The seal of the U.S. Justice Department is seen on the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
MS NOW reporter Carol Leonnig is reporting that federal prosecutors in two different states refused to handle the attempts to indict journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort.
"What we've been hearing for really a week and a half has been concern among prosecutors in Minnesota about the way this office has basically been by the deputy attorney general and the attorney general's office," said Leonnig.
The acting U.S. attorney in the Minnesota District is Dan Rosen, who has no experience as a prosecutor, she explained.
That "will sound familiar to a lot of you on the panel, because that was one of the major problems in the Eastern District of Virginia," Leonnig said in passing about attorney Lindsey Halligan, who was forced out by a judge in the district.
"But the new news here is that those prosecutors [had] concerns about the immigration arrests and whether or not those were legal. They are also very concerned and declined to participate in this, because they don't believe the Don Lemon charges will actually stand up," Leonnig said.
Prosecutors are generally advised not to prosecute a case that they know they can't win. That has changed in the era of President Donald Trump, who has used the Justice Department to go after some of his top enemies.
Lemo was arrested in Los Angeles, where he was slated to cover the Grammy Awards. He may have had a grand jury indictment in Minnesota, but all of those documents are under seal and the public and press cannot view them. To get an arrest of Lemon in Los Angeles, however, many prosecutors there were involved, Leonnig said.
They "also registered concern, and some of them declined to participate in this because, again, they have a duty of candor to the court," added Leonnig. "They don't feel comfortable bringing cases and pursuing cases where they do not think the facts line up with the charges."
MS NOW host Ana Cabrera noted that this isn't the first time the public has seen local prosecutors from the Justice Departmen "buck orders" from the Washington office.
Leonnig called it "worrisome" because it reveals that the main Justice Department "is going to continue directing who is targeted" by Trump. They are also willing to "use whatever means that are at their disposal, whether or not convictions are ever achieved."