Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Richard Nixon famously compiled an enemies list. But in large measure due to the IRS and Justice Department’s refusal to comply with his directives, those on it mainly escaped any serious consequences. For Donald Trump’s political enemies, unfortunately, neither at the top of the Justice Department, nor among top Republican appointed and elected officials, have any profiles in courage emerged.
President Trump is ordering up the criminal prosecutions of his political opponents, and a compliant attorney general is delivering them on a platter in much the same way his lunch and dinner requests are delivered to him at the White House. As former U.S. attorney and Republican governor, Chris Christie, aptly put it on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday, “This is no longer — the Department of Justice is no longer the premier prosecuting office in America. What it is now is a Capo regime that goes out and executes hits when directed by the Don to do so. That’s what it is.”
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Over the past two weeks, Donald Trump’s handpicked interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, has zealously followed the president’s orders, successfully returning indictments against Attorney General of New York Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey. Mr. Trump forced the resignation of Ms. Halligan’s predecessor, Erik Siebert, because he refused to bring charges against these two strong opponents of the president. Mr. Siebert reached the same conclusion as the other career prosecutors in the office assigned to these investigations: there was simply not enough evidence that crimes had been committed. That is also the opinion of the overwhelming majority of legal experts who have looked at the two cases.
The President commanded his attorney general to pursue these indictments in a Truth Social post that his aides have now conceded was meant to be a direct private message. “Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, “same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Letitia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” President Trump posted on Truth Social. “…We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT”
In the wake of the indictment of Letitia James whose real offense in Donald Trump’s eyes was pursuing civil action against his businesses in her role as NY attorney general, her attorney Abbe Lowell succinctly described the principle at stake: “We are deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge. When a President can publicly direct charges to be filed against someone — when it was reported that career attorneys concluded none were warranted — it marks a serious attack on the rule of law. We will fight these charges in every process allowed in the law.” The charge of mortgage fraud against Ms. James stands on a shaky factual foundation and is at a dollar figure well below Justice Department guidelines for when to pursue a case, even if any intent to defraud can be proved.
Mr. Trump’s desire to use the Justice Department to go after his political enemies–procedures and facts be damned– is no surprise; he tried it in his first term but was blocked by Attorney General William Barr and other top Justice Department officials who, at least in this context, refused to do his bidding. Perhaps more disturbing is the acquiescence of top Republican elected officials, some of whom are even defending these actions on television, as well as the relative silence of conservative thought leaders and attorneys.
While I and most legal experts believe the two federal cases brought against Donald Trump by special counsel Jack Smith were substantial and merited, many Republican elected officials and conservatives in the media argued they were examples of weaponization against a political opponent. These recent indictments by the Trump Justice Department at the president’s specific request are certainly more blatant and clear-cut examples of the same thing. Yet, the prevailing attitude among Trump supporters seems to be “turnabout is fair play.”
If one truly believes that the Justice Department was weaponized under Biden, shouldn’t the public-spirited response be to strengthen-not collapse -the independence of the Justice Department from political influence? What we see instead, is as if after the Watergate scandal, the Democratic party decided the best course of action would be to do an even more spectacular break-in at the RNC, and expand—rather than disband–the plumbers, so they could do more dirty tricks on behalf of a Democratic president.
We know from hard and bitter experience, we can’t expect better from the president. This makes it essential for Republican elected officials and principled conservatives who know he is shredding the rule of law to speak out publicly. If there was ever a time to put country over fealty to Mr. Trump, it’s today.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
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