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On Friday, President Donald Trump pressured Erik Siebert, the U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, to resign. He did so because Siebert had yet to find enough evidence to charge two prime Trump political enemies: New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
Which is bad!
Then, on Saturday, Trump sent a public missive to Attorney General Pam Bondi — urging her to start charging people who had done him wrong:
Which is even worse!
Regular readers know I am always very careful to distinguish between mountains and molehills — especially when it comes to Donald Trump. Too much of the coverage of the president paints everything he does as The Worst Thing Ever.
But let me be clear here: What Trump did over the weekend at the DOJ is a mountain. A big one.
Why? Because it’s now entirely clear that:
a) Trump sees the DOJ as his personal plaything — to be used to target those who have crossed him and to excuse those who are on his side. (Tom Homan’s bag of cash, anyone???)
b) He is not only willing to expressly target his political enemies but he also appears unwilling to take “no” for an answer when it comes to whether or not they have actually done anything wrong under the law.
As Trump says in his Truth Social post: “They’re all guilty as hell.” How does he know this? Short answer: He doesn’t. What they are guilty of is being on the wrong side of Trump and, for the president, that’s enough.
Of course, that shouldn’t be enough for the professionals working at DOJ. But, when you get rid of a U.S. Attorney who, according to the New York Times, Bondi and deputy AG Todd Blanche begged Trump to keep, solely because he isn’t doing what you want — evidence be damned! —that has a chilling effect on everyone else who works there.
It all directly threatens the rule of law — and the idea that the Department of Justice will go wherever the evidence takes it.
With Trump’s moves and statements over the weekend, it now appears as though the DOJ will go wherever Trump wants it to go. And that is a mountain.
