Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Michael Ciaglo
Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman said the department he once worked for is facing its “worst crisis” ahead of a second Trump administration. This month’s election of President-elect Donald Trump has been the death knell for the criminal cases in which he has been indicted. On Monday, D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Trump’s Jan. 6 case dismissed after Special Counsel Jack Smith requested it.
Smith is also ending the prosecution of Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, which had been tossed by District Judge Aileen Cannon and was pending appeal before the 11th Circuit. Meanwhile, Trump’s sentencing in his New York state criminal trial has been postponed, and the judge is considering dismissing the case. Finally, Trump’s criminal prosecution on state charges in Georgia is all but dead.
In classic Trump fashion, the president-elect took a victory lap on Monday, stating, “I persevered, against all odds, and WON. ”Trump has nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a fierce loyalist, as U.S. attorney general. The president-elect has spent years railing against the Department of Justice, which he sometimes calls “the deep state,” as a corrupt and partisan organization that has sought to undermine him. On Monday, Ed O’Keefe of CBS News spoke with Litman about the state of morale in the DOJ.
“What’s it like for the career attorneys at the Justice Department who see these cases falling apart?” O’Keefe asked. “Are they demoralized by this, or are they kind of like, ‘Well, them’s the rules. We just gotta do what the rules say’?”
Litman replied:
No, this is not a “Them’s the rules as usual” kind of situation. You know, it’s not simply these cases falling apart, but the assertion of the power just from the president to make them fall apart and other things that are contemplated for the DOJ. We have a really demoralized career staff, people putting their resumes on the street, people being really afraid of what Trump’s entry will mean for the storied DOJ function of doing justice without fear or favor. This is the worst crisis I’ve ever seen in DOJ history.
“And that is exactly how the president-elect wants it to some extent,” O’Keefe responded. “He’s trying to disrupt the federal government. Might as well start with the Justice Department.”
