The weaponizing of our justice system is in full swing. U.S. attorney hints at prosecutions over ‘targeting’ of DOGE employees:
Interim U.S. attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. alleged in a statement Monday that his office in D.C. had found evidence that people “committed acts that appear to violate the law in targeting” employees of Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” — an unusual statement that came without any public criminal charges.
(Yes, it’s from the Washington Post. I canceled my subscription, but I had already paid through November. And it seems that there are still some staff members who know how to do journalism that haven’t been fired yet.)
The new prosecutor, by the way, is the first person appointed to this position in 50 years who has no prior experience as a judge or prosecutor.
The US attorney — the interim US attorney — is warning government employees that any attempt to stop Musk’s hordes from breaking privacy and security laws will result in their arrest instead.
Hours after making public a letter he wrote to Musk saying the U.S. attorney’s office would “pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people,” Martin posted on X that his “initial review of the evidence” had found wrongdoing and hinted that he planned to take legal action.
“We are in contact with FBI and other law-enforcement partners to proceed rapidly. We also have our prosecutors preparing,” Martin said.
But it gets worse.
In Martin’s letter to Musk posted Monday morning, he wrote: “It was good to work with the DOGE team this weekend. We must keep all our American government employees safe and we must protect the American people’s property. Anyone imperiling others violating our laws.”
It’s really Musk who is imperiling others, by getting his unelected, unappointed, unvetted, unqualified hands on citizens’ SSNs, financial information, medical information, and who knows what else.
Oh, and Martin addressed the letter to “Dear Elon.”
Then it gets even worse:
[Martin also launched an inquiry involving Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York), writing to ask the top Democrat about his quickly walked-back statement in a March 2020 rally that two of Trump’s Supreme Court appointees, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh, would “pay the price” for a vote against abortion rights.
This is a follow-up from an earlier article which reported that:
[C]areer prosecutors who have served under presidents of both parties say Martin is politicizing the office and potentially breaking with 50 years of Justice Department policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations. They warn that an exodus of veteran prosecutors will threaten public safety and national security, leaving a more pliant institution that could enable Trump’s avowed desire to punish his foes in a second term.
Paul Krugman wrote a substack article this morning — What the Musk is Happening? — which deserves a diary of its own, but I cite it now for this quote:
The unifying theme here, I guess, is that the federal government has been taken over by bad people who also are also stunningly ignorant.
(I had initially read “ignorant” as “incompetent” and still think it should read that way.) The other quote relevant to my current point is this one:
The courts may have told the Trump administration that it can’t freeze spending mandated by Congress, but Musk’s people, who haven’t shown much reverence for the law, might well just ignore the courts and not cut the checks.
Krugman was writing specifically about Musk’s control of the federal payment system, but it applies more broadly: Musk is deliberately, blatantly, obnoxiously breaking the law, and not only will he ignore any court order to stop, he has the US attorney and the FBI on his side protecting him while he does it.