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Attorney General Pam Bondi is said to be acting as a figurehead, and the Department of Justice is being run from the West Wing, according to a report by The New York Times.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is alleged to be setting the agenda for the department from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in conjunction with President Donald Trump, the paper reports.
The Times spoke with 20 current and former officials about Bondi’s first months in office, and reports that Bondi sees her role “as that of a surrogate, a faithful executor and high-volume messenger, compelled to cede ground to empowered players in the West Wing.”
The president has long been known for his love of hiring people as if it were a casting call, and pays special attention to their TV performances, a particular strength of the attorney general.
While she had a reputation as a “hard-charging prosecutor” as attorney general of Florida, since taking on the role of the nation’s chief legal officer, she has adopted a “performative” approach and demonstrated a willingness to execute White House directives, The Times reports.
This is a noticeable departure from the stance taken by previous heads of the Justice Department, who focused on the department’s independence from the presidency.
“The decisions are being made at the White House, and then they’re being pushed down to the Department of Justice, which is very, very atypical,” Elizabeth Oyer, the department’s former top pardon lawyer, told the newspaper.
Oyer was fired after refusing to restore gun ownership rights to the actor Mel Gibson.
“It feels like she is just performing a part,” she said of Bondi. “She is like an actor, in a way.”
Citing current and former Trump aides, The Times states that “it was clear from the start that Mr. Miller, who is not a lawyer, would exercise control inside the department.”
Details are then reportedly discussed with Bondi and Trump’s two former defense lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, whom the president appointed to positions at Justice after taking office, and who help run day-to-day operations at the department.
Edward Whelan, a conservative former Justice Department official, told the paper: “I can’t recall an attorney general who seemed willing to be subordinate to White House staffers.”
According to officials who spoke with The Times, while Bondi has been consulted on key decisions — including how to respond to a federal judge’s order to return immigrants deported to El Salvador with no due process — she does not appear to have played a major role in creating overall strategies, focusing on aligning her department with the Trump game plan and framing attacks on opponents.
There were reportedly tensions early on in Bondi’s tenure, when Miller was vocal in his opposition to the nomination of Chad Chronister, a Florida county sheriff, to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration at Bondi’s request.
Chronister later withdrew his name from consideration after criticism from conservative activists that he had arrested a pastor who had violated Covid-19 lockdown regulations and held a church service. The Times reports that Trump was “miffed,” asking advisers why she would have recommended him.
However, Bondi’s flattery of the president in cabinet meetings and her ubiquitous presence on Fox News show she knows how to stay in Trump’s favor.
When Bondi is on Fox — The Times notes there have been at least three dozen appearances to date — she “exhibits attributes that earned her the job, alternating between cheerful chat and political attacks.”
Those appearances have earned her scorn from both the left and right. Some of Trump’s base criticize her for not going after the president’s list of perceived enemies.
Her much hyped release of files about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and death to right-wing influencers turned into a debacle when no new information was included, and a backlash followed that has tarnished her reputation in those circles.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer is especially vocal in her disapproval and ridicule of Bondi.
“Pam Blondie is a liar, and we can’t trust Pam Blondie anymore,” Loomer said on a recent podcast appearance. “She’s on Fox News more than she does her job.”
In defense of Bondi’s role, Bove said that under her leadership, the department has “arrested terrorists, cartel kingpins and gang leaders, helped secure the border, gotten drugs off the street at a historic rate and assisted in the removal of thousands of criminal aliens.”
Her chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, said working so closely with the West Wing was essential for her to fight a “liberal” workforce in the department that was “willing to blindly implement” the agenda of the previous administration under President Joe Biden.
In one of her most recently reported actions, Bondi signed off on Trump’s acceptance of a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane donated by the Qatari royal family to be upgraded to serve as Air Force One.
Amid a flurry of legal and ethical and legal questions about the gift, it was noted that as a lobbyist, Bondi herself received six-figure consulting fees from Qatar prior to taking on her current role in the administration.
English (US) ·