A prominent legal analyst delivered a scathing takedown of the Justice Department's decision to charge a New Jersey congresswoman for her role in a confrontation outside a federal detention facility earlier this month.
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was charged by federal prosecutors with assaulting, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement officers during a clash outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark. Federal prosecutors said McIver elbowed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was part of a group of Democratic lawmakers and local officials visiting the facility to protest its use as a migrant holding center. The group said they sought to conduct legitimate congressional oversight.
Trump appointed Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said the Justice Department dropped trespassing charges against Baraka but proceeded with federal charges against McIver, citing body camera footage as evidence of her assault on law enforcement.
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McIver has vehemently denied the allegations and argued the charges are "purely political."
Attorney Norm Eisen, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a CNN legal analyst, agreed with McIver.
"We've all seen that video, and it's absurd to charge a member of Congress, Representative McIver, with doing anything other than doing her job!" he told MSNBC's Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee.
Eisen acknowledged the clash was an "intense situation," but insisted, "there was no crime there."
Eisen noted that in a separate case, Judge Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, was charged with federal offenses for helping an undocumented immigrant evade federal immigration authorities who were waiting outside her courtroom.
"The Department of Justice under Donald Trump and AG Pam Bondi is running amok!" Eisen railed. "Donald Trump promised he'd be a dictator on day one, he kept going, this is the latest example. No normal administration would do this. But the courts are going to have the last word with this. This will not stand."
Eisen expressed skepticism that the Trump administration will find a judge and jury who will rule in their favor.
"This is not going to be an easy case for the Department of Justice to win," he said. "We've seen the tape! She didn't do anything!"
He later continued his rant, "They are bullies. They are abusing the Constitution."
