Pam Bondi targets journalists, leakers as U.S. attorney general

April 25, 2025 | U.S. attorney general rescinds journalists’ protection from federal subpoenas

April 25, 2025 | U.S. attorney general rescinds journalists’ protection from federal subpoenas

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a memo released on April 25, 2025, directed the reversal of Biden-era policies that protected journalists from having their records seized or being forced to testify amid leak investigations.

Under President Donald Trump’s first administration, the Department of Justice secretly obtained or attempted to obtain records from at least nine journalists in connection with leak investigations. Such subpoenas endanger both the targeted journalists and the foundation of investigative journalism, which relies on source protection.

After these subpoenas were made public, Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in July 2021 that he was changing the department’s policies to prevent such seizures of journalists’ records.

Less than four years later, Bondi justified the revocation of that policy as necessary to thwart leaks that she said jeopardize the DOJ’s ability to “uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.”

“I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks,” Bondi wrote in her April 25 memo. “This Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.”

Bondi noted, however, that there will still be procedures in place to ensure such measures are only used when “essential” to successfully investigating or prosecuting the source of sensitive leaks. The language of the new policy had not been made public as of publication.

Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, condemned Bondi’s decision and criticized members of Congress who did not prioritize passing a federal shield law in 2024 that would have protected journalists from such subpoenas.

“Every Democrat who put the PRESS Act on the back burner when they had the opportunity to pass a bipartisan bill codifying journalist-source confidentiality should be ashamed,” FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern wrote in a statement. “Everyone predicted this would happen in a second Trump administration, yet politicians in a position to prevent it prioritized empty rhetoric over putting up a meaningful fight.”