On first day as AG, Bondi demands 'zealous advocacy' of Trump's agenda
Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be attorney general, arrives before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her nomination hearing in Washington on Jan. 15. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
Attorney General Pam Bondi spent her first day on the job Wednesday redirecting the Justice Department’s significant law enforcement authority toward addressing President Donald Trump’s grievances with the agency, making her allegiance to his agenda clear in a series of strongly worded directives.
Despite pledging during her confirmation hearing that “politics will not play a part” in her decision-making, Bondi, within hours of taking office, created a “Weaponization Working Group” to review instances of what she described as “politicized justice”—starting with the federal criminal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.
She also ordered an examination of what she alleged was federal cooperation in the criminal and civil investigations of Trump in New York—even though they were carried out by state authorities, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Other directives she signed ended the federal moratorium on the death penalty, paused federal justice grant funding for sanctuary cities, and demanded “zealous advocacy” of the president’s agenda from the department’s more than 10,000 lawyers.
“Any attorney who because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law,” Bondi wrote in a memo accompanying one of her directives Wednesday.
Many of the 14 policy initiatives appeared to directly respond to executive orders Trump issued in his own first hours in office on Jan. 20.
A former Florida attorney general and longtime Trump loyalist, Bondi is likely to be one of the most scrutinized members of Trump’s Cabinet, especially since the president often vowed on the campaign trail that he would use the Justice Department to exact retribution on his political enemies.
She inherits a department that, in the two weeks since Trump took office, has been roiled by staffing shake-ups and growing concern from current and former employees that its independence from White House influence—a norm since Watergate—is under immediate threat.
Interim Justice Department leaders appointed by Trump have swiftly transferred several experienced career officials out of their jobs and forced out line prosecutors who worked on the special counsel investigations of Trump or cases tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove ordered the firings of senior executives at the FBI, which reports to the Justice Department, and a broad review of the work of roughly 5,000 agents across the country who were involved in the bureau’s Jan. 6 cases.
Bove on Wednesday accused the FBI’s acting leadership of “insubordination,” saying they’d refused his request last week to identify “a core team” of agents who’d investigated the Capitol attack.
That defiance, Bove said in a memo obtained by The Washington Post, prompted the department to undertake a more sweeping review of all agents who’d touched Jan. 6 cases. The examination has set off alarm and prompted two lawsuits from bureau employees who fear it will lead to retaliation or unlawful firings. Bove’s memo tried to push back on that concern.
“No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties,” Bove wrote in the memo to acting FBI director Brian Driscoll. “The only individuals who should be concerned about the process … are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI.”
The Post has reported that Driscoll objected to any plans for a mass purge of agents, though his stance on Bove’s initial request could not be immediately confirmed.
“There is no honor in the ongoing efforts to distort that simple truth or protect culpable actors from scrutiny on these issues, which have politicized the Bureau, harmed its credibility, and distracted the public from the excellent work being done every day,” Bove’s memo said.
Bondi echoed that language in one of the Justice Department initiatives she signed Wednesday, ordering her new “Weaponization Working Group” to review “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” tied to the Jan. 6 cases, the largest investigation the Justice Department has ever undertaken.
In doing so, she drew a distinction between bad actors and what she described as good-faith federal employees “simply following orders from superiors.” The Jan. 6 cases, she wrote, “diverted resources from combatting violent and serious crime and thus, were pursued at the expense of the safety of residents of the District of Columbia.”
Other directives established a task force focused on holding Hamas accountable for its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and ordered the evaluation of all settlements, consent decrees and internal guidance to ensure they comply with Trump’s executive order eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
It remains to be seen whether she plans to continue the wave of dismissals, transfers and forced retirements initiated by Bove.
During her confirmation hearing last month, she assured senators she would not retaliate against Justice Department employees simply because they had been assigned to work on cases tied to Trump, a pledge echoed by Kash Patel, the president’s nominee for FBI director.
Democrats pressed Bondi on past vows she made while appearing as a Trump surrogate on cable TV news that “the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones.”
“Every case will be prosecuted based on the facts and the law that’s applied in good faith, period,” she told them.
As Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered her oath in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Bondi vowed to restore order and told Trump she would not let him down.
“I will make you proud, and I will make this country proud,” Bondi said. “I will restore integrity to the Justice Department, and I will fight violent crime throughout this country and throughout this world, and make America safe again.”
Trump congratulated Bondi and predicted she would not let partisanship influence her tenure - at least for the most part, he quipped.
“I know I’m supposed to say, ‘She’s going to be totally impartial, with respect to Democrats,’” Trump said. “I think she will be as impartial as a person can be.”
Matt Viser and Sabrina Rodriguez contributed to this report.
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