Trump turns on his attorney-general for failing to prosecute political enemies

Phoenix: US President Donald Trump has publicly criticised his Attorney-General, Pam Bondi, for failing to bring charges against his political enemies quickly enough in an extraordinary intervention that puts enormous pressure on the Justice Department chief.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, which was explicitly directed at Bondi, Trump said he had reviewed more than 30 “statements and posts” complaining that nothing was going to be done about his foes, naming former FBI director James Comey, Democratic California senator Adam Schiff, and the Democratic Attorney-General of New York, Letitia James.

It was not clear which statements and posts Trump was referring to, but there has been frustration in the MAGA community that Bondi has not yet brought charges against people such as Schiff, who led efforts to impeach the president in his first term, and James, who successfully brought fraud charges against Trump and his company.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Trump wrote in the post, addressed to “Pam”.

There was initially some speculation that it was posted by accident and had been intended as a private message, but then Trump’s account deleted the original and reposted it to make some references clearer.

Later, Trump made an additional post, saying Bondi was doing “a GREAT job”, and was “very careful, very smart”, but needed a tough prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia. He would nominate Lindsey Halligan for the role “to get things moving”, he said.

Halligan is one of Trump’s former personal lawyers who now works in the White House as special assistant to the president.

She would replace Erik Siebert, who resigned on Friday after Trump said he wanted him out. The Virginia office was involved in probes of both Comey and James, but Siebert had previously told officials he did not believe the evidence was strong enough to bring charges, sources told Reuters. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

Pressure on Bondi has been mounting for weeks. Last month, House oversight committee chair James Comer, a Republican congressman and Trump ally, told Fox News the Department of Justice had enough evidence to bring charges against Schiff for his “many crimes”.

“The power lies within the Department of Justice now to hold these people accountable,” Comer said. “If they’re allowed to get away with this, I’m going to be disappointed, my colleagues on the House oversight committee are going to be disappointed, and everybody in America that’s watched Fox News and other conservative networks over the past four years are going to be disappointed.”

Bondi has also faced criticism from the MAGA world for declining to release more documents related to the FBI investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – the so-called “Epstein files” – although Trump backed that position.

And in the past week, she has been condemned by some free speech advocates on the right for pledging to prosecute people for hate speech following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, one of those who had been agitating against Bondi, seized on Trump’s post, declaring: “He is urging her to take action. Now it’s public.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House on his way to a conservative dinner on Saturday night, Washington time, Trump reiterated that he wanted to “act fast”.

“One way or the other – they’re guilty, they’re not guilty – we have to act fast,” he said. “If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty or if they should be charged, [then] they should be charged, and we have to do it now.”

Bondi has not commented publicly.

With Reuters

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