STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Attorney General Pam Bondi has reportedly launched a grand jury investigation into the Obama administration for its handling of the decade-old probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
This was first reported by Fox News and confirmed by other outlets. NPR has not independently confirmed the reporting, and the Department of Justice declined to comment. But it does indicate a larger trend that blurs the lines between the Justice Department, which has historically been mostly independent, and the White House.
INSKEEP: Since we're talking about politics in the Justice Department, we brought in NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, good morning.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, so what are you hearing from the president about what's going on in the Justice Department?
MONTANARO: Well, what he's done here is pretty typical for Trump, you know, really ripping from his playbook of how to deal with something controversial by trying to deflect responsibility while at the same time weighing in on that very thing. Here he was in an interview Tuesday on CNBC.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Pam is doing a great job. I have nothing to do with it. I will tell you this, they deserve it. I was happy to hear it. I actually read it just like you did. I have nothing to do with it.
MONTANARO: "I have nothing to do with it," he says. You know, we've heard that so many times before Trump goes on and tells everyone what he actually thinks should be done with that controversial thing, you know, whether - whatever it should be. You know, this is the dance he so often does, and it's perhaps a way for him to say what he wants his attorney general to hear, you know, that he's happy to hear that there's an investigation, that his political opponents deserve it. And, in other words, good job. Keep it up.
INSKEEP: Now, with that said, the president has sometimes had awkward relationships with his attorneys general.
MONTANARO: Right, and that's part of his leverage with the people that work for him. You know, he always seems one bad day, one disagreement away from employing his reality show catchphrase, you're fired. And he's had tensions with past attorneys general. You know, he's shown a willingness to fire them when they do something that he disagrees with. We know that there was tension, obviously, with Trump and his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama Republican senator. And Sessions was the first Republican senator to endorse Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump had him fired, though, for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. There was also a very bad falling out Trump had with Bill Barr after Barr told him the 2020 election wasn't stolen. Pam Bondi, she's taken a decidedly different approach.
INSKEEP: Openly supporting the president at every turn, but what else do you mean?
MONTANARO: Well, for one, she lavishes praise on President Trump, you know, sometimes in over-the-top ways. I mean, like she did during a cabinet meeting talking about Trump's successes in his first hundred days.
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PAM BONDI: Your first 100 days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country, ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you.
MONTANARO: You know, she's really carried a lot of water for Trump. Before Congress, she expressed outrage on Trump's behalf when his ethics were questioned, and it's been more than just words. You know, she's been a shield for Trump on the Epstein files, and these steps towards the Obama administration about Russia are being seen by a lot of people as a distraction from that. Bondi's really been putting into action Trump's promise of retribution. She fired January 6 prosecutors. Prosecutors who worked with special counsel Jack Smith who had brought charges against Trump. And she went after a federal judge who was seen as unfriendly toward the administration. Doesn't much sound like Bondi's pledge at her confirmation hearing to be an independent attorney general and remove politics from the Justice Department.
INSKEEP: Independent reporting from Domenico Montanaro. Thanks so much.
MONTANARO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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