Trump Transforms the DOJ Into His Personal Law Firm

President Trump has remade the once independent Department of Justice into an agency devoted to exacting revenge against his perceived political enemies and enriching himself and his family. It is as if the DOJ’s sole client is the President, not the United States.

For over 100 years – except for the period surrounding the Watergate scandal in the 1970s in which the US Attorney General simultaneously chaired the president’s re-election campaign — an independent DOJ had been the norm, ensuring that it handles all matters according to the law and the facts — not to accomplish the President’s personal and political goals.

The DOJ Manual says this about communications with the White House:

The success of the Department of Justice depends upon the trust of the American people. That trust must be earned every day. And we can do so only through our adherence to the longstanding Departmental norms of independence from inappropriate influences, the principled exercise of discretion, and the treatment of like cases alike.

For more than four decades, the manual states that Attorneys General have established procedural safeguards designed to protect “law enforcement decisions, and our legal judgments, from partisan or other inappropriate influences…”

Not anymore. Barely a month after entering office the President issued an executive order ensuring “Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch,” including the attorney general.

To exert that control, Trump has appointed loyalists to do his bidding regardless of the law, the facts, or the manual’s guidelines. The two people he named to run the Justice Department lead the list of loyalists.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s former lead criminal defense lawyer, appointed first as Deputy Attorney General and then Attorney General. Blanche acknowledged at his confirmation hearing that his attorney-client relationship with the President was continuing. That appears to be true, given what Blanche has been doing for Trump. As Acting Attorney General, for example, he ramped up or approved the investigations of multiple Trump critics, including ex-CIA Director John Brennan, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Act Blue, the fundraising organization supporting Democratic candidates, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which advocates for civil rights.

Just this month, the DOJ under Blanche launched an antitrust investigation into ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News and CNN for pulling out of their pooled press coverage. The news outlets boycotted the pool to protest Trump’s banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House based on his displeasure with their reporting.

Also this month, Blanche’s DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security raided the home of Trump nemesis Representative Ilhan Omar. The timing of the search, 22 days before the midterm elections, appears to violate Justice Department policy of avoiding law enforcement actions against politicians within 60 days of elections. Officials say they’re looking into possible immigration fraud involving Omar, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Somalia. She became a citizen in 2000. The Wall Street Journal reports the administration is looking for grounds to strip her of her U.S. citizenship and deport her.

As for DHS, Trump appointed as secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former congressman and senator who claims, as does Trump, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and voted against certifying the results.

Then there was the case that Trump, his sons and the Trump organization filed against the IRS in January for $10 billion, pitting the President against his own administration. The DOJ under Blanche and, before him, Attorney General Pam Bondi, essentially offered no defense of the government. Blanche instead approved a so-called “settlement” that created a $1776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and further released the Trumps and their businesses of any claims that the IRS had or could have had for nonpayment of taxes. A District Court judge called the lawsuit a collusive “sham,” voided the settlement and sanctioned the parties in an order now on appeal.

Bondi, another former Trump defense lawyer, became his first attorney general. She quickly created the Weaponization Working Group to investigate Trump’s perceived enemies, targeting former FBI Director James Comey, California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. In April Trump fired Bondi, reportedly due to his displeasure over failed prosecutions and the handling of the Epstein files. Trump’s loyal attorneys general also have gone after former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and fed Governor Lisa Cook, who refused Trump’s demands to lower interest rates. Their prosecutions have fallen short. Trump is still accusing Cook of mortgage fraud even while acknowledging his real problem with her is her votes against his demand that the fed lower interest rates. Likewise, the Trump DOJ tried to persuade a grand jury to indict two Democratic senators and four House members who the president had called traitors. Their alleged crime was appearing in a video correctly stating that members of the military are not required to follow unlawful orders. A grand jury declined to indict. The list of Trump targets the DOJ has pursued doesn’t stop there. They include Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and four other Minnesota officials whom federal investigators subpoenaed only to be blocked by a federal judge.

The President, with support of loyalist public officials, has turned the once independent Department of Justice into his personal law firm to advance his retribution campaign against his perceived enemies and to further enrich himself and his family. These actions are an exigent threat to the Rule of Law and to our democracy.