DOJ Independence Is Gone. What Are You Going to Do About It?

The firewall between the White House and the Department of Justice exists because of Watergate. Nixon tried to use federal law enforcement to destroy his enemies and got caught. Reforms followed. Those reforms kept DOJ independent from presidential whims for 50 years. That’s over now. More than 100 prosecutors and career lawyers have walked out of DOJ since January, and many told the New York Times they left because of political interference and orders to drop cases involving Trump allies. When career U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert said the evidence against James Comey wasn’t there, Trump fired him. He replaced Siebert with Lindsey Halligan, his personal defense lawyer, who had never prosecuted a case in her life. She got an indictment in weeks. Then Trump posted publicly to Attorney General Pam Bondi complaining that his enemies were “guilty as hell” but nothing was being done. That post alone should alarm every American who believes in equal justice. The president now calls himself the “chief law enforcement officer.” That title belongs to the Attorney General. He put Ed Martin in charge of a “Weaponization Working Group” to go after people who investigated January 6th. Martin promoted the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Bondi went on Fox News and rattled off who might be next: former FBI directors, intelligence officials, state AGs, billionaires who funded campaigns against Trump. Richard Painter, a former White House ethics counsel, said it plainly: “A representative democracy risks descending into a system where political enemies are punished and allies protected. This is the type of thing that happens in Putin’s Russia.” I’m asking you to say something. Publicly. Loudly. Demand oversight hearings. Block nominees whose only qualification is loyalty. The Constitution doesn’t enforce itself. Congress has to do that. And right now, you and we are running out of time.