A sophomore in Congress watched with growing concern as the Department of Justicefired a top ethics official,ousted investigators of the Jan. 6, 2021, attackon the U.S. Capitol, and openedinvestigations into the president's political opponents.
As the transformations at the DOJ mounted, she concluded the nation's top law enforcement official wasn't fit to serve.
"This is an administration that is out of control and that is completely lawless," Rep. Summer Lee, D–Pennsylvania, told USA TODAY March 18, as she explained her decision to introduce articles of impeachment againstAttorney General Pam Bondia day earlier.
Lee's impeachment measure, drafted with the help of anti-corruption nonprofit groupFree Speech for People, points to investigations and prosecutions that she says demonstrate the Justice Department is being politicized. Those include charges broughtat the president's urgingagainst some of his longtime critics,former FBI Director James ComeyandNew York Attorney General Letitia James.
A judgedismissed the chargesin November, determining theprosecutor who secured the charges was unlawfully appointed.
"When we think about the authoritarianism that the Trump administration is actively pursuing, this is what we will look at in the end. These are the actions that we will, in history, look back on and say that that was a glaring red flag," she said.
Lee introducedthe articles, which were cosponsored by several other Democrats, includingMichigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
She faces an uphill battle. A majority of the House of Representatives – currently controlled by Republicans – would need to vote for impeachment. An actual conviction in the Senate to oust Bondi from office would require a two-thirds majority in the upper chamber.
This might make observers wonder why Lee even bothered to introduce the measure. But she says that there is a growing appetite for accountability and that building more pressure matters.
The articles essentially accuse Bondi of allowing her department to become a personal law firm to servePresident Donald Trump's political interests and carry out his vendettas.
"The real overarching message is that the train is flying off the rails right now," she said.
The articles also accuse Bondi of breaking the law by failing to turn overfiles related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Lee sees those parts of the articles as a potential avenue for helping bring in Republican support.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committeevoted March 4 to subpoena Bondifor testimony on the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files.
"There is a growing appetite here for some sort of accountability, particularly where it comes to the part of this that is the handling of the Epstein files and the Epstein investigation," Lee said. "We're going to have to build on that momentum."
Trump indicated earlier in March that he plans to stick by his attorney general.
