Many Americans were sorely disappointed this week when special prosecutor Jack Smith decided to drag up and withdraw the Jan. 6 indictment and the appeal of the classified documents case dismissal against Donald Trump. Smith said in his filings that the government stood by the charges but because of the Justice Department's (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel's rule that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, he had no choice but to drop the charges.The judges in the cases acceded to his requests and dismissed them both without prejudice although the idea that anyone will bring these cases in 2029 when Trump is 82 years old is fanciful. It's over. He got away with it once again.
It's not that we didn't know it was coming one way or the other. In fact, from the moment the Supreme Court issued its shocking opinion on presidential immunity, the writing was on the wall that Trump would face no accountability even if he didn't win the election. It went without saying that if he won, he would order the cases dismissed and that would be that. So, this wasn't a surprise but like so much else we've experienced with Trump, not the least of which was this last election, it was just one more depressing, enervating event seemingly designed to drain the fight out of anyone who sees this man's lawlessness and corruption as a blight on our nation.
That's because one of the disturbing consequences of the repeated failures to hold him to account is the fact that he seems invincible, impervious to negative ramifications for his actions and is therefore seen by his followers as a kind of superhero with magical powers. It's not true, of course. He's no hero, super or otherwise. He's just a shameless, corrupt con artist who has lied his way out of trouble his whole life. And now that he knows he has immunity from any criminal acts he might commit as president, he is willing to use his power to punish his enemies. He's made it clear that Jack Smith and his team are among them.
On a radio show before the election, Trump said that he would fire Smith in "two seconds" because he now has immunity. He also declared that "we should throw Jack Smith out with them, the mentally deranged people. Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged, and he should be thrown out of the country." Do you think he bears a grudge at all?
When former Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew after Trump's daft nomination of the Florida man for Attorney General there was a great sigh of relief that someone so unfit would not be made the top law enforcement officer in the land. It was obvious that Trump had nominated Gaetz with the express purpose of going after his enemies in the DOJ and using the power of federal law enforcement to prove his accusations against the department's alleged "weaponization." He has scores to settle and Gaetz was champing at the bit to help him do it.
Unfortunately for Gaetz, he'd made so many enemies on Capitol Hill that Trump was forced to tell him he had to go. (It almost certainly wasn't because of any concerns about the sordid accusation of underage sex and drug use. Those were more likely considered qualifications since Trump related to his legal travails having a similar history himself.) There was hope after he dropped out that Trump might appoint someone more respectable to this important post and one who would be less likely to become his hatchet man. Fat chance.
She has all the credentials Matt Gaetz didn't have and will likely be much more competent in her pursuit of Trump's vengeance agenda.
He didn't name a hatchet man, that's true. He named a hatchet woman, one of his impeachment defense lawyers and the former Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi.
As David Dayen at the American Prospect has reported, her tenure as Florida's top prosecutor was notorious for her ruthless treatment of Floridians whose homes had been unlawfully foreclosed upon. But America first became acquainted with Bondi during Trump's first campaign when it was reported that as Florida AG she had dropped out of the class action suit against the now-defunct Trump University after having received a $25,000 check from the (also now defunct) Trump Foundation. Bondi was an early Trump supporter when he ran for president, eagerly joining him on the campaign trail as one of his most energetic endorsers and making frequent appearances on Fox News. From that moment on she was always hanging around the periphery of Trump World in one way or another.
She gave a singularly unimpressive performance during Trump's first impeachment trial but turned up later with Rudy Giuliani and his motley crew contesting the election results in 2020. She was in Pennsylvania insisting that "cheating" was going on and was among those who gathered at that historically bizarre press conference at the Four Seasons Landscaping office, which they had evidently mistaken for the Four Seasons Hotel.
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Bondi has also made it clear where she stands on the idea of seeking retribution for the indictments against Trump. As far back as 2023 she has said that the prosecutors should be prosecuted:
Coming from a former prosecutor and state attorney general that's quite a statement. It's clear that this sentiment is one of the main reasons Trump has chosen her for the job.
One of her most important tasks will be overseeing the mass deportation program. Trump's chosen "immigration czar" Tom Homan, who has been tapped to run it, calls her "one hell of an AG" declaring that they plan to prosecute anyone who stands in the way of their plans:
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The Washington Post reports that Trump wants to fire all of the DOJ attorneys who worked with the special prosecutor's office, including the career civil servants. That would require some extraordinary actions on the part of the new AG. And she seems up for the task.
And that's not all. According to the Post:
Trump is also planning to assemble investigative teams within the Justice Department to hunt for evidence in battleground states that fraud tainted the 2020 election, one of the people said.
You can bet that Trump's new attorney general will not make the mistake that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions made when he recused himself from the Russia investigation even though she clearly should, having been involved in his attempt to overturn the election. She's no doubt as eager to prove the Big Lie as he is. (If she isn't Trump will not be happy.)
Bondi is the perfect Trump choice for this particular gig and I'm surprised he didn't choose her in the first place. She has all the credentials Matt Gaetz didn't have and will likely be much more competent in her pursuit of Trump's vengeance agenda. It would be nice to think that she'll be stopped in the Senate but there's virtually no chance of that. It will be smooth sailing for her. She's right out of Central Casting.
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