Raw Politics Comes First at Trump Justice Department - Rob Horowitz

Raw Politics Comes First at Trump Justice Department - Rob Horowitz

In his first few weeks in office, President Trump has already blasted through the post-Watergate norm of an independent Justice Department in which the president is kept at arms-length, particularly when it comes to prosecutorial decisions and investigations. Instead of striving to adhere to the foundational principle that “justice is blind” and should be administered impartially, Mr. Trump is turning the Justice Department into a vehicle to reward friends as well as people willing to do his bidding and to punish perceived enemies.

 

The most egregious example so far is the Justice Department’s move to dismiss wide-ranging corruption charges against Mayor of New York Eric Adams because he has committed to take action to advance the Trump Administration’s immigration agenda. This also appears to be a reward for all the cozying up to Donald Trump. Eric Adams did this during the presidential campaign as part of his thinly disguised appeal for a pardon from Mr. Trump if he won the election. 

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To ensure that Mr. Adams toes the line on immigration policy and who knows what else, the Trump Justice Department is moving to dismiss the case without prejudice, leaving open the option of reinstating the charges after the New York mayoral election.  In other words, the Trump Administration is holding a sword over Mr. Adams's head to make him accountable to them rather than the people of New York City, whom he was elected to serve.

 

In acting deputy U.S. attorney general Emil Bove’s convoluted memo justifying this unprecedented decision, he conceded that he did not evaluate the case against Adams on the merits.  This nakedly political move that violates any conception of justice has already resulted in the resignations of 7 Justice Department officials, including the acting interim US Attorney for the Southern District of NY, Danielle Sassoon and the lead prosecutor on the case, Hagan Scotten- both highly pedigreed conservatives.

“I understand my duty as a prosecutor to mean enforcing the law impartially, and that includes prosecuting a validly returned indictment regardless whether its dismissal would be politically advantageous, to the defendant or to those who appointed me,” wrote Sassoon, who clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi explaining her refusal to sign the dismissal request “A federal prosecutor “is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all."Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935).”
In his resignation letter, Scotten, a recipient of 2 Bronze Stars and former law clerk for Chief Justice Roberts, minced no words:  “…But any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way," wrote Scotten.

 

"If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”

 

The disturbing handling of the Adams case is not an isolated incident; it is part of an emerging pattern. Trump allies ranging from Vince McMahon to violent January 6 insurrectionists who attacked police officers have closed investigations or received pardons and commutations.  At the same time, perceived enemies-- whether they are prosecutors or FBI agents assigned to investigations of Mr. Trump or January 6 defendants --are fired right away or investigated for simply doing their jobs.
The message being sent is hard to miss. Under President Trump, federal law enforcement power will be unleashed on his political enemies, while his friends and political allies can count on a get-out-of-jail-free card.

 

That is the corruption of our justice system, to which the principled conservatives, Danielle Sassoon and Hagen Scotten, sacrificed their jobs to stand up against. It is time for the many Republican US Senators and Representatives who privately agree with these courageous former prosecutors to stop cowering—and speak out.