Ruthless Pam Bondi. Attorney General, hammer on Donald Trump's enemies
All you had to do was tag “Pam” in your post on the Truth Social platform. President Donald Trump's tirade on September 20 provoked an extraordinary rush that turned a once abstract threat into reality: the president personally files criminal charges against people he considers his enemies.
Trump's public instructions to Attorney General Pam Bondi (which he likely intended to convey to her as a private message) were not subtle. The president named three public figures he has long hated and called on the Justice Department to immediately prosecute them.
Less than three weeks have passed and two of them have already been indicted: Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. They both denied committing any crimes. And many of Trump's other potential “targets” he would like to see behind bars are wondering who will be next.
“We will not be intimidated”
The third person Trump named in his message to Bondi — Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff — condemned the new realities on Thursday, shortly after James was charged with two counts of alleged mortgage fraud.
The article continues below the video
—Those of us who are on the president's enemies list, and it is a long and growing list, We will not be intimidated, we will not be deterred Schiff told reporters. – We will do our job. We will stand up to the president.
Some of them are likely to face a fight with the Department of Justice, whose management obediently complies with Trump's demands, disregarding long-standing norms. In his message to Bondi, Trump praised his former defense attorney Lindsey Halligan as a “really good lawyer.” Within days, Bondi installed Halligan as Virginia's prosecutor — although Halligan has never been a prosecutor and has devoted most of her career to insurance law.
And of course it was Halligan who promptly brought Comey and James before the grand jury. In both cases, she presented the cases to the jury in person, a task typically performed by assistant federal prosecutors.
Trump makes it clear that his revenge is just beginning. – I think they will be next he said a day after Comey was indicted for allegedly lying to Congress.
This week, Trump suggested that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should go to prison for their treatment of the federal immigration agency. John Bolton, former national security adviser – about whom Trump already said in 2020 that he should be put behind bars — is being reviewed by the FBI for its handling of classified information. The Justice Department is also expected to be looking into Fani Willis, the Atlanta district attorney who filed criminal charges against Trump.
Trump is also trying to fire Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook over disputed mortgage fraud charges – similar to those Letitia James is now facing.
Pam Bondi and Donald Trump in action at the Museum of the Bible. Washington, September 8, 2025EPA/JIM LO SCALZO / POOL / PAP
That's it alleged problems with mortgage loans have become the administration's favorite tool. The Justice Department is believed to be investigating Schiff over mortgage loans on two properties.
Prosecutor's reckless driving
Trump, of course, has long made vague calls for the imprisonment of his political opponents. During the 2016 presidential debate, he told Hillary Clinton that if he won the election, she would go to prison. Throughout his first term, he vowed to pursue his enemies.
But Comey and James's rapid-fire accusations stand in stark contrast to Trump's first term. At the time, it was limited by its attorneys general and the Department of Justice, which largely rejected his calls to ignore the norms established after Watergate. Under these rules, the attorney general's offices should operate away from Justice Department headquarters, and the attorney general has the opportunity, if not the obligation, to resist pressure to conduct political cases at the president's request.
One first-term attorney general, William Barr, publicly complained in 2020 that Trump should 'stop tweeting about Justice Department criminal cases'because the president's appeals “prevented” Barr “from securing courts and prosecutors […]that we do our job honestly.”
However, it seems that in the second term Bondi and the Justice Department leadership readily agree to Trump's demands. When federal prosecutors resisted, he simply replaced them with more compliant lawyers, in some cases using legally questionable methods to install them quickly and bypass Senate confirmation of the appointment.
Not only was Halligan selected to bring charges against Comey and James by the president himself, but she took a very unusual step in the Comey case. She looked outside her office for side prosecutors to work with her on the case, and eventually brought in assistant prosecutors from North Carolina.
Pam Bondi speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Listening are Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, and President Donald Trump. Washington, October 9, 2025EPA/SAMUEL CORUM / POOL / PAP
Whereas Bondi herself says she is actually working to “depoliticize” the Justice Department after Trump was indicted in two criminal cases under President Joe Biden.
However, the cases against Trump were brought by extraordinary prosecutor, moved outside the standard Justice Department hierarchy. Biden has not publicly called for criminal charges, and the White House has shown only some signs of impatience during these investigations.
New cases filed against Trump's enemies they look completely different, something even Bondi couldn't deny — the addressee of the president's prosecutorial directives. Asked during an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday whether she was actually the “Pam” Trump referred to in his infamous social media post, Bondi hesitated for a moment.
“I'm sure you do,” she finally replied.
