Scoop: Trump plans "law and order" speech at DOJ
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President Trump at the White House last week. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President Trump is planning an unusual visit to the Justice Department on Friday to speak about his administration's plans on "restoring law and order," Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Trump's appearance will be the latest illustration of how he's taken a direct interest in the work of the DOJ, which he has stacked with allies while purging dozens of people who were deemed disloyal.
- Those dismissed from the department since Trump took office included officials who worked on the department's two criminal prosecutions of Trump between his presidencies.
Zoom out: Trump, who also had two state criminal indictments filed against him after leaving office, spent much of the 2024 campaign railing against what he called the "weaponization" of the justice system.
- After winning the 2024 election, Trump nominated Pam Bondi to be attorney general and Kash Patel to be FBI director, both of them longtime loyalists. Todd Blanche, one of Trump's personal attorneys, was named deputy attorney general.
- Trump last month said he had ordered the firings of U.S. attorneys appointed by his predecessor, Joe Biden. "We must 'clean house' IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence. America's Golden Age must have a fair Justice System," Trump posted on Truth Social.
Most presidents historically have maintained at least the appearance of a Justice Department that operated independently of their political concerns.
- Trump accused Biden of using the DOJ to target him, but Biden said he made a point of not getting involved in Trump's felony cases. Biden didn't stop the department from prosecuting his son Hunter on gun and tax charges — but pardoned Hunter during the final weeks of his presidency.
- Trump has long been fixated on the DOJ. During his first term, he fired then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom he blasted for recusing himself from overseeing a special counsel's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
- During the final days of his term, Trump clashed with then-Attorney General Bill Barr after Barr said the department had found no evidence of significant fraud in the 2020 election.
Bondi and Patel are expected to be present for Trump's visit on Friday, according to a person familiar with the plans.
What they're saying: "President Trump will visit the Department of Justice to give remarks on restoring law and order, removing violent criminals from our communities, and ending the weaponization of justice against Americans for their political leanings," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios in a statement.
- "President Trump's historic visit to the Department of Justice will signify another promise made and kept."
