Pam Bondi presses Democrat over hypocritical demand: 'You sure didn't have order that day, did you, Senator?'



Attorney General Pam Bondi had a fiery exchange with several Democrats, including Sen. Alex Padilla (D) of California, during her congressional testimony on Tuesday.

Bondi and Padilla sparred when the attorney general called out the Democrat for hypocritically demanding "order" during Tuesday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The two had a tense back-and-forth before Padilla called for order during the hearing despite repeatedly interrupting Bondi whenever she attempted to respond to questions.

'You stormed the director of Homeland Security.'

Padilla initially asked Bondi whether she thought FBI Director Kash Patel is "doing a good job."

"I believe Director Patel is doing a great job," Bondi said.

Bondi then tried to turn the tables, asking, "You know where he is right now, Senator Padilla?" At that point, Padilla tried to interject, but Bondi continued with her thought.

"You asked me a question!" Bondi said after Padilla began talking over her. "Director Patel is in Chicago right now ... fighting to keep Chicago safe."

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Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Padilla continued talking over the attorney general, yet repeatedly called for "order" before Bondi eventually unloaded on the Democratic senator.

"You know, you want 'order' here now, yet you stormed the Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem," Bondi said. "You sure didn't have order that day, did you, Senator?"

Padilla quietly attempted to dismiss Bondi's claims, despite extensive video evidence depicting his disruptive confrontation with Noem and subsequent detainment back in June.

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Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Padilla originally confronted Noem during a Los Angeles press conference in June about the ongoing protests and riots against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Padilla burst into the conference and rushed toward the podium before he was forcefully removed.

Noem claimed she chatted with Padilla after the press conference and even exchanged phone numbers with him, Bill Melugin of Fox News reported at the time. According to Melugin, Noem characterized their conversation as "cordial and beneficial."

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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, opened the oversight hearing of the Department of Justice (DOJ) pushing a new narrative Democrats have latched on to: the lie that ICE agents zip-tied children during a Chicago raid. “In the middle of the night, federal agents pulled women and children out of […]

Pam Bondi tears into Democratic senator: 'I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump'



Attorney General Pam Bondi sparred with Democrats during her congressional hearing on Tuesday, and she did not back down.

Bondi testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the attorney general ripped into Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) over the legality of deploying the National Guard. Durbin challenged Bondi about President Donald Trump's legal authority to deploy the Texas National Guard to Chicago, the crime-ridden city in the Democratic senator's jurisdiction.

'If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.'

Over the weekend, protesters and agitators clashed with law enforcement in Chicago, with some apparently ramming their vehicles into federal cruisers. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem even said that cartels have placed bounties on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Despite this dramatic uptick in violence, Durbin questioned the rationale for deploying additional resources.

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Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

"I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump," Bondi said in response. "And currently, the National Guard are on the way to Chicago."

"If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will," Bondi added.

Even without the recent escalation in crime, Chicago has consistently been one of the nation's most dangerous and crime-ridden cities. In response to the high crime, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas "fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officers.”

"You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it," Abbott said in a post on X.

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Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

"Your city has a murder rate five times higher than New York's," Bondi told Durbin. "571 homicides last year. If you were serious about protecting your people, you would be asking this administration for help."

"We're there to help make America safe and Illinois safe, whether or not you want to," Bondi added.

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Black businessman devastated by Democrat soft-on-crime policies won't be heard by key Senate committee after all



Willie Wilson, a conservative Chicago businessman and former mayoral candidate, was apparently invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday regarding the ruinous soft-on-crime Democrat policies that set the stage for what he regards as a badly needed intervention by the National Guard.

"I support the National Guard coming to Chicago," Wilson said in a statement earlier this month. "Crime is out of control, crippling our economy, and costing countless innocent lives. Saving lives is the most important responsibility we have to the citizens of Chicago."

A spokesman for Wilson alleged to Blaze News that his client's invitation to testify was rescinded by the committee of both Democrats and Republicans on the eve of the hearing due to his attempt to unseat Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in 2020.

'It's personal for me.'

"He got a call from the committee staff saying that they have a custom, and the custom is if you've run against someone who's a member of the committee, then you actually cannot testify as a witness on that committee," said the spokesman. "Dr. Wilson's a busy man, and he made time to come out here to Washington, so it's a little disappointing that they would utilize a custom to actually try to silence him."

Wilson said in a statement to WFLD-TV, "Senator Durbin can stop me from testifying, but he cannot silence my voice or refute the facts that under his leadership, Chicago has averaged 652 homicides a year."

"Democrat leaders have failed to protect the African-American community," added Wilson.

Senator Durbin's office did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment by deadline.

A committee aide confirmed to Blaze News on Monday that Wilson "is not noticed as a witness tomorrow."

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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

"Wilson has experienced personal loss and suffered the real-world impact of Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies," said the aide. "Therefore, the committee has put him in contact with the White House to explore an opportunity to share his experience."

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, "It is absolutely ludicrous that Republicans would bow down to the sensitivities of Dick Durbin, of all people. The president and the White House have made it a top priority to restore order to our decayed urban centers. Hearing directly about what's happening in Chicago is absolutely necessary for any committee that's seriously looking into this matter."

The office of Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) declined to comment. The other members of the committee did not respond by deadline.

"It's personal for me, from personal loss," Wilson reportedly said during a press conference in August. "But also personal for me as a citizen of Chicago."

"People who happen to want to help, whatever the motive may be," continued Wilson, "I welcome it."

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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Catholic leaders urge Cardinal Cupich not to award pro-abortion radical Dick Durbin



The Archdiocese of Chicago announced last week that Cardinal Blase Cupich will give Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) a lifetime achievement award on Nov. 3.

The prospect that a prince of the Holy See will pay honors to a radical pro-abortion activist has prompted significant backlash from prominent Catholic leaders.

'This decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.'

According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America's national pro-life scorecard, Durbin, a self-identified Catholic, gets a failing grade for routinely voting in support of virtually limitless abortion.

Durbin voted, for instance, in January against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require health care practitioners to save babies who survive attempted abortions. He has also voted against legislation that would have criminalized abortions for unborn babies 20 weeks along or older; against adding status-quo Hyde Amendment protections to COVID relief funds; against a bill that would prohibit partial-birth abortion; and for legislation expressing support for protecting access to abortions after the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision.

In case there was any doubt about his indefatigable support for abortion, Durbin stated on the third anniversary of the Dobbs ruling in June that "this fight is far from over" and that he plans to keep fighting for mothers' legal ability to snuff out the lives growing within them.

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Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Image

Concerning abortion, the church holds that abortion is a grave moral sin — the procurement of which incurs an automatic excommunication — and that political leaders have a responsibility to protect the unborn.

"The Catechism of the Catholic Church" clearly states:

  • "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception" (2270);
  • "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law" (2271);
  • "Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life" (2272); and
  • "The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin" (2273).

For decades, Durbin has been barred from receiving communion in the Catholic diocese where he grew up on account of his radical pro-abortion activism.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, who has long upheld the prohibition, said in a 2018 statement, "Because his voting record in support of abortion over many years constitutes 'obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin,' the determination continues that Sen. Durbin is not to be admitted to Holy Communion until he repents of this sin. This provision is intended not to punish, but to bring about a change of heart. Sen. Durbin was once pro-life."

Despite Durbin's long-standing efforts to advance policies diametrically opposed to the moral teaching of the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago noted in its announcement for the Nov. 3 "Keep Hope Alive Benefit," subtitled "Light in the Darkness," that Durbin will receive a lifetime achievement award for his work with immigrants.

The plan is for Cardinal Cupich to give the award to Durbin on behalf of the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity.

Blaze News has reached out both to the Archdiocese of Chicago and to Durbin's office for comment.

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Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images.

Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander was among the first to condemn the planned honors for the abortion activist, stating, "The Church emphasizes that human beings are integrated persons and that we cannot live in spiritual harmony if we are denying even one aspect of the truth of the faith."

"Presenting Dick Durbin with an award — and from the Office of Human Dignity, no less — is an explicitly inconsistent and un-Catholic choice by Cardinal Cupich," continued Zander.

"Our shepherds are supposed to proclaim Jesus' teaching that all human life is sacred," Dr. Mary Elizabeth Keen of the Catholic Medical Association’s Illinois chapter told CatholicVote. "Senator Durbin has spent his career eliminating protections for the most vulnerable members of the human family."

Bishop Paprocki said in a statement to the Pillar that he was shocked to learn of the archdiocese's plans to give Durbin an award.

"Given Senator Durbin’s long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions — this decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life," continued Paprocki. "Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold."

Bishop Paprocki noted further that such an award might violate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' guidance that "the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

The guidance adds that "they should not be given awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco indicated on Sunday that he stands in solidarity with Bishop Paprocki in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Durbin the award.

"Bishop Paprocki, who is Senator Dick Durbin’s bishop, has expressed shock that the Archdiocese plans to honor Senator Durbin who, although a self-professed Catholic, supports access to abortion so radically that he has even opposed legislation to protect babies born after an attempted abortion," wrote Archbishop Cordileone. "Bishop Paprocki is correct that both clarity and unity are at risk. I hope this will be a clarion call to all members of the Body of Christ to speak out to make clear the grave evil that is the taking of innocent human life."

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Congress just saved your credit card rewards — for now



Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) just failed — again — in their bid to ram through the Credit Card Competition Act, a sweeping regulatory proposal that would overhaul the U.S. credit card system to resemble Europe’s heavy-handed financial regime. Their latest attempt to sneak the measure into a stablecoin bill collapsed under scrutiny, marking yet another setback for legislation that critics say would harm consumers, weaken data security, and empower retail giants.

This outcome is welcome but unsurprising. The bill is wildly unpopular with consumers — for good reason. As written, it’s a thinly veiled giveaway to big-box retailers at the expense of virtually everyone else. Its sponsors claim it would inject competition into a noncompetitive market.

Senate leadership clearly got the message. Americans don’t want to fix something that isn’t broken.

In reality, the CCCA would allow retailers to continue accepting name-brand credit cards while processing payments through lesser-known networks — all without consumer knowledge or consent. Lawmakers should stand firm against any future efforts to resurrect this awful proposal.

The central premise of the bill — that the credit card market lacks competition — is unfounded. As of 2025, 152 companies in the United States issue credit cards. Between 2020 and 2025, market entry has grown at an average annual rate of 8.1%. This kind of steady growth does not indicate a broken market, but rather a dynamic and competitive system that continues to serve consumers well.

Kiss rewards goodbye

If passed, the CCCA would jeopardize that progress. Fraud rates, already on the rise, would skyrocket. Unvetted payment processors would be handed vast troves of sensitive consumer data. The only beneficiaries of using these cheaper alternatives are the retailers, who lack a vested interest in cardholder safety. Meanwhile, smaller institutions — including community banks and credit unions — would see revenue streams dry up.

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dem10 via iStock/Getty Images

Retailers insist these alleged “cost savings” would trickle down to their customers. That’s about as likely as the claim that businesses absorb tariffs or taxes without raising prices. History suggests otherwise.

Worse still, the bill would also end the ability of banks and credit unions to operate popular credit card rewards programs. These programs are funded largely by the interchange fees charged by payment processors. When Durbin succeeded in passing his debit card price controls, consumers lost card benefits and experienced no savings. A Wall Street Journal article highlighted this history:

Debit-card rewards programs have nearly disappeared since the Durbin amendment, part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that cut retailers’ fees nearly in half. Stores didn’t pass the savings to customers, while the banks that issue the cards found other ways to recoup revenue.

A failed Trojan horse

Like a one-trick pony, Durbin and Marshall have not given up — despite the bill neither gaining traction nor receiving a committee markup. As they have done previously, the senators once again tried to tuck their proposal into a “must-pass” bill. Their first target in the 119th Congress was the GENIUS Act, a bipartisan bill focused on stablecoin regulations. Thankfully, Senate leadership saw right through this ploy.

Polling confirms that Americans are largely content with the current credit card marketplace. In fact, 77% of respondents trust credit card companies to handle key responsibilities, such as fraud prevention. Three-quarters of respondents trust that their private payment networks will handle the protection of personal data. The poll also showed that 79% of cardholders use rewards cards, and more than half (58%) use those rewards regularly. Rewards are a tool many families and businesses rely on to make purchases while also earning cash back.

Senate leadership clearly got the message. Americans don’t want to fix something that isn’t broken — which is why they rightly rejected the addition of Durbin’s credit card mandates to the GENIUS Act.

Consumers can breathe easier

It is a relief the bill didn’t slip in as an amendment with no opportunity for debate. Any legislation with sweeping financial implications deserves full congressional scrutiny — and the voices of constituents must be heard. Still, Durbin and Marshall are reportedly eyeing the National Defense Authorization Act as their next legislative vehicle.

Taxpayers must remain vigilant to hold their representatives accountable. Policymakers must also be vigilant in defending the interests of their constituents. But for now, millions of Americans can breathe a sigh of relief.

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