An explosive report released by The New York Times on Tuesday evening revealed that President Donald Trump and his higher-ups forced out yet another federal prosecutor for refusing to pursue a case Trump really wanted that had insufficient evidence — and legal and political observers were gobsmacked.
Todd Gilbert, the former GOP Virginia House Speaker Trump appointed to head up the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia, was reportedly fired because he didn't feel there was evidence to charge agents investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election with mishandling classified information, and because he took the advice of a decades-long career prosecutor in his office who also didn't believe the case had merit. This comes amid the existing scandal about how Trump fired Virginia's other U.S. Attorney, Erik Siebert, for not prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey.
Commenters on social media were blown away by yet another installment of Trump's heavy hand on the Justice Department.
"Extraordinary NYT story: Trump’s DOJ pressured out another US Attorney in WESTERN Virginia for finding that a grand jury probe his bosses demanded was unwarranted," wrote legal reporter Adam Klasfeld. "They wanted a case discrediting the Russia probe — evidence be damned."
"The Department of Justice has been thoroughly corrupted by an unfit president, posing an extreme risk to liberty and the law, and we barely even notice at this point," wrote Never Trump conservative and Society for the Rule of Law director Gregg Nunziata, who prior to his current activism worked hand in hand with powerful GOP figures like Marco Rubio and now-Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).
Chris Cillizza, a former CNN commentator turned independent political writer, simply posted the meme of the "This is fine" dog trapped in a burning building.
Jason Calacanis, a wealthy investor who podcasts with Trump's AI czar David Sacks, said, "Will be interesting to see how many Trump appointed AGs resign instead of taking on the law fare assignments @PamBondi is demanding of them. Predict all these cases get tossed because of the deleted DM / Truth post by Trump to Bondi — which might have been on purpose?"
