FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump walks with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as he visits the Department of Justice to address its workers, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is on the verge of creating one of the "darkest moments" in American history, according to one expert.
Last week, Trump's DOJ filed a lawsuit against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, accusing them of criminally impeding the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The lawsuit was filed after both Walz and Frey called on Trump to recall ICE following the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, a mother who was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while she was leaving the scene of an ICE raid in her neighborhood.
Voting rights lawyer Marc Elias discussed the DOJ's lawsuit on a new episode of "The Legal Breakdown" with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen.
"We are beyond a five-alarm fire," Elias said. "This, if it moves forward, would spell the darkest moment in American history in recent times. The idea that a governor or a mayor cannot communicate freely with their voters, with their citizens, about the threats faced in their state and their city, that they cannot communicate with their citizens about steps that those citizens can take to keep themselves and their communities and their families safe."
"This is not just chilling. This is an Arctic freeze when it comes to the First Amendment," Elias continued. "It is blatantly unconstitutional. It is an affront to the First Amendment. It will not sustain constitutional scrutiny."
Even if the courts slap down the lawsuit, Elias warned that the damage may already be done.
"The damage is done to freedom of speech at the point at which the Department of Justice is so compromised and so weaponized against Democrats and elected officials that you know this is not going to be easy to recover from," he said.