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On Friday, Donald Trump forced out one of his nominated U.S. attorneys after the prosecutor failed to bring charges against some of the president’s political enemies. A day later, Trump published a public appeal to Attorney General Pam Bondi, telling her that his political foes are “guilty as hell” of unidentified crimes and directing her to go after them.
“I just want people to act,” the president added soon after, referring to federal law enforcement officials. “They have to act, and we want to act fast. ... We have to act fast.”
So when the White House announced on Monday morning that press secretary Karoline Leavitt would hold a briefing as the week got underway, it was only natural to wonder how in the world the president’s chief spokesperson would try to explain away her boss’ brazen efforts to corrupt the nation’s Justice Department.
We didn’t have to wait too long to find out.
A reporter reminded the press secretary that Trump, in his inaugural address, declared, “Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents. ... We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again.” The reporter asked, “Is the president going back on his promise?”
“No,” Leavitt replied. “In fact, the president is fulfilling his promise to restore a Department of Justice that demands accountability, and it is not weaponizing the Department of Justice to demand accountability for those who weaponized the Department of Justice.”
She went on to target Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James by name.
Right off the bat, the idea that Schiff, Comey or James “weaponized the Department of Justice” is deeply silly: The senator has never worked at Main Justice and hasn’t worked as a federal prosecutor since the early 1990s; the state attorney general has never worked at the DOJ; and Trump fired Comey from the FBI just a few months into his first term. None of these individuals had anything to do with any of the federal charges that were ultimately filed against Trump after his 2020 defeat.
What’s more, even putting aside these specific Trump foes, there’s still literally no evidence that anyone tried to weaponize the Justice Department against the president, no matter the volume of the hysterical Republican conspiracy theories.
Finally, the weaponization of the government can’t credibly be rebranded as “accountability” just because the White House says so.
Let’s not forget that Leavitt had plenty of time to come up with a proper response, and this was apparently the best she could do.
That’s unfortunate, because her attempted spin was pitiful and reinforced the fact that Trump’s efforts are simply indefensible.