One of Donald Trump's responses to special counsel Robert Mueller's appointment to investigate the Russian involvement in the 2016 election was to lash out at those he perceived as enemies against him.
One example was ordering an invasive IRS audit for former FBI officials Andrew McCabe and Jim Comey. Several lawyers on the Mueller team were also investigated and forced to fund their own costly legal defense funds.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace asked former Mueller senior prosecutor Andrew Weissmann about what would happen to those in Attorney General Merrick Garland's Justice Department.
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"He probably will never be impeached again, and the Supreme Court has given him absolute immunity," lamented Wallace.
Weissmann said the oath of office for anyone at the Justice Department guides them. However, if the plan is to remove those non-partisan civil servants and replace them with political ones, it means there won't be people left to call foul balls.
"I think one of the mistakes that people do make from this election, even with the results in terms of what's happened in Congress and the presidency, is for the people taking power to think that it's a mandate for the policies that they're advocating. And there really is, I think, a risk of them going way too far and over-reading the results of what happened."
He cautioned that the incoming administration is headed down an "autocratic route" and he's "alienating many of the people who were voting for Trump for other reasons."
"With the Department of Justice, it may not be at the top of everyone's mind," said Weissmann. "Obviously, for people like me, for lawyers, for people who have been in the department, I view it as a cornerstone of our democracy, and it's something that autocratic regimes, its one of the first things you go after to be able to take sort of, you know, exclusive and reclusive authority, and chill any sort of opposition to what you're doing."
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He repeated his caution of over-reading the election results.
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