The Justice Department is facing the biggest test in its history in the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, navigating unprecedented conditions in American democracy while trying to fight back against relentless attacks on its own credibility.
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks about the verdicts in the Proud Boys trial, May 4, 2023, at the Department of Justice in Washington. The Justice Department is facing the biggest test in its history in the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department is facing its biggest test in history — navigating unprecedented conditions in American democracy while trying to fight back against relentless attacks on its own credibility and that of the U.S. election system. The success or failure of the case has the potential to affect the standing of the department for years to come.
The latest indictment is the third criminal case filed against Trump this year, but the first to try to hold him criminally responsible for his efforts to cling to power in the weeks between his election loss and the Capitol attack that stunned the world. He pleaded not guilty on Thursday before a federal magistrate judge and was ordered not to speak about the case with any potential witnesses.
Trump’s own Justice Department was subject to complaints of politicization, drawing heavy criticism as the federal probe of Russia’s 2016 election interference thrust prosecutors center stage and dragged out scandals that Trump seized on as proof of a “deep state” operating against him.
Throughout his career, Garland has been steeped in Justice Department procedures and norms, and as a judge his decisions were thorough but “judicially modest,” said Jamie Gorelick, a lawyer who served as deputy attorney general in the 1990s and has been a Garland colleague and friend for decades. If Smith loses the case, the Justice Department could lose credibility, particularly as the barrage of Republican attacks against the department grows. If prosecutors win, a former president could see time behind bars. If Trump is reelected, he could undo the charges and has said he plans to “completely overhaul the federal Department of Justice and FBI,” part of a larger effort by Trump to push more power toward the presidency.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Trump pleads not guilty to all charges in Justice Department's Jan. 6 caseFormer President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Lire la suite »
Justice Department asks judge for protective order in Trump election case after social media postFederal prosecutors late Friday asked the judge overseeing former President Trump’s election case to bar him from publicly disclosing some of the evidence gathered against him, saying a recent social media post could have “a harmful chilling effect on witnesses.”
Lire la suite »
Justice Department faces biggest test in its history with election conspiracy case against TrumpWhen the Justice Department was announcing the highest-profile prosecution in its history in Washington, Attorney General Merrick Garland was 100 miles away, meeting with local police in Philadelphia.
Lire la suite »
Justice Department faces biggest test in its history with election conspiracy case against TrumpThe Justice Department is facing the biggest test in its history in the prosecution of former President Donald Trump. The success or failure of the case has the potential to affect the standing of the department for years to come.
Lire la suite »
Justice Department faces biggest test in its history with election conspiracy case against TrumpWhen the Justice Department was announcing the highest-profile prosecution in its history in Washington, Attorney General Merrick Garland was 100 miles away, meeting with local police in Philadelphia. Try as Garland might, though, there is no escaping the politics of the moment when the Justice Department of a president who is running for reelection is indicting his chief political rival, the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Lire la suite »
2 U.S. Navy sailors arrested on charges of sharing secrets with China, Justice Department saysThe federal charges were brought under a rarely used Espionage Act statute that makes it a crime to gather or deliver information to aid a foreign government.
Lire la suite »