Cory Booker Grills Attorney General Bondi Over Frozen Grants, Political Arrests, and DOJ Priorities

A tense Senate Judiciary Committee hearing erupted this week as Senator Cory Booker forcefully challenged Attorney General Pam Bondi over frozen public safety funding, controversial arrests in New Jersey, and what he described as a dangerous redirection of Justice Department resources away from core law enforcement priorities.

At the center of Booker’s frustration was $35 million in Office of Justice Programs grants approved on a bipartisan basis and intended to support violence prevention, substance abuse treatment, and community safety initiatives across New Jersey. Booker emphasized that his state is one of the nation’s top donor states, sending far more federal tax dollars to Washington than it receives in return.

“These grants weren’t partisan pet projects,” Booker said. “They were bipartisan investments in public safety that law enforcement, nonprofits, and communities were counting on.”

Bondi acknowledged that the Department of Justice had terminated numerous grants but said an appeals process exists and that some funding has been restored. Booker pushed back sharply, noting that none of New Jersey’s grants have been reinstated, despite repeated letters and outreach.

“You’ve said people should contact you,” Booker responded. “I’ve done that. And New Jersey is still left empty-handed.”

Bondi ultimately agreed to meet with Booker directly to review the pending appeals, promising to look into the matter immediately.

But the confrontation escalated when Booker turned to what he described as politically motivated prosecutions. He cited the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after the mayor attempted to conduct oversight at the Delaney Hall detention center. A federal judge later called the charges “embarrassing” and a “worrisome misstep,” criticizing prosecutors for straying from their duty to serve justice rather than political agendas.

Booker revealed that recently released video footage shows a federal agent stating that Baraka’s arrest was ordered “per the deputy attorney general of the United States,” suggesting the decision was made by senior DOJ officials in Washington rather than officers on the scene.

“To arrest the mayor of a major American city under those circumstances should alarm this committee,” Booker said. “It raises serious questions about political interference in prosecutorial decisions.”

Bondi declined to discuss specifics, citing the ongoing nature of the case, but Booker said he would submit detailed questions for the record regarding how arrest decisions involving high-level elected officials are made.

The senator also delivered a sweeping critique of DOJ priorities, pointing to data showing thousands of federal agents reassigned from investigating violent crime, child exploitation, drug trafficking, and public corruption to immigration enforcement. According to Booker, nearly half of agents in some FBI field offices have been diverted full-time, including more than 1,700 ATF agents.

“At a time when gun violence, public corruption, and transnational crime are devastating communities, this reallocation of resources makes no sense,” Booker said.

He further accused the department of gutting key enforcement units, including the Public Integrity Section, halting enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, dissolving the Foreign Influence Task Force, and scaling back white-collar crime prosecutions.

Bondi disputed the characterization, insisting that DOJ agents continue to carry out their core missions while working alongside Homeland Security and emphasizing that enforcement efforts have not been sacrificed.

In his final remarks, Booker raised concerns about antitrust enforcement, referencing reports that senior DOJ leadership overruled career staff to approve a $14 billion merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks. He urged Bondi to testify before the Senate antitrust subcommittee to address growing corporate concentration.

While Bondi deferred antitrust matters to her staff, the exchange left little doubt that tensions between congressional oversight and the Justice Department are intensifying.

As Booker concluded, the message was clear: questions about transparency, political influence, and misplaced priorities at the DOJ are not going away—and neither is congressional scrutiny.