Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori tells Politico that President Donald Trump is definitely abusing the Department of Justice to punish his perceived enemies. But he’s not doing it with talent.
“If you want to successfully prosecute your political opponents — on charges that are real or contrived — you should have a competent lawyer in charge,” said Khardori.
Bill Pulte, Trump’s ‘fiercely partisan’ appointee over the Federal Housing Finance Agency made possible Trump’s criminal mortgage fraud investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a successful civil fraud case against the Trump Organization. Khardori said Pulte’s fingerprints are also likely on Trump’s attack on critic Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) as well as his push to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
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“But it is one thing for a federal official like Pulte to run around making accusations on social media, and another thing entirely for prosecutors to develop a credible and legally sound fraud case that will persuade a jury at a trial,” said Khardori, pointing to “a distinct Keystone Cops vibe” given off by Pulte as well as Ed Martin, who is overseeing both the DOJ investigations into mortgage fraud and the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group.
Martin “has never actually prosecuted a case in his life,” said Khardori, and he recently made himself infamous over a “bizarre and frankly buffoonish” performance staking out James’ home in Brooklyn in the middle of the day as part of a New York Post photo op.
“That caper alone — political, unprofessional and self-discrediting — could doom any effort by Martin to convict James of anything before a jury, assuming he gets that far,” Khardori said.
A Washington, D.C. grand jury has already dumped the Justice Department’s attempt to prosecute a man for throwing a sandwich at a federal agent — handing U.S. attorney and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro an embarrassing failure, despite her taunts.
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Trump’s prosecution of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over “Bridgegate is also unlikely to keep Christie up at night,” said Khardori since it happened a decade ago and has been previously prosecuted. Trump himself called the prosecution an “Obama DOJ Scam” at the time.
“These are not the makings of a compelling federal criminal case,” said Khardori.
Of course, even “a bad prosecutor can make his targets’ lives miserable,” warned Khardori, who added that this appears to be part of Trump’s effort.
“The people to worry most about are the ones whose names we do not know — the people and the government officials who may unfairly end up in the Trump administration’s crosshairs and have their lives upended for no good reason,” Khardori said.
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Read the full Politico report at this link.