Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump Pledges to 'Expel Rogue Actors' in Political Speech at Justice Department
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 days ago on
March 14, 2025

The logo for the Justice Department is seen before a news conference at the Department of Justice, Aug. 23, 2024, in Washington. (AP File)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump used a triumphant visit to the Justice Department on Friday to air a litany of grievances about the criminal investigations that threatened to torpedo his political career, decrying in often profane terms his adversaries and casting himself as a victim of unfair and biased prosecutions.

The speech was meant to rally support for Trump’s tough-on-crime agenda. But it also functioned as victory lap after he emerged legally and politically unscathed from two federal prosecutions that were dismissed after his election win last fall.

The Location Shows Trump’s Interest in the Department

The venue selection for the speech underscores Trump’s keen interest in the department and desire to exert influence over it following criminal investigations that shadowed his first four years in office and subsequent campaign. The visit, the first by Trump and the first by any president in a decade, brought him into the belly of an institution he has disparaged in searing terms for years but one that he has sought to reshape by installing loyalists and members of his personal defense team in top leadership positions.

“We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose, very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct of which was levels never seen anything like it,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech that touched on everything from Russia’s war against Ukraine to the price of eggs.

“It’s going to be legendary. And going to also be legendary for the people that are able to seek it out and bring justice. We will restore the scales of justice in America, and we will ensure that such abuses never happen again in our country.”

Although there’s some precedent for presidents to speak to the Justice Department workforce from the building’s ceremonial Great Hall, Trump’s trip two months into his second term was particularly striking because of his unique status as a onetime criminal defendant indicted by the agency he is now poised to address and because his remarks are likely to feature an airing of grievances over his exposure to the criminal justice system — including an FBI search in 2022 of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for classified documents.

Trump’s visit also comes at a time when Attorney General Pam Bondi has asserted that the department needs to be depoliticized even as critics assert agency leadership is injecting politics into the decision-making process.

Relationship Between President, Justice Department Shift

The relationship between presidents and Justice Department leaders has waxed and waned over the decades depending on the personalities of the officeholders and the sensitivity of the investigations that have dominated the day. The dynamic between President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his attorney general, Merrick Garland, was known to be fraught in part because of special counsel investigations that Garland oversaw into Biden’s mishandling of classified information and into the firearms and tax affairs of his son Hunter.

When it comes to setting its agenda, the Justice Department historically takes a cue from the White House but looks to maintain its independence on individual criminal investigations.

Trump has upended such norms.

He encouraged specific investigations during his first term and tried to engineer the firing of Robert Mueller, the special counsel assigned to investigate ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. He also endured difficult relationships with his first two handpicked attorneys general — Jeff Sessions was fired immediately after the 2018 midterm election, and William Barr resigned weeks after publicly disputing Trump’s bogus claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Arriving for a second term in January fresh off a landmark Supreme Court opinion that reaffirmed a president’s unshakable control of the Justice Department, Trump has appeared determined to clear from his path any potential obstacles, including by appointing Bondi — a former Florida attorney general who was part of Trump’s defense team at his first impeachment trial — and Kash Patel, another close ally, to serve as his FBI director.

Bondi Appears to Endorse Trump’s False Claims

At her January confirmation hearing, Bondi appeared to endorse Trump’s false claims of mass voter fraud in 2020 by refusing to answer directly whether Trump had lost to Biden. She also echoed his position that he had been unfairly “targeted” by the Justice Department despite the wealth of evidence prosecutors say they amassed. She regularly praises him in Fox News Channel appearances and proudly noted that she had removed portraits of Biden, Garland and Vice President Kamala Harris from a Justice Department wall upon arriving.

“We all adore Donald Trump, and we want to protect him and fight for his agenda. And the people of America overwhelmingly elected him for his agenda,” Bondi said in a recent Fox interview with Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

Even before Bondi had been confirmed, the Justice Department fired department employees who served on special counsel Jack Smith’s team, which charged Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election and with hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Both cases were dismissed last November in line with longstanding Justice Department policy against indicting sitting presidents.

Officials also demanded from the FBI lists of thousands of employees who worked on investigations into the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the building in an effort to halt the certification of the electoral vote, and fired prosecutors who had participated in the cases. And they’ve ordered the dismissal of a criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams by saying the charges had handicapped the Democrat’s ability to partner in the Republican administration’s fight against illegal immigration.

Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First and Fifth Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Seek Help Finding Missing 14-Year-Old Girl

UP NEXT

Trump Tries to Use White South Africans as Cautionary Tale

Experts Say Fresno Dark Money Group Should Disclose Funding Sources Now

3 hours ago

Former Ambassador to Russia McFaul Will Speak in Fresno

3 hours ago

Fresno Police Seek Help Finding Missing 14-Year-Old Girl

Authorities are searching for a 14-year-old girl who was last seen Monday morning in Fresno, the Fresno Police Department said in a statemen...

46 minutes ago

Fresno police are searching for Hazel Gordo, 14, who was last seen Monday morning near First Street and Gettysburg Avenue. (Fresno PD)
46 minutes ago

Fresno Police Seek Help Finding Missing 14-Year-Old Girl

1 hour ago

Soria Confirms She is Running for State Senate Against Esparza

People rallied in support of US President Donald Trump outside the US embassy in Pretoria, South Africa on Feb. 15, 2025. The president and his allies accuse South Africa of discriminating against and killing white people, and warn that it could happen in America if attempts to promote diversity aren’t stopped. (Joao Silva/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

Trump Tries to Use White South Africans as Cautionary Tale

3 hours ago

Experts Say Fresno Dark Money Group Should Disclose Funding Sources Now

3 hours ago

Former Ambassador to Russia McFaul Will Speak in Fresno

fresno
3 hours ago

Fresno Woman Killed in Early Morning Pedestrian Crash

A money dispute between acquaintances escalated into a violent robbery, prompting a Tactical Operations callout by Clovis Police, resulting in the arrest of .James Johnson, 46, of Clovis, and Nathan Medina, 36, of Fresno. (Clovis PD)
4 hours ago

Clovis Money Dispute Leads to Pistol-Whipping, SWAT Callout

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, March 14, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
4 hours ago

Putin and Trump Will Speak on Tuesday About the War in Ukraine

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend