Mar 11, 2017

Trump's Mass U.S. Attorney Firings Protend Political Prosecutions

Trump repaints White House website as campaign for
a political movement. The United States Department of Justice
is following suit and is expected to act with malice.
President Donald Trump made a show of firing 46 Obama-era United States attorneys Friday following a broadcast by Sean Hannity, the Fox News commentator and Trump supporter who urged a "purge," (New York Times).

Trump reversed the administration's prior decision to keep on United States Attorney Preet Bharara, (Southern District of New York), who "has a reputation for prosecuting public corruption cases and for investigating insider trading," note Charlie Savage and Maggie Habermanmarch in this morning's New York Times.

The Bharara firing came "the same week that government watchdogs wrote to Mr. Bharara and urged him to investigate whether Mr. Trump had violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which bars federal officials from taking payments from foreign governments," notes the NYT.

The Trump administration continues its adversarial approach to government in which non-Trump supporters are viewed with suspicion and often outright hostility.

With the Office of United States Attorneys soon to be staffed with Trump-vetted ideologues, observers are watching to see what federal prosecutions result, and how this agency will be used for the benefit of the Trump administration and its allies.

The spirit of Robert H. Jackson is nowhere to be found in Washington, (United States Department of Justice), (The Federal Prosecutor).

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