President Trump used his Justice Department speech to vent years of frustration and grievance against the department and the FBI — agencies he said had been run by “a corrupt group of hacks and radicals” who had “obliterated trust and goodwill built up over generations,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Trump: “They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to try and thwart the will of the American people.”

Maggie Haberman: “One thing that can’t be overemphasized: in addition to Trump’s personal criminal lawyers leading the Justice Department, a number of Trump’s close advisers were swept up in the various investigations he faced. They share the same anger he does about what took place, and believe he is taking a victory lap that he’s entitled to.”

“President Donald Trump’s choice of Pam Bondi to be attorney general last fall prompted sighs of relief in some Democratic and legal circles,” NBC News reports.

“Bondi was seen as a professional with deep legal experience: she had served as Florida’s attorney general for 10 years. It was true that she had served as one of Trump’s lawyers during his first impeachment trial, and supported his conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Still, Democrats and Republicans who knew her believed she was someone who’d stand up to Trump in a way Gaetz wouldn’t and refuse if the president asked her to do anything illegal or improper.”

“But since Bondi took the reins, the Justice Department has been operating in a manner dramatically at odds with how it has been run in the 50 years since Attorney General John Mitchell was sent to prison for his role in the Watergate scandal.”