DOJ and FBI officials reach out to lawyers as potential Trump revenge prosecutions loom

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Nov. 17, 2024, 5:00 AM EST


Multiple current and former senior Justice Department and FBI officials have begun reaching out to lawyers in anticipation of being criminally investigated by the Trump administration, according to three people with knowledge of their deliberations.

Following Trump’s decisive election victory, many DOJ officials and career staffers were already nervous about the possibility that they would be targeted by Trump loyalists, particularly members of Congress. But the selection of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, far-right Trump ally who was the subject of a recent FBI investigation, to lead the department has sharply increased the sense of alarm, the sources said.

“Everything we did was above board,” said a former senior FBI official, who has started contacting lawyers because he expects to be prosecuted himself. “But this is a different world.” The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of becoming even more of a target, doesn’t believe any attempt to prosecute him will be successful. Judges and juries have the power to throw out cases or find defendants innocent if they deem prosecutions to be baseless.

But like many other current and former Justice Department officials, he is bracing for a potentially long and costly legal battle, as well as the possibility of protracted congressional investigations, after Trump takes off in January.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-fbi-officials-reach-lawyers-potential-trump-revenge-prosecutions-l-rcna179737

[underpants]

1. Bizarre. People living in fear. Spending tons of money on lawyers for nonsense investigations

I saw a clip of Sebastian Stan on Graham Norton about the Trump movie. I know it’s an entertainment show but Stan was asked if he feared retribution. He was asked that. His answer was a pause and something like “You only go around once.”

[Joe_Gadway]

2. We need to support Trump's victims

When Trump starts prosecuting people we need to support them.
I assume we can use GoFundMe for that?

[Irish_Dem]

4. We will go bankrupt supporting all of Trump's victims.

There will be too many to count.

[Joe_Gadway]

9. Protecting freedom has never been easy

Many people sacrificed to make America free and to keep it free.
Now it's our turn.

[Irish_Dem]

10. We also live in a democracy.

People apparently have the right to vote out democracy and install fascism.

To fundamentally change their form of government.

[Joe_Gadway]

11. Self Defense

I would say the majority has the right to put a fascist in the White House.
But if that fascist tries to take away our freedom we still, and always, have the right to defend ourselves.

[Irish_Dem]

12. No, in a fascist country you have no rights at all.

You are talking like someone who has only ever lived in a free, democratic country.

I have spent time in a fascist country and lived in an occupied country as a child.

I assure you that in fascist countries, the people do NOT have the right to defend themselves.
They have no Bill of Rights, no Constitution giving them rights.

We take for granted basic human rights.
Other countries may or may not have those rights.

We now are moving towards a dictatorship and we can assume no rights at all in our future.

[Joe_Gadway]

14. Natural rights

In the United States we believe in natural rights or moral rights.
In the Declaration of Independence, they were called rights endowed by the creator.
A government may not RECOGNIZE these rights, but we still HAVE them.
And if a government tries to deny these rights, we have the natural right and the moral right, to KEEP them anyway.
When that happens things can turn ugly, but that's what we did in the American Revolution.
If the worst happens, we can do that again.

[Irish_Dem]

15. The US used to believe that.

US voters have voted against democracy.

Yes our founders believed in innate and inalienable rights.

But in fascist and occupied countries those rights are not recognized.

People in the US raised in a democracy really have no idea what they just gave away.

[Joe_Gadway]

16. 73 million

Over 73 million Americans did not give anything away.
We are not going to roll over and play dead.
If fascists can defy the legitimate rules of society, then we can, with much greater justification, defy the rules fascists try to impose on us.

[republianmushroom]

3. 45 months and counting

[jvill]

5. !!! Winning less than 50% of the popular vote is not "decisive"; majority of Americans wanted Not Trump.

...

[jvill]

6. They should be talking to media people; this won't be a legal battle, it'll be a media one.

[Think. Again.]

7. I'm sure mr. garland is working very secretly to protect all of you...

...so secretly in fact, you will never even know you were protected!

[voteragain]

8. question

how and the world did they not expect this?

now they prepare for the trump and his lacky's?

Federal Bureau of Investigation....my head aches.

come on midterms elections.

[cstanleytech]

13. This is why the DOJ needs to be reworked so as not to become a tool of any President as a weapon.

[Marthe48]

17. Maybe loyal American lawyers will defend pro bono

take the financial burden off loyal Americans unjustly targeted. Make the traitors pay through the nose for their miscarriage of justice.

I personally would look elsewhere than the courts for protection, but I understand my preferences are against the law, so I guess the people in the bullseye have to take knives to gunfights.

[PSPS]

18. I stopped reading at "Trump's decisive election"

[AverageOldGuy]

19. The MAGAt goal . . .

. . . is not to find any of their enemies guilty.

The goal is to bankrupt them.

My daughter works for a BIG white shoe DC firm that will get a lot of business from people in DOJ, the Biden administration, and in Congress who are charged by Trump and his MAGAt DOJ. Their white collar partners bill well over $1,000 per hour. Anyone charged by Trump's DOJ can rack up millions in legal expenses without even trying.

[HereForTheParty]

20. Silly question - doesn't there have to be a crime?

Gaetz may want to prosecute but he needs a charge, no?