Conservative legal analyst Andy McCarthy rebuked President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sunday warning that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s efforts could be seen as engaging in “partisan law enforcement.”
Newsweek has reached out to the DOJ via email online form on Sunday for comment.
Why It Matters
McCarthy is a conservative legal analyst and Fox News contributor but is voicing concern and criticizing the DOJ’s actions.
His remarks come as Trump critics have continued to raise concerns about recent actions by the DOJ, including Bondi issuing a directive to review the federal prosecution of Trump as part of a broader initiative to overhaul the DOJ, which Trump has long claimed is biased against conservatives. It comes after Trump campaigned last year and made several remarks about going after his political opponents via the legal system.
What To Know
In a Sunday column for the right-leaning National Review, titled “This Is Not Restoring the Way the Justice Department Is Supposed to Work,” McCarthy denounced the DOJ as he referred to Bondi’s directive and rebuked the “weaponization working group.”
“Under the guise of ‘Restoring the Integrity and Credibility of the Department of Justice,’ the AG is implementing the Biden DOJ model of conviction first and trial later—if ever. Standing convicted are Trump’s principal prosecutorial nemeses—Biden DOJ special counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and New York Attorney General Letitia James—and therefore guilty by association are any DOJ and FBI personnel who aided and abetted them. In what crimes, we’re not told—only that Bondi will be “provid[ing] quarterly reports to the White House regarding the progress of the review,” McCarthy wrote.
While McCarthy argued former President Joe Biden’s DOJ was politicized, stating “I agree that Smith, Bragg, and James were overzealous and corruptly partisan…” he said that Trump also engaged in “serious misconduct.”
However, he warned that Bondi’s efforts with the “weaponization working group” could be seen as engaging in “partisan law enforcement” if she “spouts Trump’s grievances without putting the department’s response to egregious behavior in context.”
“Pam Bondi now represents the Justice Department—in fact, leads it. It is thus her ethical duty to advance whatever good-faith defense there is of the government’s conduct. If she is just going to spout Trump’s grievances without putting the Justice Department’s response to egregious behavior in context, then she’s engaging in partisan law enforcement, exactly the noxious practice she claims to be rooting out,” McCarthy wrote.
This comes after Bondi’s swearing-in ceremony at the White House last week where she contended that the DOJ had “targeted” Trump as she called for establishing a “weaponization working group” to evaluate the activities of former special counsel Jack Smith, who has brought two criminal cases against Trump. The taskforce will also examine alleged “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” related to the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, among other issues.
Smith was appointed to oversee two criminal investigations into Trump. One focused on Trump’s alleged role in the Capitol riot and another looked into alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House. Both investigations resulted in indictments, but the cases were later dismissed.
James and Bragg brought cases against Trump. James brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump’s real estate company ahead of the 2024 election. Trump maintains his innocence, and the judgment of now over $500 million, including interest, is on appeal.
Bragg led the hush money case against Trump, which saw him face 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels that led to a conviction and a largely symbolic “unconditional discharge” sentence. Trump has maintained his innocence and is appealing the case as well.
During her confirmation hearing, Bondi said politics would not influence her decisions, yet did not definitively rule out potential investigations into Trump’s adversaries. She echoed Trump’s complaints of political persecution, asserting the DOJ had been misused for years.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
What People Are Saying
Andy McCarthy wrote in his column on Sunday: “The weaponization directive is doing politics, not removing politics from law enforcement. Plainly, the “Weaponization Working Group” exists to settle the president’s scores and rewrite dark chapters of his history — while providing him with quarterly assurances of Attorney General Bondi’s progress on what is now the Justice Department’s core mission.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at her swearing-in ceremony at the White House: “I will make you proud, and I will make this country proud; I will restore integrity to the Justice Department, and I will fight violent crime throughout this country and throughout this world, and make America safe again.”
President Donald Trump at Bondi’s swearing-in ceremony: “I’m supposed to say she’s going to be totally impartial…I’m not sure if there’s a possibility of totally.”
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, on X, formerly Twitter: Pam Bondi, our new Attorney General, served for years as a corporate lobbyist. She represented scores of clients facing federal regulatory scrutiny—including Amazon, Uber, and GM. Her conflicts of interest alone should have been disqualifying.”
What Happens Next?
While it is unclear what the progress or the outcome of the “weaponization working group” will yield, there is no indication that the group will possess prosecutorial powers or coercive tools such as subpoenas to compel cooperation from those under review.
