Pam Bondi’s Reboot of Weaponization Working Group Signals Pressure From Trump on Prosecutions of Critics Is Reaching Breaking Point

The reboot of the Trump administration’s “Weaponization Working Group” puts in sharp relief the growing pressure on Attorney General Pam Bondi to execute President Trump’s prosecutorial agenda. The working group, despite drawing from the most prestigious organs of law enforcement, has not produced any public materials. CNN now reports that high Department of Justice officials “are expected to meet Monday to discuss how to reenergize probes that are considered a top priority” for the president. Now, the group is “expected to start meeting daily with the goal of producing results in the next two months.” Ms. Bondi’s efforts to prosecute Mr. Trump’s critics appear to have hit an impasse. The criminal cases against the former FBI director James Comey and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, were both dismissed after Ms. Bondi’s handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan was ruled unlawfully appointed. The DOJ has appealed that ruling. After the bank fraud charges against Ms. James were tossed, two grand juries refused to indict her again.Ms. Halligan has now reportedly left the DOJ after another judge issued a blistering order commanding her to stop representing herself as a United States attorney following her disqualification. The judge, David Novak, wrote that Ms. Halligan’s “masquerading as the United States Attorney in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.” Judge Novak also threatened disciplinary action against Ms. Bondi, among others. Ms. Bondi has also faced a significant setback in New Jersey, where a prosecutor she describes as her “good friend,” Alina Habba, was also ruled unlawfully appointed by a Republican appointee of President Biden, Judge Matthew Brann. That determination was seconded by a panel of the Third United States Appeals Circuit. The appellate tribunal then rejected the DOJ’s request for an en banc hearing of the whole court. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Mr. Trump “has complained to aides repeatedly in recent weeks about Attorney General Pam Bondi, describing her as weak and an ineffective enforcer of his agenda.” The Journal calls those complaints part of “an intense campaign by Trump to pressure the Justice Department to more aggressively pursue his priorities.”In September Mr. Trump posted a message to Truth Social addressed to “Pam” that argued “Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” He added that “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Ms. Bondi convened the Weaponization Working Group in the first weeks of the second Trump administration. The attorney general announced the tribunal in a memorandum entitled “Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice.” She wrote that “No one who has acted with a righteous spirit and just intentions has any cause for concern about efforts to root out corruption and weaponization.”The working group’s ambit extends to “all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States over the last four years” in order 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.” The group also vowed to probe “Special Counsel Jack Smith and his staff, who spent more than $50 million targeting President Trump.” The group’s charter also mentions investigating “Federal cooperation with the weaponization by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, their respective staffs, and other New York officials to target President Trump. A DOJ spokesman says this week in a statement that The Weaponization Working Group is diligently working to restore integrity to the Department of Justice.”A component of shakeup of the Weaponization Working Group appears to be the departure of Ed Martin as its leader, a development first reported by NBC News. The DOJ, while not addressing that personnel change, notes in a statement on Monday that “President Trump appointed Ed Martin as Pardon Attorney and Ed continues to do a great job in that role.”Before Mr. Martin was assigned to lead the group and serve as the point person on presidential pardons he was Mr. Trump’s choice to serve as the United States attorney for the District of Columbia. Republicans in the Senate, though, balked at confirming him for the permanent position. The prestigious post went instead to Judge Jeanine Pirro.

Pam Bondi’s Reboot of Weaponization Working Group Signals Pressure From Trump on Prosecutions of Critics Is Reaching Breaking Point

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