Justice Department expected to ramp up efforts to deliver on Trump’s ‘weaponization’ priorities

Justice Department officials are expected to meet Monday to discuss how to reenergize probes that are considered a top priority for President Donald Trump — reviewing the actions of officials who investigated him, according to a source familiar with the plan.

Almost immediately after Pam Bondi stepped into her role as attorney general last year, she established a “Weaponization Working Group” to review law enforcement actions taken under the Biden administration for any examples of what she described as “politicized justice.”

She said the group would focus on investigations into Trump conducted by former special counsel Jack Smith and his staff; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James; and any “improper” investigations into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

But after a year, the group has not produced anything publicly.

In recent weeks, Trump has been pressuring Justice Department officials for results in these and other investigations, recently admonishing a group of US attorneys for failing to deliver on cases he wants brought.

The Weaponization Working Group is now expected to start meeting daily with the goal of producing results in the next two months, according to the person familiar with the plan.

Throughout her time as attorney general, Bondi has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for alleged political weaponization while, at the same time, federal prosecutors brought investigations and indictments against Trump’s political adversaries.

“I took office with two main goals: to end the weaponization of justice and return the department to its core mission of fighting violent crime,” Bondi told lawmakers in October.

A Justice Department spokesperson on Sunday declined to provide specifics around the meetings, noting the agency does not discuss ongoing investigations, but acknowledged the efforts of the Weaponization Working Group continue.

“The Justice Department is actively looking into the areas outlined in Attorney General Bondi’s Day One memo,” the spokesperson said. “The Weaponization Working Group is diligently working to restore integrity to the Department of Justice and is utilizing resources across the entire agency to fulfill this effort.”

Bondi established the Working Weaponization Group last February after Trump issued an executive order titled “Ending the Weaponization of The Federal Government.”

She signed a memo outlining the purpose of the group that was sent to department employees on her first day on the job.

The memo stated the group will conduct a review of “the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States over the last four years,” and work to find instances in which practices were “designed to achieve political objectives or other improper aims.”

The memo outlined seven areas that would be examined by the Weaponization Working Group. In addition to the Trump cases, it is tasked with looking at other issues that Republicans raised during the Biden administration, including allegations of discrimination against Catholics, a Biden-era memo about protecting school board members against threats from parents, protections for whistleblowers, and prosecutions against anti-abortion demonstrators.

The group was at one point led by Ed Martin, who was tapped for the position after the Senate failed to confirm him to be the US attorney for Washington, DC.

The group’s efforts are unrelated to the Department of Justice’s individual prosecutions of Trump’s political adversaries.

In addition to now-dismissed indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and Letitia James, federal prosecutors under Bondi have also brought an indictment against Trump’s ex-national security adviser John Bolton and opened criminal investigations into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, ex-CIA Director John Brennan and others.