All posts tagged "justice department"

'Cornered animal': Ex-prosecutor issues dark warning as Trump gets more desperate

A former prosecutor signaled that President Donald Trump faces a number of heightened challenges, including a dilemma over the Department of Justice.

In a live video conversation between Joyce Vance and Alex Wagner on Substack Friday, Vance suggested that a power struggle was happening behind-the-scenes at the Department of Justice since former Attorney General Pam Bondi has left and an embattled Trump faces a growing number of obstacles from voter dissatisfaction over the economy, the war in Iran and opposition to his ballroom ambitions — all with midterms on the horizon.

"Donald Trump is like a cornered animal right now," Vance said. "He can read the polls. He's got troubles in Iran."

Vance mentioned how Trump's questionable ties to late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have also continued to plague his presidency, noting a Jim Comey AI meme she saw on social media that read "release the Epstein files" using beach seashells — similar to the Comey Instagram post that prompted an indictment this week.

"So much of this is a reaction to that. And so I think the more cornered Trump is, the more the people who are trying to curry favor with him are likely to act out. And it's not just Todd Blanche, right? We know that he has competition for the top spot," Vance said.

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has been mentioned as a potential contender to lead the DOJ, Vance explained. So has Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the DOJ.

"I'm sure there is a cast of thousands trying to compete for the job," Vance said.

Legal News Du Jour by Joyce Vance

A recording from Joyce Vance and Alex Wagner's live video

Read on Substack

'Indict over it?' Republican grilled as Trump DOJ charges James Comey over 'seashells'

CNN anchor Brianna Keilar pressed Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) as Trump's Department of Justice moved forward with a second indictment against former FBI Director James Comey that stemmed from an image of seashells that said "8647."

Keilar was speaking with Alford during a live broadcast from Capitol Hill when the news surfaced that Comey was facing a second indictment and that it was over an image he had apparently posted and later removed on Instagram of a seashell formation on a beach walk in North Carolina. The caption on his post said, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."

"Is that serious enough to merit [an indictment]?" Keilar asked.

"James Comey is a very intelligent man. I would assume he knows what the term 86 means," Alford said. "I was a waiter for some time when you 86 an order, you kill the order when you. 8645, that is tantamount to saying killing the president of the United States. He should have known that,"

Keilar pushed back on Alford's comments.

"When you 86 an order, you get rid of the order, right. But you're not actually I mean, you're not killing the food. I just want to be clear," Keilar added.

"When you entered the order, when you use the same principle, Brianna, we can, we can agree to disagree," Alford responded.

"I hear what you're saying, but there could be room for debate on that," Keilar said.

"Why even put something out there like that?" Alford asked.

"I mean, a very good question, but do you, a very good question. I mean, do you indict over it is my question?" Keilar pressed again.

"I don't I have not seen this specific indictment. What is the charge?" Alford asked.

The exact charge or charges have not been immediately released.

Trump's DOJ moves forward with second indictment against ex-FBI Director James Comey

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by Trump's Department of Justice — again — on Tuesday, CNN reported.

The charges behind the second indictment were not immediately released.

President Donald Trump has targeted his perceived political enemies throughout his second administration. He has argued that Comey, whom he believed was leading the alleged efforts to "weaponize" the justice system.

Comey served as FBI Director from 2013 to 2017. Trump fired him in May 2017 during his first administration, a dismissal that sparked controversy and led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly criticized Comey since his dismissal, alleging that Comey mishandled the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails and later the Russia probe, and has accused the former FBI director of bias against his administration.

Both Fox News and CNN reported that the latest indictment relates to his "8647" seashell post on Instagram.

Disbelief as DOJ resurrects violent execution method: 'Anyone anywhere asking for this?'

Reactions erupted online Friday after President Donald Trump's Department of Justice announced it would reintroduce execution by firing squad.

The death penalty method had been under moratorium since the Biden administration, but the announcement in a press release on Friday revealed the DOJ had decided to reverse the move in an aggressive pivot.

“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

People were shocked by the decision on social media.

"So the government that can't deliver mail reliably now gets to decide who dies and how?" Political commentator Joe Lowson wrote on X.

"Wealthy men in suits who have never seen up close or engaged in violence now seemingly obsessed by it," television personality Damon Bennett wrote on X.

"Was anyone anywhere asking for this? The lack of focus on the real issues is frightening," Peter Hopey, writer and former columnist for the Bleacher report, posted on X.

"Let's see how this one plays out," film critic April Wolfe wrote on Bluesky.

"I thought this was an Onion headline at first," Cristóbal Muñoz, who self-identifies as a Southern California Business owner, wrote on Bluesky.

MS NOW appalled as GOP turns hearing for ex-Trump lawyer into a 'trip into bizarro world'

President Donald Trump's former attorney Jeffrey Clark testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill, with Republicans giving him a platform to challenge former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation, an MS NOW analyst reported.

Ken Dilanian, MS NOW justice and intelligence correspondent, pointed out how Clark, who played a key role in Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and was pardoned by the president in 2025, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in Smith's investigation into the fake electors scheme as Republicans were continuing to take on Smith's probe. Democrats argue Clark continues to promote conspiracy theories.

And in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Clark tried to make several arguments tied to his past comments.

"This hearing was a trip into bizarro world, where Republican senators who really should know better, essentially tried to make the case that the Jack Smith investigation of Donald Trump's alleged conspiracy to try to overturn the 2020 election, which involved a lot of figures, including Jeffrey Clark, was somehow an improper weaponization full of misconduct by FBI agents and prosecutors," Dilanian said.

"There's no evidence of that — no matter how hard they try to argue it," he added.

"And what was so interesting about this hearing is that they bring Jeffrey Clark to testify," Dilanian explained. "Jeffrey Clark tried to essentially co-opt the Justice Department into claiming fraud when there was no fraud. And he was indicted in Georgia over those allegations. And he was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Jack Smith case. And had he succeeded, there might have been a very different outcome in 2020. But the fact is, Donald Trump wanted to make him attorney general. But every single senior official in Donald Trump's Justice Department threatened to resign if he did that, and Trump backed down. And now these Republican senators are trying to make Jeffrey Clark into some kind of hero and victim."

Clark has been facing disbarment in Washington, D.C.

Justice Department has 'gone off the rails' for Trump's 'pretzel logic': analysis

The Justice Department is bending to what Donald Trump wants to happen on the birthright citizenship case, a legal analyst has warned.

Joyce Vance, the former US state attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, warned that the DoJ has lost its way in its willingness to back the president's executive order. Trump signed an executive order into law on January 20, 2025, detailing new guidelines for what would and would not constitute birthright citizenship.

The move from Trump's administration was challenged by at least 10 lawsuits, with the Supreme Court now holding a hearing on whether the executive order can stand. Trump's team has argued that the birthright citizenship featured in the 14th Amendment had been exploited.

Vance has since analyzed the response from two conservative judges, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, with their stance on the executive order deemed contradictory to their previous statements regarding other legal hold-ups.

Vance also named Solicitor General D. John Sauer as a person using the Justice Department to back Trump's executive order in her recent Substack post.

"Conservative justices, including Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito, have all strongly opposed using foreign law to interpret the Constitution, rejecting it as undercutting our democratic sovereignty," Vance wrote. "Conservative justices objected to the use of foreign precedents when they were the dissenters in cases involving the death penalty for juveniles and laws regulating sexual conduct.

"But now, and in a case where it’s the opposite of U.S. law, the Solicitor General felt free to call upon foreign precedent.

"I’m belaboring this relatively minor point from the argument to show just how far this Justice Department, including the Solicitor General’s office, which is uniquely powerful and traditionally independent, has gone off the rails in service of what Donald Trump wants.

"Sauer’s willingness to wade in with this argument shows how willing this Justice Department is to contort itself into pretzel logic in service of Trump and abandon long-established conservative beliefs.

"But it’s also unlikely that this argument scored points with any of the justices who weren’t already inclined to go along with it no matter how contrary to existing law. It was a show for the audience of one who reclined in the courtroom, where he didn’t belong."

Bondi may have doomed prosecution of Dem candidate by 'saying quiet part out loud': report

Pam Bondi may have doomed the prosecution of a Democratic Party candidate with a recent statement, a legal analyst has warned.

The Department of Justice head could have landed herself in hot water with the title of a recent press release, according to legal expert Adam Klasfeld. The Legal AF analyst suggested a memo delivered by Bondi's team regarding California's EV Mandate could sway active cases because of how she referred to the department.

The title of the memo, "President Trump's Justice Department & Transportation Department Sue to Stop California's Illegal EV Mandate" could be contentious, Klasfield has claimed, because of how it refers to the DoJ.

"Attorney General Pam Bondi said the quiet part out loud this week when she put those words at the start of a Justice Department press release, making it eminently clear who she thinks she works for," Klasfield said. "Not for the American people, not for the constitution of the United States, but for Donald Trump.

"This was obvious to anyone who was paying attention to how Pam Bondi has been running the Justice Department since her tenure began. But it's worth pointing out that before she was confirmed to that office, she swore an oath to Congress that she would do no such thing."

Bondi's memo title could also affect the prosecution of Chicago Democratic Party candidate Kat Abughazaleh. Abughazaleh is fighting charges of attempting to obstruct law enforcement, and Bondi's recent memo could be fuel for her defense, Klasfeld wrote.

Abughazaleh, a primary candidate in the Chicago election, is one of four defendants looking to have charges dismissed following a protest at an Illinois ICE facility. Klasfield points out the Dem candidate had been protesting the enforcement of "Trump's weaponization and corruption of the Justice Department.

"It is well documented that President Trump and his administration, without precedent, has repeatedely and openly taken steps to improperly bend their partner justice towards his personal and political interests,' Klasfeld wrote.

"Indeed, illustrating the White House's influence over the once independent DoJ, just two weeks ago, a large banner of President Trump's image was placed over the front entryway of the DoJ headquarters in Washington D.C."

A court filing regarding Abughazaleh's case also notes the "weaponization of the Department of Justice and federal courts to retaliate against perceived political enemies." Bondi's naming of the department as "President Trump's Justice Department" could give that claim weight, Klasfeld wrote.

Another Senate embarrassment looms for embattled Trump prosecutor: reports

Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was expected to get another round of embarrassment from Senate Democrats, according to reports Friday.

President Donald Trump's former attorney and pick for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has continued her role — despite calls for her to resign — while the Trump administration has pushed forward her nomination in the Senate, according to The Daily Beast.

Two Virginia senators were expected to block Halligan "using internal veto power by refusing to return a blue slip that indicates support for a home-state judicial nominee," Semafor reported.

Virginia Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have not said they would block her specifically, but Warner told Semafor it would be "very hard" for her to get approved.

A judge ruled in November that Halligan was never officially appointed to her position, ultimately dismissing the DOJ cases against former FBI director James Comey and Letitia James after finding her appointment was invalid. Trump's Justice Department tried again to indict James for a second time and failed Thursday after a grand jury in Virginia refused to return a fraud indictment against James.

Last week, three judges slammed Trump's Justice Department for keeping Lindsey Halligan's name on court documents. A district court judge and two magistrate judges in Alexandria, Virginia, said in an open court to prosecutors that they didn't think Halligan's name should be on any of the new criminal case filings, including guilty plea documents or indictments, following a decision last week that stated she is not the U.S. attorney.

'The ham sandwich wins': Trump admin shamed over another failure to indict Trump foe

Amused observers weighed in Thursday after President Donald Trump's Justice Department failed again to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James and suffered yet another embarrassing attempt.

A grand jury in Virginia refused to return a fraud indictment against James — who Trump has called an enemy — the second time this has happened since the original case against her was thrown out.

Social media observers applauded the news.

"Good!" former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega wrote on X.

"Man @realDonaldTrump is 0-4 against @TishJames. That's a series Sweep!" Comedia Hal for NY wrote on X.

"Again! The ham sandwich wins," Attorney and legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold wrote on X.

"Bondi has just failed for the 2nd time in a week to re-indict Leticia (sic) James. We have never had such feckless, incompetent, partisan AG in US history," Rutgers professor James Tepper wrote on X.

"Third time will be a charm," journalist Sam Stein mocked on X.

"The GJ are waking up. Good luck getting indictments. Let's move on to Comey that won't bode well either," attorney and former judge Tracey Gallagher wrote on X.

"Trump’s got nothing on her. His only performing for the bloodthirsty and cruelty aroused MAGA cult. AG James is winning because she’s innocent," veteran and banker Evaristus Odinikaeze wrote on X.

Trump filing 'infused with disdain' seeks to keep Jack Smith's final report secret

President Donald Trump wants to keep former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report classified, according to a new court filing Tuesday.

In the filing from his personal lawyer, the president told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a judge he appointed and his first direct request of her — to continue an extension on an 11-month order to block the Justice Department from sharing the report, Politico reported.

Smith submitted it just before Trump's second inauguration and reportedly tells the story of the criminal case against the president after he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, including in a bathroom.

"Trump’s request is a break from the Justice Department’s handling of all special counsel reports in recent decades. Typically, those reports are provided to Congress and made public, even when they have included damaging findings about the incumbent administration. DOJ released another report Smith compiled detailing his findings about Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election shortly before President Joe Biden left office," according to Politico.

"The filing is infused with the typical disdain Trump has expressed for his former prosecutors, labeling Smith a 'so-called special counsel' and saying the case was 'marred by numerous deficiencies and repeated abuses of office,'" the outlet reported.