Trumps seems to be "openly directing weaponization of DoJ", legal analyst says

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00:00Well, let's try and return to Eric Lisan.

00:02We are talking about the controversy surrounding the resignation of several senior prosecutors

00:07after the US Justice Department moved to drop corruption charges against the Mayor of New

00:12York.

00:13Eric Lisan, former federal and state prosecutor, is with us now.

00:17Eric, I hope you can hear me OK.

00:20This case is going to be heard in court on Wednesday.

00:23The judge will decide whether or not these corruption charges will be dropped.

00:27If the judge decides not to dismiss them, what exactly happens then?

00:30Well, that's a very complicated question because the situation is unprecedented.

00:36The closest example we have to it is in Trump's first term as president when Bill Barr, then

00:44the Attorney General, seemingly on the orders of Trump, tried to withdraw the case against

00:50retired, the former General Michael Flynn, and that judge did order an investigation.

00:56He appointed a sort of a special investigator who was a retired former judge himself to

01:03act on part of the court and conduct an inquiry.

01:08And that probably is going to be similar to what this judge does here.

01:13Ultimately, the judge has seemingly limited powers because he can't order the Department

01:20of Justice, as far as we know, it's never been done, to conduct a prosecution if they

01:25refuse to do it.

01:28However, he can hold officials in contempt and he can clarify what the what the true

01:35circumstances are, whether he believes the reasons given by the Department of Justice

01:40are accurate or pretextual or not.

01:42He can even mandate that the dismissal be with prejudice rather than without prejudice,

01:48which would remove this sort of sort of Damocles that is hanging over the head right now of

01:53the New York City mayor.

01:55And Eric, critics say this controversy is just the latest example of the Trump administration

01:59prioritizing political aims over criminal culpability.

02:03The mayor obviously hasn't been convicted of anything.

02:06But what kind of message does all of this send?

02:09Well, it sends a very disturbing message, obviously, and that's why so many prosecutors

02:15have resigned rather than go forward with this directive from the attorney general or

02:22the acting deputy attorney general, who was Trump's personal attorney in his criminal

02:26trial in New York state, where he was convicted of 34 felonies because the the actual written

02:32letter of resignation from the prior U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New

02:37York, which is where Manhattan is, the federal district clearly explained in detail how this

02:43was a quid pro quo, in other words, a corrupt bargain, where in exchange for temporarily

02:51withholding the prosecution and dropping the charges, the New York City mayor would agree

02:56to go along with Trump's immigration policies, which are themselves controversial and perhaps

03:03not in accordance with the wishes or best interests of the city of New York itself.

03:08So this is something that is completely improper under existing case law.

03:13And if what the former U.S. attorney for New York has alleged is true and has described,

03:20it would be, as Congressman Raskin and others have said, a classic corrupt bargain.

03:26And it would indicate the true weaponization of the Department of Justice in a very stark

03:31manner.

03:33And the American Bar Association, it's among those urging lawmakers to insist on adherence

03:38to the rule of law.

03:39But will they when the president himself appears to be testing the boundaries of executive

03:44power?

03:45Right.

03:46This is a situation, again, that we've never had before, where the president himself seems

03:51to be openly and directing this, openly directing this kind of weaponization of the department,

03:58all while denying it, all while claiming it was his predecessor that weaponized the

04:03department and insisting and having his recently confirmed nominee, Pam Bondi, for attorney

04:08general, also insists the same thing, that there will be no weaponization while this

04:14seeming weaponization is going on.

04:17It's being called out by the American Bar Association.

04:19It's being called out by several senators, several members of the House of Representatives

04:24by these resignations of former officials in the Department of Justice.

04:29But that hasn't changed the behavior.

04:32So what we'll probably come down to now is what the findings are if there is a full inquiry

04:39by Judge Dale Ho in New York.

04:42And people will have to decide whether those findings are credible and will have to hold

04:49Trump accountable to following the dictates in that order.

04:54Mountain calls also for the mayor to resign.

04:56Eric, thank you so much for joining us.

04:57Unfortunately, we've run out of time, so we'll have to leave it there for now.

05:01That is lawyer and law professor Eric Lassan, a former federal and state prosecutor.

05:06Well, that is it from us for now.

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