WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued the following statement after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi:

“Attorney General Bondi’s firing follows her botched handling of the Epstein files — a failure that denied victims transparency and further undermined trust in our justice system.

“But this is bigger than one official. President Trump has repeatedly treated the Department of Justice like a political weapon — pressuring prosecutors, rewarding loyalty over independence, and using the machinery of federal law enforcement to pursue vengeance against his perceived enemies while shielding his allies from accountability. That pattern includes efforts to nationalize voting through an executive order that has been widely challenged as an unlawful attempt to override state authority, as well as the Fulton County raid tied to the president’s obsession with losing the 2020 election.

“This kind of abuse subverts the rule of law and corrodes the Justice Department’s ability to deliver impartial justice. When the Justice Department is distracted by politics and stripped of its credibility, it can’t do its core job of keeping Americans safe. Americans deserve a Justice Department that is actually focused on delivering justice, not on serving a president’s agenda of personal and political self-interest.”