Attorney General Pam Bondi will issue several major directives on her first day leading the Justice Department. (Ben Curtis/The Associated Press)
Bondi issued a directive regarding "zealous advocacy." Bondi said DOJ attorneys’ responsibilities include "aggressively enforcing criminal laws passed by Congress, but also vigorously defending presidential policies and actions on behalf of the United States against legal challenges."
"The discretion afforded Justice Department attorneys with respect to those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute their personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election," the memo states.
"When Justice Department attorneys refuse to faithfully carry out their role by, for example, refusing to advance good-faith arguments or declining to sign briefs, it undermines the constitutional order and deprives the President of the benefit of his lawyers," the memo continues.
Bondi, in the memo, states that "any Justice Department attorney who declines to sign a brief, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Trump administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Justice Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination."
The working group’s first reviews will include prosecutions against Trump led by former Special Counsel Jack Smith; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, pictured here; and the civil fraud case brought against Trump and his family by New York Attorney General Letitia James. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Members of the Sinaloa Cartel raided a BSNF train on January 17, according to Homeland Security Investigations. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images )
Bondi said Joint Task Force Vulcan, which was created to destroy MS-13, and Joint Task Force Alpha, which was created to fight human trafficking, would be "further empowered and elevated" to the Office of the Attorney General. Their missions are expected to expand—specifically Vulcan’s—with a new focus on destroying Tren de Aragua.
Also on the cartel front, Bondi is directing the DOJ Office of Legal Policy to find legislative reforms to target equipment designed to make fentanyl pills and add Xylazine, a new deadly drug, to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
Map of Tren de Aragua presence in the United States as of December 2024. (Fox News Digital)
And as for illegal migrants, Bondi has directed the DOJ to pause all federal funding for sanctuary cities.
Bondi has also directed the DOJ to identify and evaluate all funding agreements with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide support to illegal aliens.
She is also directing litigating components of the Justice Department to investigate instances of jurisdictions that are impeding law enforcement, and directing they be prosecuted, when necessary.
Meanwhile, Bondi will also create a new Joint Task Force on October 7 focused on holding Hamas accountable for its crimes against Jews during its terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The task force will also "achieve justice for victims and fight terrorist-led anti-Semitism."
The task force on Oct. 7 will pursue criminal charges where applicable against Hamas; seek the arrest and extradition of Hamas leadership; and investigate anti-Semitism in the United States.
Bondi is also directing the FBI to staff the joint task force with personnel "significantly experienced in investigating terrorism."
Beyond those directives, Bondi is directing the DOJ to confirm the termination of all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs at the department by March 15. She also is demanding the removal of all references to DEI in training programs—specifically ending the emphasis on race and sex-based criteria and refocusing hiring and promotion guidelines "solely on merit."
Bondi will also work with the Department of Education to ensure that educational institutions receiving federal grants are adhering to "fair admission practices."
Bondi, a longtime prosecutor and former Florida attorney general, has vowed not to use her position to advance any political agenda, testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee that "politics has to be taken out of this system."
Bondi told lawmakers in January that the "partisanship, the weaponization" at the Justice Department "will be gone."
"America will have one tier of justice for all," she said.
Before Bondi was confirmed, Fox News Digital exclusively reported that the Trump Justice Department fired more than a dozen key officials who worked on former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team prosecuting Trump, after Acting Attorney General James McHenry said they could not be trusted in "faithfully implementing the president’s agenda."
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And Friday, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove issued a memo to the acting FBI director directing him to terminate eight FBI employees and identify all current and former bureau personnel assigned to Jan. 6 and Hamas cases for an internal review.
After the directive, on Tuesday, a group of nine FBI agents filed a lawsuit seeking to block the public identification of any FBI employees who worked on the Jan. 6 investigations into the U.S. Capitol riots in an attempt to head off what they described as potentially retaliatory efforts against personnel involved in the probe.
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondis-day-one-doj-directives-renew-focus-death-penalty-combat-weaponization-justice-cartels