As Donald Trump hustles to build his cabinet, one job stands out: the attorney general who will support his agenda of mass deportations, pardoning Jan. 6 rioters and seeking retribution against those who prosecuted him over the past four years.
During the Republican U.S. president-elect’s first term, he was infuriated by what he called an obstructive Justice Department, including attorneys general Jeff Sessions, who allowed a probe into alleged contacts between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, and Bill Barr, who publicly refuted his false claims his 2020 election loss was the result of fraud.
Trump and his transition team aim to build a Justice Department packed with loyalists after he is sworn in on Jan. 20. Mark Paoletta, a conservative attorney leading the planning, has already warned career department employees to be ready to support Trump’s agenda or possibly lose their jobs.
Vice President-elect JD Vance said in an October interview with ABC that the choice of attorney general would be Trump’s most important pick, a job second in importance only to the president.
The broad contours of Trump’s plans for the Justice Department have been communicated through his public comments, statements by Paoletta and in interviews and public forums with former department attorneys.
Federal prosecutors will likely be directed to prioritize illegal immigration cases. Cities that hope to receive a slice of the department’s more-than-$291 million justice assistance grant program will likely have to agree to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
