Trump DOJ prosecutors face 'public scoldings and tense discussions' over his revenge list
U.S. attorneys, acting or officially confirmed, are struggling amid President Donald Trump's ongoing demands to target his political enemies.
Already, the Justice Department has indicted former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Writing Thursday, MSNBC's Carol Leonnig, Vaughn Hillyard, Ken Dilanian and Lisa Rubin co-authored a report revealing U.S. attorneys are being heavily pressured to dig up charges against more Trump foes.
The report cited sources saying that Trump's "vows of vengeance" have turned into "public scoldings and tense discussions" among those in U.S. attorney offices in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland.
Prosecutors are pursuing probes demanded by Trump's political appointees, even when they fail to find evidence, the report said.
In Virginia, prosecutors specifically fear that the goal of targeting some individuals is to influence the upcoming November election. Virginia and New Jersey both hold off-year state elections that will happen this year.
"Fresh from indicting two of Trump’s top political targets in her first three weeks on the job, interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan this week continued to push prosecutors at her Eastern District of Virginia office to move quickly to charge another politically sensitive case," the report said.
The target is a Democratic state lawmaker who has been under investigation since the previous Joe Biden administration. The reporters were unable to uncover who the state lawmaker is, however.
Prosecutors in her office fear the efforts are violating the long-standing policy at the Justice Department that there must be no prosecutorial steps within 60 days of an election.
Halligan, who has never been a prosecutor, has been pressuring her team for updates about the lawmaker and even went so far as to demand a list of charges that could be brought by Wednesday of this week.
The former insurance lawyer claims she's simply doing work left by her predecessor's office. That office was led by another Trump loyalist, who claimed he couldn't find sufficient evidence to prosecute Comey and James.
When MSNBC reached out to Halligan over her pressuring of staff in the office, she focused instead on leaking information to the media.
“EDVA enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy on the unauthorized disclosure of information concerning ongoing investigations or cases,” she said in a statement. “Such leaks will be investigated to the maximum extent permitted by law.”
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