The Justice Department accused the Biden administration of unfairly prosecuting anti-abortion activists the day after it fired at least four attorneys who were involved in prosecuting those cases.
The accusations come in the first report from the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group,” which has been tasked with going after law enforcement officials who have investigated President Donald Trump, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former special counsel Jack Smith.
The report defends Trump’s mass pardoning of 23 people who were convicted under the Biden administration for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act, also known as the FACE Act. The law prohibits obstructing people from entering medical centers and was passed in 1994 after a spate of violence against abortion providers, including the 1993 murder of Dr. David Gunn.
The new DOJ report says that anti-abortion protesters were politically targeted because of their religion and that federal prosecutors sought harsher sentences for anti-abortion protesters than they did for people who supported abortion rights. The report echoes a repeated allegation from the Trump administration, suggesting without evidence that under the Biden administration, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division leveraged the FACE Act to target Christians.
It comes a day after Trump drew criticism from many conservative Christians for posting an image on the social media platform Truth Social that depicted himself as a Jesus-like figure. He has since deleted the post and claimed the image portrayed him as a doctor. This week he has also gone after Pope Leo XIV, saying he is soft on crime. Conservative Catholics and evangelical Christians are core to the anti-abortion movement.
People pardoned by Trump included anti-abortion activists who had forcibly entered abortion clinics. In one instance, several used chains and locks to barricade a facility, which led to a nurse being injured.
The Trump administration has also dismissed federal charges against anti-abortion protesters who barricaded clinics in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida and indicated that it will not prioritize enforcing clinic protections moving forward.
The administration’s moves have drawn criticism from medical providers, who say anti-abortion protesters are being emboldened.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was previously Trump’s personal lawyer and who recently replaced former Attorney General Pam Bondi, said in a statement that the report illustrated a “weaponization” of the Justice Department.
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” Blanche said.
Trump has characterized the Biden administration’s FACE Act prosecutions — and broader defense of abortion rights — as emblematic of “anti-Christian bias.” In an executive order issued in February 2025, he characterized the Justice Department’s previous enforcement activities as “targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.”
But under the Biden administration, the Justice Department also prosecuted abortion rights supporters who were accused of spray painting threats on anti-abortion centers in Florida under the FACE Act.
The DOJ report, alongside Trump’s pardoning of anti-abortion activists in 2025, represents some of the most meaningful efforts the administration has taken to curry favor with abortion opponents.
Many leaders of key anti-abortion groups have expressed frustration with the president, who they had hoped would restrict access to medication abortion — a top priority for the movement — or move the country toward nationwide restrictions, which the president has not done.