Trump tweet was impeachment fodder
Justice isn’t there to ensure ‘easy’ GOP wins
That’s it. Line crossed.
It came Monday when President Donald Trump tweeted: “Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff.”
In other words, Trump is angry that his attorney general did not put party politics ahead of enforcing the law. He thinks the Justice Department should have suppressed the charges against Reps. Chris Collins of New York and Duncan Hunter of California because bringing those charges might cost Republicans two safe House seats.
This is exactly what the rule of law does not look like.
When it comes to enforcing the law, it should be — and up until now, it has been — completely irrelevant whether a politician was “popular” or “Republican,” how close the midterms were or even whether the target of the investigation was going to have an “easy win.” The Justice Department carries out its investigations with all deliberate speed and files criminal charges as appropriate, all without giving any consideration as to who might be helped or hurt.
A member of Congress cannot even be investigated, much less charged, until the U.S. attorney’s office consults with the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section. On top of that, both U.S. attorneys bringing these cases are Trump administration appointees. This is not a partisan “witch hunt,” though Trump tries to make it sound like one.
Hunter’s situation recalls what happened to Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, an Illinois Democrat prosecuted by Bill Clinton’s Democratic administration. Amid a well-publicized corruption investigation, Rostenkowski won his primary. As in Hunter’s case, Justice filed formal criminal charges before the general election. Despite a supposedly safe seat, Rostenkowski lost the general election and eventually went to prison.
So the idea that Justice is doing something outrageous is ridiculous. This has been standard operating procedure for many decades. What is outrageous is Trump’s assumption that the department should be politicized.
Whether you support Trump or not, you should be horrified by the idea that the Justice Department ought to protect the president’s friends and punish his enemies. With Trump running the show, you might think it’s a fine idea. When, say, Elizabeth Warren is president and decides to follow Trump’s example and weaponize the Justice Department, how will you feel then?
If you do support Trump and his agenda, there is another reason to speak up for a Justice Department that enforces the law without fear or favor. It is because Trump’s tweet castigating Sessions is the single most serious and potentially impeachable thing he has ever done. He is denigrating one of the cornerstones of our entire constitutional system of government.
If Trump is not quickly and sharply educated, he will eventually act on what to him seems a perfectly logical idea: The Justice Department exists to do his personal bidding. That would be a disaster, for his presidency and for America’s political system.
Congress needs to take immediate steps to make its displeasure known. Perhaps it could pass a joint resolution condemning Trump’s tweet and affirming the necessity of an apolitical Justice Department. In addition to defending the rule of law, such a resolution would help separate the sheep from the goats. Anyone in Congress who is not “brave” enough to take a public stand against turning the Justice Department into the enforcement arm of a new Committee to Re-elect the President has no business in public life.
Many things we have taken for granted are now in question. But one thing we cannot allow to be normalized, one line we cannot cross, is the corruption of our justice system.
No matter what.