U.S. Senator Katie Britt questioned U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on a range of topics in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, including social media usage by minors, illegal gaming, antisemitism, and inner-city crime.
Beginning with social media sextortion of minors, Britt (R-Montgomery) asked Bondi what the Department of Justice is doing to combat “bad actors” in the U.S. and abroad and protect potential victims.
“Senator Britt, we have made countless cases around this country, and many of them have involved global international defendants. In fact, we’ve been extraditing some of them back. As many as we can get, we’re bringing them back to this country,” Bondi said.
“That’s how we’re holding them accountable and locking them up for as long as we humanly can lock them up. And Director Patel [and] our national security division have been working tirelessly on that. We have entire units working on that.”
Bondi went on to emphasize the importance of parental monitoring of children’s internet usage, saying, “your child has no right to privacy on the internet, and parents need to monitor what their kids are doing.”
Senator Britt also pushed Bondi to make commitments to investigate how offshore entities push young men into illegal online gaming addiction and to continue pushing back against Chinese companies that target children with unregulated vaping products. Bondi agreed to do both.
Responding to a question from Britt on the rise of antisemitism in America as Israel continues to fight Hamas, Bondi lauded President Donald Trump for his efforts to bring peace in the conflict.
“Donald Trump is the greatest peace president of our lifetime, probably in our history. And if anyone can resolve this, it will be Donald Trump.”
In her final question, Britt asked what the Justice Department is doing to combat inner-city crime, following last weekend’s mass shooting in Montgomery that left two dead and 12 injured.
The downtown shootout occurred in Montgomery’s downtown entertainment district. State officials are sounding the alarm while city leadership blamed Alabama’s “lax” gun laws.
Britt and Bondi shared a sense of urgency to bring cities like Montgomery back into order.
“We had a horrific event occur in Montgomery, Alabama over the weekend, and 14 people — two people are no longer with us, and 12 people injured. My heart breaks for every one of the victims and their families and the community at large,” Britt said.
“What are you seeing that is, you know, your biggest success stories and your biggest challenges you have to working to try to resolve crime throughout the country?”
Bondi said that, while it is a major challenge to her Department, federal law enforcement is continuing to work to combat crime in American cities.
“We are working non-stop to combat crime. That’s Donald Trump’s only directive to me is to make America safe again. And that’s what we’re going to do in this country, Senator Britt.”
Full exchange here:
Riley McArdle is a contributor for Yellowhammer News. He is a Senior majoring in Political Science at the University of Alabama and currently serves as Chairman of the College Republican Federation of Alabama. You can follow him on X @rileykmcardle.