Trump Pressures AG Pam Bondi To Prosecute Political Rivals
President Trump Pressures AG Pam Bondi To Prosecute Political Rivals
President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term seeking retribution against his perceived enemies. From lawsuits to attempted firings, President Trump seems more focused on using his executive power to go on a revenge tour than, you know, improving the material conditions for Americans throughout the country. President Trump doubled down on this approach on Saturday in a series of social media posts demanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi move to prosecute his political opponents.
According to the Washington Post, President Trump called on Pam Bondi to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), former FBI director James B. Comey, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Sen. Schiff led Trump’s first impeachment trial, Trump fired Comey in 2017 over an investigation into the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia, and Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the Trump Organization that led to a massive civil penalty and significantly hampered Trump and his sons’ ability to do business in New York.
Clearly, President Trump doesn’t know how to take an L and has since attempted to file mortgage fraud charges against Sen. Schiff and Letitia James in particular.
It remains to be seen whether Pam Bondi will attempt to prosecute Trump’s political rivals. Traditionally, the president has very little, if any, say on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) prosecutorial discretion. Of course, President Trump cares little about historical norms, and Pam Bondi has shown a willingness to do his bidding.
After the shooting death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, Bondi removed a report from the DOJ’s website showing right-wing extremists were responsible for the majority of political violence in America. Pam Bondi even expressed a willingness to prosecute journalists and civilians over hate speech. In this case, the definition of “hate speech” is anything that hurts the feelings of President Trump and his allies.
On Friday, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik S. Siebert, resigned from his position after pressure from President Trump and several administration officials. Siebert was criticized by Ed Martin, the head of the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group, and Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, for not filing mortgage fraud charges against Letitia James.
President Trump wrote in one of the posts that he intends to nominate Lindsey Halligan, a former Florida insurance lawyer with no experience as a prosecutor, to take over Siebert’s position. Halligan is currently the White House adviser removing “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian.
What’s truly baffling about President Trump’s demands is that charges weren’t filed against Letitia James and Sen. Schiff because there was a lack of evidence. Even if he does install a loyalist as the U.S. attorney in Virginia, and even if that loyalist does file charges, if the evidence isn’t there, you’re probably going to fail in court.
President Trump seems to believe that he can simply file lawsuits left and right and that the courts will bend to his will, but we’re not seeing that happen much outside of the Supreme Court. Over the weekend, a federal judge threw out Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times, calling it “improper and impermissible.”
“A complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective,” Judge Steven D. Merryday, of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, wrote in his ruling on the Times case. “Not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”
President Trump caught another legal setback regarding his attempted firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Trump tried to oust Lisa Cook from her position over claims of “mortgage fraud.” A federal judge ruled that Lisa Cook could stay in her position, as “President Trump has not stated a legally permissible cause for Cook’s removal.”
Last week, it was revealed that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had made similar errors as Letitia James and Lisa Cook on mortgage documents submitted to a financial institution. Of course, the Trump administration has downplayed Bessent’s errors and isn’t pursuing his firing or any type of legal action, which makes it harder to take their claims of mortgage fraud seriously if they aren’t enforcing it across the board.
President Trump can’t seem to accept that the reason charges were filed against him, and in quite a few cases resulted in legal wins for his opponents, was because there was sufficient evidence against him. Facts never seem to matter much to President Trump, though. Especially when he’s in his feelings.
SEE ALSO:
Why Trump Likely Picked Bondi For AG
Trump Attacks Free Speech, As Pam Bondi Targets Journalists
