U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about a range of public safety issues, including online risks to children, antisemitism, and crime rates in American cities.
Senator Britt began by raising concerns about the exploitation of minors on social media platforms. “I have sat across from a number of parents who have talked to me about their child either falling victim to sextortion (or) different schemes that are online. We also know that there is an element of human trafficking that comes here. What are you doing to hold bad actors accountable, to track them down and to keep our kids safe?” she asked.
Attorney General Bondi responded by highlighting the Department’s actions against international offenders: “[W]e 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. That’s how we’re holding them accountable and locking them up for as long as we humanly can lock them up. And Director Battelle, our national security division, have been working tirelessly on that. We have entire units working on that.”
Senator Britt referenced previous testimony from parents whose children died after purchasing drugs laced with fentanyl online. She said: “I know that, for instance, we had a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing where we heard from parent after parent whose child had, you know, bought something online … It was laced with fentanyl and they died. If that was happening on a store front and a small business in America, we would shut that storefront down. We must do more to hold, not only the bad actors online, but also the people who allow it to happen accountable.”
The senator then addressed illegal offshore gaming operations targeting young people: “When it comes to betting and being involved in this illegal gaming … will you commit to me to taking a look at what is exactly happening offshore and also how they are utilizing different spaces to actually go after our children, getting them addicted and ultimately pulling them in?”
Attorney General Bondi affirmed her commitment to work with Senator Britt on protecting minors from illegal gambling.
Senator Britt also raised concerns about illegal Chinese vapes being sold in the United States. AG Bondi replied: “What we’ve been doing is we have been going around this country and we have been raiding these vape shops that are carrying these illegal drugs and shutting them down.”
Marking the second anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks abroad, Senator Britt shifted focus toward rising antisemitism domestically: “[T]his morning I had an opportunity to listen to stories of some individuals that had been held hostage. Some of the families that will never get their loved ones back, and some that are hoping that there is a resolution soon and they once again get to embrace their family member that they have not seen in over 700 days … [I]n addition to this horror and nightmare that they have been living for the past two years, we have seen a rise in antisemitism here on our soil … can you talk to me about the work that DOJ is doing to combat that rise in antisemitism and to hold offenders of that … accountable?”
In her final line of questioning following a recent mass shooting in Montgomery, Alabama—which resulted in two deaths and twelve injuries—Senator Britt addressed broader crime trends: “I do want to just talk a little bit about crime in American cities. We had a horrific event occur in Montgomery, Alabama, over the weekend … 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. I’d like to know a little bit about your interagency work, and talk to me about things that you find because we have to find solutions in this space. This cannot keep happening.”
The full exchange between Senator Britt and Attorney General Bondi is available for viewing through official channels.
