Pam Bondi

Rule Changes

Directed prosecutors not to seek the death penalty

For nearly 50 years, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada ran drugs and dodged arrest. On July 20, a federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced the 76-year-old Sinaloa cartel co-founder to life in prison and ordered him to forfeit $15 billion.

Updated Jul 21

Rule Changes

Leads the Justice Department side of the task force

Federal agents served four New York Times reporters with grand-jury subpoenas on July 10. The subpoenas were signed by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and Trump's nominee to direct the intelligence community. The reporters must appear before a federal grand jury in New York on July 16.

Updated Jul 15

Force in Play

Fired by Trump on April 2, 2026; replaced by acting AG Todd Blanche

James Comey deleted an Instagram post within hours—a fifteen-character image of '8647' written above seashells. A North Carolina grand jury charged him with two counts of threatening the President over that same image. The April 28, 2026 indictment is the second federal case Trump's Justice Department brought against the former FBI Director; a Virginia case filed in September 2025 was dismissed when a judge ruled the interim prosecutor unlawfully appointed. Judge Louise Wood Flanagan issued an arrest warrant, though Comey may self-surrender, and he responded on Substack: 'I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid.'

Updated May 31

Rule Changes

Fired April 2, 2026; congressional subpoena for April 14 testimony confirmed valid; cannot claim executive privilege as private citizen

President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 2, 2026, replacing her with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who defended Trump in the Manhattan criminal trial before joining the DOJ. He's the fourth Justice Department leader under Trump, after Sessions, Barr, and Bondi. Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans signaled they'd consider EPA administrator Lee Zeldin as permanent replacement. Legal scholars questioned whether Blanche could simultaneously serve as both acting attorney general and acting Librarian of Congress.

Updated May 30

Rule Changes

Leading DOJ voter data campaign; drew accusations of coercion over Minnesota

The Justice Department wants every state's unredacted voter file—names, addresses, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers for roughly 160 million registered voters. Since May 2025, DOJ has demanded these records from at least 44 states; 25 have refused and are being sued.

Updated May 23

Force in Play

Leading federal response to Minneapolis protests; announced church protester arrests

The Department of Homeland Security deployed 3,000 federal agents to Minneapolis in what it calls the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history. Two months in, two U.S. citizens are dead: Renee Good, 37, shot January 7, and Alexander Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse, shot January 24; DHS claims self-defense in both cases, but witness videos contradict that.

Updated May 23

Rule Changes

Under pressure for delayed Epstein file releases

No former president has ever been held in criminal contempt of Congress. On January 21, 2026, the House Oversight Committee voted 34-8 to advance a contempt resolution against Bill Clinton, with nine Democrats crossing party lines to support it. A companion resolution targeting Hillary Clinton passed 28-15, with three Democratic votes.

Updated May 22

Force in Play

Overseeing federal prosecutions of Minnesota fraud cases

On January 5, 2026, Governor Tim Walz announced he would drop his bid for a third term. The reversal came just two days before a contentious January 7 House Oversight Committee hearing where Republican state lawmakers testified that Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison ignored widespread fraud and silenced whistleblowers.

Updated May 21

Rule Changes

Leading AI Litigation Task Force operations

The DOJ's AI Litigation Task Force began operations January 10, 2026 with one mission: kill state AI laws in federal court. Attorney General Pam Bondi's team, consulting with AI czar David Sacks, will challenge comprehensive AI regulations from California, Texas, and Colorado that President Trump's December executive order called unconstitutional burdens on interstate commerce.

Updated May 20

Rule Changes

Confirmed 54-46 on February 4, 2025

Trump's second-term cabinet confirmations became the most contentious in modern history. The Senate confirmed all 22 nominees, but only after contentious battles.

Updated May 19

Force in Play

Announced unsealing of Maduro indictment

Delta Force dragged Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom at 2 AM on January 3, threw him on a helicopter, and flew him to the USS Iwo Jima bound for Manhattan. The Venezuelan president now faces narco-terrorism charges in the same courthouse that convicted El Chapo.

Updated May 19

Force in Play

Announced unsealed indictment against Maduro and Flores

Delta Force operators captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife in Caracas at 2 a.m. on January 3 as explosions rocked the capital and helicopters evacuated them to the USS Iwo Jima, bound for New York. By Saturday afternoon, Maduro arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn—the first American military capture of a sitting head of state since Manuel Noriega in 1989.

Updated May 19

Force in Play

Announced Skipper seizure; framed it as executing a seizure warrant

The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Directed by executive order to expedite rulemaking steps under federal law

Trump's executive order instructing DOJ to fast-track marijuana's move to Schedule III immediately triggered a familiar split. Public health and industry groups cheered the potential research and tax impacts, while House Republicans organized opposition, urging Trump to keep marijuana in Schedule I.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Leading DOJ as the agency formally responsible for enforcement decisions under the statute

The deal closed on January 22, 2026. TikTok's U.S. operations now belong to TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC—a new entity where Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX each hold 15%, existing ByteDance investor affiliates hold 30.1%, and ByteDance itself retains exactly 19.9%.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Named defendant; DOJ defending policy in court

The Trump administration imposed a $100,000 fee on new H‑1B visa petitions. Now twenty states are suing to overturn that fee in federal court, calling it an illegal end-run around Congress.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Testified Feb 11 before House Judiciary Committee amid impeachment threats; clashed with Democrats over redactions/cover-up claims and with Massie over file compliance; referenced 'ongoing investigations'

Jeffrey Epstein is dead, but his paper trail has led to immediate legal battles. On January 30, 2026, the Justice Department released more than 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images.

Updated May 14

Force in Play

Overseeing legal justification and media rollout of high‑risk maritime seizures under Trump.

A US Coast Guard team fast-roped from helicopters onto the supertanker Skipper off Venezuela's coast. Within hours, President Donald Trump was bragging in Washington that the United States had just seized one of the world's largest tankers and would likely keep the oil.

Updated May 11