Trump to make rare visit to Department of Justice following dismissal of his historic prosecutions
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is set to visit the Justice Department on Friday — a move that comes as he has sought to assert control over the nation’s top law-enforcement agency that brought two historic prosecutions against him, which were thwarted by his 2024 election victory.
The rare visit will mark Trump’s first time inside the walls of the Robert F. Kennedy building as president, and follows nearly a decade’s worth of conflict that have proven to be the ultimate stress test for the Justice Department’s post-Watergate norms intended to preserve independence from the White House.
The opening weeks of Trump’s presidency have been a time of unprecedented upheaval for the DOJ, as Trump’s political leadership immediately moved to reassign or oust career officials who served in senior criminal and national security roles across multiple administrations.
Dozens of prosecutors who worked on investigations stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol were fired, as well as DOJ and FBI officials who worked on former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump.
An effort by the department to drop its criminal corruption case against New York Mayor Adams resulted in a dramatic standoff leading to multiple resignations by prosecutors and other top officials who described the arrangement as a clear “quid pro quo” to secure Adams’ cooperation with the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts.
In remarks Thursday to reporters at the White House, Trump said his speech at DOJ would “set out” his “vision” for the department through the rest of his tenure.
“I think we have unbelievable people, and all I’m going to do is set out my vision. It’s going to be their vision, really, but it’s my ideas,” he said. “We want to have justice, and we want to have — we want to have safety in our cities as well as our communities. And we’ll be talking about immigration. We’ll be talking about a lot of things.”
Nearly every top appointee for the department previously represented Trump as a defense attorney in either an official or personal capacity, a reflection of Trump’s expectation for loyalty from a department that he has said he believes stymied his first term and was later “weaponized” against him after leaving office.
While Attorney General Pam Bondi told senators in her confirmation hearing she would “not politicize” her office, her opening weeks, critics argue, have been marked with politically-charged statements repeatedly emphasizing her loyalty to Trump.
“I’ve never seen this before, and we all adore Donald Trump and we want to protect him and fight for his agenda,” Bondi said in an interview with Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
In another interview early this month, Bondi said she was still working to “root out” officials at the department who she said “despise Donald Trump.”
In one of her first directives following her confirmation, Bondi ordered DOJ officials to “zealously defend” the interests of the presidency, and threatened discipline or termination for any attorney who refused to sign onto legal arguments put forward by political leadership.
“When Department of Justice attorneys, for example, refuse to advance good-faith arguments by declining to appear in court or sign briefs, it undermines the constitutional order and deprives the President of the benefit of his lawyers,” the directive stated.
Trump’s visit to DOJ is his first to any government agency since taking office, though it’s not without precedent. The last visit by a sitting American president to the building was by former President Barack Obama, who attended a departure ceremony in 2015 for Eric Holder — for a retirement ceremony honoring his time as attorney general.
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats plan to target House Republicans in vulnerable districts by highlighting potential cuts to Medicaid and other federal spending in the budget blueprint GOP lawmakers hope to vote on this week, according to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee memo first obtained by ABC News.
The memo titled “Medicaid Cuts Prove Politically Perilous for House Republicans” outlines a plan to paint GOP members in swing districts as voting for a “budget blueprint that would inflict massive pain upon American families.”
The budget blueprint sets a goal of at least $2 trillion dollars in cuts to mandatory federal spending, which includes funding for entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Medicaid, the health care program for low-income Americans and those with disabilities, is expected to face the brunt of the cuts. Some GOP members have discussed including new work requirements for the program and limiting how much the federal government pays each state.
Republican leadership has repeatedly promised not to cut other entitlement programs.
“Rather than delivering on their campaign promises to lower the high cost of living, [Republicans] are poised to pass an extreme budget scheme that would decimate affordable health care and take food off the tables of millions of American families,” the memo reads. “Republicans will find that a ‘yes’ vote doomed their reelection chances come November 2026.”
Vulnerable Republicans, several of whom represent swing districts with a significant number of constituents on Medicaid, have expressed serious concern that safety net programs could be on the chopping block.
“Slashing Medicaid would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities where hospitals and nursing home are already struggling to keep their doors open,” Republican members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter last week.
GOP leadership has stressed to members that, while the budget blueprint calls for substantial cuts, specific cuts have yet to be determined. And Republican members have disputed their budget will have a negative impact on low-income families, pointing to policies like “No Tax on Tips,” a signature Trump campaign promise included in the budget plan.
The Democratic memo also notes House Republicans in safe red seats are already facing what it calls “massive political blowback” at town hall meetings back home, as angry voters speak out about potential funding cuts and thousands of recent firings by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“We are all fricking pissed off about this, you’re going to hear it,” a constituent said to Rep Rich McCormick, R-Ga., at a town hall last week.
Johnson told ABC News the protests were an “ambush” organized by Democratic advocacy groups.
“I think the American people largely applaud what’s happening. We need to get government cut back to its size and scope the way it should be and make sure people are doing their work,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — After taking the oath of office to be sworn in as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state, Rubio promised that every action taken by the State Department will be determined by the answers to three questions: “Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us more prosperous?”
The Senate unanimously confirmed Rubio’s appointment to secretary of state Monday evening, making Rubio the first confirmed Cabinet member of the second Trump administration.
Rubio also gave remarks in Spanish, giving thanks to God and his family members both present and not present — including his parents, who he said came to the United States in 1956 and that the purpose of their lives was that their children could realize dreams that were not possible for them.
Rubio, a Cuban American son of refugees, is the first Hispanic American ever to hold this position.
“It’s an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful, best country in the world,” he continued in Spanish, thanking President Donald Trump for the opportunity.
Switching back to English, Rubio joked, “I just said I saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico — that’s what I said.”
The former senator also echoed themes from Trump’s inaugural address and reiterated the president’s platform.
“[Trump’s] primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. It will be furthering the national interest of this country,” Rubio said.
“We will work hard every second of the day to help him achieve the agenda the American people have given him to achieve,” he added.
In addition to thanking his former colleagues, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Idaho Sen. James Risch, Rubio expressed gratitude to his family and emphasized that “the most important job I’ll ever have is that of a father and husband.”
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday morning, Rubio spoke with CBS and was asked about Trump’s statement that he is “not confident” the ceasefire in Gaza will hold.
“Well, I’m hoping and praying it will hold — but remember, on Oct. 6 there was a ceasefire in place between Israel and Hamas. Oct. 7 was a violation of that,” Rubio said. “So when you’re dealing with a terrorist organization that has committed atrocities, motivated by all kinds of evil, I don’t think you can go into it very confident that things will hold in the long term.
“We want it to work out. We think there is the broader hope of a peace in the region,” he added. “So we’re hopeful, but I think we need to be realistic about what we’re dealing with here.”
Rubio also spoke with ABC’s “Good Morning America” and discussed Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio sidestepped directly weighing on the pardons, saying his “focus needs to be 100% on how I interact with our counterparts, our adversaries, our potential enemies around the world to keep this country safe, to make it prosperous.”
When asked about Trump’s campaign pledge to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Day One, Rubio contended the matter is more complex and that negotiations will not be played out in public.
“Look, this is a complex, tragic conflict, one that was started by Vladimir Putin that’s inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on Ukraine and also on Russia, I would argue, but also on the stability of Europe,” Rubio said. “So the only way to solve these things, we got to get back to pragmatism, but we also get back to seriousness here, and that is the hard work of diplomacy. The U.S. has a role to play here. We’ve been supportive of Ukraine, but this conflict has to end.”
(WASHINGTON) — If she is confirmed as director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard would be the youngest-ever in that role, the first millennial, the first Asian American, and only the second woman to hold the position.
But she is expected to face questions in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee about statements she has made that appear to support U.S. enemies and dictators as well as having no significant experience in intelligence. Gabbard can only afford to lose the votes of three Republicans and sources tell ABC News the vote on her nomination is expected to be a close one.
In excerpts from her opening statement, Gabbard confronts her critics.
“The truth is: what really upsets my political opponents is my consistent record of independence, regardless of political affiliation, and my refusal to be anyone’s puppet. You know who else is committed to defending our country and reforming Washington with a fierce and unparalleled independence, President Donald J. Trump who ran and won with a mandate for change this November,” she says in the excerpt.
For most of her career, Gabbard has broken barriers. She was the youngest woman ever elected to a state house of representatives and the first to graduate from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy as a distinguished honor graduate. In Congress, she was the first Samoan American, the youngest woman elected at the time, and the first combat veteran to serve — a distinction she shares with Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
Gabbard has prepared extensively over the past two months for her hearings, meeting with former DNI leaders, including John Negroponte, the first DNI, and Michael Allen, who led Negroponte’s confirmation hearing preparations. She also has consulted with former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden, along with Trump allies Morgan Ortagus, deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East peace, and FBI director nominee Kash Patel.
She has sought input from a broad range of intelligence experts, former government officials and lawmakers across the aisle. She has participated in policy roundtables with lawyers, ex-intelligence officials, and national security negotiators, including figures involved in the Abraham Accords.
She also held a full-scale mock confirmation hearing ahead of Thursday’s Senate Intelligence Committee proceedings. Former Republican Sen. Richard Burr, who chaired the committee from 2015 to 2020, will introduce her.
Sources on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill tell ABC News Gabbard will likely face scrutiny over her past stances on Russia, Ukraine, Syria, and Iran, as well as her defense of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who reached a plea deal with the Justice Department over disseminating classified documents he had obtained illegally. Gabbard said last year on “Real Time With Bill Maher” that “the charges against him are one of the biggest attacks on freedom of the press that we’ve seen and freedom of speech.”
As a member of Congress, Gabbard introduced a bill in 2020 calling for the federal government to drop all charges against Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked information in 2013 about how the U.S. government surveils the American public.
She’s also expected to face question on her reversal on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a key surveillance tool she voted against reauthorizing in 2020, her last year in Congress.
Gabbard argued that Americans shouldn’t be forced to choose between security and liberty, saying that the Patriot Act and FISA have “been allowing for the abuses of our civil liberties and overreach by our own intelligence and law enforcement agencies through doing things like warrantless sweeping collection of our data, violating our Fourth Amendment constitutional rights.”
Gabbard is also expected to face questions past statements about former President Donald Trump including her decision to vote present on Donald Trump’s.
Over the last two months, Gabbard has met with more than 50 senators, primarily Republicans. The meetings have largely served as an introduction — an opportunity to explain her past positions and assuage concerns about her political evolution. A source close to her told ABC News, “They know they can’t put her in a box. She’s not a Democrat. She’s a new Republican. She has very similar, if not 100% aligned, views with President Trump on ‘America First’ foreign policy. That makes people uneasy because they can’t quite figure her out.”
Gabbard, like Trump, is a former Democrat whose policy views have shifted significantly. Her evolution has been shaped by her 22 years in the Army, including deployments to Iraq, Kuwait, and Djibouti. If confirmed, she will be the first female DNI to have served in the military. She plans to continue serving in the Army Reserve, which is permitted under ODNI regulations.
Behind the scenes, Gabbard has earned bipartisan support within the intelligence community for her willingness to engage with a range of stakeholders. Earlier this month, the families of two former ISIS and al-Qaeda hostages publicly endorsed her nomination in a letter shared with ABC News. The parents of Kayla Mueller, who was killed by ISIS, and Theo Padnos, a former al-Qaeda hostage, argued that the radicalization of individuals — such as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who drove his truck into a crowd of New Orleans New Year’s revelers — underscores the need for Gabbard’s swift confirmation.
The letter of support came under scrutiny by some lawmakers after rebels toppled Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Gabbard met with Assad in Syria in 2017, which remains a point of controversy. She has previously defended the trip as a “fact-finding mission” and has maintained that U.S. intervention in Syria empowered extremist groups.
Gabbard warned in the same year that she was concerned that toppling Assad’s regime could lead to groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda to step in to fill the void and “completely massacre all religious minorities there in Syria.”
“I had no intention of meeting with Assad, but when given the opportunity, I felt it was important to take it,” Gabbard said in a 2017 statement. “We should be ready to meet with anyone if there’s a chance it can help bring about an end to this war.”
Padnos, who was kidnapped by the al-Nusra Front in 2012 and held for nearly two years, said Gabbard’s willingness to engage with hostage families compelled him to speak out.
“This is a woman with deep compassion for the victims of terrorism and the courage to get things done,” he told ABC News. “Nobody else has offered their help — except Tulsi.”
Gabbard told ABC News that she was “honored and humbled by that statement of support.”
She has also received backing from law enforcement. The National Sheriffs’ Association endorsed her nomination, citing her commitment to bridging intelligence gaps between federal agencies and local authorities. In a statement, the group praised Gabbard’s pledge to give sheriffs “a seat at the table” in national security discussions.
Sheriff Kieran Donahue, president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, wrote “Gabbard has demonstrated a commitment to addressing the critical disconnect between our intelligence agencies and local law enforcement in preparing for sophisticated and pervasive threats.”
A source close to Gabbard told ABC News that her focus as director of national intelligence will be on restoring trust in the intelligence community and reforming what is and isn’t classified. Specifically, she aims to ensure that the intelligence provided to the Senate and White House is not information already available to lawmakers through media outlets. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have expressed concern about the overclassification of information.
The source added that Gabbard intends to provide more accurate, raw intelligence to help lawmakers make informed decisions, rather than relying on overclassified data. She also plans to streamline the process for security clearances and return ODNI to its original mission — leading the intelligence community by fostering integration, collaboration and innovation.
Her allies argue that her outsider perspective will help modernize the intelligence community — though critics remain skeptical of her lack of traditional experience.
Thursday’s hearing will test whether Gabbard can win over skeptics — or if her controversial past will derail her bid to become the nation’s top intelligence officer.
