Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has taken radical steps to target his political foes, back a harsh agenda against undocumented immigrants and help business allies, according to ex-prosecutors and legal experts. They say the department has in effect become Trump’s “personal law firm”.
Since taking office a second time, Trump has relied on attorney general Pam Bondi, a staunch loyalist, and an elite group of justice department lawyers to investigate critics from his first administration, political opponents and curb prosecutions of US business bribery overseas. Ex-prosecutors point to halted major prosecutions, the firing of lawyers who did not meet Maga litmus tests, and Trump’s instruction to investigate a key Democratic fundraising vehicle as examples of politicisation.
Critics note Bondi issued a memo establishing a “weaponization working group”, pushing a false narrative that investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election and his handling of classified documents were politically motivated. The transformation has put a premium on “personal loyalty” to Trump, damaging the rule of law and provoking rebukes from courts and resignations of veteran prosecutors.
Former federal prosecutor Paul Rosenzweig said: “The steps Trump and Bondi have taken using DoJ to punish enemies and reward allies while firing those who object radically transforms and politicises DoJ in a way that not even the worst who have gone before them ever contemplated.” Columbia law professor Daniel Richman added that Bondi and DoJ lawyers have made personal loyalty to Trump the guiding principle.
Bondi has echoed Trump’s rhetorical blasts against judges who have ruled against his deportation drive, calling them “low-level leftist judges” and threatening to prosecute them. Hundreds of lawyers and staff in the civil rights division are leaving as its focus shifts to Trump priorities such as pursuing cases against elite universities and student protesters.
Other actions include investigations of former Trump officials Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor, and an executive order to probe ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform. Trump also reportedly pushed the DoJ to drop a fraud prosecution of New York mayor Eric Adams.
