Donald Trump directs attorney general in two executive orders to use the weight of the Justice Department to pursue what is essentially a politically charged investigation into personal grievances to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the previous administration. I ordered.
The order signed by the president on Monday to end the “weaponization of the federal government” and “government censorship of speech” in the Biden administration requires the attorney general to review actions over the past four years and write a final report. instructed.
Incoming administrations always set their priorities in the first few days, and President Trump’s second term will be no different than his predecessor’s. President Trump also signed an executive order directing the department to file more criminal cases related to the southern border.
The fact that the investigation will take place outside the White House means it is less susceptible to political interference by Western aides, and it is likely that at least some of the work will be done by career Justice Department lawyers. left behind.
But the use of arms order is particularly unusual because it directs the next attorney general to investigate allegations of misconduct at the Justice Department, rather than the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility or the Inspector General, and sends the findings to political appointees in the White House. This was particularly unusual in that it required reporting.
The attorney general does not typically write reports for Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller. Under the Justice Department’s no-contact policy, aimed at preventing political interference in investigations, the attorney general is supposed to interact only at the staff level with White House counsel or deputy prosecutors.
Taken together, various aspects of the weaponization order foreshadow the key role President Trump wants the Justice Department to play in his second term, suggesting he will use its broad powers to enact policy. I am doing it.
The order does not spell out the specific charges to be considered, but it uses language similar to President Trump’s attack on the criminal case brought by former special counsel Jack Smith: It referred to the Third World weaponization of prosecutorial power.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly denounced criminal prosecution over allegations of mishandling classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, and if re-elected he would have “two seconds” to oust Mr. Smith. I vowed to dismiss him. Smith resigned before Trump returned to office.
In his first term, President Trump repeatedly used the power of the Justice Department to investigate politically sensitive issues that he has a personal interest in but wants to pretend has nothing to do with him. I used it.
When President Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017, he initially cited a memo written by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as the basis for his firing. It was later revealed that President Trump’s attitude toward Comey had worsened, in part because he refused to end a criminal investigation into his national security adviser.
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Towards the end of his presidential term, President Trump pressured then-Attorney General Bill Barr to announce that the Justice Department was investigating fraud in the 2020 election as part of the effort. Results will be contested in seven battleground states.
It remains to be seen how President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, will respond to the weaponization order. During her Senate confirmation hearing, she vowed to resist political interference from the White House, maintain a contact policy and not establish an “enemy list.”
James McHenry III, who ran the Justice Department’s immigration courts during Trump’s first term, will serve as acting attorney general until Bondi’s nomination is approved by the full Senate. Other Trump appointees have already taken office, including Acting Deputy Attorney General Emile Bove and Bondi Chief of Staff Chad Mizell.
President Trump’s order to use weapons also specifies “righting past wrongdoing” as an intended goal, retaliating against political opponents and entire agencies such as the FBI during the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. This is a repeat of Mr. Trump’s track record during his first term of seeking the same.
However, the implementation of President Trump’s attempts at retaliation have yielded mixed results. The special counsel’s investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation did not take place before the 2020 election, as he had hoped, and the investigation itself did not result in any charges against senior FBI or intelligence officials. .
