No scalps were taken during Donald Trump's second administration, but now even the president cannot suppress his frustration with his lieutenants. He fired Pam Bondi, his attorney-general, on April 2nd, after soured relations over her failure to prosecute his enemies and her bungling of the Epstein files.
The president wants to see his opponents in prison, but courts require solid evidence and plausible legal theories. Trump's weaponisation of the law has been a bust, with cases against James Comey, Letitia James, and others falling apart.
Pam Bondi's tenure was marked by prosecutorial theatre, with warrants, subpoenas, and indictments loudly trumpeted on social media but marred by ineptitude, bad faith, and flimsy evidence. Her successor will face the same competing pressures between a president who wants the Epstein issue to disappear and a cohort of his voters whose hunger for Epstein content is insatiable.
The DoJ has been gutted, with entire enforcement divisions prosecuting crypto and tax fraud, as well as corruption by public officials, being dismantled. Last year, staff at US attorneys' offices fell by 14%, compelling the DoJ to lower hiring standards and accept applicants straight out of law school.
