Countless leaks continue to jeopardize the Justice Department’s targeted prosecutions of President Donald Trump’s political adversaries in what critics have described as an “abuse of power,” and the reason, one former federal prosecutor says, is that DOJ insiders are hoping to “keep out of trouble.”
After a direct plea to do so from President Donald Trump, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted on charges of obstruction and perjury last month. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. Trump has also urged the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and more recently, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
All cases have hit roadblocks, however, often from leaks from within the DOJ, which Kristy Parker, former federal prosecutor and current attorney for the Protect Democracy, said Thursday on The New Republic’s “The Daily Blast” podcast was due in large part to DOJ officials wanting to protect their own livelihoods.
“Trump was given broad immunity for using his power with respect to the Department of Justice by the Supreme Court, and he’s clearly taken that and run with it, but the people below him don’t have that immunity,” Parker said.
“They’re not immune, and if they’re lawyers, they have to have licenses to practice law, and what we’re seeing is people actually caring to keep their law licenses and to keep themselves out of trouble, which is still something of a bulwark against bringing baseless cases forward and trying to get them indicted.”
In the most recent case of a leak undermining the Trump administration’s targeted prosecutions, Daniel Richman – a law professor who the DOJ alleges was granted authorization from Comey to leak information to the media – told investigators that Comey had explicitly asked him not to leak information to the press, which itself was leaked to ABC News and reported on Wednesday.
“The red lights don’t flash any brighter than when federal prosecutors go to the point of saying ‘I’ll quit my job if they tell me I have to indict this case,’” Parker said. “When you’re getting that kind of reporting, and seeing it come to fruition with people walking out the office door because they won’t go seek an indictment, that really tells you all you need to know.”
The New Republic Columnist Greg Sargent, host of “The Daily Blast” podcast, noted that the ongoing leaks and their subsequent damage to the DOJ’s targeted prosecutions were growing exponentially.
“The whole thing is in collapse,” Sargent said. “None of these cases are real, they’re like house of cards that are falling!”
