Trump Justice

Susan Estrich on Oct 24, 2024

An ABC story, which should have gotten more attention than it did, reports that a proposed appointment roster entitled "Transition Planning: Legal Principals" lists Judge Aileen Cannon, the federal district judge who threw out the classified documents case against Donald Trump, as a candidate for attorney general if Trump gets elected. Cannon, who is widely viewed as being in the pocket of the man (Trump) who appointed her, repeatedly delayed the case against him and then threw it out completely on the first day of the Republican National Convention on the grounds that Jack Smith's appointment was unconstitutional. Ridiculous, but effective in ensuring that the case -- with all 40 counts dealing with Trump's mishandling of classified documents after he left office -- could not be tried before the election.

Trump believes in rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies. This is his definition of justice. This is how he would weaponize the Justice Department. Don't take my word for it. Take his.

The roster, which lists Cannon as the second possible candidate for the attorney general's job, was reportedly drafted by Trump's top legal and political advisers with the input of Boris Epshteyn, Trump's most trusted legal adviser. Sources told ABC that Cannon's name was added to the list after she threw out the case against him last summer.

Cannon is not the only questionable entry on the list of possible appointees. Other documents include the names of Jeffrey Clark, a former assistant attorney general under indictment in Georgia for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election who was found by a disciplinary panel to have violated ethics rules for lawyers for his efforts to do so; Mike Davis, who has promoted plans to weaponize the Justice Department to target political opponents of Trump's, put members of the media in "gulags" and immigrant children "in cages"; and Clarence Thomas' friend Mark Paoletta, who represented Thomas' wife, Ginni, in the House investigation of Jan. 6.

The lists should come as no surprise. Trump has made no bones about his ideas about justice -- the concept as well as the department.

On Tuesday, his campaign feigned outrage at a comment by President Joe Biden that he should be "locked up" -- even though the president instantly explained that he meant "politically lock him up. Lock him out. That's what we have to do."

Trump has shown no such reticence about politicizing the administration of justice. "Lock her up" was the theme of his 2016 campaign. While president, it was widely reported that he criticized his attorney generals both publicly and privately about their failure to prosecute Clinton, Biden and former President Barack Obama, among others. Over the course of this campaign, Trump has said that Liz Cheney should face a court martial for her part in the House Jan. 6 investigation, that a former general who criticized him deserved the death penalty, and that he would call out the military and the National Guard to deal with the enemy from within.

Trump is a threat to the rule of law in more ways than simply his threats of what he will do if he loses. By Nov. 5, the voters will have done their thing, and the lawyers will take over. That's certainly true if he loses, and the lawsuits and challenges start piling up. But it is, in a real way, even more true if he wins, and his legal A-team takes over the rule of law in this country.

Trump Justice is partisan and politicized to its core, exemplified by no one more obvious than Aileen Cannon, nothing less than a reward for putting partisan allegiance ahead of the rule of law. Just putting her on the list tells you what you need to know about the next Trump administration, including the future leaders of the Justice Department, the FBI, the general counsels who will run legal departments of all the powerful agencies and departments, and the future composition of the judiciary. That is what is at stake.

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