As Attorney General, Pam Bondi weaponized the Justice Department against Trump’s opponents and destroyed its capacity to deliver justice for Americans.
On April 2, 2026, President Trump fired Pam Bondi as Attorney General. As Bondi transitions to an ambiguous private sector role, she leaves behind an ignoble legacy characterized by her gross incompetence, the destruction of the agency’s capacity and credibility, and her slavish pursuit of Trump’s political agenda and corporate America’s interest.
The End of Independence
Pam Bondi’s most longstanding accomplishment as Attorney General will likely be her role in shredding the integrity and independence of the Justice Department. The firewall erected between the DOJ and the White House after the Nixon Watergate scandal has been utterly destroyed under her watch. Under her direction, norms and policies established to maintain independence were disregarded in favor of total fealty to Trump’s personal ambitions and retributive political agenda.
Bondi made it resoundingly clear that her DOJ served Trump, telling the department’s attorneys that they were Trump’s lawyers, and threatening to fire any attorney who declined to “zealously” advocate on the President’s behalf. From the early days of Bondi’s tenure, legal experts feared that she was transforming the Justice Department into Trump’s personal law firm ready to do his bidding even if it violated the law or ran against the interests of the United States.
Fourteen months after her confirmation, Bondi proved those fears legitimate. Major DOJ policies, from releasing the Epstein files to personnel decisions to other agency priorities, shared the common thread that they served Trump’s personal interests, not the American public’s. Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel purged DOJ employees involved in criminal investigations into Trump, and Bondi created the “Weaponization Working Group” tasked with reviewing prior Trump prosecutions, including two New York-led prosecutions of Trump and the Trump Organization. Trump appointed his personal lawyers to positions of power within the DOJ, making it all but certain the agency bent to his will.
Bondi did not inherit a Justice Department that was the paragon of truth and justice for all Americans. Rather she was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back already bent under decades of deference to America’s most powerful. Corporate executives are rarely punished for their well-documented crimes: the DOJ failed miserably in holding Wall Street accountable for the 2008 financial crisis. The accommodation of elite interests was also exemplified by former Attorney General Merrick Garland’s undue caution in prosecuting Trump during the Biden administration because of his status as a former president and political rival to Biden. If anything, Garland should have been motivated to bring the full weight of the law to bear on Trump because he was a powerful individual whose crimes had outsized consequences. Instead, Trump faced no legal accountability for his illegal acts.1
The prosecution of powerful wrongdoers should be the first priority of the Justice Department, not the last, in order to preserve the confidence of the American public that the law is equally applied to everyone. Bondi laid to rest any semblance of upholding that ideal. Deploying the Justice Department in service of one man is the highest perversion of equal justice.
White Collar and Antitrust Enforcement
Bondi created one of the ripest environments for public and corporate corruption in a generation by dismantling the enforcement infrastructure at the Justice Department.
On her first day in office, she disbanded the National Security Division’s corporate enforcement unit and scaled back “enforcement of laws governing foreign lobbying transparency and bribes of foreign officials” in favor of investigations into cartel activity. A ProPublica investigation found the DOJ closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first 6 months of Trump’s second administration as resources were shifted to immigration cases. Of those cases, more than a quarter pertained to white-collar crime. Several enforcement actions against the largest and most powerful corporations were cancelled by the DOJ. Pharmaceutical juggernaut Pfizer, a former client of Bondi’s during her time at the law firm Panza, Maurer & Maynard, benefited from three cancelled enforcement actions.
Bondi’s DOJ became a playground for industry lobbyists, and they ran wild through the Antitrust Division. Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic members of Congress have accused Bondi of granting industry lobbyists access to high level DOJ officials and “perverting the antitrust process.” The evidence bears this out. In Bondi’s first six months the DOJ Antitrust Division dropped more than 40 cases, “more than double the number declined in the same time period by the prior three new administrations.” A challenge to a merger between American Express Global Business Travel and CWT Holdings was deliberately dismissed after Amex hired Ballard Partners, another former Bondi employer, to lobby the DOJ.
When Bondi fired Gail Slater, the (by Republican standards) relatively pro-enforcement head of the Antitrust Division, for repeatedly clashing with Bondi and the White House’s priorities, this all but confirmed antitrust enforcement under Trump would be toothless, and that lobbyists reigned supreme. In a letter to the DOJ’s acting inspector general, Democratic lawmakers highlighted the involvement of lobbyists in overriding antitrust enforcement actions, including:
- Hewlett Packard Enterprises-Juniper Networks, settled lawsuit to block merger
- AmexGBT-CWT Holdings, dismissed lawsuit to block merger
- Live Nation-Ticket Master, settled lawsuit alleging illegal monopolization
- Compass-Anywhere Real Estate, rubber-stamped merger after Antitrust raised concerns
- UnitedHealth-Amedisys, settled lawsuit to block merger
- Nexstar-Tegna, cleared merger
- Paramount-Warner Bros, failed to extend waiting period for proposed acquisition
Tampering With Public Integrity
Under Bondi, the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, responsible for investigating and prosecuting public corruption crimes at all levels of government, was gutted, shoving the door wide open for abuse and corruption by public officials. Staffing at the already small anti-corruption unit dropped from 35 attorneys to less than half a dozen. The unit lost seven highly respected prosecutors when they resigned in protest over the dropped corruption charges against former NYC mayor Eric Adams. The Public Integrity Section has also had its authority to review potential cases against public officials suspended and its authority to file new cases stripped away. The upshot is that Trump allies are spared consequences for their wrongdoing, such as when the bribery probe into White House “border czar” Tom Homan was dropped after pressure from the Trump administration.
Effectively Ending Environmental Enforcement
The Justice Department’s capacity—and willingness—to enforce environmental laws has also languished under Bondi, emboldening corporate polluters to expect impunity from charges of poisoning our air and water. At least 140 lawyers resigned or were forced out of the Environmental and Natural Resource Division (ENRD). Criminal and civil enforcement against corporate polluters was hit hardest: the Environmental Enforcement Section lost 54 lawyers, and the Environmental Crimes Sections lost 13 attorneys, half its total staff.
The collapse of environmental enforcement is evident. In the first 11 months of the second Trump administration, the Environmental Enforcement Section imposed $15.1 million in civil penalties against polluters, a staggering drop-off from the $590 million in fines issued in the first 19 days of 2025 before Trump took office. Cases against polluters brought by the Environmental Protection Agency to the DOJ for enforcement have also plummeted. The DOJ also announced it would stop prosecuting people and companies that sell devices to bypass vehicle pollution control systems in violation of the Clean Air Act. And to tilt the scales further in favor of corporate impunity at communities’ cost, Bondi terminated the ENRD’s Office of Environmental Justice.
Civil Rights
The Civil Rights Division has suffered greatly under Bondi, not just in numbers lost, but also in the destruction of its legacy. 75 percent of the division’s staff have left or been forced out in the last year, and its commitment to protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans has been abandoned in favor of Trump’s discriminatory agenda. Under Bondi and Associate Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, civil rights have been dismantled, voting rights rolled back, and nearly every section of the division seen has its mission warped.
The Leadership Council and Civil and Human Rights explains the harm brought upon the Civil Rights Division, and gives ample reason to disqualify Dhillon as a potential candidate to replace Bondi.
Collapse of Institutional Knowledge Through High Level Departures and Mass Exodus of Career Civil Servants
Bondi presided over a massive exodus of institutional knowledge and experience at the Justice Department.
High Level Departures
- Danielle Sassoon, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Resigned over orders to drop corruption case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
- Hagan Scotten, Assistant Attorney for SDNY. Resigned in protest of Adams corruption case.
- Kevin Driscoll, Acting Head of the Criminal Division. Resigned in protest over Adams corruption case.
- John Keller, Acting Head of Public Integrity Section. Resigned in protest over Adams corruption case.
- Denise Cheung, top prosecutor at the US Attorney’s Office for Washington DC. Resigned after declining orders to open a grand jury investigation into EPA funding decisions from the Biden era.
- Erez Reuveni, Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Immigration Litigation. Fired for conceding that Kilmar Abrego Garcia had been wrongfully deported. Later filed a whistleblower complaint alleging senior DOJ official Emil Bove told an attorney to consider defying court orders.
- Liz Oyer, DOJ Pardon Attorney. Fired for refusing to restore gun rights to the actor Mel Gibson, who had a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction on his record.
- Joseph Tirrell, director of the DOJ Ethics Office, fired during Bondi’s agency-wide purge.
- Roger Alford, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General-Antitrust Division. Ostensibly fired for “insubordination.”
- Bill Rinner, Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Head of Merger Enforcement-Antitrust Division. Ostensibly fired for “insubordination.”
- Maurene Comey, Assistant U.S. Attorney General for SDNY. Fired two weeks after completing the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs and likely because she is James Comey’s daughter. Previously prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell and was involved in the SDNY’s case against Epstein.
- Erik Siebert, U.S. Attorney General for the Eastern District of Virginia. A Trump appointee, he resigned under pressure after refusing to prosecute NY AG Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges.
- Maggie Cleary, Senior prosecuting attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Removed from office” after siding with career prosecutors who opposed bringing the case against James Comey.
- Joseph Thompson, Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota. Resigned over DOJ pressure to open a criminal investigation into the widow of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman murdered by ICE agents in January 2026.
- Gail Slater, Head of DOJ Antitrust Division. Reportedly fired for clashing with Bondi and DOJ leadership over her pro-enforcement stance towards tech companies.
In addition to high-level personnel departures, the Justice Department lost thousands of career civil servants, simultaneously reducing the department’s capacity while also draining its reservoir of institutional knowledge. The Department has since turned to unseasoned loyalists in the rare occasions it has sought to fill the chasm. The bumbling incompetence of inexperienced Trump appointees like Lindsey Halligan and Bondi herself may have proven useful in the short run, but the decades of excised expertise won’t return simply because a new administration takes office. Rebuilding could take decades more, unless coming administrations and Congresses prioritize a restoration of the civil service.
- 16,000 employees left the DOJ, erasing decades, if not centuries, of cumulative knowledge
- 4,000 DOJ law enforcement jobs cut
- 107 (33 percent of) career DOJ senior managers left the DOJ in the first 8 months under Bondi
- The Civil Rights, National Security, and Environmental and Natural Resource Divisions each lost at least 50% of their leadership
Rearrangement of Justice Department To Fit Trump’s Agenda
Bondi’s FY 2026 Budget request to Congress confirmed that the mass departure of career civil servants was part of a broader plan to institutionalize Trump’s agenda at the DOJ. The administration’s authoritarian agenda to deport immigrants, undermine civil rights, destroy the environment, and look the other way on corruption and corporate malfeasance manifests in the numbers.
| Office | 2024 FTE | 2026 FTE Requested | Responsibilities |
| Office of the Inspector General | 527 | 393 | Investigate allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse with DOJ |
| Tax Division | 527 | 0 | Enforce tax law |
| Environmental and Natural Resources Division | 450 | 252 | Enforce environmental law |
| Civil Rights Division | 765 | 291 | Protects civil and constitutional rights |
| Office of Access to Justice | 30 | 0 | Break down barriers to equal justice, pursues fair legal systems |
| Antitrust Division | 820 | 736 | Enforce antitrust laws |
| Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces | 2282 | 0 | Disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal networks |
| Office on Violence Against Women | 151 | 76 | Provide federal leadership to reduce violence against women |
| Executive Office for Immigration Review | 2726 | 2651 | Adjudicate immigration cases by interpreting and administering immigration law |
No Trump administration policy was accommodated more at the Justice Department than his authoritarian immigration crackdown. DOJ agents from across its various law enforcement divisions were reassigned to support Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement. Roughly 20% of FBI agents (almost 2,900) were reassigned to immigration enforcement, pulling resources away from critical areas of focus like domestic terrorism investigations, violent crime, and child trafficking. Some of the largest FBI field offices saw 40 percent of their agents diverted to immigration assignments. The myopic focus on meeting Trump’s demands left the country vulnerable to attacks from foreign adversaries; counterterrorism agents were ordered back to their old posts after Iranian threats of retaliation to U.S. bombings of Iranian nuclear sites.
Undermining The Judiciary
Trump’s flurry of illegal executive orders and unlawful actions at the start of his administration led legal professionals and other experts to conclude that America was in the midst of an ongoing constitutional crisis. The Justice Department took center stage in this crisis as it fought for Trump in court, even when the administration outright defied court orders. District court judges have ruled that the Trump administration has violated an order in at least 31 lawsuits over a range of issues, and highlighted 250 instances of noncompliance.
Bondi did her part in undermining America’s separation of powers framework, lambasting federal judges for their “intrusions” into Trump’s authority and publicly decrying “rogue judges,” i.e., any judge that rules against the administration. DOJ attorneys have shredded the trust that federal judges held in the Justice Department by repeatedly presenting lies and misrepresentations in court in order to advance Trump’s policies.
Mishandling the Epstein Files
Bondi’s year-long mishandling of the Epstein files is one of the more high profile missteps during her tenure as Attorney General. Bondi set high expectations when she promised transparency, but ultimately failed to deliver as public desire for the truth crashed against Trump’s attempts to distance himself from the scandal. The DOJ went as far as cutting a deal with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to keep Trump as clean as possible.
In addition to the abhorrent nature of Epstein’s crimes and the outrage of withheld justice for his victims, core to the public dissatisfaction with the Justice Department’s mishandling of the Epstein files is how it epitomizes elite impunity. Americans rightly demanded accountability, but instead witnessed the Justice Department bend over backwards to protect powerful elites, even when entangled in the most egregious crimes. Bondi did her part in fueling that growing chorus of frustration.
PBS News has published a timeline detailing the actions Bondi took as Attorney General in handling the Epstein saga. The public’s dissatisfaction hung like a storm cloud over Bondi’s tenure, as attempts to bury the story only increased scrutiny of the DOJ. The attention the Epstein files courted frustrated Trump enough that it became a motivating factor in firing Bondi.
Prosecuting Trump’s Political Rivals
Bondi appeared all too eager to enact Trump’s retribution campaign against his political enemies. Trump publicly posted what was supposedly meant to be a private message demanding Bondi prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, NY AG Letitia James, and Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA). Five days later the DOJ secured an indictment of James Comey. Letitia James was indicted within three weeks of Trump’s message. Ultimately both cases against Comey and James were dismissed, and the months-long mortgage fraud investigations into Schiff stalled on lack of evidence.
Protect Democracy has tracked the retaliatory actions taken by the DOJ against Trump’s political opponents. The common thread that connects the targeted individuals and organizations is their open opposition to Trump and his policies. The DOJ’s politically motivated actions are intended to have a chilling effect on dissent against the administration. They also illustrate how Bondi served as Trump’s attack dog. Trump demanded retribution for the perceived wrong committed against him; Bondi tried to deliver, but in the end failed.
The Ethics Violations of Bondi and Co.
Bondi’s career as a corporate lobbyist raised concerns about her fitness to lead the DOJ. Bondi failed to list the massive conflicts of interests from her lobbying career prior to her confirmation hearing, raising doubts about whether she would put the American public ahead of the wealthy special interests she previously served.
According to Public Citizen’s report on Bondi’s lobbying activity, she lobbied the federal government on behalf of 30 different clients including large corporations and government contractors. Scrutiny of Bondi’s time as a registered lobbyist for the government of Qatar heightened when she issued a memo endorsing the legality of Qatar’s $400 million luxury jet plane gift to Trump.
Bondi’s lax ethical standards continued well into her tenure and were mimicked by her staff. Chad Mizelle, Bondi’s Chief of Staff until October 2025, failed to disclose his financial interests in corporations with business before the DOJ for the entirety of his tenure. Bondi pushed back against federal rules about the gifts and privileges officials can receive, reportedly firing the director of the DOJ’s ethics office for clashing with Bondi and her staff over keeping lavish gifts. FBI Director Kash Patel’s taxpayer funded jet-setting and party boy lifestyle is well documented. The entitlement and absent ethics at Bondi’s DOJ reflected Trump’s self-dealing governing ethos.
DOJ after Bondi
Bondi’s loyalty to Trump wasn’t in question, but her failures to accomplish Trump’s directives led to her ouster. Whoever Trump chooses to succeed her will likely be just as zealous in their desire to please the President, as Trump will want the same outcomes he demanded from Bondi from his next AG.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, took over as Acting Attorney General after Bondi’s firing. Blanche will face the same obstacles that stymied Bondi, but knowing how Bondi failed, he will likely be more ruthless in carrying out Trump’s wishes.
Blanche is vying to make his current role permanent, and his time as the interim AG will function as his audition. Even if he is never confirmed by the Senate, Blanche can lead the DOJ for months, and he has wasted little time taking advantage of the opportunity. In just three weeks, Blanche has indicted Trump nemesis James Comey on a second set of dubious charges, opened investigations into more individuals and organizations in Trump’s crosshairs, and explicitly abandoned the post-Watergate firewall between the Justice Department and the White House.
The Justice Connection maintains a detailed tracker listing the actions Bondi and the Trump administration have taken to harm the DOJ’s workforce, the institution itself, and the public it serves.
For more of RDP’s work on Bondi’s legacy, read:
- Top Trump Official Failed To Disclose Conflicts of Interest for Entire Justice Department Tenure – RDP blog post, November 14, 2025
- RealPage and Its Private Equity Owner Are Spending Big On Lobbying – RDP blog post, August 12, 2025
- U.S. Attorneys Under Trump – RDP tracker, April 23, 2025
- Trump Officials Are Openly Defying Judges’ Orders – RDP newsletter, March 19, 2025
- Trump Administration Non-Adherence to Court Orders – RDP tracker
- Cuts to Corporate Enforcement Capacity – RDP tracker
- The Would-Be Pawns Sacrificing Their Own Civil Service Jobs – RDP tracker, March 30, 2025
The above photo, a work of the federal government, is in the public domain.
- While the Roberts Supreme Court’s role in that outcome is even less defensible, the fact that Garland moved so sluggishly that Trump was already the presumptive Republican presidential nominee when Roberts et al. got involved is entirely on Garland and his Deputy Attorney General, Lisa Monaco. ↩︎