#therealweaponizationofgovernment — Public Fediverse posts

Each of #EdMartin’s actions violates #DOJ rules and norms: Prosecutors are barred from making investigative decisions based on #politics; they are asked not to comment on specific cases; and they are supposed to avoid turning their investigations into public spectacles.

#Trump #law #RevengePolitics #AbuseOfPower #SeparationOfPowers #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

While he told an inquiring neighbor that he was “just looking at houses, interesting houses,” #EdMartin later appeared on FauxNews saying that, as a prosecutor, he wanted to see the property with his own eyes. It was the latest in a string of media appearances he made in relation to his investigation of #NYAG #LeticiaJames, one of #Trump’s most prominent adversaries.

#law #RevengePolitics #AbuseOfPower #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

#EdMartin did not waste any time. Days after Martin, a #Trump-aligned activist, was tapped by the #DOJ to investigate #NYAG #LetitiaJames, he wrote a letter to her lawyer saying he would take it as an act of “good faith” if she were to resign.

Martin followed up this breach of prosecutorial protocol by showing up outside Ms. James’s Brooklyn home, clad in a trench coat & posing for pictures for The New York Post.

#law #RevengePolitics #AbuseOfPower #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

In Pursuing #Trump Rival, *Weaponization Czar* Sidesteps #DOJ Norms

#EdMartin’s conduct is part of a pattern in which top administration officials try to [ab]use the vast powers of the government to cast the specter of criminality on Trump’s enemies.

#law #RevengePolitics #AbuseOfPower #SeparationOfPowers #DOJindependence #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/trump-letitia-james-weaponization-czar.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

#Trump Targets #WilmerHale, Citing #LawFirm’s Connection to #RobertMueller

#Mueller, who worked at WilmerHale before retiring in 2021, had investigated the Trump campaign’s ties to #Russia during Trump’s first term.

#law #RevengePolitics #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny #MafiaState #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/trump-wilmerhale-law-firm-mueller.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=EB968B02-59E6-44C9-B0A7-4057762D4A42

“That guidance, which is not legally binding, is significant in an administration that has vowed to upend the #DOJ & the #FBI, which #Trump & his allies have accused of mistreating him.

“…#Legal experts say the guidance could erode guardrails that have traditionally given the #Justice Department a degree of #independence from the White House that does not exist for other executive branch agencies.”

#law #impartiality #authoritarianism #democracy #TrumpCoup #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

#Trump White House says it
can talk to #Justice Dept on #criminal cases

“...explicitly saying the president & vice president & their top lawyers can discuss ongoing criminal & civil cases with the attorney general & her deputies, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post.”

#law #impartiality #authoritarianism #democracy #TrumpCoup #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/09/trump-justice-department-guidance-memo/

#MikeJohnson vowed to use House oversight powers while cutting funds in the #government appropriations process & taking other unspecified #legislative measures.

“We’re going to do everything we can, everything within our scope of our responsibility in the Congress, to address it appropriately,” Johnson said at his weekly news conference afterward.

#law #justice #obstruction #Congress #HouseRepublicans #Republicans #MAGA #Trump #CultOfPersonality #Autocracy #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

After a NY jury deemed #Trump a #felon last week, his staunchest supporters are focusing on what they allege is a weaponized #justice sys by ramping up #House investigations & *stalling* [ #obstruction ] regular business in the #Democratic-led #Senate.

#House Spkr #MikeJohnson broadly outlined a “3-pronged approach” Tues during a weekly conference on how the #Republican majority can #target the #DOJ, #NewYork & other jurisdictions for investigating Trump.

#law #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

#GOP plans aggressive *weaponization* [ #projection ] *investigations* [ #disinformation ] in wake of #Trump #conviction

#House Spkr #MikeJohnson vowed to use oversight powers & other measures to target jurisdictions pursuing prosecutions of Trump.

#Republicans in #Congress doubled down on their defense of Trump after his conviction on 34 counts related to falsifying business records.

#law #justice #obstruction #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/04/gop-trump-house-weaponization-investigations/

“That #ConspiracyTheory is an attack on the #judicial process itself,” #MerrickGarland said, adding that there has been an increase in “baseless & extremely dangerous falsehoods” being spread against #FBI agents & prosecutors.

“These repeated attacks on the #Justice Dept are unprecedented & they are unfounded,” #Garland said. “These attacks have not, & they will not, #influence our decision-making.”

#law #HouseRepublicans #GOP #StochasticTerrorism #democracy #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

#Garland also rebutted #Republicans’ criticism of #Trump’s #conviction last week in NY state court on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records…. Trump & his #GOP allies have falsely claimed that #state prosecutors brought the case at the urging of the #Biden admin & the #DOJ, even though #federal prosecutors had declined to pursue the matter.

#law #HouseRepublicans #GOP #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

“Certain members of this Cmte & the Oversight Cmte are seeking #contempt as a means of obtaining — for no legitimate purpose — sensitive #law enforcement information that could harm the integrity of future investigations,” #MerrickGarland told *lawmakers* in his opening remarks at the hearing. “This effort is only the most recent in a long line of #attacks on the #Justice Department’s work.”

#law #HouseRepublicans #GOP #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment

‘I will not be intimidated’: #Garland rebuts #contempt #threats from #HouseRepublicans

AG #MerrickGarland used an appearance on Capitol Hill on Tues to forcefully defend the #DOJ against “repeated attacks” from #Republican *lawmakers* that have undermined investigations & put federal employees in #harm’s way.

#law #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/06/04/merrick-garland-testimony-judiciary-fbi-trump/

#HouseRepublicans voted to reduce the #salary of #DefSec #LloydAustin to $1, as #RightWing lawmakers tried to transform a #Pentagon spending bill & a series of other funding measures into #weapons to take aim at President #Biden, his agenda & his top officials..

#NationalSecurity #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment #Extremism #GOP #Republicans #MAGA
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/us/politics/house-republicans-lloyd-austin-salary.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The fighting words come as #FEMA’s #DisasterRelief #fund is rapidly running out of #money in the wake of #Idalia, unprecedented #flooding in #Vermont & devastating #wildfires in #Maui.

#Scientists say #ClimateChange is increasing the frequency & intensity of such #WeatherDisasters, further straining FEMA’s #budget & personnel.

#ForMeButNotForThee #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment #AbuseOfPower #PublicDisservice #PoliticsOfAppeasement #GovernmentShutdown

Rep #RalphNorman (R), whose state was also inundated by #flooding from #Idalia, told reporters yesterday that it would be “unacceptable” to pass a #stopgap #funding bill that doesn’t offer these #concessions….

“It’s time to fight,” Norman said. “If it shuts the government down, shut it down.”

#ForMeButNotForThee #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment #AbuseOfPower #PublicDisservice #PoliticsOfAppeasement #GovernmentShutdown

In a fiery (#performative) floor speech yesterday, #Gaetz vowed that if House *Speaker* #KevinMcCarthy seeks to pass government #funding #legislation w/o including any #concessions to the #FreedomCaucus, he will trigger a vote to #depose #McCarthy.

#ForMeButNotForThee #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment #AbuseOfPower #PublicDisservice #PoliticsOfAppeasement

‘Shut it down’

Some #FloridaRepublicans also support demands from the #FarRight #HouseFreedomCaucus to attach other #conservative priorities to a short-term #funding bill to keep the #government running past Sept. 30.

In addition to “no blank check for #Ukraine,” the #FreedomCaucus is demanding more funding for #BorderSecurity, #cuts to the #DOJ & the #FBI, & an end to “#woke” policies at the #DOD.

#ForMeButNotForThee #TheRealWeaponizationOfGovernment #AbuseOfPower #PublicDisservice