DOJ Using Gang, Terrorist Prosecutors To Ensure People Opposed To Trump Are Treated Like Gang Members, Terrorists

from the fascism-is-coming-from-inside-the-(white)-house dept

The authoritarianism has been out in the open pretty much since day one with this presidency. Things that leak out around the edges — unaccompanied by official statements, announcements, or randomly-capitalized Truth Social posts — would embarrass any normal administration. But with this administration, new information about new awfulness rarely manages to provoke even a shrug from government officials.

And in this case, why would the administration care that the public now knows who’s been put in charge of carrying out Trump’s plans to see his political opponents and public critics jailed? After all, Trump went on full main with this blast last September with a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7), informing Americans that lots of them were now going to be treated as enemies of the state:

His latest “countering domestic terrorism and organized political violence” memorandum is basically him screaming “EVERYONE WHO DOESN’T LIKE ME IS A TERRORIST!” in official government letterhead.

[…]

Supporting immigration reform? Terrorist. LGBTQ+ rights? Terrorist. Criticizing his failures? Terrorist! Calling out his authoritarianism? All terrorism, apparently.

The intent was never in question. What mattered was whether or not the administration could make this a reality. And it did. The Trump DOJ (let’s not pretend it has any independence) managed to secure terrorism convictions against people involved in an anti-ICE protest in Texas. One suspect was charged with providing material support simply because he drove boxes full of “leftwing magazines” from one place to another.

Thanks to Trump unilaterally declaring most forms of opposition to his particular government to be terrorism, the person who transported the anti-fascist, left-leaning magazines in his car has now been sentenced to thirty years in prison, thanks to terrorism sentencing enhancements.

These are charges that have stuck. Most haven’t. And apparently the administration feels it might have the wrong people handling the politically motivated prosecutions of Trump’s opponents. Plenty of turnover has already happened as Trump DOJ appointees find out it’s pretty much impossible to push Trump’s authoritarian desires past grand juries and the criminal courts beyond. High-profile failures in high-profile prosecutions mean Trump constantly has to find someone else willing to throw themselves under the bus, along with whatever integrity or career plans they might have on them.

But Trump also wants the little people punished, even if all he knows about them is that they’re opposed to his practices and policies. Talking Points Memo is naming names, being the first to discover who’s now leading the charge to create a whole new class of political prisoners.

The Department of Justice has tapped two prosecutors with expertise in organized crime and terrorism prosecutions to implement a White House directive to crack down on its political opponents, a department spokesperson confirmed to TPM.

[…]

Brian W. Lynch, a Violent Crime and Racketeering Section prosecutor since 2020 with experience on the Guantanamo prosecution team, and Jason Kellhofer, a longtime counterterrorism prosecutor in Raleigh, North Carolina, are running the initiative as co-directors. They’re likely to bring extensive experience with tools used to take down sophisticated and violent criminal organizations, as well as to nip terrorist plots in the bud: real-time interception of communications, aggressive use of conspiracy statutes, confidential informants. They’re now running a task force whose purpose is to implement NSPM-7, which directed law enforcement to treat beliefs like “anti-Americanism, anti-Capitalism, and anti-Christianity” as warning signs for political violence.

The administration’s willingness to confirm TPM’s information makes it clear it doesn’t care what anyone thinks about its actions or shifting of priorities. Not only does this show that the administration cares more about locking up protesters than going after actually dangerous criminals and terrorists, it also thinks moving these people into these positions will somehow make its bogus prosecutions sustainable. To date — with the notable exception of the terrorist charges discussed earlier — almost every effort to convert arrests of protesters to felony convictions has failed.

“Just following orders,” as they say. Except that’s not what the DOJ is supposed to be doing. But because it’s decided it serves a king, rather than a country, the failures it has repeatedly experienced were always to be expected.

[Trump has] personally directed prosecutors to charge his critics; the DOJ helped deliver a settlement in which the IRS agreed to never audit Trump for any past tax returns. Prosecutors have pursued hundreds of cases against anti-Trump protesters across the country that they were then forced to drop after the evidence failed to sustain the charges in court. 

Of additional interest is the fact that one of the prosecutors elevated to handle Trump’s personal revenge plans (Brian Lynch) spent years contributing to MAGA-adjacent site American Thinker, including engaging in some COVID denialism and claiming the “media” would “stop at nothing” to prevent Trump from being re-elected in 2020. One assumes he will bring this same enthusiasm to his new position, which will allow him to go after Trump critics — a cross-section of America that will likely include members of the press at some point.

These acts endanger the country and democracy itself. And they’re being done by people who have (falsely) claimed for nearly a decade now that loving Trump is the equivalent of loving this country.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, antifa, brian lynch, doj, fascism, free speech, ice, jason kellhofer, political prosecution, protests, trump administration, vindictive prosecution