The president says he will demand “full and complete accountability for mistakes and abuses that have occurred.”
President Donald Trump gave a broad speech to the Justice Department on March 14, denounced what he described as “weaponization” by his previous administration and vowed to strengthen the country’s law enforcement.
“Our predecessor has turned this Department of Justice into a fraudulent department,” he said. “But I stand before you today and declare that those days are over and they will never come back,” he said he would demand “full and complete accountability for the mistakes and abuses that have occurred.”
In his speech, Trump also repeated his appeal to the Attorney General to seek the death penalty for anyone killing police officers, suggesting that the death penalty should also be applied to drug traffickers.
“There’s a death penalty in various places,” he said. “Where there is a death penalty, there is no drug, but I don’t know if this country is ready.”
Trump stopped to tell Anne Funder, who lost his son to an accidental fentanyl overdose. She described Trump’s election as “the best thing you can do to keep America safe again.”
Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department had pursued Trump in advance as part of the prosecution of former special adviser Jack Smith.
Back at the White House, Trump chose his own former lawyer to serve in key positions within the department. Attorney General Pam Bondy, who introduced him before his speech, advised him in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump also said he fired a US lawyer appointed by President Joe Biden.
Emil Bove, one of his criminal defense lawyers, led his defense at his New York Criminal Trial, Todd Blanche is his primary assistant deputy attorney general. Trump has also appointed one of his first administration, Kash Patel officials, to serve as FBI director.
Trump said firing FBI director James Comey in 2017 was “a great honor for me.” He added that construction of the FBI headquarters in Maryland will be suspended and will be kept in Washington instead.
“We’re going to build another big FBI building where it’s right where it is, as the FBI and DOJ have to be close to each other,” he said. He added that the DOJ and the FBI had previously “worked together for bad purposes.”
After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, two Trump federal cases were ultimately rejected in response to requests from Smith. One of these cases was dismissed at the district court level by US District Judge Irene Cannon. Eileen Cannon held that Smith’s appointment as special advisor violated the constitution.
The cannon was “an absolute model of what a judge should be,” Trump said. He went on to condemn criticism of judges like Cannon.
