Newly confirmed US Attorney General Pam Bondi is ready to get the Department of Justice (DOJ) back on track. Bondi, sworn in on Feb. 5, reportedly plans to spend her first full day in the office addressing several issues related to the DOJ’s political weaponization. Fox News obtained memos describing some of the directives she will supposedly issue as a first step toward correcting what President Donald Trump, his supporters, and allies on Capitol Hill have long seen as an ideologically skewed agenda. That agenda focused mainly on pursuing him personally, as well as opponents of progressive policies and ideology in general.
Apparently anticipating elements of resistance to the Trump agenda within the ranks, the new AG is expected to send out a warning. One directive will reportedly remind DOJ attorneys that their duties include “aggressively enforcing criminal laws passed by Congress, but also vigorously defending presidential policies and actions on behalf of the United States against legal challenges.”
It is hardly Orwellian to put out such a reminder. Every previous administration, Republican or Democrat, has relied on the Justice Department to defend it against legal challenges. However, Pam Bondi, it appears, is planning to remind the lawyers in her department who the new bosses are and why they are here. “The discretion afforded Justice Department attorneys with respect to those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute their personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election.”
It’s an unequivocal message: You might not like that Trump is back in the White House, but you will not be permitted to bring that sentiment to the office. Bondi wasn’t finished. She further warned that undermining the administration or the president’s agenda will bear consequences. The AG asserted that “any Justice Department attorney who declines to sign a brief, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Trump administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Justice Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination.”
Another directive will apparently end the Biden administration’s moratorium on federal executions. DOJ prosecutors will be instructed to seek the death penalty when appropriate.
Under Pam Bondi, the Justice Department will collaborate closely with the Department of Homeland Security to “completely eliminate” threats to the safety and security of Americans posed by transnational criminal organizations, such as the drug cartels and violent gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
One move that will almost certainly draw howls from Trump’s foes is the creation of the Weaponization Working Group. This body will be charged with probing instances of “politicized justice” that occurred during the Joe Biden presidency. Top of the list, seemingly, will be reviews of the prosecutions that targeted Trump. New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and special counsel Jack Smith are each expected to be the targets of probes by the new weaponization group, according to the Fox News exclusive.
This group is expected to examine many other instances of the DOJ and FBI targeting Americans who stood in opposition to various progressive policies, such as parents who challenged school boards, pro-life demonstrators, and Catholic groups. The treatment of Jan. 6 protesters is also expected to be reviewed.
Pam Bondi clearly has her work cut out. She will no doubt be lambasted and harassed by opposition lawmakers who will claim she is allowing Trump to weaponize the DOJ against his critics. After the last four years, during which Bondi’s predecessor, Merrick Garland, sometimes appeared to have made it his personal mission to persecute anyone who displeased the Democrats. And how quickly left-wingers, pearl-clutching over what they accuse Trump of doing, forget Eric Holder, Barack Obama’s attorney general, pledging to “always be the president’s wing man.”
The perception of political weaponization at the DOJ goes back long before Obama and, at one time or another, has been something of which both sides of the political aisle have claimed to be the victims. It seemed to become more real and more obvious in the Obama-Holder era. Then, during Trump’s first four years – in contrast to the claims of tyranny – none of the 45th president’s opponents found themselves being pursued by the DOJ. Then came Biden and Garland. Many would argue – with plenty of compelling evidence – that weaponization was back with a vengeance, perhaps literally.
Pam Bondi has pledged to cleanse the DOJ of this politicization. However, that doesn’t mean that the real or perceived injustices of the past four years should be forgiven and forgotten – because, if they are, they will be repeated by future administrations.