Congressional hearings are often pitched as serious moments of oversight and accountability. In reality, they tend to be more theatrical than substantive—90 percent performance, 10 percent utility, on a good day.
Lawmakers on both sides are guilty of using these sessions for political grandstanding, grilling witnesses only to talk over their responses and banking soundbites for social media. But every now and then, amid the noise, someone flips the script.
That’s exactly what happened on Monday when Attorney General Pam Bondi found herself in a tense exchange with Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. What began as a typical round of partisan questioning quickly turned into a verbal joust—and Bondi didn’t blink.
AG Bondi calls out Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) to her face for being incompetent:
“You want to talk about incompetence, you’re the one that said Joe Biden on PBS was competent. You had to retract those words. Don’t talk, don’t insult me publicly.”
Show Dem lawmakers NO respect! pic.twitter.com/Rcx5l0mPKS
— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) June 23, 2025
Dean attempted to cast Bondi as unqualified, unprofessional, and evasive. But Bondi was more than ready. When Dean accused her of incompetence, Bondi fired back with sharp precision:
“You want to talk about incompetence? You’re the one that said Joe Biden, on PBS, was competent! You had to retract those words, so don’t talk to me, don’t insult me publicly.”
That line alone turned the hearing into must-watch footage.
The exchange intensified when Dean pressed Bondi for details about legal advice her office provided to President Trump—questions Bondi repeatedly and correctly declined to answer. “I will not discuss any advice that my Office of Legal Counsel gives to the president of the United States on any matter,” she said firmly.
Then came the moment that was just the cherry on top of the absurdity of the entire spectacle. Dean accused the president of wanting a Qatar jet “because it’s pretty.” Bondi didn’t flinch. “Come on. This is a congressional hearing,” she shot back, exposing the unseriousness of what was supposed to be an oversight proceeding.
Pam Bondi absolutely obliterated her,
“You want to talk about incompetence, you are the one that said Joe Biden was competent. You had to retract those words. Don‘t insult me publicly.”
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) June 23, 2025
