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Story · September 21, 2025

Trump publicly urges Bondi to move faster on cases against his critics

By The Daily Fuckup Newsroom · From Trump’s September 21, 2025 Screwup Edition

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Correction: Correction: An earlier version misdated the follow-up remarks; Trump’s comments to reporters were made on Sept. 21, 2025. The story also has been clarified to remove the implication that he set a formal deadline.

President Donald Trump used a Truth Social post on Sept. 21, 2025, to complain that too little was happening on investigations involving some of his political adversaries and to press Attorney General Pam Bondi to move faster. In the post, he named New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Sen. Adam Schiff and former FBI Director James Comey. He later told reporters that the message was not intended as a rebuke of Bondi. ([time.com](https://time.com/7319161/trump-pam-bondi-letitia-james/?utm_source=openai))

The post drew attention because it put a public deadline on decisions that are normally handled inside the Justice Department. Trump wrote that delays were hurting the administration’s credibility and said, in effect, that action was overdue. In the same message, he criticized Erik Siebert, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, after Siebert told senior Justice Department officials there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against James, according to reporting from the time. ([time.com](https://time.com/7319161/trump-pam-bondi-letitia-james/?utm_source=openai))

The episode underscored a familiar pattern in Trump’s second term: he has repeatedly used public statements to demand movement in cases involving people he views as political enemies. That includes James, who sued Trump in New York; Schiff, who led House impeachment proceedings against him; and Comey, the former FBI director Trump fired in 2017. Those names have been central to Trump’s retribution campaign for months. ([time.com](https://time.com/7319161/trump-pam-bondi-letitia-james/?utm_source=openai))

The practical question is not whether Trump can say it. He can. The question is what it means when a president publicly pushes his attorney general to advance cases against specific opponents while the Justice Department is supposed to make charging decisions on the record and on the evidence. The post put that tension in plain view and left no ambiguity about whom Trump wanted the department to target. ([time.com](https://time.com/7319161/trump-pam-bondi-letitia-james/?utm_source=openai))

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