Ex-prosecutor raises huge red flag over Trump move that 'might not seem like a big deal'

Of all the things Donald Trump is doing, there is one that isn't getting as much attention, but should be, according to a former prosecutor.

Ex-federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote a piece on Substack called Investigating the Police, in which she covers the recent news that Trump's DOJ is investigating whether the D.C. Police Department manipulated data to make crime rates appear lower, a move the legal expert called as "performative as sending battleships to fight a cartel."

"Trump needed to save face. Hence the investigation," Vance wrote. "Trump, by the way, took to social media to post about the probe: 'D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety. This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!' he wrote on Truth Social. Predictably, he’s tying this to his decision to send federal law enforcement officers and the D.C. National Guard onto the city’s streets."

She goes on to explain what she believes to be Trump's motive.

"Occam’s razor suggests that the simplest explanation is usually the best one. Trump is trying to justify his unpopular strongman tactic in D.C. This is a familiar refrain we’ve heard from him before—calling for a phony investigation to give him room to maneuver," Vance wrote. "Under the Biden, Obama, or Bush administrations, word of an investigation like this would have been viewed as one being conducted in good faith. But there is no more presumption of regularity with this administration, which has stretched the limits of the rule of law and even now has launched criminal investigations into Trump enemies like New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, despite claims from DOJ officials during their confirmations that there was no revenge agenda. This is exactly what we warned about before the election. Using prosecutions as a political weapon is the hallmark of a would-be dictator in a banana republic."

According to Vance, "An investigation like this might not seem like a big deal given the broader scope of events this week. Sometimes it’s the details that let us see the forest."

Read the full post on Substack here.