Former FBI director James Comey will appear in court for an arraignment tomorrow where the charges will be read to him and he will enter a plea. The case will then go to trial.

Comey's two-page indictment is short on detail, but it says the former FBI director has been charged with one count of making false statements and another of obstruction of justice.

Both counts relate to Comey's appearance via video before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020 - the same committee Bondi is facing today.

He was being questioned about Hillary Clinton and another investigation on pro-Trump election interference by Russia.

Prosecutors allege Comey misled the Senate by saying he had not authorised a leak to the media about an FBI investigation.

Comey maintains he is innocent and that he will prove that in court.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

Much of the focus in this hearing has centred on James Comey. The Justice Department secured an indictment against the former FBI Director less than two weeks ago - after President Trump called for his prosecution.

Tomorrow, Comey will appear in court. He faces one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice. The indictment relates to his own congressional testimony in 2020 - he is accused of lying to a Senate committee about whether he authorised a leak of classified information to the media.

He denies the allegations.

Critics say Bondi and the Justice Department are targeting the president's adversaries. Many of the questions so far today on Comey from both sides of the aisle have been met with Bondi's statement that she cannot discuss it.

Democrats have argued it's a political indictment. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar asked Bondi if the President's post on Truth Social calling for Comey's indictment is considered a directive to the Justice Department.

"President Trump is the most transparent president in American history, and I don't think he said anything that he hasn't said for years," Bondi replied. Bondi also said that Comey was indicted by one of the "most liberal grand juries in the country".

Chuck Grassley, Republican senator and chair of the committee, has said that Comey "ought to be held accountable" if the facts and evidence supports the finding that he lied to Congress.

Democrat Senator Chris Coons just told Bondi that the indictment of Comey "left me very concerned about the direction of the department".

Image source, Reuters

Senator Coons then asks Attorney General Pam Bondi what her "limiting standard" is around Trump's directions to prosecute his enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey.

Bondi responds that no one is above the law, even Comey.

She then reiterates her frequent refrain throughout this hearing that she will not be discussing pending case.

A reminder that James Comey has been indicted on two charges. That indictment came after Trump posted on social media urging Bondi to go after him, leading the president's critics to accuse him of weaponising the Department of Justice for his own political purposes.

Chris Coons, a Democratic senator from Delaware, presses Bondi on the recent US military strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug cartel boats.

There have been a number of deadly strikes that the US has carried out on boats in international waters it says are involved in "narco-trafficking". The strikes have attracted condemnation in countries including Venezuela and Colombia, with some international lawyers describing them as a breach of international law.

Coons also questions the legality of the strikes, claiming they took place without due process and that "Congress has never authorised this kind of use of military force".

He asks Bondi: "How did you conclude that these strikes on ships or boats are legal?"

Bondi replies by saying she will not discuss "any legal advice" that her department may have given.

She calls Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro a "narco terrorist" currently under indictment by the US with a $50m bounty on his head.

"Drugs coming from Venezuela are killing our children at record levels," she says.

Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar is next to question the attorney general and says she is looking to find "common ground" with her over the topic of gun violence.

Klobuchar refers to the recent killing of Trump ally Charlie Kirk, the fatal shooting of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and the August mass shooting at a church in her state - then asks Bondi if she is open to raising the age limit on assault weapons.

Bondi denounces the violence but declines to say whether she would support raising the age limit.

Klobuchar then asks if Bondi has upheld her promise to keep the justice department free from political influence, to which Bondi replies "absolutely".

Klobuchar then points to the recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey - a known Trump antagonist - and asks whether the White House had any influence over the decision to press charges.

"I am not going to discuss pending cases," Bondi replies.

Is Chicago’s homicide rate five times higher than New York?published at 16:13 BST

16:13 BST

By Lucy Gilder

In her testimony before Congress, US Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked about the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin.

In response, she told the senator that "your city has a murder rate five times higher than New York’s".

Bondi isn’t the first Trump official to justify National Guard deployment to Chicago by pointing to its crime rates.

In 2024, there were about 17 homicides per 100,000 people in Chicago, according to the latest full year FBI data., external

That was almost five times higher than the rate for New York, which had four homicides for every 100,000 people last year.

However, FBI data shows Chicago’s homicide rate declining in recent years - although it has fluctuated over the last decade.

The rate for 2024 was down from about 19 per 100,000 in 2023 and 23 per 100,000 in 2022.

• Read more: Is Trump right about Chicago's crime levels?

Both Pam Bondi and Senator John Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, use the next line of questioning to criticise the Democrats' handling of law enforcement.

The attorney general again praises the Trump administration's deployment of National Guard troops to Washington DC, describing it as "super successful" in making the city safer before heaping praise on DC's Democrat mayor, Muriel Bowser, for helping to make it happen.

"I've truly never seen a partnership like that in my career, and it's working together, and that's what Illinois is refusing to do," Bondi says, taking aim at Senator Dick Durbin who has criticised a similar deployment of troops in Chicago.

You can read more about why Trump is deploying the National Guard to some cities, and on what legal basis, here.

Image source, Reuters

Bondi has come to Congress today with a number of folders and papers, which she has laid out in front of her and frequently refers to.

This photo shows some of what's inside. It appears to be rebuttals for any questions from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat.

There's a screengrab of a social media post made by Whitehouse, some quick bullet point lines of rebuttal, and some hand-written notes.

One of the bullet points reads: "You are a total hypocrite", and is underlined.

"You rail against dark money, but you work with dark money groups," another point reads.

At the bottom of the page appears to be notes for any questions Whitehouse has about Jeffrey Epstein, or about personnel firings at the Department of Justice.

Her notes indicate if she is asked about any firings to reply that Whitehouse voted for the government shutdown and has left agents on the street without paycheques. You can read more about the shutdown here.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Inside the hearing room, we're listening to the back and forth between senators and the attorney general, Pam Bondi.

It's mostly silent in here except for the constant sound of typing from press in the back.

The hearing room is large, it almost looks like the inside of a courtroom. It's not jam packed in here but many of the rows of chairs behind Bondi are nearly full.

Whitehouse questions Bondi about "suspicious activity reports" relating to Jeffrey Epstein, compiled by the US Treasury Department.

Bondi then returns fire to Whitehouse, and asks whether he took money from an Epstein associate.

Whitehouse then asks Bondi if the FBI has looked into reports that Epstein "showed people photos of President Trump with half naked young women".

"Do you know if the FBI found those photographs in their search of Jeffrey Epstein's safe or premises?" Whitehouse asks.

Acutely on the defence, Bondi replies by again asking Whitehouse whether he took money from an associate of Epstein, and points out that he's sitting next to the Democratic senator who she accused of blocking access to Epstein's flight logs.

A reminder - that senator, Dick Durbin, said earlier that he did not refuse but that he had asked senators to put a request for the logs in writing and they had not done so.

Democrat Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asks the attorney general about an alleged $50,000 (£37,000) bribe paid to Trump's border chief Tom Homan during an undercover FBI sting operation.

Whitehouse is asking several questions about the alleged bribe: Did the FBI give Homan the cash? Was it returned to the FBI? Did Homan disclose the cash on his tax returns?

Bondi repeats a prepared statement in response: "The investigation into Mr Homan was subjected to a full review by FBI agents, by Department of Justice prosecutors. They found no evidence of wrongdoing."

Homan is alleged to have promised immigration-related government contracts to FBI agents posing as business executives during a meeting in Texas. The Trump administration says Homan "did absolutely nothing wrong" and was the target of Biden administration's politically motivated attempt to discredit him.

Homan is leading efforts to deliver on Trump's pledge for mass deportations and to stop illegal immigration.

You can read more about the allegations against him here.

Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, turns the focus back to what he calls the weaponisation of government by Democrats under former President Joe Biden.

He highlights the indictments against Donald Trump, from the business fraud felony charges in New York, to the mishandling of classified documents at Trump's Florida residence, as examples.

"What they did is they took misdemeanors and turned them into felonies by using a legal theory that no one in the history of Manhattan had ever been charged," Graham says.

Graham's voice escalates as he continues to lament what he sees as attacks on Trump by the Biden administration.

For context: Trump faced four criminal cases - you can read more about those here.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Recent Trump administration officials, including Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and FBI Director Kash Patel, have relied on a playbook for testimony before hostile congressional committees. Go on the attack.

That strategy was on display in Pam Bondi’s exchanges with Illinois Senator Dick Durbin over the deployment of National Guard troops in his home state.

“I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate Donald Trump,” she quipped.

She was also quick to note that the murder rate in Chicago is “five times” higher than New York and that Justice Department officials, including Patel, were “on their way to Chicago” while Durbin was “sitting here grilling me”.

“It’s my job to grill you,” Durbin responded curtly.

The 80-year-old Durbin is retiring from the Senate next year and is not considered much of a political firebrand. Expect more heated clashes in store when some of the younger, more animated Democratic senators get their chance to spar with Bondi.

Image source, New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services

While discussions in Congress turn to Jeffrey Epstein, let's take a look back at who he was.

Before he became the central figure in a high-profile sex trafficking case, Epstein was a powerful financier in New York City.

Courting the rich and famous with private jets and lavish parties in the 1980s, Epstein’s business grew to manage hundreds of millions of dollars in clients’ assets.

Among the celebrities he socialised with were US President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

"I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Trump told New York magazine in 2002.

In 2005, the parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home.

He avoided federal charges and instead received an 18-month prison sentence.

Since 2008, Epstein had been listed as a level three on the New York sex offenders' register. It was a lifelong designation meaning he was at a high risk of reoffending.

In July 2019, he was arrested in New York on sex trafficking charges, accused of running "a vast network" of underage girls for sex.

After being denied bail, he was held in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was found dead in his cell months later.

Image source, Getty Images

As Durbin grills Bondi about her handling of the Epstein files, she flips the script and accuses the senator of obstructing investigations into the disgraced financier.

"Senator Durbin, I find it very interesting that you refused repeated Republican requests to release the Epstein flight logs in 2023 and 2024," Bondi says.

"Why did you fight for years? Why did you fight to not disclose the flight logs?"

Durbin says he did not refuse, adding that he asked senators to put a request for the flight logs in writing but they did not.

Republican senator Marsha Blackburn interjects to say that she "repeatedly asked for those flight logs", which she says her staff did submit in writing.

Democrat senator Durbin then asks Bondi why she said in February that the client list of Jeffrey Epstein - the late, convicted paedophile financier - was sitting on her desk ready for review.

He says Bondi produced information on Epstein that was already public and did not reveal a client list.

Bondi responds that she only said that because she had not yet reviewed the files at the time. She then says that a July 6 memo pointed out that there was never an Epstein client list.

Durbin then asks Pam Bondi about her former work with Qatar before questioning what advice she gave Donald Trump over his acceptance of the gift of a private jet, which is planned to be used temporarily as America's Air Force One presidential jet - more on that here.

Bondi says her only work with Qatar was to prevent human trafficking as a private lawyer during the 2022 World Cup and that she disclosed that during her confirmation hearing.

She returns to criticising crime in Chicago, which is in Durbin's state of Illinois. Bond says her department is trying to make the country safer and says her deputy Todd Blanche and FBI director Kash Patel are on their way to Chicago right now.

Image source, Reuters

Democrat senator Dick Durbin asks the attorney general whether she was consulted by the White House before National Guards troops were deployed to US cities like Chicago, Illinois, which he represents.

Bondi responds that she is "not going to discuss any internal conversations with the White House", before attacking Durbin.

"I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump and currently, the National Guard are on the way to Chicago," Bondi says. "If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will."

Durbin replies: "She refuses to answer as to whether she had any conversation with the White House about deploying national troops to my state. That's an indication, I'm afraid, where we are politically in this place."

Committee chair Chuck Grassley asks Bondi to expand on the FBI's so-called Arctic Frost investigation.

Grassley yesterday shared a one-page document that he said showed nine Republican lawmakers' phones were surveilled in 2023 under the Biden administration, as part of an investigation into alleged election interference by Trump.

She says she'll answer exact information in writing and says it was an "undemocratic" and "unconstitutional" abuse of power.

Bondi says the Biden administration shattered the public's faith in government and that she will be working with current FBI director Kash Patel on this issue.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Pam Bondi’s opening statement largely focused on what she said was the Trump administration’s focus on reducing crime in the US. She was quick to cite statistics that she said shows the successes they’ve had so far.

“We are returning to our core mission of fighting real crime,” she said.

Democrats will want to talk about the Justice Department’s investigation and prosecution of Donald Trump’s political adversaries. Republicans, starting with committee chair Chuck Grassley, are likely to focus on what they claim are the Biden administration’s politicised investigation of Trump.

Bondi, and the White House, may feel they are on the highest political ground when they focus on crime-fighting, however. It’s an issue that many Americans care about - one that has the potential to cut across partisan lines.