ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER, Author at The Rapid City Post

Attorney General Pam Bondi listens as President Donald Trump signs a presidential memorandum on the death penalty in the District of Columbia in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Attorney General Bondi will face Senate questions over political pressure on Justice Department

October 6, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi will face lawmakers at a congressional hearing amid growing questions about political influence over the Justice Department. It has already criminally charged one of President Donald Trump’s longtime foes and is facing intense White House pressure to prosecute others. Bondi’s testimony Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee comes just ahead of former FBI Director James Comey’s first court appearance following an indictment that has deepened concerns that the department is being used to seek vengeance against Trump’s political opponents. The hearing is likely to split along deeply partisan lines, with Republicans expected to laud the Justice Department’s efforts to confront violent crime and reverse Biden-era priorities.

Justice Department fires key prosecutor in elite office already beset by turmoil, AP sources say

October 2, 2025

The Justice Department fired a top national security prosecutor amid criticism from a right-wing commentator over his work during the Biden administration, further roiling the prominent U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia after the ousting of other senior attorneys in recent weeks. The firings are the latest in a wave of terminations that have thrown the department into turmoil and raised alarm over political influence over the traditionally independent law enforcement agency and the erosion of civil service protections afforded to federal employees. While U.S. attorneys generally change with a new president, rank-and-file prosecutors by tradition remain with the department across administrations.

White House border czar Tom Homan speaks with reporters at the White House, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

White House backs ‘border czar’ after reports he accepted cash during undercover FBI probe last year

September 22, 2025

The White House is standing behind “border czar” Tom Homan following reports he had accepted $50,000 from undercover agents posing as businesspeople during an undercover FBI operation last year, leading to a bribery investigation that was shut down by the Trump administration Justice Department. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday characterized Homan’s encounter with the undercover agents as an effort by the Biden administration to “entrap one of the president’s top allies and supporters.” MSNBC first reported Saturday that Homan had accepted the cash during a 2024 encounter with undercover agents posing as businesspeople seeking government contracts that Homan suggested he could help them get in a second Trump term.

FILE - New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference outside Manhattan federal court in New York, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

US attorney under pressure to charge Letitia James in mortgage fraud case has resigned

September 19, 2025

A federal prosecutor in Virginia whose monthslong mortgage fraud investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James has not resulted in criminal charges is resigning under pressure from the Trump administration. Erik Siebert is leaving his position amid a push by Trump administration officials to bring charges against James, a perceived adversary of the president who has successfully sued him for fraud. Siebert confirmed his departure in an email to colleagues, reviewed by The Associated Press, in which he praised them as the “finest and most exceptional” of Justice Department employees but made no mention of the political turmoil that preceded his resignation.

FILE - Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey is outside court during the Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director

July 17, 2025

The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a prosecutor in the federal cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. There was no specific reason given for her firing from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, according to one of the people. They spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Comey’s termination comes shortly after she prosecuted Combs, who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during the New York City Mayoral Candidates Forum at Medgar Evers College Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Justice Dept. investigating former New York Gov. Cuomo over pandemic testimony, AP source says

May 20, 2025

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after Republicans recommended that he be charged with lying to Congress over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a person familiar with the matter. The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington launched the investigation shortly after Republican Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the Justice Department to prosecute Cuomo. A spokesperson for Cuomo said Tuesday that the former governor, who is now running for New York City mayor, was never informed of any such investigation and called the probe “lawfare and election interference.”

ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER.