Column By Max Powers
In a nation that once prided itself on the rule of law—blind, impartial, and relentless—the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi has devolved into something far darker: a transactional fortress for the politically connected. This is not hyperbole. It is the unmistakable pattern that emerges from Bondi’s tenure, in which official actions eerily mirror her past as a lobbyist and Trump loyalist, systematically protecting the elite while the public is fed illusions of accountability.
The most damning exhibit is the Epstein files—a saga that began with fanfare and ended in farce. Shortly after taking office, Bondi stood before the cameras and declared the Epstein “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now,” ready for review and release. The nation held its breath. Victims hoped for justice. The public demanded names. Then, months later, the reversal: no list exists, the case is sealed, and further disclosures are off the table. When Congress forced a document dump anyway, Bondi’s DOJ delivered the ultimate insult—redacting the names of the powerful men implicated while leaving the female victims exposed. This wasn’t incompetence. It was a deliberate inversion of justice: shield the perpetrators, shame the prey. And what does she do when the victims come to her and ask to be heard? She turns her back on them, the American public, and justice.
This is the same office that, under Bondi’s watch, has turned selective enforcement into an art form. Recall her pre-AG days lobbying for the GEO Group, a private prison giant whose stock soared after Trump’s election and whose bottom line depends on mass detention. As Attorney General, she now oversees policies that directly feed that machine—more detainees, more contracts, more profit for her former clients. It’s a feedback loop of self-interest, dressed up as “enforcement.”
The conflicts run deeper. Bondi defended Donald Trump during his first impeachment. She helmed the legal machinery of his agenda. She was his pick for AG after the previous nominee, Matt Gaetz, imploded amid sex trafficking allegations of his own. And when a unit probing Russian oligarchs—potentates with ties to the global elite—got in the way, it was quietly shuttered. Impartiality? This is loyalty, weaponized.
The recent congressional testimony laid it bare. Bondi didn’t come to answer questions; she came to bully. She sneered at lawmakers, branding one a “washed-up lawyer” and another a “failed politician.” But the real tell was her binder—a prop straight out of a political thriller. Photographers caught it: pages labeled with a congresswoman’s name, Epstein file references, and DOJ briefings. This wasn’t preparation for oversight. It was a hit list, compiled with taxpayer resources to preempt and discredit critics probing the very scandals her office is accused of burying.
And then there’s the Qatar jet. A $400 million “gift” from a foreign monarchy to the President, routed through the Trump library for his post-presidency pleasure. Bondi, who once lobbied for Qatar at a rate of $115,000 a month, penned the memo greenlighting it as “legally permissible.” Ethics officials were sidelined. Conflicts were ignored. The people’s Attorney General became the President’s consigliere.
This is not public service. It is patronage. The Department of Justice was never meant to be a concierge for the connected—making investigations vanish, files evaporate, and scandals evaporate for the right allies. Under Bondi, it has become precisely that: a gatekeeper of selective immunity.
The American people deserve better. They deserve an AG who hunts the powerful, not one who curates their exemptions. Bondi’s pattern isn’t a coincidence; it’s capture. Congress must investigate. The public must demand transparency. And if the evidence holds—as it overwhelmingly does—then the only remedy is removal. The rule of law cannot survive as a luxury for the few. It must be restored, or it will be lost entirely.
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
