A year into her tenure as Attorney General, Pam Bondi promised a return to tough, even-handed justice — and conservative Americans expected action against the political operatives who weaponized law enforcement for partisan ends. Instead, the drumbeat from conservative media now centers on frustration and the question Liz Wheeler put plainly: where are the indictments?
Bondi was sworn in in early February 2025 and immediately announced sweeping reviews of prior prosecutions, including a “weaponization working group” to scrutinize special counsel actions and other high-profile probes. That was supposed to signal a department reset and a prosecutor willing to follow the facts regardless of politics, but the rhetoric has outpaced tangible courtroom results.
President Trump and other allies didn’t hide their impatience, publicly pressing Bondi to pursue figures like James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, and even weighing in on personnel choices they hoped would get cases moving. That pressure reflected a broader conservative demand for accountability, but it also put Bondi squarely between political expectations and the technicalities of federal prosecutorial power.
When Bondi’s team did move — appointing a controversial interim prosecutor to the Eastern District of Virginia — the prosecutions that followed were spectacular on paper but vulnerable in practice. Federal courts have already tossed those indictments on procedural grounds, ruling the interim appointment defective and setting aside actions that flowed from it, a legal setback that nullified the optics conservatives were banking on.
That legalistic defeat matters more than the headlines: it shows that political theater cannot substitute for airtight legal work. Conservatives who demanded swift justice now face the bitter reality that rushed, politically fraught appointments can hand Democrats a courtroom win by default, not by merit.
At the same time, Bondi’s early memos ordering reviews and threatening personnel consequences for career prosecutors signaled a Justice Department under intense political realignment, raising legitimate questions about whether law enforcement will be guided by rule of law or presidential preference. The department can’t rebuild credibility by theatrics or retribution; it needs careful, lawful prosecutions that survive judicial scrutiny.
Conservatives demanding accountability are right to insist on action — but action that is lawful, sustainable, and immune to reversal. If Bondi wants the public’s trust and the conservative base’s praise, she must deliver prosecutions built on solid evidence and process, not headline-grabbing stunts that judges will erase. The country deserves a Justice Department that restores integrity through results that last.
