Bondi’s Replacement is Important, But Not as Important as Perceived
April 2, 2026 | Sundance1/2
In a two-week period right after the 2024 election,the most energy expended by the transition team putting a cabinet together was toward Main Justice or the Dept of Justice. As a consequence, those around Lutnick and Wiles spent an incredible amount of time thinking about the Attorney General pick.
Following an insider discussion, I spoke with several people about positions and appointments, focused onpointing out that the transition’s priorities were misplaced. The AG needed to besomeone with exceptional moral character, capable of gathering informationand presenting it for public consumption, with the option of supporting criminal referrals if necessary.
The Attorney General wasn’t going to be the tip of the spear in any operation to confront the Deep State, because if Main Justice wanted to confront Lawfarethey needed to confront the Intelligence Community first.
The IC controls all of the activity within the Dept of Justice.
Read that again for emphasis. For the issuesof greatest importance, the Intelligence Community controlsall of the activity within Main Justice.The IC is in controlof the source material.The IC is above the DOJ. If youdon’t strategize a confrontation with the IC first, it doesn’t matter what you do with the Dept of Justice.
The best example I could reference at the time was the Mar-a-Lago documents case and Judge Aileen Cannon. In that example the Executive branch was targeting Trump through the DOJ/FBI, and representingthe Judicial branch Judge Cannon was the firewall ensuring the appropriate administration of justice.
Trump’s defense, through Cannon, pushed back against the DOJ (Jack Smith) while Smith leveraged all his Lawfare tools back against Cannon. You might remember the “classified document” issue went to the 11th CCA.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the government position that any documents defined as “classified” by the executive branch that claimed, “national security,”should not be disclosed to the defendant, Trump. The 11th CCA said when it comes to matters of national security, the judicial branch must defer to the determinations of the executive.
Basically, if the intelligence community decides certain information is tied to national securityand labels it as classified for the DOJ,that decision can’t be challenged. The U.S. Supreme Court has backed this view. As a result, when it comes to national security issues,the judicial branch has to defer to the executive, giving the IC significant control over the DOJ.
If you drag former CIA Director John Brennan into court and Brennan’s lawyers argue ‘national security’ as a defense against indictment, inquiry or questioning,it’s not the DOJ(Attorney General) who matters –it’s the ‘national security’ determination of the Intelligence Community (Tulsi Gabbard) who controls the outcome.
Over and over, I kept emphasizing this point.If you want to hold the Spygate/Russiagate folks accountable, it’s not going to be the DOJ who matter; not directly.It is the Intelligence Community that matters.
If you seek accountability, and if you want to stop Lawfare from exploiting the silo defenses,it’s the IC that matters; not the Dept of Justice.
The transition team was putting emphasis on the wrong syllable. Remember, my emphasis was on the need for institutional accountability on Spygateand Russiagate,and the DOJ is a tool toward the goal but not the ultimate weapon.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/04/02/bondis-replacement-is-important-but-not-as-important-as-perceived/