Our justice system held Trump accountable. Now he's weaponizing AG, DOJ against it. | Opinion
Former acting Manhattan U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon and other Justice Department employees resigned over the Trump administration's directive on Mayor Adams. More must stand up for the rule of law.
On her first day in office this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a “Weaponization Working Group” to investigate prosecutions against President Donald Trump, including his 34-count felony conviction by a jury in Manhattan and the $486 million civil fraud judgment against him in New York.
Bondi’s move is not surprising. For years, Trump and his followers have been threatening the prosecutors courageous enough to hold him accountable. Even so, it is the height of hypocrisy as we witness Trump himself politicize the justice system at a scale never before seen in modern U.S. history.
In a month, we’ve seen Trump pardon more than 1,500 people charged in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021; his Justice Department investigate thousands of career federal prosecutors and FBI employees; and most recently, his DOJ direct federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Former acting Manhattan U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon and several other Justice Department employees have resigned over the Adams directive. In Sassoon's resignation letter, she accused the mayor’s lawyers of urging a “quid pro quo” agreement in which the case dismissal would be traded for Adams' collusion on immigration enforcement.
Amid this uncertainty, chaos and erosion of justice, people can and should find hope in a crucial but overlooked role: the independent prosecutor.
Attorney General Pam Bondi now investigating Trump prosecutors
The tenets of an independent prosecutor are straightforward yet powerful: They uphold the rule of law, protect civil and human rights, hold the powerful accountable equally, act independently from political pressures and defend democracy.
While this is the floor, not the ceiling, for what we should expect, these principles are under attack from the White House and the billionaires who care more about power and money than the good of our communities.
Independent prosecutors are those like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, now under investigation by Attorney General Bondi for prosecuting Trump. They, along with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia, pursued accountability in the face of immense political pressure and personal risk.
All have spoken of the death threats they’ve received as a result of their prosecutions against Trump.
Fortunately, they haven't backed down from their commitment to ensure that no one – even the president of the United States – is above the law.
It’s no wonder that Trump and his allies have targeted independent prosecutors, who pose one of the last remaining checks on their authoritarianism. When they can’t beat these prosecutors at the ballot box, they try to oust them through undemocratic means like billionaire-funded recalls and new state investigative committees.
Now we’re seeing that if they can’t beat them in court, they will try to bend the machinery of justice to their will by overturning convictions and putting a bull's-eye on the people who dared enforce the law against them.
It’s time for all of us who care about justice and democracy to stand with the brave independent prosecutors across the country and remind President Trump, the shadow President Elon Musk and their supporters that in this country, justice is blind. No amount of power, wealth or influence should ever shield the most powerful from accountability.
Holding the powerful accountable extends beyond the president
For independent prosecutors, the commitment to hold the powerful accountable as we would anyone else extends beyond the president.
Last year, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued nearly 20 pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers on colluding to inflate the price of insulin.
Just this month, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison brought felony charges against the owner of a major dairy operation on systemic wage theft and labor abuses.
So it’s no surprise that billionaires like Musk are trying to shield themselves from accountability by removing independent prosecutors.
Trump and Musk also know that independent prosecutors can stop their mad dash to eliminate our civil rights. They have openly disparaged racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access and other basic civil liberties.
Trump has already cut off funding for lifesaving medical care, ridiculously blamed a plane crash on people with disabilities and banned diversity, equity and inclusion efforts from all federal offices.
Yet, we know he has only scratched the surface of turning his hateful rhetoric into policy, and amid this onslaught, it will be courageous independent prosecutors who step up to defend our communities, particularly the most vulnerable among us.
In standing up to attacks on fundamental rights, presidential overreach and corporate malfeasance, independent prosecutors are not only seeking justice for our communities – they also are protecting the very foundation of our democracy.
As we witness President Trump abuse the rule of law and treat the federal government as his personal grievance machine, we need to uplift and defend the independent prosecutors safeguarding our communities from Trump’s reckless assault on our freedoms.
If Bondi, Musk and our federal leaders’ loyalty is to Trump, let us invest in leaders whose loyalty is to the law. We need more people holding their local district attorneys accountable to the principles of independent prosecution. We need more communities electing independent prosecutors. We need more people speaking out against the baseless and undemocratic efforts to remove independent prosecutors from office and even prosecute them. And we need more prosecutors who mean it when they stand up in court and say “for the people.”
Cristine Soto DeBerry is the founder and executive director of Prosecutors Alliance Action.