Newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi kicked off her first day in office with a slew of memos announcing a new working group to examine past “weaponization” of the Justice Department and plans to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities.
The changes were announced in a series of over a dozen memos, distributed internally Wednesday and obtained by Bloomberg Law, that preview a host of priorities for the department just hours after Bondi was installed at its helm.
The so-called Weaponization Working Group would review DOJ activities over the past four years to identify instances where conduct “appears to have been designed to achieve political objectives,” including criminal probes into Donald Trump. It would be led by the Office of the Attorney General, the memo says.
“No one who has acted with a righteous spirit and just intentions has any cause for concern about efforts to root out corruption and weaponization. On the other hand, the Department of Justice will not tolerate abuses of the criminal justice process, coercive behavior, or other forms of misconduct,” the memo said.
Activities to be reviewed by the working group include former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump that led to criminal charges on election obstruction, and federal cooperation with Manhattan prosecutors in their case against Trump for falsifying business records, the memo said.
It would also target “unethical prosecutions” related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol during the certification of the presidential election. The memo notes these are “distinct from good-faith actions by federal employees simply following orders from superiors.”
Bondi also announced the Justice Department will ensure that so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions can’t access any federal funding, and called on the department to pause distribution of “all funds” until a review is completed.
As part of that effort, the Justice Department’s civil division must identify local governments whose policies impede federal immigration operations, and “where appropriate,” the division “shall take legal action to challenge such laws, policies, or practices.”
The move to withhold federal grants marks a return to a policy implemented by the first Trump administration, which had withheld access to a federal public safety grant program from local governments that didn’t cooperate with immigration authorities.
Bondi also said in a separate memo that US attorneys’ offices must investigate incidents where local governments don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement “for potential prosecution.”
One memo said that any DOJ attorneys who refuse to advance certain legal arguments because of personal views will be disciplined and possibly terminated. Another calls to harness the department’s resources “to pursue total elimination” of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
Other memos tackled in-person work, third-party settlements, diversity initiatives, and environmental justice.
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