Karoline Leavitt Defends Trump Ordering Pam Bondi to Target His Enemies: ‘Corrupt Fraudsters Who Abused Their Power’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended her boss, President Donald Trump, for calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to take “action” against his political enemies, with Leavitt saying the president is “rightfully frustrated” that “corrupt fraudsters” like Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and former FBI Director James Comey have not been punished for pushing the claim Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
Leavitt backed the president during a press briefing at the White House on Monday afternoon. Gabe Gutierrez, a senior correspondent for NBC News, asked the press secretary whether Trump was “going back” on his Inauguration Day promise that”never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents.”
She said Trump was not going back on that promise when he told Bondi on Saturday she “can’t delay any longer” looking into Schiff, Comey, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who the president said were all “guilty as hell.” Instead, the president is honoring his promise and using the Justice Department to “demand accountability,” Leavitt said. She also called out former President Joe Biden, saying he was the one who really led a crooked DoJ.
Here is her full quote:
The president is fulfilling his promise to restore a Department of Justice that demands accountability. And it is not weaponizing the Department of Justice to demand accountability for those who weaponized the Department of Justice, and nobody knows what that looks like more than President Trump.
We are not going to tolerate gaslighting from anyone in the media or from anyone on the other side who is trying to say it is the president who is weaponizing the DoJ. It was Joe Biden and his attorney general who weaponized the DoJ. Joe Biden used this sacred American institution to go after his political opponent in the middle of an election year.
And you look at people like Adam Schiff, and like James Comey, and like Leticia James, who the president is rightfully frustrated [with]. He wants accountability for these corrupt fraudsters who abused their power, who abused their oath of office, to target the former president and then-candidate for the highest office in the land.
President Trump’s comment to Bondi, which he posted on Truth Social on Saturday night, quickly drew headlines. He then doubled down soon after while speaking to reporters, saying Bondi needed to “act fast” and that “justice must be served.”
Leavitt on Monday added that Trump has a “mandate” from his voters to eradicate Deep State rot.
The president has ripped Comey and Schiff in the past for pushing bogus claims he colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. Trump, in 2023, called Schiff a “sleazebag and traitor” who “should be prosecuted for the damage he has done” to the U.S. and Trump has criticized Comey a number of times for leading what he has called the Russia “witch hunt” over the years.
You can watch Leavitt’s comments above, via Fox News.
