President Donald Trump’s warping of the Justice Division into his private assault canine is terrible, so we’ve got to take our pleasure the place we will discover it. And as of late, you may take some pleasure from how the DOJ’s malicious prosecutions of New York Lawyer Basic Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey are hilariously incompetent.
On Friday, James pleaded not responsible within the DOJ’s frivolous mortgage fraud case in opposition to her. Her trial is about for Jan. 26—simply 21 days after the scheduled begin of Comey’s trial, on Jan. 5. And each happen within the Japanese District of Virginia, underneath the identical unqualified prosecutor, interim U.S Lawyer Lindsey Halligan.
In different phrases, Halligan has main trials of two of Trump’s greatest perceived enemies simply three brief weeks aside.
Halligan, who has her job solely to prosecute whomever Trump tells her to, needed to race to the courthouse to indict Comey as a result of the statute of limitations was operating out, however there was no want to do this with James. Halligan had loads of time to carry these expenses, and an skilled prosecutor would have identified to attempt to stagger these trials.
However Halligan is merely Trump’s goon, so she raced to indict James. And now it’ll be a hilarious pileup.
Halligan’s actions within the Comey case have been pathetic, notably her attempting to delay the proceedings, which you mainly can not do within the Japanese District of Virginia’s so-called rocket docket.
Former FBI Director James Comey, proven in 2017.
Additionally, Comey introduced two motions to dismiss his case, which Halligan should handle within the subsequent few weeks. And James has additionally mentioned she will likely be shifting to dismiss her indictment and can, like Comey, problem Halligan’s appointment as illegal.
James’ legal professional additionally filed a pleasant “motion to enforce rules prohibiting the government’s extrajudicial disclosures and statements.”
As James’ legal professional explains within the movement, it’s really an extrajudicial assertion for a prosecutor to textual content a reporter and inform them they’re unsuitable about one thing within the case! Halligan little doubt thought she was being slick by not revealing something direct concerning the grand jury testimony, nevertheless it’s simply as out of pocket to point that you simply, the prosecutor, have particular data from the grand jury that makes you capable of say that reporting is unsuitable and the particular person you’re prosecuting is certainly responsible.
Halligan then added two extra extrajudicial statements. Her first—”Yes they did [get something wrong] but you went with it!”—refers to Bower commenting on and posting a New York Occasions’ article on X. And her second—”they are disclosing grand jury info—which is also not a full representation of what happened”—refers back to the New York Occasions’ account of grand jury exercise in Norfolk, Virginia.
New York Lawyer Basic Letitia James, proven in February.
Later messages from Halligan instantly cite proof that should have been offered to the grand jury, because it was additionally referenced within the indictment: “It says she received thousand(s) of dollars in rent.”
Come for the legislation, keep for the beautiful shade of the movement referring to Halligan because the “purported interim U.S. attorney” all through.
Basically, this movement is James telling the courtroom to please implement the rule that stops the federal government from mainly attempting the case in public by way of dribs and drabs of confidential info nobody else has.
And whereas Halligan is flailing on the East Coast, Deputy Lawyer Basic Todd Blanche is on the opposite facet of the nation, threatening to prosecute Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California for … causes.
Trump and his DOJ will preserve doing this, however individuals are beginning to see it for what it’s: retribution.
A brand new ballot from Quinnipiac College finds that 52% of voters say Trump is utilizing the Justice Division to file unjustified expenses in opposition to his perceived enemies. And a contemporary ballot from Reuters/Ipsos finds that 55% of Individuals imagine he’s utilizing federal legislation enforcement to assault his enemies.
Trump desires to say that is justice, however America is aware of it isn’t. Halligan is in for a tough a number of months. We’re right here for it.
