive binders.
BONDI HEARING DEVOLVES INTO CHAOS OF SHOUTS AS AG ACCUSES TOP DEMOCRATS OF 'THEATRICS'
"Let her get into the room," instructed the aide.
I politely reminded the aide that the corridor was an open hallway on Capitol Hill. It wasn’t closed off by the U.S. Capitol Police. So, tossing questions at the Attorney General was fair game.
And, thus began another dance between reporters, security details, the U.S. Capitol Police, aides and Cabinet members when they appear for major Congressional hearings.
At the time, we had no clue what was in the binders. But you couldn’t ignore the sheer size of them.
It’s not uncommon for aides to haul in briefing books for a principal when they testify. However, no one has seen binders like this since Kinko’s was still in business.
The contents of what the binders contained was about to play a central role in Bondi’s testimony to the House Judiciary Committee.
But the first charge of the morning was to query Bondi. There was so much going on. All of which were subjects that the Attorney General could address.
Speaking of files…
Bondi wasn’t there to testify about the Epstein files, per se. But Democrats – and one Republican – would make the Justice Department’s release of partially redacted documents the focus of the hearing. So there was plenty to ask Bondi about that.
DOJ’S EPSTEIN DISCLOSURE DRAWS FIRE FOR WEBSITE GLITCHES, MISSING DOCUMENTS, REDACTIONS
However, there were overnight developments from Arizona. Authorities detained a person near the Mexico border in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. What Bondi might know about the FBI’s role in this was worth a question.
Then, there was a cryptic alert that officials were shutting off the airport in El Paso to all air traffic for ten days. Was there a threat of terrorism? Something about cartels? Finally, a story broke overnight that the Justice Department sought to indict six Democratic lawmakers for their video telling service members they didn’t have to comply with unlawful orders. A District of Columbia grand jury …
Reporter's Notebook: Bondi’s binder strategy turns House hearing into political firestorm
Ask who never gets charged.
The overstuffed white binders appeared a few moments before Attorney General Pam Bondi exited her motorcade, and strode through the horseshoe entrance of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Roll Call photographer Tom Williams and I stood in the hallway, negotiating our positions for Bondi’s entrance. Williams would position himself on the far side. I slid to the wall nearest the horseshoe entrance. Ali Vitali of MS NOW and Jay O’Brien of ABC worked the sidewall.
A coterie of Bondi’s aides appeared. One bogged down by the massive binders.
BONDI HEARING DEVOLVES INTO CHAOS OF SHOUTS AS AG ACCUSES TOP DEMOCRATS OF 'THEATRICS'
"Let her get into the room," instructed the aide.
I politely reminded the aide that the corridor was an open hallway on Capitol Hill. It wasn’t closed off by the U.S. Capitol Police. So, tossing questions at the Attorney General was fair game.
And, thus began another dance between reporters, security details, the U.S. Capitol Police, aides and Cabinet members when they appear for major Congressional hearings.
At the time, we had no clue what was in the binders. But you couldn’t ignore the sheer size of them.
It’s not uncommon for aides to haul in briefing books for a principal when they testify. However, no one has seen binders like this since Kinko’s was still in business.
The contents of what the binders contained was about to play a central role in Bondi’s testimony to the House Judiciary Committee.
But the first charge of the morning was to query Bondi. There was so much going on. All of which were subjects that the Attorney General could address.
Speaking of files…
Bondi wasn’t there to testify about the Epstein files, per se. But Democrats – and one Republican – would make the Justice Department’s release of partially redacted documents the focus of the hearing. So there was plenty to ask Bondi about that.
DOJ’S EPSTEIN DISCLOSURE DRAWS FIRE FOR WEBSITE GLITCHES, MISSING DOCUMENTS, REDACTIONS
However, there were overnight developments from Arizona. Authorities detained a person near the Mexico border in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. What Bondi might know about the FBI’s role in this was worth a question.
Then, there was a cryptic alert that officials were shutting off the airport in El Paso to all air traffic for ten days. Was there a threat of terrorism? Something about cartels? Finally, a story broke overnight that the Justice Department sought to indict six Democratic lawmakers for their video telling service members they didn’t have to comply with unlawful orders. A District of Columbia grand jury …
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