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Trump’s failed attempt to indict Democratic lawmakers, briefly explained
Trump is struggling to check off his enemies list.
Cameron Peters is a staff editor at Vox.
Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration’s latest attempt to go after Democratic lawmakers is falling flat.
What happened? On Tuesday evening, we learned that a Washington, DC, grand jury had rejected charges sought by the Justice Department against six Democratic lawmakers — Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, and Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Chris Deluzio. Their alleged crime? Filming a video reminding soldiers that they can refuse unlawful orders.
Why does this matter? We don’t know what charges Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for DC, attempted to bring, but the decision to do so, and the failure to do so successfully, are both remarkable.
While Trump described the video as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” in a social media post shortly after it was released, it’s not clear what kind of criminal statute lawmakers could have violated. That said, until recently, it was also incredibly rare for a grand jury to reject charges brought by a prosecutor.
The DOJ’s dual failures are a pointed reminder that the department, which is traditionally nonpartisan, has become incredibly politicized — and markedly incompetent.
What’s the context? The Trump administration has also attempted to punish Kelly, a retired Navy captain, for the video through the military justice system, including threatening a court-martial; currently, it’s trying to reduce his rank and pay.
And Kelly and the other Democrats aren’t alone in being targeted by Trump’s DOJ. Last year, indictments against both former FBI director James Comey and New York state Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed after a judge concluded the US attorney who brought them was improperly appointed to her role.
What’s the big picture? Trump has big ambitions for punishing his enemies, and a distinctly flustered Capitol Hill performance by Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday suggests that the pressure is very much still on. But so far, they keep failing — and that, as my colleague Zack Beauchamp wrote last year, is a cheering prospect.
And with that, it’s time to log off…
There’s no shortage of great Olympics stories out there right now, but let’s go with figure skating for today, where American Ilia Malinin is doing incredible things on the ice. One of the most remarkable, though, is just for kicks: Malinin’s breathtaking full backflip is worth no points. He’s doing it anyway, and he’s well on his way to an individual gold medal.
As always, thanks for reading, have a great evening, and we’ll see you tomorrow!
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