Trump Says It’s His Right to Weaponize the Department of Justice
The president believes he has a “right” to use the Justice Department as his own personal law firm.
Speaking at the 74th National Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning, Donald Trump seemed to think that criticism of his intent to abuse the executive branch was all one big joke.
“And then they say, ‘Donald Trump is using the Justice Department to get even,’” Trump parroted through his teeth. “And I don’t. But wouldn’t I have a right to?
“Think of it. There’s never been a president in history treated the way I got treated,” he added.
But Trump does not have a right to utilize the DOJ for his personal whims. In the aftermath of former President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, Attorney General Griffin Bell laid out new bedrock principles in order to prevent the agency’s independence from crumbling under the pressure of the White House.
They included new procedures and principles to prevent partisan interests from influencing legal judgements, safeguards to protect the DOJ’s “neutral zone,” and assurances that the department’s attorneys “must always be committed to good judgment and integrity,” according to the Brenner Center for Justice.
And yet the agency has tossed out decades of precedent since Trump returned to office last year thanks to the stewardship of its leader, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has bent and capitulated to Trump and his whims at practically every turn.
Earlier this week, Justice Department officials began daily meetings to reignite efforts to investigate and punish government officials that played a role in investigating Trump prior to his return to the White House, meeting under the banner of Bondi’s “Weaponization Working Group.”
The group was designed to challenge former special counsel Jack Smith and his staff, as well as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The initiative would also target any officials that attempted to hold Trump accountable in the wake of the January 6 attack.