In a social media publish Saturday, President Trump pressured Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi to research his political rivals, fueling issues concerning the administration weaponizing the Justice Division.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Over the weekend, President Trump had a message for Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In a publish on social media, Trump pressured Bondi to research his perceived political rivals.
MARTIN: NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is following this, and he is with us now from our studios. Good morning, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So earlier than we get into what this implies, may you simply convey us in control on what truly occurred? So what did the president say?
LUCAS: Proper. Trump put out a publish on social media on Saturday evening addressed to Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi by identify. And within the publish, Trump mentions three folks he views as his political enemies – former FBI Director James Comey, California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York State Legal professional Normal Letitia James. And Trump mentioned they’re all responsible. Would not say what of, solely that they are responsible, and that nothing is being performed about it. He mentioned, quote, “we will not delay any longer. It is killing our status and credibility,” finish quote. Trump added that he was impeached twice. He was indicted a number of occasions, which is referring, after all, to the prosecutions that Trump confronted after he left workplace the primary time, together with the 2 federal circumstances – one for allegedly mishandling categorized paperwork, the opposite for making an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Trump mentioned in his publish that each one of that was baseless and that, quote, “justice have to be served, now.”
MARTIN: So this publish got here proper after different consequential information out of the Justice Division. The highest federal prosecutor in Northern Virginia left his publish below strain from President Trump. So what are you able to inform us about that?
LUCAS: That is proper. That is Erik Siebert. He was a profession federal prosecutor within the Jap District of Virginia, proper exterior of D.C. Trump had tapped him to guide the workplace, and it is an vital workplace. They do a variety of large nationwide safety circumstances there, for instance. In that job, Siebert had been overseeing an investigation into New York State Legal professional Normal Letitia James, one of many folks Trump declared responsible within the publish I used to be simply speaking about. James received a civil fraud go well with final yr in opposition to Trump and his firm with a large monetary penalty, though the penalty has since been voided. Now, Siebert had expressed doubts about transferring ahead with prices in that case. Trump was open about wanting Siebert gone. And on social media, Trump mentioned Siebert had mentioned there was no case. Trump mentioned there’s an excellent case, seeming to substantiate that Siebert was compelled out for not transferring ahead in opposition to James.
MARTIN: And is any individual changing him in that workplace? Do we all know who that’s?
LUCAS: Sure. Trump named Lindsey Halligan because the substitute. She is somebody with no prosecutorial expertise, however Halligan has been working as an aide within the White Home. Earlier than that, she served as a private legal professional for Trump. Now, the president mentioned on social media that Halligan might be truthful, good and supply desperately wanted justice for all. And he additionally mentioned that that workplace wants a tricky prosecutor to, quote, “get issues transferring.”
MARTIN: So what do these developments over the weekend say concerning the Justice Division on this second Trump administration?
LUCAS: Effectively, look, Trump talked overtly through the 2024 marketing campaign about going after his perceived political enemies if he returned to workplace. He is by no means toned that down. However that is arguably essentially the most direct, since he is been again within the White Home, that he has urged the Justice Division to make use of the big powers that it has to go after particular individuals who he does not like. You even have him forcing out a U.S. legal professional who wasn’t doing that. Now, for many years, there’s been a norm in opposition to this very type of factor. Historically, the Justice Division is impartial from the White Home relating to investigations and prosecutions. And the explanation for that’s in order that choices in such cases don’t seem and usually are not pushed by politics as a substitute of the details and the legislation. So these developments over the weekend, but once more, are fueling already vital issues about this administration and the weaponization of the Justice Division.
MARTIN: That’s NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks.
LUCAS: Thanks.
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