‘Pam Bondi Has Been MIA’: CNN’s Elie Honig Calls for DOJ Investigation ‘At a Minimum’ Into Signalgate
CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of being “MIA” when it comes to the White House attack plan leaks that have critics calling for the resignation of top officials.
Honig joined CNN’s Kasie Hunt on The Arena on Wednesday evening and said the leaks require an investigation “at a minimum,” which is why it’s so surprising to not hear Bondi speaking up more. Honig noted there is a long history of officials in Bondi’s position who need to go against the president who appointed them.
Honig argued:
Well, if you were talking about criminal accountability, and I’m not saying to be clear, that there has definitely been a crime, but I think at a minimum, there needs to be an investigation here. If we look back through recent history, every attorney general has initiated some investigation that the president may not have liked. It’s the very essence of the job of the AG sometimes to exercise independence and to do things that may not be popular with the administration. Go back to Janet Reno under the Bill Clinton era. She launched a series of investigations that dogged Bill Clinton throughout his presidency, much to his dismay. Same thing held true during the Bush administration, Obama administration, Trump, Biden, all the way on through.
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published messages this week from a Signal group chat involving administration officials that Goldberg was accidentally invited to. The discussion centered around a then-coming strike against the Houthis in Yemen. White House officials including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth continue to insist no classified information was shared with Goldberg despite him being invited into a conversation where Hegseth and others discussed the timing and details around the attack.
“Pam Bondi has been MIA. There is no indication that she’s going to open an investigation here. And by the way, when she was up for a confirmation as AG, you remember, one of the concerns is would she be able to exercise independence? She told the Senate, absolutely. I will be completely independent,” Honig said about Bondi.
No “reasonable” lawyer, he added, would look at the Signal leaks and think it does not require an investigation.
“The precedent, if we look at recent history again, both parties is at an absolute minimum,” Honig said. “If you’re the United States Justice Department, if you’re the attorney general, you have to at least dig in and take a look.”
At a Thursday morning press conference, Bondi dodged when asked if the Justice Department was involved in the Signal fallout and if not, then why not.
“Well, first, it was sensitive information, not classified, and inadvertently released,” she said, going on to say she would not comment on any further on the matter.
Watch above via CNN.
