How President Trump Is Reshaping The Justice Department

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In her Senate confirmation hearing earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi promised that the "weaponization" of the Justice Department would stop. Now, over 100 days into Trump's second term, critics worry that the Trump administration is doing just that.

This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, and justice correspondent Ryan Lucas.

The podcast is produced by Bria Suggs & Kelli Wessinger and edited by Casey Morell. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	These days, with all the information coming at you, it can be hard to know what's accurate, what's not, and what's worth your time.
0:07.7	Here to help you navigate it all is 1A.
0:10.2	Five days a week, the 1A podcast provides a forum for Curate's Minds to explore different angles on the biggest headlines and give you a more balanced take on what's happening.
0:19.3	Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU.
0:24.2	Hi, I'm Maya.
0:25.8	And I'm Clara.
0:26.9	And we're on our way to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
0:30.6	This podcast was recorded at 12.19 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6th.
0:35.0	Things may have changed by the time you hear this.
0:37.9	But hopefully we'll still be enjoying some delicious food in Santa Fe.
0:42.5	Okay, here's the show.
0:47.8	That was lovely, but I'm like, are two 10-year-olds on a road trip alone together?
0:51.6	They sounded quite young to me.
0:53.5	It sounds to me like they were forced to listen to the NPR Politics Podcast long enough on that road trip that then they were like, you guys should do a timestamp. Santa Fe is a lovely town. I don't know if either of you have been, but it's beautiful. I've been to Santa Fe. It's lovely, yes. It is lovely. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the
1:11.5	White House. And I'm Ryan Lucas. I cover the Justice Department. And today how President Trump is
1:15.6	reshaping the Justice Department and what it might mean for the rule of law. Ryan, Attorney
1:20.5	General Pam Bondi pledged at her confirmation hearing that she would end what Donald Trump
1:24.8	has called the, quote, weaponization of the Justice Department.
1:28.0	How is that played out in real terms?
1:30.5	So in Bondi's own telling and certainly in the view of Trump supporters, she has taken steps to end the purported weaponization of the Justice Department.
1:39.9	They point to, for example, cases that they've dropped against anti-abortion protesters that were brought under the Biden administration.
1:46.2	And, of course, one of the reasons that Bondi and Trump feel so strongly that the department was weaponized is because of the prosecutions of Trump himself, which of course are no longer ongoing.
	...

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