In Oval Office Screed, Trump Shows Who’s Really Running DOJ
INSIDE: Pam Bondi ... Todd Blanche ... Kash Patel
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
DOJ Officials ‘Smiled, Nodded and Shuffled’
One of the many challenges of the current moment is that the depravities and depredations become so routinized and regular that they cease to be new in the news sense.
At this point, I’ve written dozens of Morning Memos that headline President Trump’s politicization and weaponization of the Justice Department. It remains the linchpin of all of Trump’s rule of law violations because without a functioning, professional, independent Justice Department, no federal laws will be reliably enforced. To anyone paying attention, this is no longer news but an established fact, a premise from which to proceed.
And yet … each week brings some new extreme — in either intensity, extent, or brazenness —that warrants documenting again the descent into authoritarianism.
Yesterday in an Oval Office event ostensibly focused on combatting violent crime, President Trump’s lawless abuse of the Justice Department was on full display in the immediate presence of the attorney general, deputy attorney general, and FBI director.
In response to a question, Trump lashed out at former DOJers who, much to his chagrin. have not yet been criminally charged as part of his campaign of retribution. Clearly annoyed by former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s most extensive public remarks to date, Trump zeroed in on the interview Smith gave to former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann last week in London:
“Deranged Jack Smith, in my opinion, is a criminal. His interviewer was Weissmann. I hope they’re going to look into Weissmann too. Weissmann’s a bad guy. And he had somebody, Lisa, who was his puppet, worked in the office really as the top person — and I think she should be looked at very strongly. There was tremendous criminal activity…They have committed massive political crime. I hope they’re looking at Shifty Schiff. I hope they’re looking at all these people. And I’m allowed to find out — I’m, in theory, the chief law enforcement officer.”
Lisa is a reference to former deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the No. 2 during the Biden administration. Trump has already demanded that Microsoft fire her from a senior position with the company. The video of Trump’s screed:
Trump has said these things before, but the setting and the presence of the three most significant DOJ officials is the clearest, most unmistakeable sign we have yet that the Justice Department is being run out of the White House. “They smiled, nodded and shuffled in place as he spoke,” the NYT reports.
Even if Trump veils his remarks ever so slightly by couching them in terms of what he “hopes” the three officials standing next to him will do, we know better that to treat that as any more than window-dressing.
Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, and Kash Patel may be fools but they’re not foolish. They know their marching orders, whether they’re given with a sly wink in public, or in private direct messages mistakenly posted publicly, or barked directly in closed Oval Office meetings. Their muted acquiescence in Trump’s Oval Office set-piece shows the center of gravity in their world is no longer Main Justice but the White House.
The retribution campaign is in full swing with the indictments of Jim Comey and Letitia James. No one is safe from a weaponized Justice Department or, as it turns out, a weaponized IRS.
Trump Moves to Weaponize the IRS
Anyone who endured the many months of manufactured Republican outrage over the IRS supposedly (but not actually) targeting conservative groups during the Obama administration can be forgiven for pulling their hair out as the Trump administration moves to make it easier for the IRS to target liberal groups.
Senior IRS official Gary Shapley is already compiling a list of “potential targets that includes major Democratic donors,” the WSJ reports:
The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations, officials said. The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes and are being driven by Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Shapley was the longtime IRS criminal investigator who became a darling of the MAGA right for purportedly blowing the whistle on what he claimed was the slow-rolling of the Hunter Biden investigation. In the Trump II presidency, Shapley has been promoted to a more senior role.
Shapley also wants to make changes to the IRS’ criminal investigative processes that would reduce the role of the IRS chief counsel’s office, the WSJ reports.
Quote of the Day
“Charlie’s death is like a domestic 9/11. Just as after 9/11, and Osama bin Laden, the ultimate culprit, was captured, we are operationalizing the Treasury, and we are going to track down who is responsible for this.”–Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, invoking the assassination of Charlie Kirk to launch a War on Terror-style campaign against progressive nonprofit groups
It Was Good Knowing Ya, Voting Right Act
A grim day at the Supreme Court where the Roberts majority is poised to further weaken — though maybe not outright scuttle — what remains of the Voting Rights Act, a seminal piece of Civil Rights-era legislations.
Thread of the Day
Trump’s Caribbean Jingoism Takes a Darker Turn
Major new developments in Trump’s brewing Latin American misadventure:
CNN: At least one of the five U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean targeted Colombian nationals on a boat that had left from Colombia.
NYT: Trump has issued a presidential finding authorizing the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela, including lethal operations, and in the Caribbean.
WaPo: Trump confirms that he authorized covert CIA action in Venezuela.
Pentagon Reporters Walk Out En Masse
Journalists covering the Pentagon surrendered their credentials and walked out as a group yesterday rather than sign a new restrictive Pentagon media policy.
Swastika Spotted on GOP Hill Aide’s Zoom Call
An aide to Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) appeared on a Zoom call with a small American flag altered to show a swastika pinned up behind him:
It’s not clear what or why Capitol Police are investigating, but a spokesperson for Taylor (who denounced the swastika ) called the incident “vile vandalism.”
Stay tuned …
The Corruption: Ballroom Edition
President Trump last night hosted a dinner at the White House for donors to his gaudy White House ballroom project. The WSJ published the list of expected attendees.
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
As always, I enjoy and value everything TPM, and occasionally comment on one story or another from there and in the Morning Memo. And while there's lots to know and worry about in today's Memo, I especially enjoyed this early sentence:
"At this point, I’ve written dozens of Morning Memos that headline President Trump’s politicization and weaponization of the Justice Department. It remains the lynchpin of all of Trump’s rule of law violations because without a functioning, professional, independent Justice Department, no federal laws will be reliably enforced. "
I have no idea if the misspelling of "linchpin" was deliberate, subconscious, or just a mistake, but if not deliberate, it should have been. I suppose that makes it a new and valuable portmanteau for the times, yes? :-)
Keep up the good work - the nation needs it.
Thank you David.
Covered a lot this
morning and am thankful
you didn't do an autopsy
on Chief Justice Roberts
ruminations concerning
the Voting Rights Act;
snip here; trim there; cut
away there.