A defiant Attorney General Pam Bondi stood up to repeated Democratic attacks — and threw plenty of counter-punches — during a bruising Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that went on for more than four and a half hours.

It was Ms. Bondi’s first oversight hearing during which she repeatedly declined to answer questions on a variety of topics, many because she says they are currently involved in litigation.

When the ranking member, Senator Dick Durbin, started questioning the deployment of the National Guard at Chicago, Ms. Bondi went on the attack.

“I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump,” Ms. Bondi said.

“We’re there to help make America safe and Illinois safe, whether or not you want to,” Ms. Bondi told Mr. Durbin.

Ms. Bondi used a similar line of attack against Senator Alex Padilla when he asked about troops being deployed to Democratic-controlled cities.

“I wish you loved your state of California as much as you hate President Trump,” Ms. Bondi responded.

Democrats on the committee repeatedly asked Ms. Bondi about the Department of Justice’s decision to drop an investigation into the border tsar, Tom Homan, allegedly taking a bribe of $50,000 stuffed in a restaurant takeout bag from undercover FBI agents. Ms. Bondi said the decision was made to drop the investigation before she took her position at the top of the DOJ.

Ms. Bondi also declined to say if she talked to Mr. Trump about a former FBI director, James Comey, before he was charged with lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The justice department has opened a criminal investigation into another member of the committee, Senator Adam Schiff. Mr. Schiff and Ms. Bondi sparred during the hearing.

“You know, Senator Schiff, if you worked for me, you would’ve been fired, because you were censured by Congress for lying,” Ms. Bondi said during one exchange.

“We can stipulate to — you can stipulate to — all your personal attacks on the Democratic members of the committee,” Mr. Schiff replied.

“Personal attacks? You’ve been attacking my FBI director. You’ve been attacking my office. You’ve been attacking the border tsar,” Ms. Bondi countered.

“What we’re interested in is the answer to this oversight question,” Mr. Schiff continued.

“No, oversight? What you want is your five minutes of fame attacking good people,” Ms. Bondi snapped back.

At another point Ms. Bondi clashed with Senator Richard Blumenthal when he questioned her professional conduct.

“I cannot believe that you would accuse me of impropriety when you lied about serving in Vietnam,” Ms. Bondi angrily responded.

Ms. Bondi received much friendlier questions from Republicans on the committee.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, started the hearing by mentioning Monday’s disclosure that the FBI under the Biden administration conducted phone record analysis on eight Republican senators.

Mr. Grassley called on Ms. Bondi and the FBI director, Kash Patel, to immediately address the controversy.

Senator Josh Hawley was one of the targets of the surveillance. “The FBI tapped my phone,” Mr. Hawley told Ms. Bondi. “Gee, it sure looks like targeting political opponents.” 

When Mr. Hawley asked who ordered the surveillance, Ms. Bondi said she could not discuss the details of the incident “for very good reasons.”  But she added, “We will be looking at all aspects of this.”

The one topic where Ms. Bondi got pointed questions from both sides of the aisle involved the Epstein files. Ms. Bondi refused to answer questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and whether she told the White House about mentions of President Trump in the Epstein files.

“There’s been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos of President Trump with half-naked young women,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said.

“Do you know if the FBI found those photographs in their search of Jeffrey Epstein’s safe or premises or otherwise?” Mr. Whitehouse asked Ms. Bondi.

“You know, Senator Whitehouse, you sit here and make salacious remarks, once again trying to slander President Trump left and right — when you’re the one who was taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants,” Ms. Bondi shot back.