Jim Geraghty of National Review Online critiques the Department of Justice’s recent priorities.
Nearly one year ago, on August 15, Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, sent the U.S. Department of Justice the first of two criminal referral letters about Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
On August 25, President Trump announced he had removed Cook from her position because of the criminal referral. She refused to leave her position, contending the president did not have the authority to remove him.
You may have noticed that Cook has not been indicted by federal prosecutors. Apparently, the evidence in Pulte’s criminal referral wasn’t quite as compelling as he thought it was.
On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president’s attempt to remove Cook was “invalid because the president did not provide her notice of the reason for removal and an opportunity to be heard, which is required by the Federal Reserve Act.” …
… In other news about presidential grudges:
“White House officials have asked the Justice Department to consider a new prosecution of a man accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to people familiar with the discussions, as President Trump fumes over U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to drop the case.” …
… If the U.S. Department of Justice does attempt to prosecute Hearn again, he and his defense lawyers will have the unusual advantage of having the U.S. government having previously declared in court, “Had [the Department of the Interior] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment… It is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.” …
… First, thank goodness we’ve ended all that politicization of the Department of Justice!
Second, I don’t know how much time, effort, and manpower at DOJ is expended on these presidential vendettas. But I do know that time, effort, and manpower could be better spent elsewhere.
