President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department over the weekend to open a criminal investigation into Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — over words she spoke in a speech. On Monday, her lawyer fired back in writing: Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote to Attorney General Todd Blanche demanding that he publicly refuse to carry out the order. The Justice Department answered on Monday — and refused to rule out investigating her.
It began with Slotkin's speech a few weeks before the midterm elections at the University of Chicago, where she argued Democrats should aim their investigative efforts at the people who enable Trump, and said she hoped young people coming out of school would think twice before joining the administration. "I want them to be like, 'Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don't want, and so let me avoid participating in that,'" she said. "I want that deterrence message sent." Trump, posting on his social media platform, ordered the Department to act: "By copy of this statement, I am ordering the Department of Justice to look into this criminal act, immediately!"
Bharara's letter, made public on Monday, told Blanche it "should not be hard to make clear that we do not live in an authoritarian regime where mere criticism of the powerful can land anyone in legal peril and possibly prison." "That requires a clear and public statement confirming that the Department will not pursue this investigation against Senator Slotkin," he wrote. He said her comments were "entirely lawful," protected by the First Amendment and by the Constitution's speech and debate clause, which shields members of Congress. "There is no conceivable basis to investigate the Senator for reminding members of the executive branch who aid the President's law breaking that there will be accountability for their actions," he wrote, adding: "The Department should stop threatening our constitutional freedoms and make clear that you will not again launch another frivolous investigation at the taxpayers' expense."
The Department did not comment on Trump's post. But in a statement on Monday, a Justice Department spokesperson declined to rule out an investigation. "Sen. Slotkin said publicly that the prospect of future investigations should deter young people from joining this administration," the spokesperson said. "The Department believes public service should not be met with threats of retribution, and this Department is committed to ending the weaponization of government. We follow the facts and the law."
Slotkin answered in her own words on Monday night: "This weekend, President Trump again directed the Department of Justice to investigate me. The next day, @AGToddBlanche went on TV and threatened me. We've seen this movie before. I will not be deterred from standing up against his corruption or calling out his violations of the law."
Bharara's letter pointed to the recent past: it has been less than a year since the administration tried and failed to indict Slotkin and five other members of Congress over a social media video reminding members of the military and intelligence communities of their duty not to follow unlawful orders. A Washington grand jury unanimously rejected that case. "Thankfully, the anonymous citizens of a Washington D.C. grand jury unanimously rejected the Department's attempt to punish a perceived political adversary for her lawful — indeed, constitutionally privileged — speech," he wrote. The new demand also followed a request weeks earlier from Trump ally Mike Davis that Harmeet Dhillon — who has since resigned as head of the Civil Rights Division — open an investigation into Slotkin.
For ordinary Americans, the fight matters beyond one senator: whether a president can order a criminal investigation into a lawmaker's political speech — and whether the Attorney General will say no out loud — decides how freely any citizen, journalist or official can criticise the government without fearing a knock on the door.
📰 ProfiloPolitics Member News — choose your news, share it, earn credit: https://white-curlew-963569.hostingersite.com
Join ProfiloPolitics on Telegram