Senate And House Dems Condemn Trump’s Destructive Enemies Speech At DOJ

Senate and House Democrats railed against President Donald Trump’s Friday speech at the Department of Justice, calling out Trump’s unreserved politicization of the DOJ and his administration’s ongoing efforts to tear down the department’s independence from the White House.

Trump’s Friday speech at the DOJ focused primarily on his intent to go after supposed “rogue actors and corrupt forces” from the Biden administration and to transform the entire department — which he claims had been previously “weaponized” against him, vowing instead to “restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.”

Trump also laid out, rather explicitly, his plan for political retribution against “a corrupt group of hacks and radicals within the ranks of the American government,” demanding “full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.” Obviously, claims of a supposedly compromised DOJ weaponized against Trump are myths Trump has been propagating for years, and his grievances against the DOJ are at the heart of his administration’s takeover of the department. 

A handful of elected Democrats has since called out the complete erosion of DOJ independence from the White House under Trump. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, criticized  Trump for using the DOJ as a means to root out his perceived political enemies.

“The speech we just witnessed is a desecration of the essential values of this storied department in every way,” he said. “It’s an insult to the thousands of professional lawyers who go to work at the Department of Justice every day to enforce the rule of law, not the personal vendettas and partisan games of a politician.”

This is not the first time Raskin has been vocal about improper White House interference with the DOJ’s work during Trump’s second administration. Last week, in a nine-page letter to the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Raskin requested an investigation into acting D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, who has used his office to “to illegally attack critics and perceived enemies of the Trump Administration.”

Senate Judiciary Democrats also called out Trump’s speech on Friday, highlighting in a post on X that the speech is just more evidence that Trump’s DOJ is increasingly becoming an extension of the White House.

“The Justice Department is supposed to be independent… prioritizing the rule of law, the rights of Americans, and the Constitution over politics,” the post reads. “This Trump-Bondi showboat press conference breaks that promise.”

Presidential appearances at the DOJ are rare, but this campaign-style speech was particularly unprecedented as it highlighted the extent to which Trump’s DOJ will not operate with any independence. 

In fact, the Trump administration’s DOJ interference involves bringing in far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists into the fold. As Mother Jones noted, Trump’s former national security advisor and the prominent 2020 election denier Michael Flynn was seated in the audience and was specifically mentioned by Trump during his speech. 

So far, Trump has fulfilled his vows to root out perceived political enemies from the DOJ  — by engaging in retaliatory firings and shuttering entire agencies and offices with the DOJ — and replacing them with loyalists who will continue to execute his agenda.