Leading Democrats have rolled out a new and unvarnished message \u2014 that the U.S. Department of Justice cannot be trusted.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be really clear: We can\u2019t trust anything the DOJ does. The DOJ is corrupt. They\u2019re corrupt on every major issue in front of this country,\u201d Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, said Friday at a news conference in his district.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot trust the Department of Justice. They are an illegitimate organization right now under the leadership of [Atty. Gen.] Pam Bondi and the direction of Donald Trump,\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said during his own news conference in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
The remarks \u2014 which hold profound implications in a two-party democracy meant to be protected and served by a nonpartisan justice system, and which a White House spokesperson called \u201cshameful\u201d \u2014 followed a week of equally stunning actions by the Justice Department, where President Trump has installed staunch loyalists, including Bondi, to high-ranking positions.<\/p>\n
In recent days, the Justice Department has resisted launching civil rights investigations into two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents. It has since reversed course<\/a> and launched such an investigation into the second of those incidents, in which 37-year-old Alex Pretti<\/a> was shot while surrounded by agents, on the ground and disarmed, but has held firm in its decision not to investigate the earlier shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good<\/a>, who was shot while trying to drive away from a tense exchange with agents.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the FBI raided and seized voter ballots<\/a> and other information from the election headquarters of Fulton County, Ga., long a target of Trump\u2019s baseless and disproven claims that widespread voter fraud helped Democrats steal the 2020 election. Bondi was an early backer of those baseless claims, as were other Justice Department appointees.<\/p>\n On Friday, federal agents arrested former CNN anchor Don Lemon<\/a> and other journalists after their coverage of a protest at a conservative church in Minneapolis. Justice Department officials rejected the defense that Lemon and the other journalists were exercising their 1st Amendment rights as journalists, and accused them of violating the rights of churchgoers.<\/p>\n Also Friday, Justice Department officials released more documents<\/a> from the Epstein files \u2014 a trove of records related to the sexual abuse of minors by the late, disgraced billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats argued that the release was still not complete, in violation of a law passed by Congress mandating that they be made public.<\/p>\n In a statement to The Times, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly dismissed Jeffries\u2019 and Garcia\u2019s remarks as \u201cshameful comments by Democrats who cheered on Joe Biden\u2019s weaponization of the Department of Justice against his political enemies, including President Trump,\u201d and said Trump, Bondi and other administration officials \u201chave quickly Made America Safe Again by taking violent criminals off the streets, cracking down on fraud, holding bad actors accountable, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment, but officials there have broadly defended the department\u2019s actions as not only justified but necessary for ensuring the rule of law and holding alleged criminals to account.<\/p>\n Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego, said both the actions of the Justice Department and the latest statements from Democrats ratcheted up the stakes in the nation\u2019s already tense political standoff \u2014 as institutions such as the Justice Department \u201cneed to be trusted in the long term\u201d for American democracy to be successful. <\/p>\n \u201cTrust goes up and down in the people in institutions over history, but there\u2019s been a baseline level of support for our Constitution, the way our government is built, and the seal on the building \u2014 even if people didn\u2019t trust who was in that building,\u201d Kousser said. \u201cWhat we may be risking as a country is losing the trust in the building itself, if people think that the might of the federal government is being used to pursue a narrow agenda of one party or one leader.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeffries\u2019 assertion that the Justice Department can\u2019t be trusted came as he denounced Lemon\u2019s arrest. Jeffries said there was \u201czero basis to arrest\u201d Lemon, and that the arrest was an attempt by the Trump administration to weaponize government against people they disagree with.<\/p>\n Jeffries added that distrust in the federal agency is one of the reasons why House Democrats are pushing for legislative action to require independent investigations by local and state law enforcement in cases when federal agents engage in violent incidents and are accused of wrongdoing \u2014 such as the shootings in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n Other leading Democrats have also slammed the Justice Department over the journalists\u2019 arrests.<\/p>\n \u201cThe American people deserve answers as to why Trump\u2019s lawless Justice Department is arresting journalists for simply doing their jobs,\u201d said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).<\/p>\n \u201cThe arrest of journalists for covering a protest is a grave attack on the 1st Amendment and freedom of the press,\u201d said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). \u201cAnd proof the Trump administration is not de-escalating.\u201d<\/p>\n Garcia\u2019s comments came in a wide-ranging news conference at which he also discussed taking on a leading role in impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a>, who has been overseeing the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation efforts, including through the deployment of Immigration and Custom Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents to Minneapolis, Los Angeles<\/a> and other major cities.<\/p>\n Garcia denounced the Trump administration\u2019s handling of the Good and Pretti shootings, arguing that independent investigations were needed \u2014 as he said were conducted after police shootings in Long Beach when he was mayor there.<\/p>\n \u201cThey should bring in either a special counsel [or] some type of special master to oversee an independent investigation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n He said that was especially necessary given the fact that Noem and other administration officials immediately bad-mouthed<\/a> Good and Pretti as violent actors threatening agents before any of the facts were gathered \u2014 and in direct contradiction to video evidence from the scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened to Renee Good and Alex Pretti was murder by our own government, and our committee is working right now on a major report on both of those incidents so that those that are responsible are held accountable,\u201d Garcia said. <\/p>\n He also called Lemon\u2019s arrest \u201chorrifying,\u201d saying Lemon was \u201cout there reporting\u201d and is now being \u201cessentially attacked\u201d by the Justice Department. \u201cThe arrest of Don Lemon might be the single largest attack on the free press and the 1st Amendment in the modern era.\u201d<\/p>\n Garcia noted that the Justice Department had first shopped Lemon\u2019s arrest around to multiple judges, who denied issuing a warrant for his arrest. Administration officials said a federal grand jury handed down an indictment for the journalist, but Garcia suggested the indictment was fraudulently obtained based on the government putting forward information \u201cwe cannot trust.\u201d<\/p>\n