Dismantling and Weaponizing of Justice
Donald Trump has launched a divisive, often unlawful, and openly autocratic program that threatens our democracy. His appointment of a loyalist cabinet clears the deck for corruption to prosper.
During his campaign, Trump promised that, if elected, he would take revenge against those who dared investigate his role in the January 6th Capitol attack and his mishandling of classified materials. Now, he and his cabinet officers are making good on that promise. Despite pledging at her Senate confirmation hearing to lead the DOJ in a nonpartisan manner, Attorney General Pam Bondi created, as her first act in office, the aptly named Weaponization Working Group. This action began the transformation of the Justice Department from an institution dedicated to protecting the rights of Americans to one, according to Bondi, “ready and willing to faithfully implement the policy agenda of the duly elected President of the United States.”
Bondi’s working group, carried out under a Trump executive order (14147), is charged with searching government-wide to identify conduct during the Biden administration that intended to achieve political objectives or other improper aims. Some of those identified for investigation include: Special Council Jack Smith and his staff, Federal agencies or individuals who cooperated with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and the Congressional committee that investigated the January 6 insurrection.
Historically, DOJ attorneys and FBI agents, led by the Attorney General, have focused on ensuring public safety, security, and civil liberties, independent of what party was in the White House. Because of those responsibilities, its attorneys and FBI agents have taken pride in being impartial and independent. They take an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, not one to serve a particular president.
So what is different now? DOJ leadership is committing the Department to retaliate against Trump’s perceived enemies. In doing so, that leadership appears to be willing to ignore or fail to enforce federal laws that don’t conform to the President’s agenda.
In Trump’s first term, Attorney General Sessions was fired because he followed the facts and law on the investigation into the Trump Campaign’s collusion with the Russian Government. Although Bill Barr, Trump’s second AG, did not interfere in the day-to-day work of the DOJ, there were notable cases that Barr supported which smacked of injustice. These include Roger Stone’s generous commuted sentence by Trump and Paul Manafort’s early release from prison, which was contrary to DOJ policy. Barr also tended to ignore most DOJ/FBI offices working in areas that might not resonate with the President. (Case in point, he ignored significant extraditions involving Russian oligarchs and other organized crime cases that were floundering in Europe.) Except for being very dismissive when Mueller’s findings were released, Barr notably ignored Muller’s Russia investigation. He was also slow to engage with Civil Rights cases that needed approval on appeals and initiatives. Nonetheless, nothing here was Constitutionally wrong.
Although the AG is a partisan appointee, the principles of democracy are not political. Justice Department attorneys represent “the United States” in criminal and civil proceedings, including prosecuting crime and terrorism, protecting environment and natural resources, and safeguarding civil liberties. History shows us that what makes-America-great again and again are principles of fairness, equity and the Rule of Law.
What Bondi and Trump are doing by eliminating career attorneys and others committed to the U.S. Constitution and replacing them with those whose commitment is obedience and loyalty to the president is, in fact, weaponizing justice so that the president can wield it at will as he metes out retribution and furthers self-interest. Ours is no longer a democracy when a president can decide what laws are enforced and what laws are ignored.
Justice matters. Let us, individually and collectively, embrace our civic duty and call out malfeasance, misfeasance, and injustice — like NC’s well known US Senator Sam Ervin who chaired the Senate Watergate hearings and who, without fear or favor, followed the facts to expose the misdeeds of Nixon and his cronies.