NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump accidentally posted a private message meant for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to his Truth Social page, The Wall Street Journal claims
- A public Sept. 20 post by Trump, addressed to “Pam,” seemingly urged Bondi to use the Justice Department to prosecute some of his biggest political enemies
- Since posting the message, most of Trump’s demands have come true
President Donald Trump allegedly penned a private message to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi — but instead of sending it to her directly, he posted it publicly on Truth Social.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Trump’s revealing Sept. 20 post, which expressed frustration that progress hadn’t been made toward indicting his political enemies, was something of an accident.
Trump administration officials told the outlet that the president believed he had sent the message to “Pam,” as he addressed her in the post, and was surprised to find out it was publicly viewable.
In the post, Trump said he was receiving criticism for failing to retaliate against MAGA critics including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Sen. Adam Schiff, all of whom investigated him in some capacity.
He then lamented the work of a previous U.S. attorney in Virginia and suggested that pro-Trump attorney Lindsay Halligan, who had never prosecuted a case, assume the role instead to see the indictments through.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote in the message. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
When Bondi saw that Trump ordered her to pursue his enemies in a public forum, she allegedly grew upset and called the White House, according to the WSJ. Soon after, Trump issued a follow-up post on Truth Social as an apparent consolation, which praised Bondi for doing a “GREAT job.”
Related Stories
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/james-comey-Hart-Office-Building-2017-092425-edc80d82e19a4ce0803053b32d6e0881.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Donald-Trum-reads-a-note-handed-to-him-by-Secretary-of-State-Marco-Rubio-during-a-roundtable-meeting-on-antifa-100925-4d1b654713f44810abed74043f296392.jpg)
Halligan was promptly installed as the new U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after Trump’s message — despite her lack of experience — and within days, Comey was indicted on two federal charges: one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice.
On Thursday, Oct. 9, New York’s top prosecutor, AG James, was also indicted by a grand jury under the leadership of Halligan, according to The Associated Press. James, who has now been charged with bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution, previously sued Trump and his company for fraud.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/Donald-Trump-Pam-Bondi-speaks-during-a-roundtable-discussion-100925-4cba37c221e94664a31f6aadba87d414.jpg)
In addition to suggesting that Trump is playing an active role in the Justice Department’s investigations, his alleged Truth Social mixup sparked concern that the Trump administration has been using social media — an insecure method of communication — to carry out official state business.
The supposed social media error is reminiscent of “Signalgate,” which saw a number of senior Trump administration officials discussing war plans in a group chat on an insecure platform. The government officials erroneously added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, resulting in an unprecedented breach of security.
Read the full article here