Trump ramps up retribution campaign with push for Bondi to pursue cases
against his foes
[September 22, 2025]
By MEG KINNARD
Eight months into his second term, President Donald Trump's
long-standing pledge to take on those he perceives as his political
enemies has prompted debates over free speech, media censorship and
political prosecutions.
From late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel's suspension to Pentagon
restrictions on reporters and an apparent public appeal to Attorney
General Pam Bondi to pursue legal cases against his adversaries, Trump
has escalated moves to consolidate power in his second administration
and root out those who have spoken out against him.
In a post on social media this weekend addressed to Bondi, Trump said
“nothing is being done” on investigations into some of his foes.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and
credibility,” he said. Noting that he was impeached and criminally
charged, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Criticizing investigations into Trump’s dealings under Democratic
President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said
Sunday that “it is not right for the Trump administration to do the same
thing.”
Directive to Bondi to investigate political opponents
Trump has ratcheted up his discussion of pursuing legal cases against
some of his political opponents, part of a vow for retribution that has
been a theme of his return to the White House. He publicly pressed Bondi
this weekend to move forward with such investigations.
Trump posted somewhat of an open letter on social media Saturday to his
top prosecutor to advance such inquiries, including a mortgage fraud
probe into New York Attorney General Letitia James and a possible threat
case against former FBI Director James Comey.
He posted that he had “reviewed over 30 statements and posts” that he
characterized as criticizing his administration for a lack of action on
investigations.
“We have to act fast — one way or the other,” Trump told reporters later
that night at the White House. “They’re guilty, they’re not guilty — we
have to act fast. If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty
or if they should be charged, they should be charged. And we have to do
it now.”
Trump later wrote in a follow-up post that Bondi was “doing a GREAT
job.”
Paul, a frequent Trump foil from the right, was asked during an
interview on NBC's “Meet the Press” about the propriety of a president
directing his attorney general to investigate political opponents. The
senator decried “lawfare in all forms."
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said it was “unconstitutional and deeply
immoral for the president to jail or to silence his political enemies.”
He warned it could set a worrisome precedent for both parties.
“It will come back and boomerang on conservatives and Republicans at
some point if this becomes the norm,” Murphy told ABC’s “This Week.”
The Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, said on CNN's
“State of the Union” that Trump is turning the Justice Department "into
an instrument that goes after his enemies, whether they’re guilty or
not, and most of them are not guilty at all, and that helps his friends.
This is the path to a dictatorship. That’s what dictatorships do.”
The Justice Department did not respond Sunday to a message seeking
comment.
Appointment of new prosecutor in Letitia James investigation
Each new president nominates his own U.S. attorneys in jurisdictions
across the country. And Trump has already worked to install people close
to him in some of those jobs, including former Fox News host Jeanine
Pirro in the District of Columbia and Alina Habba, his former attorney,
in New Jersey.
Trump has largely stocked his second administration with loyalists,
continuing Saturday with the nomination of a White House aide as top
federal prosecutor for the office investigating James, a longtime foe of
Trump.
Trump announced Lindsey Halligan to be the U.S. attorney in the Eastern
District of Virginia on Saturday, just a day after Erik Siebert resigned
from the post and Trump said he wanted him “out.”
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President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House,
Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump said he was bothered that Siebert had been supported by the
state’s two Democratic senators.
“There are just two standards of justice now in this country. If you
are a friend of the president, a loyalist of the president, you can
get away with nearly anything, including beating the hell out of
police officers,” Murphy said, mentioning the defendants in the Jan.
6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol pardoned by Trump as he returned
to office. “But if you are an opponent of the president, you may
find yourself in jail.”
New restrictions on Pentagon reporters
Trump has styled himself as an opponent of censorship, pledging in
his January inaugural address to “bring free speech back to America”
and signing an executive order that no federal officer, employee or
agent may unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American
citizen.
Under a 17-page memo distributed Friday, the Pentagon stepped up
restrictions on the media, saying it will require credentialed
journalists to sign a pledge to refrain from reporting information
that has not been authorized for release, including unclassified
information. Journalists who don’t abide by the policy risk losing
credentials that provide access to the Pentagon.
Asked Sunday if the Pentagon should play a role in determining what
journalists can report, Trump said, “No, I don’t think so."
"Nothing stops reporters. You know that,” Trump told reporters as he
left the White House for Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.
Trump has sued numerous media organizations for negative coverage,
with several settling with the president for millions of dollars. A
federal judge in Florida tossed out Trump’s $15 billion defamation
lawsuit against The New York Times on Friday.
Jimmy Kimmel ouster and FCC warning
Perhaps the most headline-grabbing situation involves ABC's
indefinite suspension Wednesday of veteran comic Jimmy Kimmel’s
late-night show. What he said about Kirk’s killing had led a group
of ABC-affiliated stations to say it would not air the show and
provoked some ominous comments from a top federal regulator.
Trump celebrated on his social media site: “Congratulations to ABC
for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
Earlier in the day, the Federal Communications Commission chairman,
Brendan Carr, who has launched investigations of outlets that have
angered Trump, said Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick” and that his
agency has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and network parent
Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said. "These
companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going
to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., argued that Kimmel's ouster wasn't a
chilling of free speech but a corporate decision.
“I really don’t believe ABC would have decided to fire Jimmy Kimmel
over a threat,” he said Sunday on CNN. “ABC has been a longstanding
critic of President Trump. They did it because they felt like it
didn’t meet their brand anymore.”
Not all Republicans have applauded the move. On his podcast Friday,
GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called it “unbelievably dangerous for
government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to
decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to
threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying.”
Trump called Carr “a great American patriot” and said Friday that he
disagreed with Cruz.
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