For an alternate viewpoint, see “Counterpoint: Trump ‘Legal’ Warrior Pam Bondi Doesn’t Represent the People.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi is accused of acting as President Trump’s personal attorney rather than the nation’s top legal authority. This narrative distorts the traditional role of the attorney general and ignores historical precedent and the failures of her predecessor. Bondi is fulfilling her duty as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, upholding the rule of law while addressing unprecedented threats to our constitutional system.
Robert F. Kennedy served as attorney general under his brother, President John F. Kennedy, with a closeness that exceeds any modern AG-president relationship. Liberals did not decry RFK’s appointment then, nor do they criticize it now. RFK is widely remembered as an effective AG, particularly for his relentless campaign against organized crime, including his pursuit of Jimmy Hoffa and corrupt unions. His loyalty to his brother did not diminish his commitment to justice.
Bondi’s relationship with Trump follows a similar mold — loyalty to the president does not equate to abandoning the rule of law.
More recently, Eric Holder served as Barack Obama’s attorney general. He famously called himself the president’s “wingman” and was held in contempt of Congress for withholding documents in the Fast and Furious scandal. Despite this blind loyalty, liberals largely defended him. Another Obama attorney general, Loretta Lynch, met privately with former President Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac during the Hillary Clinton email investigation, raising questions about what was said. Few liberal howls about that, either.
Trump’s first term taught him a hard lesson: an attorney general must be loyal to the law and the president to counter seditious acts within the executive branch. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia collusion investigation, handing it to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, remains inexplicable. Mueller — aligned with DOJ figures James Comey, Andrew McCabe and others — did clear Trump, but purposely and needlessly prolonged a hoax that undermined his first term.
Any evaluation of Bondi must include her predecessor, Merrick Garland, whose tenure was marked by egregious abuses. Garland shielded President Joe Biden and his son Hunter from credible allegations of criminal activity, while allowing an unprecedented “lawfare” campaign against Trump and his supporters.
From politically motivated prosecutions to labeling parents at school board meetings as “terrorists,” Garland’s DOJ trampled constitutional rights. Garland aggressively prosecuted pro-life protesters under the FACE Act, seeking lengthy prison sentences for non-violent protesters, while doing practically nothing about violence against pregnancy centers.
Under Garland, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022, an unprecedented action against a former president. Agents sifted through Melania Trump’s private wardrobe items. The raid led to indictments by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Biden faced similar allegations but no raid or charges. Special Counsel Robert Hur let Biden off the hook by declining to prosecute, citing his age and mental confusion.
Critics mischaracterize Bondi’s response to this lawfare as retribution against Trump’s political enemies. This framing ignores the reality: Biden’s allies weaponized the legal system to silence, censor and imprison Trump, even attempting to remove him from ballots. Republicans have never sought to disqualify Democratic candidates or suppress their speech. The failure of legal activists to acknowledge this danger is alarming. The selective outrage — condemning Bondi while ignoring Garland’s abuses — reveals more than a double standard. It allows for an assault on democratic norms.
Bondi had a life before she came to Washington. As Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, she cracked down on human trafficking, opioid abuse and cartels, leading national efforts like the Pill Mill Crackdown. The campaign against her is due only to her appointment by Trump. Her critics are entrenched in a partisan narrative of resistance. Bondi is not serving Trump alone — she is serving the American people.
