Attorney General Pam Bondi set the tone at the Department of Justice within hours of being sworn in on Wednesday, issuing more than a dozen memos to her workforce that aligned with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and its desire to end a perceived weaponization of government powers.
Bondi ordered her staff to halt funding to so-called sanctuary cities, work to eliminate drug cartels, take steps to combat diversity, equity, and inclusion, and bring back the death penalty. She also established a task force to review all past accusations of government weaponization.
Bondi warned against “zealous advocacy,” saying anyone who refused to comply with the president’s agenda would risk termination.
Her orders come after a controversial string of firings at the DOJ and FBI, which acting department heads carried out ahead of Bondi taking over. More than two dozen prosecutors who were hired strictly to work on Jan. 6 cases were fired, the remainder of special counsel Jack Smith’s team of veteran prosecutors were fired, eight senior officials at the FBI were ousted, and the DOJ recently warned of possible “personnel action” for many more at the bureau who were involved with Jan. 6 cases.
Bondi emphasized that those who acted with a “righteous spirit and just intentions” have no reason to worry about their jobs.
Below is a look at some of Bondi’s Day One activity.
Curbing funding to ‘sanctuary cities’
In one memo, Bondi ordered the DOJ to withhold federal funds, such as law enforcement-related grant money, from “sanctuary cities,” a term used to describe jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Unlawful border crossings and illegal migration into the United States have reached record levels, resulting in a substantial and unacceptable threat to our national security and public safety,” Bondi wrote, saying blocking funds to noncompliant cities, as well as nongovernmental organizations that aid illegal aliens, would help combat this.
The administration took on a similar funding fight against sanctuary cities during President Donald Trump’s first term. He ordered executive branch agencies to withhold funding from sanctuary jurisdictions, but the move was jammed up with a lawsuit from numerous states, and the case was not resolved before he left office.
Those fights are now likely to be revived. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is among several leaders of blue states and cities who have vowed to resist some aspects of Trump’s immigration plans. In December, Newsom announced a $25 million initiative to fund California’s legal fights against the administration.
Neama Rahmani, a former California-based federal prosecutor, told the Washington Examiner the Trump administration has authority in at least some cases to halt money flow to sanctuary jurisdictions.
“The federal government can withhold funds to force blue states to bend to their will. That’s just the reality,” Rahmani said.
He cautioned, though, that lawsuits could zero in on any breaches in the separation of powers, because Congress, which approves federal government funding, sometimes puts stipulations on those funds.
‘Weaponization Working Group’
In another memo, Bondi established a “Weaponization Working Group,” invoking Trump’s accusations that the DOJ had been weaponized against him after special counsel Jack Smith unsuccessfully brought two criminal cases against Trump.
“The reconciliation and restoration of the Department of Justice’s core values can only be accomplished through review and accountability,” Bondi said.
The group would conduct reviews of, among several items, Smith’s prosecutions and “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to the memo.
The Supreme Court found last summer that DOJ prosecutors were too aggressive with one particular charge in the wide-ranging Jan. 6 investigation, but the decision had little impact on the nearly 1,600 cases that were brought. While judges have not identified any other instances of prosecutorial misconduct related to Jan. 6, conservative critics have said the department was too heavy-handed with misdemeanor cases related to the riot.
Death penalty
In another shift, Bondi cleared the way for federal executions to move forward after then-Attorney General Merrick Garland put a moratorium on the death penalty in July 2021. Unlike Trump, former President Joe Biden opposed the death penalty. While Biden did not fulfill his campaign promise of abolishing it, he commuted death sentences to life in prison for 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row.
Biden left on death row Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Charleston, South Carolina, church shooter and self-admitted white supremacist Dylann Roof, and Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers. All have open matters in court, meaning their executions are not guaranteed and may not take place for months or longer.
Bondi, however, also echoed Trump’s desire to expand the use of the death penalty, ordering prosecutors to seek it in cases involving the murder of police officers, illegal immigrants committing capital crimes, and crimes involving “extremely large quantities of drugs.” It is unclear at this stage how those changes will work out in practice, as death penalty advocates have said they are at odds with legal precedents.
Confirmation and swearing-in
Senate Democrats widely opposed Bondi taking the helm of the DOJ. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) repeatedly expressed worries that Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, would be unable to tell Trump “no” if the president demanded Bondi take unethical actions.
Durbin cited her close alliance with Trump, saying he was unconvinced by Bondi’s vows during her confirmation hearing to operate without political bias. Bondi endorsed Trump in his 2016 presidential election, supported some of his unproven claims about Pennsylvania’s 2020 election, and served as Trump’s defense lawyer during his first impeachment trial.
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After the Senate confirmed her in a 54-46 vote, Bondi was sworn in by conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the White House on Wednesday morning. Trump remarked during the ceremony that Bondi will attempt to work in an unbiased manner.
“I know I’m supposed to say, ‘She’s going to be totally impartial with respect to Democrats,’ and I think she will be as impartial as a person can be,” Trump said.
