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Trump's US attorneys want political revenge, not justice

Chris Brennan   Paste BN

Donald Trump’s favorite sleight-of-hand – that we can all see – is to complain about the “weaponization of government” when he gets held accountable and then to weaponize government himself when he holds power.

This week provided another stark example, this time showing us the difference between valuing federal prosecutors who feel a duty to uphold the law, versus political hacks who feel only fealty to Trump.

Alina Habba, a former Trump defense attorney whom he appointed as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, on May 19 dropped ginned-up criminal charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka while announcing new, ginned-up charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-New Jersey.

This nonsense all tracks back to a May 9 visit Baraka, McIver and other members of Congress made to a New Jersey immigration detention center. 

Federal law enforcement agents refused to admit Baraka and then swarmed him after he left to arrest him for allegedly trespassing. McIver was in the thick of a chaotic tussle as the agents inexplicably waited until Baraka was in a crowd of protestors to rush at him.

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Habba, in a May 9 social media post, said Baraka “has willingly chosen to disregard the law.” That’s not the way U.S. Attorneys usually talk about cases. A federal judge later warned her to heed the “boundaries of propriety for public comment.”

Habba, in a May 19 statement, said she was dropping the charges against Baraka “for the sake of moving forward.” Again, that is not how U.S. attorneys talk about criminal cases.

As for McIver, Habba said she “assaulted, impeded and interfered with law enforcement.” And then she whined about “persistently” giving McIver “every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined.”

I’ll repeat it. This is not how U.S. attorneys speak. But this is the language of Trump flunkies.

Habba’s statement gave up the game – she was looking for a political win here, not justice. She wanted McIver to plead for Trump’s mercy. She wanted to bring McIver to heel for Trump.

McIver’s response: See you in court. She denounced the charges as “purely political” and “meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight.”

Habba has a history of angering judges in the service of Trump. I think we’ll see more of that soon. 

And Trump will certainly add fuel to that fire. He defended Habba’s charges a day after they were filed, claiming “the days of woke are over.” Try making that argument in court.

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