司法部长帕姆·邦迪(Pam Bondi)和司法部的其他高级领导周四被特朗普任命的美国弗吉尼亚州东区检察官向大陪审团提交的消息弄得措手不及寻求起诉多个知情人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，纽约总检察长莱蒂夏詹姆斯。
消息人士称，尽管邦迪、副总检察长托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)和其他DOJ官员曾预计林赛·哈利根(Lindsey Halligan)将寻求起诉詹姆斯，但办公室检察官的建议是，他们直到哈利根已经提交案件后才被告知詹姆斯涉嫌抵押贷款欺诈。
司法部发言人在一份声明中告诉美国广播公司新闻说:“司法部在我们让美国再次安全的使命中团结成一个团队，如前所述，林赛·哈利根得到了总检察长、DAG和主司法部整个团队的全力支持。”
然而，对于埃德·马丁(Ed Martin)来说，哈利根发表演讲的消息并不是什么新闻。今年早些时候，特朗普总统提名特朗普担任华盛顿特区联邦检察官后，他被任命为DOJ的几个高级领导职位，但他未能获得共和党参议员的支持。
周四早上，自称昵称为“老鹰ed”的马丁在他的“X”账户上发布了一张老鹰飞过布鲁克林大桥的照片，周四晚上，詹姆斯被起诉的消息传出后，他又转发了这张照片。
正如美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)此前报道的那样，马丁和联邦住房金融局局长比尔·普尔特(Bill Pulte)最近几周与该局的高级领导层发生了冲突，因为他们要求采取更积极的行动起诉特朗普总统的政治敌人。普尔特最初就詹姆斯的抵押贷款申请向DOJ提出了刑事起诉。
特朗普总统在上个月的一篇真实社交帖子中公开敦促邦迪“现在”起诉他的敌人，并表示他将任命哈利根领导办公室，“推动事情向前发展”。
一名前DOJ高级官员表示，如果该部门的领导层不知道对詹姆斯这样的重要政治人物的未决起诉，那将是非同寻常的，这种起诉通常由该部门的公共诚信部门领导。消息人士称，自特朗普就职以来，该办公室的工作人员已从大约30名减少到两名。
尽管她最初对哈利根的陈述感到措手不及，但在詹姆斯被起诉后，邦迪在“X”上发表了“所有美国人的一层正义”
Pam Bondi, DOJ officials caught off guard by Tish James indictment: Sources
Attorney General Pam Bondi and other senior leadership of the Justice Department were caught off guard Thursday by news that the Trump-installed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia had presented to a grand juryseeking an indictmentof New York Attorney General Letitia James, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
While Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and other DOJ officials had expected Lindsey Halligan would move forward in seeking to indict James, against the recommendation of prosecutors in the office who had investigated for months the claims she committed mortgage fraud, they were not informed until after Halligan had already presented the case, sources said.
“The Justice Department is united as one team in our mission to make America safe again and as stated previously Lindsey Halligan is fully supported by the AG, DAG, and the entire team at Main Justice,” a Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
The news that Halligan was making her presentment was not news, however, to Ed Martin — who was appointed to several senior leadership positions at DOJ by President Trump after his nomination to be the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. failed to earn support from Republican senators earlier this year.
Martin, who goes by his self-described nickname “Eagle Ed” posted on his ‘X’ account Thursday morning an image of an eagle flying over the Brooklyn Bridge - and reposted the image Thursday evening following news of James’ indictment.
As ABC News previously reported, Martin and Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who initially made the criminal referral to DOJ over James’ mortgage applications, have in recent weeks clashed with senior leadership of the department as they’ve demanded more aggressive actions to prosecute President Trump's political enemies.
In a Truth Social post last month, President Trump publicly urged Bondi to move “now” to prosecute his enemies and said he was appointing Halligan to lead the office and “get things moving.”
One former senior DOJ official said it would be extraordinary for leadership at the department to not be informed of a pending indictment of a major political figure like James, which would more typically be led by the department’s Public Integrity Section. Staff in that office has been eliminated to just two officials down from roughly 30 since Trump’s inauguration, according to sources.
Despite her being initially caught off guard by Halligan’s presentment, Bondi posted on ‘X’ following James' indictment, “One tier of justice for all Americans.”
