Lead the Justice Department with integrity and uphold the rule of law fairly and impartially.
Made in his first speech to DOJ staff on August 13, 2026, days after a narrow Senate confirmation, addressed to a workforce badly depleted by departures — the unedited remarks are on the public record via C-SPAN. He committed to leading with integrity, to applying the law without fear or favor, and to listening to rank-and-file staff. One specific, checkable data point: analysts noted the speech was notable for what he chose not to repeat — no attacks on the prior administration, no denunciations of "activist" judges, none of the "weaponization" rhetoric he had used in his own earlier remarks as a senior official. The larger tension remains: he was the President’s personal defence attorney before entering government, and during his tenure as deputy and acting attorney general the department charged former FBI Director James Comey, charged the Southern Poverty Law Center, and opened an investigation touching the lawsuits E. Jean Carroll won against the President. The promise is new and the record it will be judged against is already partly written.
- News reportWashington Examiner
- News reportMS NOW
- Official recordC-SPAN — unedited remarks