Pam Bondi Reverses Media Protections to Cover Up Her Complicity in Unlawful Renditions
There’s a great deal that is wrong not just with Pam Bondi’s reversal of Merrick Garland’s media policy, but the memo reversing it itself.
Bondi was in such a rush to splutter out unbridled sycophancy, she didn’t bother to spell check the document.
The very premise — that all leaking of “sensitive” information undermines law enforcement, the claim that leaking “sensitive” information is illegal — is wrong.
Safeguarding classified, privileged, and other sensitive information is essential to effective governance and law enforcement. Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.
Bondi ridiculously quotes Trump’s attack on Chris Krebs out of context and claims something that happened under Donald Trump instead happened under Biden.
However, under the Biden Administration, “elitist leaders in Government . . . weaponized their undeserved influence to silence perceived political opponents and advance their preferred, and often erroneous, narrative about significant matters of public debate.”2
2 Presidential Memorandum, Addressing Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship, __ Fed. Reg. __ (Apr. 9, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidentialactions/2025/04/addressing-risks-from-chris-krebs-and-government-censorship.
Worse still, Bondi parrots Trump’s attacks on Miles Taylor, including Trump’s legally erroneous claim that criticizing Trump anonymously is “treasonous.”
This Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people. “Where a Government employee improperly discloses sensitive information for the purposes of personal enrichment and undermining our foreign policy, national security, and Government effectiveness—all ultimately designed to sow chaos and distrust in Government—this conduct could properly be characterized as treasonous.”8
8 Presidential Memorandum, Addressing Risks Associated with an Egregious Leaker and Disseminator of Falsehoods, __ Fed. Reg. __ (Apr. 9, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/addressing-risks-associated-with-anegregious-leaker-and-disseminator-of-falsehoods.
Both Krebs and Taylor, I think, have cause to demand Bondi’s recusal from any matters affecting them.
Bondi not only falsely describes the scope of the gag order that Tanya Chutkan imposed on Donald Trump, and defies the DC Circuit’s decision upholding it, but in so doing sanctions vicious attacks on witnesses in criminal cases (the scope of the Chutkan gag upheld by the DC Circuit) and slanderous attacks against the FBI (the intended scope of the Florida gag).
This weaponization included prosecutors trying to muzzle protected First Amendment speech criticizing the Biden Administration, including through gag orders targeting not only President Trump3
3 See ECF No. 105, United States v. Trump, No. 23-Cr.-257 (D.D.C.) (gag order); ECF No. 592, United States v. Trump, No. 23-Cr.-80101 (S.D. Fla.) (motion for gag order).
Every bit of this memo is an abuse of her position as Attorney General.
But I find the specific example of a purportedly classified leak she invokes even more problematic.
The leaks have not abated since President Trump’s second inauguration,6 including leaks of classified information.7
7 See, e.g., John Hudson & Warren P. Strobel, U.S. intelligence contradicts Trump’s justification for mass deportations, Washington Post (Apr. 17, 2025), https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/17/us-intelligence-tren-de-araguadeportations-trump; Charlie Savage & Julian Barnes, Intelligence Assessment Said to Contradict Trump on Venezuelan Gang, New York Times (Mar. 22, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/intelligence-trump-venezuelan-gang-alienenemies.html.
These are the WaPo story reporting that 17 of 18 agencies dispute the claims at the heart of Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invovcation and the earlier NYT report first debunking Trump’s claims.
Given Tulsi Gabbard’s boisterous referral, I don’t doubt that these are the alleged leaks under investigation and these will be the first journalists to be targeted by DOJ (while I have no hopes in Bezos’ rag, I hope NYT, especially, preempts this with a challenge to the terms of this order).
But that is the single example of purportedly classified information in the entire memo. Bondi is saying she has to start targeting journalists to protect Trump’s policies, but the single allegedly unlawful leaks she points to are leaks that prove DOJ is defending renditions based on an Executive Order that Trump’s own Intelligence Community knows to be false.
This is not about protecting classified information. This is about covering up her own complicity in unlawful renditions.
I notice Bondi states it’s President Trump’s policies the DOJ must safeguard rather than any president‘s policies so I assume this is not a policy document but a love letter.
Bondi’s example is also REALLY offensive to Trump because it undercuts his use of the Alien Enemies Act. That may be why we’re seeing this statement now.
And yet Pete Hegseth, known world wide as a leaker of highly sensitive, secret defense information, remains on the loose to continue to put American military lives at risk.
Apparently to Pam Bondi, Hegseth’s disclosures must be part of Trump’s agenda.
Arrest members of the news media? Like the ICEstapo arrest in Milwaukee yesterday?
In the past, I don’t recall the Attorney General’s job to be the loyalty and subservience enforcer for a President’s agenda.
The entire cabinet consists of thugs led by a (according to Canadian PM Carney) Slug .
It was actually retiring Ontario Member of Parliament and member of the New Democratic Party Charlie Angus who called Trump a malignant narcissistic slug according to the Daily Beast.
It wasn’t Mark Carney.
My bad. Thanks for that correction.
However, I’m pretty sure PM Carney (and Justin Trudeau, and Doug Ford, and… almost everyone else in Canada) smiled at the reference.
I hope at the back end of this we will not have a ‘let bygones be bygones’ Truthiness Commission that I’m pretty sure the centrist Dems will call for to ‘heal’ the country. The lawbreaking by just about every member of Convict-1 / Krasnov’s maladministration from the top down must be punished with dispatch. We let them off in 2021 (thanks, Garland and Roberts) but they repaid us with more criminality. It might be harder to figure out which minion hasn’t broken the law and we’re only three months into a four-year term. Ye gods.
The AG writes, “Safeguarding classified, privileged, and other sensitive information is essential to effective governance and law enforcement. ” but of course it’s a-OK to hand the keys to the Federal IT kingdom to the Elon and the DOGE boys,
Musk’s DOGE Goons Granted Access to Secret Data on Millions of Immigrants [MSN]
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/musk-s-doge-goons-granted-access-to-secret-data-on-millions-of-immigrants/ar-AA1DnX54
and for Hegseth’s loose lips to sink ships to his warrior heart’s content,
Bondi signals criminal probe into Signal chat is unlikely, despite long history of similar inquiries [AP]
https://apnews.com/article/fbi-pentagon-attack-plans-petraeus-clinton-comey-3ab3773b2642abaf024d3a5f3eb66f4b
“Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.”
Whiskey Pete vehemently disagrees.
Let’s put this in terms the NYT might better understand . . .
The NYT already has their name on one big first amendment case – NYT v Sullivan – and this would make a nice bookend to it. The Pulitzer board hands out prizes every year to reporters and writers, but to be the victorious named plaintiff in a SCOTUS lawsuit is something that only happens when you stand up and put your lawyers behind your reporters.
The attack on ActBlue might anger me more than anything this incompetent criminal pervert has done yet in Administration 2.0. Can you imagine what would have happened if Barack Obama or Joe Biden had come into office and had their attorney general open an investigation into WinRed or the RNC’s fundraising mechanism?? The guns would have come out – guaranteed! This cannot be allowed to stand. They are trying to sever the arteries of the Democratic Party! Call your Senators about this unlawful attempt to silence an entire political party!
Ed Martin is going after Wikipedia, because of “bias”.
https://www.theverge.com/news/656720/ed-martin-dc-attorney-wikipedia-nonprofit-threat
I’d like to point out the really bigger picture- Trump’s White House is staffed by his Christianists. They would never go after another Christianist.
Twenty dollars, same as in town.
Ok, so Bondi is claiming “leaks” that undermine Trump’s agenda are treason? Whoa ho buddy!
Treason, as we’ve been reminded many times involves giving aid and comfort to an enemy. I cannot wait for someone to blast her over this in a court. This is just pure bullshit.
“Fascism, most of the students agreed, is an extreme form of authoritarian rule. Citizens are required to do exactly what leaders say they must do, nothing more, nothing less. The doctrine is linked to rabid nationalism. It also turns the traditional social contract upside down. Instead of citizens giving power to the state in exchange for the protection of their rights, power begins with the leader, and the people have no rights. Under Fascism, the mission of citizens is to serve; the government’s job is to rule.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning
Well done, Marcy. I wouldn’t have seen it myself. But as you have laid it out, it is plain as day. Your title says it clearly. Let’s see if your observation makes it into the mainstream.