Trump's Justice Department, Disappearing DEI, Flu Peaks Again
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Who is Pam Bondi and what changes is she making at the Justice Department?
Pam Bondi was sworn in this week as U.S. Attorney General. One of her early memos has workers at the Justice Department worried about the possibility of mass firings. Will those who investigated the president be singled out?
I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Under political pressure, some big companies have quietly ended their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
We have seen companies start to decide that the reward is not necessarily outweighed by the risk anymore.
Is this the end of corporate DEI? Plus, it is respiratory virus season and the flu is peaking for a second time. But there's better news on the horizon about COVID.
This is the smallest winter wave we've had since the pandemic began.
Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.
There's no place like the garden, and this season, Garden Variety wants to help you flourish. Each week, the Heartland's top horticulturists, insect experts, foresters, and others drop by with fresh tips about everything you want to grow or grow better. Dig in to Garden Variety from Iowa Public Radio, part of the NPR Network.
Should you throw out your black plastic cooking utensils? Can we decode whale language? And how do you stop procrastinating? I'm Maiken Scott. Every week, The Pulse digs into health and science issues that matter to you and your life. Listen to The Pulse podcast from WHYY, part of the NPR Network.
This week, the Senate voted to confirm Pam Bondi as President Trump's new attorney general.
Bondi takes over at the Justice Department as the Trump administration makes aggressive moves to take over the federal bureaucracy. Over the past few weeks, the new administration has already pushed out senior career officials at the department and at the FBI, setting off fears about mass firings.
NPR Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas has been following this. Ryan, let's start with the new Attorney General Pam Bondi, sworn in this week in the Oval Office by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. So now that she's on the job, what has she done?
Well, one of the first things that she did was sign a whole bunch of memos, more than a dozen of them, that aim to advance the president's agenda and the department's role in it. These things address a whole range of topics. Bondi revived the federal death penalty. She set up an October 7th task force to focus on the threat posed by Hamas. Other memos address immigration enforcement, the drug cartels. This sort of thing reflects the shift in priorities that we often see out of the Justice Department with the change in administration. Saying that, though, there's one memo in particular that really stood out, and it raises questions about whether the department under Bondi aims to go after the people who investigated Trump.
Tell us about that memo. Well, the subject line is restoring the integrity and credibility of the Department of Justice. But what the memo does is establish what it calls a weaponization working group that will review the criminal and civil cases that were brought against Trump over the past four years by federal and state prosecutors.
How is the flu season impacting public health this winter?
It will also look at the capital right investigations and what the memo calls the pursuit of improper investigative tactics. and unethical prosecutions relating to the Capitol attack. Now, Bondi has been a fierce defender of Trump over the years. Before she was attorney general, she talked about investigating the investigators. And there are certainly concerns that that's what's going on here. And look, in the past few weeks, the department has already fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on Trump investigations because the new leadership said those folks couldn't be trusted to carry out the president's agenda. And there's also been turmoil at the FBI. So where do things stand now? Right. There's been a lot of nervousness and fear at the FBI over the past week.
Remember, the FBI falls under the authority of the Justice Department. But the panic at the FBI started after the number two official at the Justice Department ordered the firing. of eight senior career FBI officials, and at the same time demanded a list of all FBI personnel who worked on any January 6th case. That's around 5,000 FBI employees and all.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Who is Pam Bondi and what changes is she making at the Justice Department?
0:03–3:08
2
What are the implications of companies removing DEI language from reports?
3:08
3
How is the flu season impacting public health this winter?
0:43–7:22
4
Why are companies like Google changing their DEI practices?
7:22–8:11
5
What is the reaction to Trump's executive orders on DEI programs?
8:11–13:51
Speakers
8 identifiedMore from Up First from NPR
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