In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called “sanctuary” cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
Bondi was confirmed by the Senate late Tuesday night and was sworn in in front of President Trump by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon.
The attorney general established a “weaponization working group” to review Biden administration law enforcement policies. The initial focus of the working group will be the Trump cases in New York — the indictment pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and civil enforcement action brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James — neither of which involved federal prosecutors. The group will also review the two federal cases against Mr. Trump pursued by former special counsel Jack Smith and will examine the prosecutions of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
As the Justice Department has begun collecting information about the FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6 investigations and fired career prosecutors who worked on the cases, Bondi said in her directive that the working group would investigate “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” versus “good faith actions by federal employees simply following orders.”
Bondi is also accusing the Biden administration of targeting Catholic Americans and parents at school board meetings, and abusing the FACE Act — passed in 1994 — which makes it illegal to harm, threaten or interfere with an individual “obtaining or providing reproductive health services” or damage a facility “because such facility provides reproductive health.” These efforts will also be reviewed by the working group.
The new group will “review the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority in the United States… to identify instances where a department’s or agency’s conduct appears to have been designed to achieve political objectives or other improper aims rather than pursuing justice or legitimate governmental objectives,” Bondi wrote. She added that her department would provide quarterly reports to the White House on the group’s findings.
Bondi also targeted sanctuary jurisdictions with an order to end funding to any that “unlawfully interfere with federal law enforcement operations.” She encouraged the department to pursue enforcement actions against sanctuary cities or states that do not comply with the federal government’s immigration efforts.
“State and local jurisdictions must comply with applicable immigration-related federal laws,” one memo says, adding that “state and local actors may not impede, obstruct, or otherwise fail to comply with lawful immigration-related directives.”
In a separate memo targeting cartels and transnational criminal organizations, Bondi ordered “additional resources and thoughtful charging decisions” to fight illegal drug trafficking and pursue “total elimination” of these groups.
Bondi also ended a moratorium on federal executions put in place by former President Joe Biden, who had ended federal executions during his presidency. In 2020, the first Trump administration carried out 10 executions after that had been paused for 17 years.
“Going forward, the Department of Justice will once again act as the law demands,” a memo reads, “including by seeking death sentences in appropriate cases and swiftly implementing those sentences in accordance with the law.” The memo emphasizes that prosecutors should seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of a law-enforcement officer or a capital crime by an illegal immigrant.
Another memo establishes a task force to “prioritize seeking justice” for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel perpetrated by Hamas, emphasizing that the department is investigating Hamas leadership, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and “U.S.-based individuals and entities that provide funding to Hamas.”
Bondi also ended all diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the Justice Department and ordered full-time return to work for department employees by Monday, Feb. 24. The Justice Department did not disclose the percentage of staff who have been working remotely.
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