"He indicted the well-lawyered Jim Comey, thus far the shoddiest case, first, and did so in EDVA's rocket docket. That means that those who follow will benefit from the work - and possibly even precedents - Comey obtains. By the time Attorney General James is arraigned on October 24, for example, both Comey's motion to disqualify Lindsey Halligan and his motion for selective and vindictive prosecution will be public."
"Trump's clemency has already featured in motions for selective and vindictive prosecution. Both McIver and Sean Dunn (the sandwich guy) have invoked the Jan6ers that Trump pardoned as people who viciously assaulted cops but were freed. But in McIver's case, as I laid out here, the government claimed - partly by placing an auto-pen in Trump's hand - that prosecutors who dismissed the pending cases were left with no discretion after Trump issued his order."
Trump's use of government power against political opponents threatens the rule of law and risks unintended consequences. He frequently selects poor political martyrs, creating sympathetic figures who bolster opposition. Multiple high-profile resignations provide potential witnesses to DOJ politicization. Poor timing and sequencing of prosecutions has benefited defendants; indicting Jim Comey first in EDVA's rocket docket could produce motions and precedents useful to subsequent targets. The commutation of George Santos' sentence similarly complicated litigation. Clemency and pardons have been invoked in motions alleging selective and vindictive prosecution, though claims face legal hurdles when compared to pardoned January 6 defendants.
#weaponization-of-government #doj-politicization #selective-and-vindictive-prosecution #clemency-and-pardons
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