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In Trump's Department Of Justice, Bootlicking Blanche Wields 'Weaponization'

In Trump's Department Of Justice, Bootlicking Blanche Wields 'Weaponization'

When then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton happened to meet on the tarmac in Phoenix, they said they exchanged pleasantries about life, family and Brexit. The June 2016 chat, which continued on her plane, lasted about half an hour.

Back then, it was long enough to create a scandal, an inappropriate breach, condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike.

There was the timing, in the middle of an FBI investigation of eventual Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails.

And there was the breaking of a post-Watergate tradition: keeping the Justice Department independent, free from influence and pressure from any official, past or present. That Lynch’s boss, President Barack Obama, didn’t weigh in was further proof of that practice.

The corruption that ran through Richard Nixon’s White House taught everyone a lesson, it was thought.

Think again.

The MAGA universe that railed against “weaponization” of the Justice Department during President Joe Biden’s time in office is now instilling it as policy.

Don’t believe me?

Just listen to Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former defense attorney, auditioning to replace ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi while, for now, he’s acting in her place. Bondi reportedly displeased her boss, who never hid his passion for revenge, by failing to successfully prosecute his enemies.

And in his first press conference in the new job, Blanche made it clear he’s fine with Trump continuing his vendettas.

“We have thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now, and it is true that some of them involve men, women and entities that the president in the past has had issues with and that he believes should be investigated,” Blanche said, as reported in The Washington Post.

“That is his right, and indeed it is his duty to do that.”

Blanche also said that if he is not the president’s choice as attorney general and is asked to take another job, that’s fine with him. “I will say, ‘Thank you very much, I love you, sir.’”

Now that’s downright embarrassing.

The Justice Department has been transformed from a place where accomplished, well-educated lawyers vied to earn a coveted spot into a place where the best are purged and replaced by people willing to sign up for an agenda set by the guy at the top.

It apparently never occurred to the rubber stamps in the current Department of Justice that perhaps it wasn’t a failure of effort but the flimsiness of the charges — along with the resolve and good sense of judges and grand juries — that made the legal attacks on Trump’s self-proclaimed enemies a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.

There was collateral damage, including the smearing of reputations and the need for high-profile targets, such as former FBI director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, to hire their own lawyers.

Paying a price were FBI agents, prosecutors and civil servants purged for duty-bound involvement — however tangential —in any investigation of Trump or for the “crime” of being too “woke,” the all-purpose word that’s come to mean anything or anyone the administration dislikes.

American citizens also lost, and will continue to lose, and not just in the amount of their hard-earned money squandered. Under Bondi, the Department of Justice shut down pending criminal cases and declined to prosecute many more, as reported in ProPublica.

“In total, the DOJ quietly closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s administration, abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases,” the analysis said.

One closed case, an investigation into a Virginia nursing home with a recent record of patient abuse, seems pretty important to me — and the patients, I would imagine.

It’s all about priorities.

This version of making America great or even safe may not make sense, but it will certainly continue as long as there is no accountability.

That’s something else that’s been lost.

In 2016, as has been debated since, Comey, who has never been accused of possessing modesty, humility or a small ego, took the lead, clearing Hillary Clinton of criminal wrongdoing in a press conference while nevertheless criticizing Clinton and her staff for being “extremely careless in handling very sensitive, highly classified information.”

And when, 11 days before the 2016 election between Clinton and Trump, he informed Congress that the FBI was again looking into “her emails” and use of a private email server, several experienced prosecutors and Clinton’s team cried foul.

But because of that day on the tarmac, Loretta Lynch felt she could not overrule the decision made by Comey, the man who worked for her, no matter how much she believed it violated Justice Department protocol.

“Discussions were had at the highest levels of the department. My views were made known, they were communicated to him,” Lynch told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I think we’re all going to be looking at that for a long time.”

That was 2016.

Ten years later, things have changed.

There will be little reflection on decisions made, no pushback from the majority of congressional Republicans on the blatantly partisan words of Todd Blanche or criticism of the qualifications of the next candidate for attorney general.

And as for “weaponization,” there is no doubt whose thumb will be pressed on the scales held high by that lady with the blindfold.

Mary C. Curtis has worked at The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Charlotte Observer, as national correspondent for Politics Daily, and is a senior facilitator with The OpEd Project. She is host of the CQ Roll Call “Equal Time with Mary C. Curtis” podcast. Follow her on X @mcurtisnc3.

Reprinted with permission from Roll Call

Sycophant's Reward: Bondi Dumped As Attorney General With Zeldin In Wings

Sycophant's Reward: Bondi Dumped As Attorney General With Zeldin In Wings

President Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi after he was apparently displeased with her performance in using the Department of Justice to pursue his personal vendettas.

Trump is reportedly planning to replace her with current Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, a Trump loyalist known for pursuing a pro-pollution agenda.

Bondi wasn’t Trump’s first pick to serve as attorney general. The original plan was to install former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, but a sex-trafficking scandal pushed him out, forcing Trump to pivot to Bondi.

Under Bondi, attempts have been made to pervert the criminal justice system to go after Trump’s ideological enemies. Charges were filed against figures like New York Attorney General Leticia James—who successfully prosecuted Trump—and former FBI Director James Comey—who exposed Trump’s role in the pressure campaign that led to his first impeachment.

But those cases have faced roadblocks from skeptical judges and grand juries who stand in the way of Trump using the court system as his plaything.

Bondi has also been a disaster while serving as the most public face attached to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. She touted Trump’s line early on, hinting that disclosures about the accused sex trafficker and his reported client list would be exposed. But Bondi quickly became the leader of Trump’s refusal to come clean about the lurid details of Epstein’s operation and his victims. Testifying before Congress, she was repeatedly defiant about the administration’s efforts to hide the Epstein files from the public.

The suddenly dumped attorney general has operated as a loyal foot soldier for Trump, pushing to silence his critics and rushing to defend his allies like racist billionaire Elon Musk. But like ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—another woman in Trump’s Cabinet who has been pushed out—Bondi has apparently outlived her usefulness.

House Oversight Committee Democrats issued a warning to Bondi after news of her firing broke.

“Attorney General Pam Bondi has been leading a White House cover-up of the Epstein files,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, said in a statement.

Garcia said that Bondi weaponized the DOJ to protect Trump in the Epstein case, accusing her and Trump of putting survivors in harm’s way by exposing their identities.

“She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files and the special treatment she has given [Epstein accomplice] Ghislaine Maxwell,” he added.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was also Trump’s personal lawyer, will operate as interim attorney general. Blanche has demonstrated his willingness to use the publicly funded DOJ as a tool of Trump’s personal interests.

Meanwhile, during his time in Congress, Zeldin was a zealous defender of Trump. And after a failed bid for New York governor, Zeldin was appointed to the EPA, where he has pushed for relaxing rules meant to keep environmental resources clean—endangering the lives of millions of Americans.

But whether he chooses Blanche, Zeldin, or another sycophant, Trump has made it clear that his priority is to bend the justice system to his will to continue his cover-ups and corruption.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was also Trump’s personal lawyer, will operate as interim attorney general. Blanche has demonstrated his willingness to use the publicly funded DOJ as a tool of Trump’s personal interests.

Meanwhile, during his time in Congress, Zeldin was a zealous defender of Trump. And after a failed bid for New York governor, Zeldin was appointed to the EPA, where he has pushed for relaxing rules meant to keep environmental resources clean—endangering the lives of millions of Americans.

But whether he chooses Blanche, Zeldin, or another sycophant, Trump has made it clear that his priority is to bend the justice system to his will to continue his cover-ups and corruption.

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CathyMApr 02, 2026 at 02:20:28 PM

YES!! 😄😄😄😄

Now — some lawsuit to PRESERVE THE EVIDENCE against her so we can prosecute when sanity returns!! THANKS for the good news!

tmseattleCathyMApr 02, 2026 at 02:30:11 PM

It won’t make a bit of difference. She did exactly what Trump wanted, and was fired because she got backlash for following his orders. He’ll just find another sycophant to replace him, unless the Senate blocks him.

ktoztmseattleApr 02, 2026 at 02:32:18 PM
unless the Senate blocks him

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Like that’s going to happen.

AstronutktozApr 02, 2026 at 02:50:31 PM

The Senate Guardians Of Pedophiles are probably already shivering with delight at the prospect of handing Dear Leader what he wants.

alterego55AstronutApr 02, 2026 at 04:05:57 PM

It’s Trump’s fault because he never told Blondi that releasing the Epstein files was nothing more than a campaign lie. She thought she had the holy grail in her and Trump would appreciate her initiative. He’d shower praise all over her. But now he blames her.

That’s how Trump operates.

Noodlesalterego55Apr 02, 2026 at 06:09:22 PM

She made him look bad. “Sorry, now you have to go, that's the ultimate crime”. Also she probably complained. Trump doesn't need any nattering like that.

SpancosktozApr 02, 2026 at 03:04:13 PM

Otherwise, let the cavalcade of 120-day rotating, interim, acting AGs commence!
Nothing good can come of the good that’s just occurred.
Zeldin, a practicing lawyer for THREE years before entering politics.
Truly a shitshow in a rolling dumpster fire in a fourteen-ring circus.

SimnsaysSpancosApr 02, 2026 at 04:44:06 PM

...with a demented Ring Leader!

niemanntmseattleApr 02, 2026 at 02:56:58 PM

That seems to be the pattern:

Sell your soul to Donald Trump for power and money.

He throws you under the bus anyway.

They never learn that, for Trump, loyalty is a one-way thing.

RenderBotniemannApr 02, 2026 at 03:08:58 PM

In announcer her kick to the curb, Trump said she will be going to “the private sector”, which suggests his friends may have set up a sweet, golden job for her so she doesn’t … talk.

Should we expect anything less here?

PissedGruntyRenderBotApr 02, 2026 at 03:16:47 PM

Or that he’s just making up shit. He does frequently.

TRsCousinPissedGruntyApr 02, 2026 at 03:34:04 PM

Apparently Bondi will start at the important new job in “two to three weeks.” We know what “in two weeks” usually means.

PissedGruntyTRsCousinApr 02, 2026 at 03:47:55 PM

What is “never”?

RenderBotPissedGruntyApr 02, 2026 at 03:58:38 PM

As many other comments in this post have said, Trump or his handlers would want Pambi to go quietly and obediently. She knows some things about him, going way back and Epstein-deep. What better way than to prearrange a cushy landing for her? I am just speculating, no inside knowledge of how this exit was structured.

PissedGruntyRenderBotApr 02, 2026 at 04:01:03 PM

I’m not saying its impossible. I’m just conditioned to assume with a 90% confidence that anything he says is a lie, unless he’s promising to hurt innocent people.

FiresidemanPissedGruntyApr 02, 2026 at 08:24:07 PM

What is: “A good bet?”

for 💯

RepublicanAirPollutionRenderBotApr 02, 2026 at 05:50:43 PM

"She knows some things about him"

Yeah and now watch her get her revenge!

ILoveBatsRepublicanAirPollutionApr 02, 2026 at 06:38:31 PM

Another one who needs a secret safe-deposit box to be opened in the event of her death.

MadLibrarian9RepublicanAirPollutionApr 03, 2026 at 12:38:29 AM

Awaiting the race. Who gets ahold of Bondi first, Faux Newz or Mother Jones? You can guess which I’d prefer.

Too ShyRenderBotApr 02, 2026 at 11:11:27 PM

Does anyone else think that she’s made copies of every single epstein file, but she never told tfg?

walkshillsRenderBotApr 03, 2026 at 12:05:00 AM

As a former Florida AG, I bet she know a lot of shit about a lot of people aside from Trump and his gang. Florida is rather notorious for its range of crimes.

RepublicanAirPollutionRenderBotApr 02, 2026 at 05:48:49 PM

Everyone in Trump's orbit goes down to the private sector.
Trump's "private sector” that is (meaning kissing his ass)😘

Desert ScientistniemannApr 02, 2026 at 04:27:13 PM

Bingo! And some of his MAGA buddies are starting to realize that! One reason his polls are going into the toilet. He should have stayed out of the 2024 race, if he wanted ti actually not get caught in his own lies!

Too ShyDesert ScientistApr 02, 2026 at 11:12:57 PM

He ran in the 2024 race in the first place so that he wouldn’t go to prison.

Blue Choir SingerniemannApr 02, 2026 at 04:28:44 PM

I Guess She Failed to Indict Senator Schiff,

I guess super-loyalist Bondi “failed” to appease “Dear Leader” because she failed to indict Senator Adam Schiff my fine junior Senator. I’m sure anyone else who takes her place will be just as wacko. But again, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.

SimnsaysniemannApr 02, 2026 at 04:49:33 PM

I keep trying and trying and trying to figure out why these folks who are willing to debase themselves on international TV, never think he will throw them under his bus. It’s like the women who think the married men who cheated on their wives with them won’t cheat on them too. It’s seems like a type of arrogance where they think they are some kind of special so the same thing won’t happen to them.

poalcat51niemannApr 02, 2026 at 07:18:22 PM

Yep. The scuttle is that Bondi and Trump got into a heated argument last week and despite her begging him to keep her job, she was out the door and on her way back to Florida by the time he stood in front of the TV cameras last night.

These folks just don’t seem to grasp the fact that if you agree to go to work for DJT you had better be good at knowing how to cover up for him and make him look good, because he sure as hell isn’t going to take the blame if anything goes wrong (which it usually does).

They just don’t get it.

Desert ScientisttmseattleApr 02, 2026 at 04:23:59 PM

Exactly! Siding with T***p doesn’t keep you safe. He demands loyalty, but never gives it. He sees the world like most extreme narcissists, as composed of enemies and fools.

NickyZCathyMApr 02, 2026 at 03:07:48 PMgiphy-Snoopyhappydance.gifskippppppApr 02, 2026 at 02:21:48 PM

So Trump is mad at her for releasing too much from the Epstein files?

abydenusskippppppApr 02, 2026 at 02:29:26 PM

It is hard to say. From what I heard Trump wanted to his please his Qanon base by releasing even more of the Epstein files. At the same time the Epstein files made Trump look bad and so he wanted Bondi to release less of them. It was basically a Schrodinger’s Epstein Files. Bondi was given an impossible task, obviously failed, and was canned for not being able to complete a contradictory and impossible mission.

Kevo2007abydenusApr 02, 2026 at 02:52:38 PM

How to please Trump enough in this job to not get fired:

Good: Redacting Trump from files and releasing them. This one is risky because sleuths could determine the subject to be Trump.

Better: Selectively releasing the files that Trump is not in and releasing all the files where he does not appear.

Best: Rewrite the files and make up fake files using AI to incriminate Democratic policitians and anyone that Trump considers an enemy.

Because Bondi was unable to perform to Trump’s demands (best), she is gone. It didn’t help that she said “Fifty thousand DOLLARS”.

abydenusKevo2007Apr 02, 2026 at 03:03:22 PM

The problem is that Trump’s supporters are morons (that is why they are Trump supporters). They were convinced that the unedited Epstein Files would vindicate Trump and convict the “perverted Dummicrats”:

The fact that Bondi did not release all the Epstein files made them conclude that she was too stupid to realize this or worse was evil and had been corrupted by the Dummicrats:

Basically good tsar, bad boyars:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_tsar,_bad_boyars

In other words, Trump is wonderful and everything that goes wrong is because of his bad Cabinet. The doublethink is mind-boggling...2nd balconyabydenusApr 02, 2026 at 03:46:33 PM

yeah, bad boyars…whatcha gonna do? anyway, although you invoke uncertainty, or indeterminancy, you also intimate that the maga version of the copenhagen interpretation is to just put a pinch between the cheeck and gum. j’approuve.

LeftleanerabydenusApr 02, 2026 at 02:55:26 PM

What she was probably supposed to do was to replace the idiot with Clinton, or better yet Obama, and then release them.

niemannabydenusApr 02, 2026 at 03:03:16 PM

She didn’t know that Trump is the only person who is allowed (for some reason) to get away with brazenly lying and claiming two completely contradictory things at the same time.

MammadiquattroniemannApr 02, 2026 at 06:06:26 PM

You forgot machine gun lips who can lie with impunity even better than her felon boss!

skippppppabydenusApr 02, 2026 at 05:01:08 PM

That sounds about right.

Sort of like how we’ve already won the war, yet we still have to get the job done.

And shame on NATO allies for not helping us win a war that we don’t need their help winning.

mungleyskippppppApr 02, 2026 at 02:30:53 PM

I read on RawStory that it was over Bondi telling Congressperson Swalwell that they are reopening an investigation about his fundraising.

(An alleged Chinese spy helped him raise funds. Orig investigation was dropped because there was no “there” there.)

CathyMmungleyApr 02, 2026 at 02:44:44 PM

I doubt that was the real reason; either she said something he took wrong, or some other toady (Blanche?) convinced him to replace her, or his dementia just took hold and he’s lashing out randomly.

I want to know what bribe (job) she got — is it big enough to keep her quiet? She’s got a lot on him… does he have enough on her to keep her from monetizing her knowledge? Stay tuned.

TKO333CathyMApr 02, 2026 at 02:59:29 PM

She took the bribe for the Trump University thing in Florida, but I heard she may have been involved with Trump and Epstein before that. I always figured the bribe in Florida was her primary qualification for this job, but I do not know if there is more in her history.

AstronutCathyMApr 02, 2026 at 03:01:08 PM

Or is he just getting rid of women? I heard that Tulsi Gabbard may be next. Or not; she’s as clearly a puppet for Putin as T**** and he’d need Pooty’s permission.

mungleyCathyMApr 02, 2026 at 03:10:47 PM

As with Noem there is no traditional TACO “I’ve never met the woman/she’s dead to me” bluster.

He said “transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector.”

Bondi has to have enough dirt on TACO to bury him. He’ll have to keep her happy.

A Noah CountmungleyApr 02, 2026 at 06:13:07 PM

“Bondi has to have enough dirt on TACO to bury him. He’ll have to keep her happy.”

On the other hand, he sees himself as being just like a mafia Don. He may well have “made her an offer she couldn't refuse”, if she has any ideas about getting even with him, if you know what I mean.

Too ShyA Noah CountApr 02, 2026 at 11:29:33 PM

I’m sure she has a HUGE insurance policy set up so that doesn’t happen. Just like Ghislane Maxwell.

A Noah CountToo ShyApr 03, 2026 at 08:35:09 AM

I’d love it if she not only showed up for her appearance before Congress on the 14th, but she also “spills ALL the beans” on the Pumpkin Pinochet when she’s there.

That would be SOOOO sweet!

NYVeganmungleyApr 02, 2026 at 03:04:37 PM

Meidas just published this:

Attorneys for Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., sent a formal cease and desist letter to FBI Director Kash Patel on Sunday, demanding he immediately halt any effort to publicly release a decade-old investigative file related to the congressman — and threatening to haul him into federal court if he refuses.
... It was copied to Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI General Counsel Sam Ramer — a deliberate, public paper trail that signals Swalwell’s legal team is prepared to escalate fast.
The three-page letter alleges Patel directed the FBI to dig up and release the file on Swalwell, who is currently a leading candidate in California’s June 2 gubernatorial primary. Swalwell’s lawyers say the file relates to a counterintelligence matter in which the congressman cooperated with and assisted the FBI — and that he was never accused of any wrongdoing.
skippppppmungleyApr 02, 2026 at 05:00:15 PM

Why would Trump fire her over that?

I would bet he directed her to open the investigation.

mungleyskippppppApr 03, 2026 at 12:55:39 AM

She allegedly tipped Swalwell off. TACO wouldn’t like that.

Too ShymungleyApr 02, 2026 at 11:20:06 PM

They just wanted to dirty him up, because he spoke out against the kleptocrats.

nilaskippppppApr 02, 2026 at 02:50:31 PM

Donny fired her because she’s weakening the brand...but Pam did her best with the hair...he should use it, Bondi’s hair is better than his at half the cost

Roger MexiconilaApr 02, 2026 at 03:15:46 PM

No, no, no — She needed long extensions, draped down the bosom, and “work” on her lips, eyebrows, and face in general. Plus higher heels. So she just didn’t fit in with Drumpf’s ideas about “beautiful.” Failure.

Brian3nilaApr 03, 2026 at 08:21:25 AM

Should have used a better dye.

gfpskippppppApr 02, 2026 at 03:19:27 PM

Did he consult with Laura Loomer before making this decision?

Methinks They LieApr 02, 2026 at 02:22:10 PM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Oh no! Does this mean she has to go back to chasing ambulances???????

CathyMMethinks They LieApr 02, 2026 at 02:45:24 PM

No — he’s set her up in a “private sector job” — paying her off somehow. Media needs to get on this and find the job…

MemoryCellsMethinks They LieApr 02, 2026 at 02:50:41 PM

She got paid big money by Qatar to be a lobbyist. Maybe Iran might need to hire someone connected to Trump to hash out the bribes?

eyesoarsMemoryCellsApr 02, 2026 at 05:40:27 PM

I gather they’re trying to get their beautiful 747 back. Maybe they can pay her to do that, but it might not sit well with Hair Furor.

RenderBotMethinks They LieApr 02, 2026 at 03:12:39 PM

She still has a Congressional subpoena to answer to, that should be fun.

A Noah CountRenderBotApr 02, 2026 at 04:31:01 PM

Even if she complies with the subpoena, she’ll just do her Junior High School mean girl shit.

Roger MexicoMethinks They LieApr 02, 2026 at 03:18:04 PM

Huh? I thought only excitable pooches do that.

exlrrpApr 02, 2026 at 02:23:06 PM

The only bad thing about Bondi getting the boot is her replacement (Lee Zeldin? Todd Blanche??) will be worse. Trump's giving her the boot because--unbelievably-- she wasn't fascist enough.

TomPaineEsqexlrrpApr 02, 2026 at 02:25:37 PM

It’s Blanche, at least temporarily.

NepentheRisingTomPaineEsqApr 02, 2026 at 02:58:09 PM

Get him to testify under oath!!!

tightlikethatexlrrpApr 02, 2026 at 02:27:10 PM

Or at least she was not effective enough at imposing fascism...

exlrrptightlikethatApr 02, 2026 at 02:29:11 PM

Maybe wouldn't let him grab her whatever

SpaceElevatorexlrrpApr 02, 2026 at 02:37:54 PM

She has been at tRump’s side for a long time; odds are pretty good they have ‘bumped uglies’ in the past. She adores Fat Donnie.

barneydoggSpaceElevatorApr 02, 2026 at 02:47:19 PM

Just lost my lunch.

Will Smirk 4 FoodSpaceElevatorApr 02, 2026 at 03:30:18 PM

Jesus did you have to say that?? I was reading this while eating. Now I have to scrape chip dip off my computer screen!!!

A Noah CountWill Smirk 4 FoodApr 02, 2026 at 04:33:59 PM

You’ve been here long enough that I would think that you’d know by now this can be a “dangerous” place.

; ]

Too ShyA Noah CountApr 02, 2026 at 11:41:32 PM

LOL

tmseattleexlrrpApr 02, 2026 at 02:32:24 PM

She was plenty fascist. She was just unable to make the Epstein files go away and get retribution on Trump’s enemies, thanks to the remaining ethical judges in the justice system.

KarmalaexlrrpApr 02, 2026 at 02:34:06 PM

Plus that upcoming April 14 Oversight Committee deposition, though I didn’t really think she’d appear. There are plenty of law firms that will hire her at a much higher salary.

CathyMKarmalaApr 02, 2026 at 02:58:11 PMwww.theguardian.com/…1h ago13.33 EDT

Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democratic representative from Florida, released a statement noting that Bondi is still expected to testify before the House oversight committee, noting that her ouster “does not get her out of that bipartisan, lawful subpoena. We will see her soon.”

CathyMCathyMApr 02, 2026 at 02:59:17 PMsame post: 2h ago13.27 EDT

...Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, welcomed Bondi’s ouster and said that she led “a White House cover-up of the Epstein files”.

..Today, Garcia said that he still expects the ousted attorney general to testify.

“She will not escape accountability,” he said. “She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files and the special treatment she has given Ghislaine Maxwell.”

...“If they think we are moving on because they were fired, they are gravely mistaken,” Garcia said of the Democrats’ ongoing investigations into the former officials.

KarmalaCathyMApr 02, 2026 at 03:04:41 PM

I’m skeptical that she will show.

Saint StephenKarmalaApr 02, 2026 at 04:03:39 PM

As well all know, rules and laws don’t apply to Republicans.

quiet thoughtCathyMApr 02, 2026 at 03:09:31 PM

She should show up to the hearing and throw Trump under the bus. He’s earned it.

RenderBotquiet thoughtApr 02, 2026 at 03:14:52 PM

Then goodbye cushy job “in the private sector” for Pam.

CathyMRenderBotApr 02, 2026 at 07:55:35 PM

Sadly… as long as they think they are safer together, no one will rat on the other…

DartagnanApr 02, 2026 at 02:23:09 PM

Nancy Mace is a lickspittle idiot.

“Bondi handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and made this situation far worse than it had to be for President Trump,” Mace said.

“Far worse than it had to be?” Exactly how much worse should it have been?

PissedGruntyDartagnanApr 02, 2026 at 02:37:11 PM

“Life in prison” worse, though I doubt Mace agrees with me.

gfpDartagnanApr 02, 2026 at 03:27:30 PM

Because the most important consideration is not justice or closure for the survivors or accountability among the guilty, but whether it makes things better or worse for Trump.

They aren't even trying to pretend to care any more.

A Noah CountgfpApr 02, 2026 at 04:37:45 PM

When she flat out refused to acknowledge the Epstein victims seated right behind her showed she didn’t care one bit.

ClytemnestraApr 02, 2026 at 02:24:20 PM

What position in the “Shield of the Americas” will she now inhabit?

DurabilityClytemnestraApr 02, 2026 at 02:26:19 PM

Car Shield

Roger MexicoDurabilityApr 02, 2026 at 02:37:41 PM

I hear that car shields can be easily replaced, eh? Says so on TV.

Don DumitruClytemnestraApr 02, 2026 at 02:26:37 PM

The bleet had her being dumped into the private sector.

Olds88Don DumitruApr 02, 2026 at 02:31:11 PM

A “much needed” private sector job.

She must be hard up. Guess she didn’t charge enough to her brother’s pardon clients.

Roger MexicoOlds88Apr 02, 2026 at 02:38:50 PM

Floor mop girl at a Taco Bell. It’s a sort of living.

shabbedolleRoger MexicoApr 02, 2026 at 06:47:14 PM

“Floor mop girl at a Taco Bell” — its a honest job (that I’ve done — my roommates made me change out of the uniform on the porch tho). Much more honest and less “ewww” than covering for Trumpstein, i.e., changing his diapers.

BobRROlds88Apr 02, 2026 at 02:40:18 PM
A “much needed” private sector job.
She must be hard up. Guess she didn’t charge enough to her brother’s pardon clients.

My local Wal Mart is hiring. $20 an hour to start, $23 an hour for the optical department, no experience necessary.

Too ShyBobRRApr 02, 2026 at 11:46:38 PM

Where is your Walmart? My husband has been there for 15 yrs, and he’s making less than that.

BobRRToo ShyApr 03, 2026 at 01:32:35 AM
Where is your Walmart? My husband has been there for 15 yrs, and he’s making less than that.

It’s in Kona, Hawaii. Of course, the cost of living is higher here. Hawaii’s minimum wage is $16 an hour, and will be $18 an hour in 2028.

I’m sure the pay is also higher because the available work force is smaller.

Too ShyBobRRApr 03, 2026 at 02:24:33 AM

Probably. We live in the eastern part of the state, and the town is all about the service industry. Snowing in the winter (when we get snow) and the snooty rich valley people come up here during the summer to escape the heat.

Too ShyToo ShyApr 03, 2026 at 02:52:09 AM

btw. the minimum wage is $15.50 in arizona. Years ago, when I worked at Walmart, arizona raised its minimum wage to $9/hr. I had been at Walmart for about 10 years, and I was really aggravated that the new cashiers were making 50cents/hr less than me. You would think that if they were going to follow the new minimum wage policy of the state that they would adjust other people’s wages. Walmart is way too cheap to do that. It might hurt the corporate profits.

CathyMDon DumitruApr 02, 2026 at 02:47:19 PM

Some kind of bribe job… or maybe somewhere she’ll be watched closely. I shudder to think of the treachery involved in working anywhere near Rump…

tightlikethatApr 02, 2026 at 02:25:43 PM

Can't wait to see which ghoulish MAGA Monstrosity is appointed to replace her...

ontheleftcoasttightlikethatApr 02, 2026 at 02:31:10 PM

^^ THIS ^^

Every time, every damn time, Shitler replaces someone they turn out to be some new form of horrible.

Baby SealtightlikethatApr 02, 2026 at 02:31:31 PM

Word is that it will be Lee Zeldin.

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Halligan's Retribution Prosecutions Of Comey and James Are Falling Apart Fast

Halligan's Retribution Prosecutions Of Comey and James Are Falling Apart Fast

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan is not having a good time.

Sure, indicting people because President Donald Trump said so was probably a bit of a rush, but now she’s stuck with two high-profile cases where the only help she has is prosecutors borrowed from other districts, since no one in her office would agree to handle these travesties.

While Halligan is running these cases on a shoestring, former FBI Director James Comey is going HAM and filing motion after motion to get rid of both Halligan and the indictment she secured against him.

He’s assembled a giant team of high-powered, experienced attorneys, and they are absolutely burying Halligan in a flurry of motions —an excellent strategy against an inexperienced prosecutor. Now, Halligan has to respond to all of these, and meanwhile, time marches on. Both Comey’s case and Halligan’s prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James are on the rocket docket, so Halligan has to simultaneously prepare for two big trials scheduled just a few weeks apart in January.

Comey had already filed two earlier motions to dismiss, one based on Halligan being illegally appointed and one alleging vindictive and selective prosecution. This week, he added three more.

First, he filed a motion to force the government to disclose the grand jury proceedings. Normally, grand juries are entitled to a “presumptionof regularity,” meaning the actions of the grand jury are presumed to be reasonable. But if a defendant can point to significant irregularities, they can get access to the grand jury materials.

Here, Comey points to two significant irregularities. First, it appears there may have been a tainted witness—an FBI agent who may have had access to privileged material between Comey and his attorneys, which would be covered by the attorney-client privilege. If the agent provided the grand jury with attorney-client information in an effort to buttress the indictment against Comey, that’s a big problem.

Additionally, Comey alleges that Halligan kept the grand jury well into the evening instead of sending them home after they refused to indict Comey on three counts. She then presented the two-count indictment and kept the jury until nearly 7 PM. Comey wants access to those proceedings to see if Halligan basically told the jury they couldn’t leave until they indicted him.

That might sound fanciful and ridiculous in a normal case with a normal prosecutor—a long-shot complaint. But this is no normal case, and Halligan is no normal prosecutor, so it’s not hard to imagine her thinking it’s totally appropriate to hammer a grand jury until she got what she wanted.

He’s also filed a motion for a bill of particulars. A defendant is supposed to know the basis for the charges against them so they can prepare for trial. But the indictment Halligan presented has literally no information about the factual basis for charging Comey. So, Comey is asking for all of it, and let’s face it: We know that whatever Halligan has as material supporting her fact-free indictment is probably pretty sparse.

If that wasn’t enough, Comey also filed a motion to dismiss the indictment “based on fundamental ambiguity and literal truth.” That’s a mouthful, but what it’s about is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s mangled, multi-part questions to Comey, creating confusion as to what, exactly, he was asking Comey about. The “literal truth” part is precisely what it sounds like—that Comey says he was literally truthful when responding to Cruz. Of course, if Comey was truthful, the whole indictment falls apart.

Meanwhile, in the Letitia James case …Halligan charged James with fraud over lying to her bank to get a better mortgage on a second home, but then renting it out in violation of the “Second Home Rider” contract. But there is language in her contract that says she can use the home “including short-term rentals.” In fact, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say that a second home rider means the property “may be rented out on a short-term basis.”

James’ grand-niece lives in the home and testified to a different grand jury convened by Halligan that she had lived there for many years without paying rent. But then Halligan didn’t put the grand-niece before the grand jury that ultimately indicted James. That looks a lot like Halligan withheld material—that could have shown James’s innocence—from the grand jury that ultimately indicted James.

Halligan is overmatched and, honestly, seems to think her job ended after she secured indictments. Even though she’s gotten Justice Department attorneys from other jurisdictions to help out, that assistance can’t remedy the deficiencies in her indictments.

These experienced defense attorneys are not going to let up, and by now, Halligan has to feel like a mouse being batted around in a cat’s claws.

How long do we give her before she quits? Of course, if either of these indictments gets dismissed, Halligan might be purged by the same people who installed her in the job.

Perhaps she’ll go back to her previous job in the administration, where she got to singlehandedly remove any material from the Smithsonian museums that made white people sad, like exhibits about slavery.

She’s not qualified for that either, of course. But it’s got to be easier than her current thankless gig.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Letitia James

Irredeemable Justice: Letitia James' Indictment Tolls The Depth Of Corruption

With the indictment of former FBI Director Jim Comey—on spurious charges, against the judgment of career prosecutors, and solely to satisfy the President’s personal vendetta—the Department of Justice crossed over to a new low.

But now, with the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James—and more reprisal indictments on the immediate horizon—it’s become clear that the corrupt abuse of the law to go after Trump’s adversaries is a principal mission of this Department of Justice. Far from a one-off, it’s the Department’s new business model.

I’ve explained before why bringing cases at the President’s insistence—not as acts of justice, but as political reprisals against his enemies—is as abhorrent a violation of the Constitution and DOJ norms as we’ve ever seen. It offends both the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause, flouts the Principles of Federal Prosecution that have served as the bible for federal prosecutors for generations, and betrays the most basic notions of impartial justice in any democracy.

Any prosecutor knows this to her marrow. It is the literal antithesis of the DOJ’s watchword of justice without fear or favor. That principle used to separate us from the corrupt justice systems that serve the personal whims of tyrants like Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Our history has seen a few instances of presidents targeting citizens out of personal animus—Richard Nixon’s bitter obsession with Daniel Ellsberg comes to mind, which in fact became the genesis of Watergate. But none of them remotely approaches the open and shameless campaign Donald Trump has launched: a series of directives to his Justice Department, backed with the threat of discharge, to indict his enemies for no reason other than that they are his enemies.

Exhibit A (and it will literally be that in upcoming motions in both the Comey and James cases) is Trump’s own “private” message to Attorney General Pam Bondi, which he accidentally made public. It built to a frothing conclusion:

“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!!!”

“Justice,” in Trump’s hands, plainly means punishment—punishment through the corrupt use of the criminal system—because these perceived antagonists brought righteous cases against him. In other words, they did their jobs and followed their oaths.

A recent survey by Emily Bazelon and Rick Hasen of fifty top D.C. lawyers—many former senior DOJ officials and evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats—found complete unanimity: every single respondent believes that Trump and Bondi have used the Department of Justice to target political enemies and reward allies.

Every single one.

As one respondent put it, “[w]hat’s happening is anathematic to everything we’ve ever stood for in the Department of Justice.”

Every single one. It’s beyond stunning—and for alumni of the Department, beyond heartbreaking.

There isn’t another side to the argument. Every actor in the system—from defense attorneys to Justices on the Supreme Court—recognizes what is happening. The only question is how the criminal justice system should respond.

The specifics of the James case are almost comically small-bore. James is charged with falsifying mortgage or rental information on a handful of forms—or at least, that appears to be the charge. As with the Comey indictment, the actual document is so elliptical as to be baffling. Both are sketchy and amateurish by DOJ standards, particularly for cases against such prominent defendants.

The apparent core allegation is that James bought a home for her great-niece to live in with a mortgage loan requiring her to use the $139,000 three-bedroom house as a secondary residence, not a rental property, but that she later treated it as an investment.

Even taken at face value, the claims are thin, and intent in particular will be hard to prove. The great-niece reportedly testified to a Norfolk grand jury that she has lived in the house rent-free the entire time. Yet the grand jury that U.S. Attorney Lindsay Halligan hastily convened last week never heard from her.

More generally, because of contradictory statements on different forms and labyrinthine lending regulations, the government will have a hard time proving intent—that James knowingly engaged in a “scheme to defraud” by misrepresenting the property’s use.

Courts have interpreted the intent requirement stringently, as requiring that the defendant knowingly engaged in a fraudulent scheme and specifically intended to deceive or cheat a financial institution in order to obtain money or property. With the cross-cutting evidence and confusing body of regulations, that’s a real hurdle.

But considering the difficulties of proof is really beside the point. The deeper issue isn’t evidentiary at all—it’s constitutional.

Even if we assume, for argument’s sake, that somewhere in the sheaf of mortgage documents there is a single false statement, and that the government could somehow prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, the critical legal point remains: it doesn’t matter.

That’s because a selective prosecution is a constitutional violation that requires dismissal, without regard to whether the government can prove a crime.

Under the Supreme Court’s two-part test, selective prosecution requires showing (1) that the defendant was singled out from among similarly situated individuals, and (2) that the decision was driven by an impermissible factor such as politics or personal reprisal.

Notice that the test does not depend on the strength of the case. The constitutional injury—the violation of due process and First Amendment rights—is the same either way.

By that measure, James’s claim is, if anything, even stronger than Comey’s.

On the first prong, prosecutions for perjury of Comey’s alleged sort are vanishingly rare, leaving the standards amorphous. The administration can at least argue that Comey’s prominence warranted heightened scrutiny.

Not so with James. U.S. Attorney’s Offices have limited resources and prosecute only a fraction of chargeable cases. Each office maintains guidelines setting a minimum threshold of loss or harm before a case merits prosecution. Even accepting the government’s theory in full, James’s case would involve a loss of just $18,000—the difference between the mortgage rate she obtained and what she supposedly should have paid. That is pocket change in federal terms, far below DOJ’s own charging thresholds. Such irregularities, if pursued at all, are resolved administratively, not criminally.

That makes the first prong of James’s claim mathematically airtight: others who allegedly commit comparable “frauds” are not charged.

And that leads directly to the second prong—motive. There has to have been some reason beyond the merits that James was charged.

The Comey indictment provides that reason. It shows that political reprisal has become the DOJ’s new organizing principle. Every fact demonstrating the impropriety of the Comey case applies with equal force here. In James’s case, the animus is even clearer: years of vitriolic attacks from Trump and his allies calling for her prosecution—rhetoric that began nearly a decade ago.

Every selective prosecution, apart from working a horrific injustice on the defendant, corrodes public faith in equal justice and leaves an indelible stain on the Department of Justice. When citizens see the criminal code wielded as a political cudgel, they lose faith not only in a single case but in the justice system itself. That cynicism may prove the most lasting damage of all.

Letitia James will very likely beat these charges—the case is weak, sloppy, and above all brazenly political. But the rank, corrupt misuse of the federal prosecutorial power exacts a cost even if the courts do the right thing.

The integrity of the Department of Justice is a core aspect of the rule of law. It now has been shattered, and the collateral damage to the rule of law itself is inevitable.

Not that Trump cares a farthing about any of that. He will keep skating from one wrecked case to another, claiming vindication or shifting blame as each collapses. He’s already extracted a pound of flesh—the anxiety, the reputational hit, the legal bills. For his enemies, that’s punishment enough.

Bondi and Halligan, though, may not skate so easily. They hold law licenses that obligate them to uphold ethical rules they’ve shredded beyond recognition. When the dust settles, their reckoning may be the only justice left standing.

The Framers’ Warning

The Founders foresaw this danger. Madison warned in Federalist 51 that the greatest threat to liberty would come not from foreign invasion but from “the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands.” The Constitution’s structure—its separation of powers and independent judiciary—was meant precisely to forestall what Trump is now attempting: the conversion of the machinery of justice into a personal weapon of vengeance.

Hamilton, in Federalist 65, defined “the abuse or violation of some public trust” as the essence of political corruption. What greater abuse could there be than a President turning the criminal law into a means of retribution, and prosecutors into instruments of fear?

That is the terrain where the country now lives.

It’s also the territory leading in a straight line from constitutional rule to tyranny. The instances of democratic backsliding in the last 100 years predominantly begin not with tanks in the streets, but with the exploitation of legal mechanisms, transformed corruptly into instruments of power and vengeance for the personal benefit of a strongman tyrant.

The Department of Justice, once lionized as a bulwark against tyranny, has now been recast as tyranny’s first instrument. As all-in as Bondi, Halligan, and the rest have gone on Trump’s reprisal agenda, the Department is now beyond redemption. It falls to the rest of us—lawyers, judges, and citizens alike—to fight to restore the boundaries that the administration has annihilated.

Harry Litman is a former United States Attorney and the executive producer and host of the Talking Feds podcast. He has taught law at UCLA, Berkeley, and Georgetown and served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton Administration. Please consider subscribing to Talking Feds on Substack.

Reprinted with permission from Talking Feds.

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