'It's a joke': Expert warns grand jury misconduct has become routine under Trump DOJ

Misconduct in front of grand juries is now routine for the Department of Justice under Trump, warned a legal expert.

"Did grand jury abuses happen? Yes, but very, very rarely," Michael Popok said about previous administrations during the latest episode of his podcast, Legal AF. "But now, when you hollow out the Department of Justice, when tens of thousands of people and your brain drain happened, and they're not really replaced with anybody of anywhere close to competency...now, it's a joke."

Popok was discussing allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the DOJ's botched case against the "Broadview Six," a group of protesters who were federally charged in 2025 after demonstrating outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.

On Thursday, Judge April Perry called out DOJ prosecutors for prosecutorial misconduct. A U.S. Attorney dropped the charges against the Broadview Six later that day, and, on Friday, the former lead prosecutor for the case, Sheri Macklenburg, was dismissed from a temporary role with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"It's remarkable," Popok said. "The DOJ had to confess to Judge Perry that there was an extraordinary amount of grand jury misconduct by their own prosecutor."

Popok said that even though grand jury transcripts would make "your eyes pop out of your head," it wasn't "the first time we've heard about a prosecutor who misled a grand jury and got caught."

He went on to explain, alongside his guest, journalist Adam Klasfeld, that the other obvious example is DOJ prosecutor Lindsey Halligan's handling of a criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey.

In November, a federal magistrate judge said "government misconduct" may have tainted Halligan's effort to bring an indictment against Comey, according to reporting by Politico. Klasfeld noted that "the full grand jury didn't see the final indictment."

"When I look at the Broadview Six, the party that's making a mockery of the justice system here is the Trump Justice Department," Klasfeld said. "I haven't seen anything like this, and to Michael's point, this isn't the first time it happened in terms of funny business before a grand jury."

Popok explained, "It's just a reflection that they're out of gas, and led by a feckless attorney general."