OVERSIGHT: Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi arrived at the Senate oversight committee yesterday armed with prepared zingers for every Democrat who asked her a question. Bondi deadlegged every serious question about how she’s running the Justice Department.

• For Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois asking about sending the national Guard to Chicago, “I wish you’d love Chicago as much as you hate President Trump.” 
• To Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, “I cannot believe that you would accuse me of impropriety when you lied about your military service.”
• And to Adam Schiff of California, she said she would have fired him if he worked for her and, “Will you apologize to Donald Trump?” for voting to impeach him.

  The Republicans threw her softballs and allowed Bondi to establish herself as the most clearly partisan attorney general in memory. She dodged questions about the files on sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and what happened to the investigation of Border Czar Tom Homan, who is reported to have been recorded on video taking a $50,000 cash bribe from an FBI agent before he was installed in his current job.

SHUTDOWN, DAY EIGHT: President Trump suggested yesterday that hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed during the government shutdown might not receive back pay when the government re-opens as required by the law he signed in 2019.

  Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that it “depends on who you’re talking about,” and that there were “some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.” But he also said he will “follow the law.”

CONVERSION: The Supreme Court’s conservative majority in arguments yesterday appeared ready to throw out Colorado’s law banning so-called “conversion therapy” for minors, therapy aimed at talking them out of being gay or transgender.

  Lawyers for the plaintiff, a Christian therapist, argued that the law violates the right to free speech, and that there’s no proof that conversion therapy is harmful.

  Lawyers for the state said there is a mountain of evidence that such therapy can be harmful and that the law is a professional regulation, not a ban on free speech.

  At least 24 states have banned conversion therapy for minors.

THE REGIME:

— Former FBI director James Comey is set to appear in court today to face charges of lying to Congress. Comey, who ordered the investigation into Russian connections to Trump’s 2016 election campaign, is the first of the president’s perceived enemies to be indicted.

  Comey’s indictment came after Trump publicly all but ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to charge him and others. His social media post said, “Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.”

  Trump has his sights on California Sen. Adam Schiff, NY Attorney Gen. Letitia James, former CIA Director John Brennan, and Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis.

 — Lawyers for the woman shot by border patrol agents in Chicago over the weekend say that body-camera video is at odds with the official version of events.

  Marimar Martinez, 30, and other drivers had been following federal agents in their cars honking their horns to draw attention. Her lawyer, Christopher Parente. said the video shows an agent turning a federal vehicle left into Martinez’s vehicle, after which an agent says, “Do something bitch.” The agent then gets out of his car and shoots at Martinez.

— Six former surgeon generals of the US published an editorial in The Washington Post saying that, “the actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are endangering the health of the nation.” And that,  “the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”

  The former surgeon generals say, “Science and expertise have taken a back seat to ideology and misinformation.”

— The Trump administration ordered the FBI  to urgently search for any records related to the 1937 disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart. Why? They didn’t say. Earhart was trying to fly around the world when she went missing over the Pacific.

HOME PLATE: The NY Yankees came from five runs behind last night at Yankee stadium to beat the Toronto Bluejays 9-6 and remain in the playoffs. New York’s Aaron judge in the fourth inning hit a three-run homer that bounced fair off the left field foul pole. 

  Game four of the best of five series is tonight. Toronto leads 2-1. 

THE SPIN RACK:  The price of gold hit a record $4,000 an ounce yesterday as nervous investors look for a safe place to put their money. — Tesla announced “cheaper” versions of its Model 3 Standard and Model Y, priced at $38,630, and $41,630. Tesla has had a rush of buyers taking advantage of the $7500 federal tax credit, which expired September 30^th.  — About 580 hikers and 300 mountain guides, yak handlers, and support staff have been rescued after they were stranded in heavy snows on Mount Everest. At least 10 people are still up there. — Two people were injured when a bear rampaged through the sushi section of a supermarket 80 miles north of Tokyo. About 40 people were in the market when the bear pounced on a shopper.

BELOW THE FOLD: In yesterday’s morning editorial call with CBS News staff, the network’s new editor in chief Bari Weiss, installed by corporate owner David Ellison, said she wants to “win,” which she defined as “restoring trust” to CBS. 

  A longtime critic of legacy media, Weiss can be compared to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has spent much of his adult life undermining medical science while claiming he wants to restore trust in it. 

  Weiss ended her remarks saying, “Let’s do the fucking news.” You can imagine eyes rolling all over CBS News.

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