Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday showed the sharp divide between the left and the right on how justice in the US is being carried out.

Democrats and Republicans repeatedly talked past one another throughout the hearing, pointing fingers across the aisle over who was to blame for weaponizing the Justice Department.

Democrats accused Bondi of allowing President Donald Trump to direct prosecutions of his political enemies, including last month’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. Republicans, meanwhile, blamed the Biden Justice Department of using special counsel Jack Smith to prosecute Trump and spy on Republicans, pointing to the release Monday of documents showing Smith’s investigation obtained call records through a court order of eight Senate Republicans.

Bondi approached Tuesdays’ hearing prepared to deflect Democratic questions on a number of topics, from the Comey prosecution and the release of the Epstein files to the deployment of National Guard troops in blue states. She also had a host of personal attacks at the ready to try to brush back her Democratic questioners.

Here are takeaways from Tuesday’s hearing:

Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Bondi’s strategy: Deflect and attack

Bondi fended off questions on the investigation into accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, National Guard deployments, and investigations into T