Attorney General Pam Bondi took aim at liberal federal judges Tuesday on Fox News’ “Kudlow,” accusing them of undermining President Donald Trump’s authority through judicial overreach.
In an exchange with host Larry Kudlow, Bondi pointed to a string of rulings she claims are thwarting Trump’s agenda—from spending freezes to immigration crackdowns—warning that the Justice Department (DOJ) will push back hard to defend executive power.
“We’ve been getting some bad rulings out of liberal district court judges who think they control the entire country, but they don’t,” Bondi said, citing “ex parte” orders issued at odd hours, like 1 a.m. on Saturdays, to halt Trump’s initiatives.
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She singled out judges appointed under Presidents Obama and Biden, alleging they’re using temporary restraining orders (TROs) to strip Trump of his constitutional prerogatives, particularly targeting the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s fiscal moves. “They think they can do it, Larry, but they can’t,” she insisted.
Bondi framed the issue as a clash between federal supremacy and state defiance, spotlighting sanctuary cities and “virtue-signaling” jurisdictions.
She zeroed in on U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. of Rhode Island, who last week ordered Trump to unfreeze federal funds, threatening contempt charges—a ruling Bondi mocked, “You’ve got one district judge in Rhode Island thinking he can control the money for the entire country.”
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McConnell’s TRO, issued Monday, followed Trump’s short-lived spending pause, which Democrats decried as a Medicaid threat, though Bondi noted their silence on Biden-era audits allegedly targeting red states.
“The Justice Department will fight back, and we will win,” Bondi vowed, promising to defend the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Treasury, and Trump’s staffing and funding choices. She hinted at deeper stakes, suggesting judicial resistance masks “massive fraud” in federal spending. “There’s a reason they don’t want us to know where all this money’s been going … The crimes attached to it that we’re going to find are unprecedented,” she said, predicting Supreme Court support to overturn lower court roadblocks.
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The backdrop is tense as liberal judges have stalled Trump’s plans before, from immigration curbs to DOGE’s cost-cutting, often citing procedural or statutory breaches. Democrats, meanwhile, spotlighted Biden’s Medicaid audits—flagged by a watchdog for bias—yet pivoted to blast Trump’s freeze, which a Biden appointee axed within 24 hours.
Bondi, unfazed, cast Trump’s landslide win as a mandate, “The president has a right, elected overwhelmingly by the people, to do the job he’s doing.”
As the DOJ gears up for legal battles, the clash over judicial power—and billions in federal cash—promises a bruising showdown.
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