Hours after being sworn in as President Trump’s lawyer basic, Pam Bondi declared to all the Justice Division work power, “This shameful era ends today.”
That assertion, in one among 14 memos she issued on Wednesday, underscored what many present and former legislation enforcement officers describe as a serious — and alarming — departure from years of Justice Division observe during which it steered away from political rhetoric. The brand new tone, they mentioned, suggests the other, seeming to vow a marketing campaign of intimidation towards profession prosecutors and brokers considered as insufficiently loyal to Mr. Trump.
Such language isn’t distinctive to Ms. Bondi. Newly minted senior officers from highly effective perches throughout the Justice Division have issued fiery broadsides towards staff, denouncing “insubordination” or “abhorrent” conduct and, in a single occasion, vowing to pursue unspecified opponents of Mr. Trump’s cost-cutting efforts “to the ends of the Earth.”
One Justice Division lawyer who has labored in each Republican and Democratic administrations mentioned the lawyer basic’s phrases had been chilling in showing to counsel that the brand new management of the division sees long-serving profession legal professionals as villains.
One other of Ms. Bondi’s memos urged “zealous” advocacy for the president’s agenda, a part of a collection of missives from high officers successfully demanding loyalty from their staff.
“I am not the president’s lawyer; I serve the people of the United States,” the lawyer mentioned, talking on the situation of anonymity for concern of retribution. “I’ve always been able to go to my supervisor and say, ‘I got this case and I’m uncomfortable with it.’ Based on the attorney general’s emails, it seems like those conversations are not welcome anymore, and that is scary.”
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