You may recall that Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly and four Democratic representatives were targeted by Donald Trump for making a video advising servicemembers they have a duty not to obey illegal orders. Felon Trump was so triggered by it, he accused the six of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
Despite acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s attempts to charge the six with seditious conspiracy for urging people to follow the law, the only punishment likely to be imposed is one on Trump’s DOJ when the Democrats sue.
Carol Leonnig, senior investigative reporter for MS Now, talked with host Chris Hayes about Pirro’s grand fail.
“I’ve got to say, the number of times now that the Justice Department has sought to bring charges against people Donald Trump has targeted personally for criminal prosecution and failed is really growing,” Leonnig said. “The grand jury says that government did not even meet the low bar, a very low bar to bring charges.”
Leonnig called it “wholly unprecedented” that a prosecutor would open an investigation and go before a grand jury within a few weeks in order to try to indict six members of Congress just because Felonious Trump had a temper tantrum over their video.
NBC News pointed out that under long-standing Justice Department policy, the Public Integrity Section would have to sign off on “every step of an investigation into a sitting member of Congress.” But the Trump administration dismantled the Public Integrity Section, along with checks preventing the DOJ from bringing these kinds of political prosecutions.
Now, Trump’s and his DOJ’s corrupt incompetence has come back to bite them bigly. Again. NBC notes that the Trump DOJ twice failed to obtain indictments of another Trump political foe, New York Attorney General Letitia James. That was after charges against her and one more Trump foe, former FBI director James Comey were dismissed due to an “unlawfully appointed” prosecutor.
As for Pirro, she was unable to convict a man who threw a sandwich at one of Trump’s federal officers occupying D.C.
On social media, Slotkin pointed out the big picture beyond Pirro’s embarrassing loss.
“Today wasn’t just an embarrassing day for the Administration. It was another sad day for our country," Slotkin wrote. "Because whether or not Pirro succeeded is not the point. It’s that President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies. It’s the kind of thing you see in a foreign country, not in the United States we know and love."
