Someone who serves the president and not the country should not be AG.

Almost every year, the attorney general reluctantly makes the trek to Capitol Hill for oversight hearings. The high-stakes ritual requires days of preparation: thick briefing books, mock Q&As and — as quietly as it’s kept — some coordination with congressional allies. Attorney General Pam Bondi will make that traditional trek today, one of the seemingly few things she’ll do that’s in keeping with expectations. In eight short months, Bondi’s no-holds-barred, anything-for-Trump playbook has left the Justice Department in chaos. With today’s hearings, then, Congress has the chance to shine a bright light on how her Trump-first approach has compromised the Justice Department’s mission to uphold the rule of law, keep Americans safe and protect civil rights. Bondi has a lot to answer for. Under her watch, the Justice Department stands accused of unjustly firing senior FBI executives, experienced prosecutors and other civil servants; it has sought to rewrite the narrative of the Jan. 6, 2001, attack on the U.S. Capitol; and it has opened investigative inquiries in the apparent absence of a factual pretext. Bondi reportedly informed the president that his name is in the Jeffrey Epstein files, the Justice Department hired a pardoned Jan. 6 protester who threatened law enforcement, and it shifted FBI resources from fighting domestic terrorism and child predator cases to immigration enforcement (traditionally the purview of other agencies). The Justice Department’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, over the objections of career staff members and the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, further illustrates the weaponization of the Justice Department. Bondi has also weakened the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and abandoned efforts to ban powerful devices that enable shooters to fire hundreds of rounds per minute; sought to build a national registration voter roll; approved corporate mergers over the objections of subordinates; rolled back Biden-era regulation that banned the Justice Department from using court orders, subpoenas and search warrants to go after reporters’ newsgathering records; and so much more. Someone who serves the president and not the country should not be AG.