GOP senator demands DOJ investigate reporter who wrote about potential Trump dictatorship

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is demanding the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into Robert Kagan, the Washington Post columnist who wrote an op-ed warning of a potential Donald Trump dictatorship.

According to Fox News, Vance is accusing Kagan of inciting "open rebellion" against the United States, for suggesting in his article, "A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending," that Democratic-controlled states might resist federal power under a second Trump term should he move to enact his controversial plans to reshape the federal government to do his bidding.

"Resistance could come from the governors of predominantly Democratic states such as California and New York through a form of nullification," wrote Kagan. "States with Democratic governors and statehouses could refuse to recognize the authority of a tyrannical federal government. That is always an option in our federal system," he added that this sort of standoff is also possible from Republican-controlled states under a second Biden term.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Vance claimed that this amounts to inciting insurrection.

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"As you know, prosecutors in the Department of Justice have embraced several stunningly broad interpretations of federal law in their bid to ensnare President Trump in criminal wrongdoing," wrote Vance. "For example, prosecutors ... argue that President Trump has conspired to 'threaten' or 'intimidate' one or more persons in their free exercise of the 'right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted.' By that standard, I would like to know whether a supporter of President Trump might be 'intimidate[d]' into foregoing the right to vote after learning that Robert Kagan has encouraged large blue states to rebel against the United States if Trump is elected. If so, I wonder further whether the editors of The Washington Post, having put Kagan’s call to arms in print, might have conspired to suppress the vote."

Columnists enjoy broad-based protection to engage in such hypothetical scenarios by virtue of the First Amendment.

However, Vance's demand to prosecute an opinion columnist comes as allies of Trump are ramping up their threats to curtail press freedom under a second Trump term. Kash Patel, a top security official in the Trump administration, threatened that Trump will "come after" reporters and other "conspirators" in media who "helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections."