Harry Litman - Pam Bondi Report Card [View all]

Substance: D-; Citizenship: F

There hasn’t been much scrutiny of Pam Bondi since she became the Attorney General a little less than three weeks ago. She sailed well above the low bar set by Trump’s initial scandal-ridden nominee, Matt Gaetz, but that shouldn’t be much of a distinction. And she seems less flamboyantly unqualified, dangerous, or downright kooky than several of the more controversial nominees that Trump managed to cram through a compliant Senate. Finally, Bondi kept her fingerprints off the Eric Adams scandal, letting acting deputy Attorney General Emil Bove do all the dirty work. That’s not an unusual maneuver for a sitting attorney general.

But it would be a mistake to conclude that she has been a benign presence in her short time on the job. On the contrary, she has issued a series of directives that drip disdain for and unwarranted criticism of Department attorneys. They surely have contributed to the miserable morale and sense of being under assault that DOJ career attorneys have reported feeling under this administration.

Bondi issued no fewer than 14 directives on her first day on the job, February 5. The most well-reported one set up a task force to examine the “weaponization” of the DOJ. It bore the subject “Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice.” The memo began by asserting the need to “restore integrity and credibility with the public.” It provided a single reason why dramatic steps were required: “because, as President Trump pointed out following his second inauguration, ‘[t]he prior administration and allies throughout the country engaged in an unprecedented Third World weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process.’”

To anyone who appreciates the mission and sworn duty of Department career attorneys, that is a grave charge. And Bondi continued with it, blithely asserting, “the American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents.”

https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/pam-bondi-report-card

Republicans are great projectionists