Trump News

With Donald Trump dragging his feet on officially nominating a replacement for fire Attorney General Pam Bondi, there are growing concerns within the Department of Justice about the behind-the-scenes lobbying by prospective candidates.

The president was not clear about what led to Bondi’s ouster, but it is generally suspected that she was not quick enough, or successful enough, when it came to prosecuting the president’s enemies. There is also a belief that Trump was displeased with her for letting the Jeffrey Epstein files cast a continually darkening cloud over his second term.

According to reporting from the Washington Post, while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears positioned as the frontrunner for the permanent job, the behind-the-scenes lobbying and politicking is creating serious concerns within the Justice Department about the lengths candidates will go to "impress" the president.

Blanche is already cementing his dominance. The acting attorney general has quickly moved to leave his mark on Justice Department headquarters by pushing out Bondi's top spokespeople and installing a key ally in a top deputy position — moves clearly designed to signal control and readiness for the permanent role, the Post is reporting.

The Post's team of Jeremy Roebuck, Perry Stein, Salvador Rizzo and Theodoric Meyer are reporting the competition is intense. Various factions of Trump's MAGA coalition have rallied around alternatives, particularly Harmeet K. Dhillon, currently head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News personality now serving as U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C.

"Neither Dhillon nor Pirro has been so forward as to openly suggest an interest in the job. But both have taken steps in recent days that are viewed by insiders as efforts to raise their profile and jockey for the president's attention," the Post report notes.

Dhillon's supporters are aggressively promoting her aggressive style. The Civil Rights Division head has distinguished herself through what supporters characterize as "pugilistic" leadership — from maligning critics on social media to launching investigations into DEI practices, state voter rolls, and antisemitism allegations.

"Her supporters say she best embodies the aggressive push for top-to-bottom change Trump has demanded from his Justice Department," according to the report.

The uncertainty is creating serious concern within DOJ ranks. The department is already struggling with claims of politicization and the abandonment of long-held norms. The ongoing leadership vacuum only intensifies worries about how far Trump's next permanent choice will go to prove loyalty to the president.

Donald Trump opened Monday by publicly contradicting his own Energy Secretary, dismissing Chris Wright's assessment that gas prices will remain elevated through next year as "totally wrong."

According to reporting from The Hill's Julia Manchester, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday that "prices have likely peaked" but cautioned that "that could happen later this year, that might not happen until next year."

Wright attempted to soften his pessimistic forecast by invoking Trump's first-term record. "Under $3 a gallon is pretty tremendous in inflation-adjusted terms. We had that in the Trump administration, but we hadn't seen that in inflation-adjusted terms for quite a long time. We'll get back there for sure."

Trump rejected the assessment entirely. Speaking directly to Julia Manchester on Monday morning, the president flatly stated: "No, I think he's wrong on that. Totally wrong."

When pressed on how the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz impacts energy markets, Trump offered a vague timeline that depends entirely on resolving the Iran conflict: "As soon as this ends," pointing to the war.

The current reality undermines both men's optimism, Manchester reported. According to AAA data, the average price of gas in the U.S. sat at $4.00 per gallon on Monday morning — well above the $3 threshold Wright referenced as a near-term goal, and far from the "tremendous" sub-$3 pricing either official promised.

Melania Trump’s out-of-the-blue public address less than two weeks ago, where she attempted to put distance between herself and convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein, has left open the door for increased speculation about her motives and, more importantly, about her relationship with husband Donald Trump.

According to The Spectator's Sarah Beth Spraggins, the impromptu press conference caught Trump and his inner circle as much by surprise as it did the public and Epstein survivors.

The timing raises urgent questions, Spraggins suggested, writing, "Why had the presser been called? There have been growing rumors that Paolo Zampolli – the modeling agent Melania credits with encouraging her to move to the United States – may have used his ties to the Trumps to have his ex-partner Amanda Ungaro deported."

Alan Dershowitz, Trump and Epstein's former lawyer, offered her a cryptic theory: "My own speculation is that she heard that there was going to be some terrible lie that's going to come out, and she preempted it and she got in front of it." When pressed on specifics, Dershowitz was evasive, claiming ignorance about Zampolli despite his decades navigating Trump's world.

Melania's public profile has been "deliberately obscure," the report notes, adding that the first lady was absent for every single day of Trump's seven-week 2024 hush-money trial — a trial involving allegations of sexual assault and an affair with a porn star. While her legal residence is listed as Palm Beach, Florida, Melania Trump spends most of her time in New York City, maintaining potentially deliberate distance from her husband's legal and political crises.

Former Trump biographer Michael Wolff questioned her concern about the Epstein victims, telling Spraggins, "My God! I mean, you know, she has never shown an ounce of empathy toward anyone, ever. That is a cold, calculating, hollow person. That is the portrait."

But Wolff suggests something more significant is happening: Melania may be losing patience with the marriage, suggesting she has become less enamored with her husband, which has put Trump on edge and wondering what comes next.

Asked whether Trump fears his wife, Wolff was blunt: "Well, I would be. So who knows what he is. But I certainly would be. I think that she's a wild card, if not, to switch metaphors, a loose cannon."

Washington insiders are trading more explosive theories Spraggins wrote.

"There's a rumor in DC that every time Trump does something she considers crazy, she renegotiates her prenup. Her exit from American public life may prove as mysterious as her entrance."