Trump’s No Justice Department
The Supreme Court’s decision in 2024 in Trump v. United States empowered the president to evade accountability and stand above the law. President Trump has wildly expanded the reach of that
decision.
One example: Trump’s takeover of the Justice Department, which he is using to carry out a campaign of vengeance.
The president treats Attorney General Pam Bondi like a White House staffer. He instructs her on who should be subject to criminal investigations and prosecutions. He also publicly declares individuals guilty even before any action is taken against them.
Trump’s assumption of personal control over DOJ is a massive abuse of power and unprecedented in American history.
Trump, the Epstein files and Trump’s potential scam
Since his election, Trump has been adamantly opposed to the Justice Department releasing its files on Jeffrey Epstein, a monstrous sex offender.
Iin the end, however, Trump was outplayed and for one main reason: The survivors – who had been incalculably damaged by the horrific sexual abuses and sex trafficking by Epstein and his partner in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell – courageously demanded the release of the Epstein files and kept demanding.
With congressional leadership from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the survivors’ advocacy worked.
The legislation requiring the Justice Department to release the Epstein files passed the House on Tuesday by a vote of 427 to 1 and passed the Senate the same day by unanimous consent.
As the scale of his coming defeat became clear, Trump switched his position at the last minute and urged House Republicans to vote for the bill. But no one believes Trump’s “changed position” reflects his real views. As the saying goes, “if you are being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade.”
Regardless, Trump suffered the worst defeat of his second term. Combined with the wave of Democratic wins earlier this month, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Trump’s power is now weakening, even among Republicans.
There is one complication. Last Friday, Trump put into play a potential scam to overcome the legislative mandate. Trump instructed Bondi to open a criminal investigation into Epstein’s relationship with several Democrats and a bank, which she quickly did.
Trump and Bondi may try to use these new investigations as grounds to withhold the Epstein files indefinitely while the investigations go on. Or Bondi may try to redact so much information from the files as to render them almost meaningless.
Republican senators have warned Bondi, however, not to slow walk the release of the Epstein files. No matter what, though, there is now too much public pressure for the files to be buried.
The Justice Department’s Epstein files will become public. The Justice Department’s Epstein files will become public.
The Justice Department’s Epstein files will become public. How much relevant information Bondi actually releases remains to be seen.
On September 20, Trump demanded from AG Bondi in a Truth Social posting that immediate action be taken against former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Senator Adam Schiff. AG Bondi quickly opened criminal investigations against them.
The indictment of Comey was signed by Lindsay Halligan, a former White House aide and Trump defense attorney who became the interim U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after the U.S. Attorney, Erik Siebert, was removed because he did not think there was a case against Comey.
Halligan is an attorney with zero prosecution experience, and it showed starkly in court.
The Comey case appears to be falling apart. One federal judge found a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” and that Halligan had made “fundamental misstatements of the law” to the grand jury that indicted Comey.
Yesterday, another federal judge elicited Halligan’s admission that she had never shown the final version of the Comey indictment to all of the grand jurors. That’s potentially a fatal error. Comey’s lawyers have also raised additional defenses including that Halligan’s appointment was illegal and that the criminal case was ordered by Trump as a vindictive act.
The case against New York Attorney General James is also teetering. The James indictment, also brought by Halligan, alleged mortgage fraud. In a filing this week, however, her lawyers submitted new information that senior fraud investigators at Fannie Mae believed there was no clear evidence to prove that New York Attorney General Letitia James committed mortgage fraud.
Trump likes new names: the Gulf of America, the Department of War.
Here’s a new name for the nation’s chief law enforcement agency: Trump’s No Justice Department.
Fred’s Weekly Note and our Wertheimer’s Political Report newsletter will be off next week for Thanksgiving. Both will return on Thursday, December 4, 2025.
