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This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies.

The leadership team of Donald Trump's second administration is known for having some

colorful and combative characters. Among that group, Attorney General Pam Bondi is a standout.

At an April cabinet meeting, she outdid others in praising the president by asserting that fentanyl seizures

in his first 100 days in office had saved 258 million lives.

That's roughly three quarters of the U.S. population.

Bondi and the Department of Justice, which she heads, have been at the center of some of the administration's most controversial moves.

Its aggressive seizure and deportation of immigrants, its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files,

and the move to take over law enforcement in the District of Columbia. She's also spearheaded a

determined campaign to fire and prosecute present and former officials involved in investigations

and prosecutions of January 6th rioters and Jack Smith's cases against Donald Trump.

Our guest, veteran Washington journalist Ruth Marcus, has a profile in the latest New Yorker about Bondi.

She writes that Bondi has presided over the most convulsive transition of power in the Justice Department since the Watergate era, perhaps ever. She describes Bondi's

rise to prominence in the Trump team, her fierce loyalty to the president, and criticism she's

gotten from friends and foes of the administration. Ruth Marcus is a contributing writer for

the New Yorker. Marcus spent 40 years at the Washington Post as a reporter, editor,

and columnist. She left earlier this year, after disagreements with the paper's publisher,

Will Lewis, and its owner, Jeff Bezos, over its editorial direction. Her latest New Yorker

article is titled Pam Bondi's Power Play. Well, Ruth Marcus, welcome to fresh air. Thank you for having me.

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