By Vanguard Staff
OAKLAND, CA – California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued a sharp warning to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, denouncing what he described as a politically motivated indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. In a strongly worded letter sent Friday, Bonta accused the Trump administration of weaponizing the Department of Justice for political retribution and undermining democratic norms.
“As the Chief Law Officer of the State of California, I write today to express my grave concern about the apparently politically-influenced indictment of former FBI Director James Comey,” Bonta said.
He emphasized the weight of prosecutorial discretion and the responsibility that comes with it. “As you know, the tremendous discretion we prosecutors have comes with great responsibility: prosecutors must wield that power in a fair and just manner driven by the facts and law—without fear or favor. In the immortal warning of former United States Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, a prosecutor’s most dangerous power is the power to ‘pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.’”
The indictment of Comey, Bonta argued, appeared to be driven less by the neutral application of law and more by political retaliation. He pointed to public statements from the administration, including comments from the president, as evidence that the prosecution was motivated by a desire to silence and intimidate perceived political enemies. “If this is the case, it would be a clear abuse of prosecutorial power. I, along with numerous prosecutors around the country, am deeply troubled by the implications of the Administration’s continued efforts to criminalize people who disagree with the Administration’s policies,” he wrote.
Bonta warned that the politicization of prosecutions is part of a broader pattern. “The weaponization of prosecutorial power and other levers of government to suppress the expression of dissent, either directly or through implication, is chilling,” he said. “The indictment of former Director Comey is an alarming escalation of a broader trend by this Administration to use and abuse executive power.”
In his letter, Bonta tied the Comey indictment to other recent examples of political retaliation. He cited the targeting of New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office has led high-profile cases involving Trump’s businesses, and the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Brendan Carr, which he said has been used to target entertainers and newscasters.
He reminded Bondi of her sworn testimony during her Senate confirmation hearing, in which she explicitly rejected the notion of political prosecutions. “No one will be prosecuted [or] investigated because they are a political opponent … No one should be prosecuted for political purposes. Absolutely not,” Bondi said at the time.
For Bonta, the discrepancy between Bondi’s testimony and the actions of the DOJ under her leadership underscores a dangerous moment for the rule of law. “Seeking to intimidate critics and retaliate against former government officials goes against the very core of America’s democratic values,” Bonta wrote. “The endurance of our country as a democracy depends on the vibrant exchange of opinions and criticism, paired with trust in our criminal justice system. To wield the immense power of the U.S. Department of Justice to seek to silence or punish those who are viewed as opponents of the President dangerously undermines that trust.”
Bonta also praised those within the DOJ who have chosen to resign rather than participate in politically motivated prosecutions. “I am inspired by the numerous former employees of your department who, when faced with the choice of pursuing the President’s petty and politically-motivated agenda, have instead resigned,” he wrote. “They have sacrificed their dedicated careers, but preserved their integrity in defense of the principles for which your department has always stood.”
The California attorney general concluded his letter with a call for Bondi to reaffirm the department’s independence from the White House. “This is the moment for you to hold firm to your own Congressional testimony, and reassert the long-standing independence of the U.S. Department of Justice from political interference by declining to continue these politically-motivated investigations and prosecutions,” Bonta wrote. “Instead, as Chief Law Officers, we should join together to focus on the things the public depends on us to achieve: securing public safety and pursuing prosecutions that advance equal justice under the law.”
Bonta’s letter is the latest in a series of interventions by state attorneys general pushing back against what they view as the administration’s misuse of executive power. Earlier this year, Bonta joined 20 other attorneys general in signing an open letter urging the legal community to resist Trump’s calls for the impeachment of federal judges and threats of retribution against law firms that represent politically disfavored clients. He has also supported firms such as WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and Perkins Coie in amicus briefs defending lawsuits against retaliatory executive orders.
In recent weeks, Bonta has criticized the administration’s broader efforts to control the press and silence dissent. He called on FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to end what he described as a campaign of censorship that resulted in the pulling of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show from the airwaves. In that case, Bonta framed Carr’s actions as part of a larger effort to chill criticism of the president.
For Bonta, these episodes represent a dangerous trend: the bending of government institutions to serve political ends rather than the rule of law. His warnings echo those of legal scholars and civil rights groups, who have noted that the independence of the Department of Justice is one of the cornerstones of American democracy. When prosecutors are seen as targeting individuals not because of criminal conduct but because of political opposition, the legitimacy of the justice system itself is at stake.
The indictment of James Comey—a figure who has long been a lightning rod in American politics—has only heightened concerns. Comey was fired as FBI director by Trump in 2017, and his subsequent criticism of the president made him a persistent target. For critics like Bonta, the fact that Comey now faces criminal charges raises troubling questions about the erosion of long-standing boundaries between politics and law enforcement.
Bonta’s intervention also highlights the role of state attorneys general in checking federal power. While they cannot block federal prosecutions, their voices add weight to the national debate about prosecutorial independence and political retribution. As the chief legal officer of California, Bonta’s warning sends a message not just to Washington, but also to the broader public about the stakes involved when democratic norms are threatened.
The letter situates the Comey indictment within a broader crisis of governance, where political leaders are accused of exploiting the tools of the state to punish critics and consolidate power. For Bonta, the solution lies in reaffirming the principle that law must be applied impartially, free from political interference, and that prosecutors must resist efforts to turn their offices into weapons of partisan warfare.
As Bonta concluded, the path forward requires rejecting political prosecutions and focusing instead on the true mission of law enforcement: “securing public safety and pursuing prosecutions that advance equal justice under the law.”
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The outrage coming from democrats is so laughable these days in light of the lawfare they used during the last 10 years against Trump and his administration. Talk about hypocrites. Do they even hear themselves?