One longtime Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyer who quit in the early months of President Donald Trump's second term is now shedding light on what he characterizes as the administration's "playbook" for federal investigations.
In a Tuesday segment with CNN host Erin Burnett, attorney Patrick Kent remarked on the Trump administration's investigations into Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, arguing that his former bosses weren't actually aiming to win a court case. He said the goal instead is to simply distract Americans from the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renee Good.
"Theydon't want to talk about thehorrible images that areconstantly going over ourscreens. They want to distract," he said. "And this is to distract and tointimidate. But ultimately, theydon't care if this leads to asuccessful prosecution or not.It's about simply to demonizethis community and to intimidateit."
Burnett pivoted to Attorney General Pam Bondi's visit to Minnesota on Tuesday, and asked Kent if she was following that same strategy. Kent said she was, and that her appearance in the Gopher State "falls right into their playbook" of intimidation of political opponents.
"It's nocoincidence that on the day thatthey enlarged the scope ofsubpoenas to the electedofficials within the state of Minnesota, it's to send amessage," he said. "It's to send a messagethat, 'understand this, that wehave every level of the lever ofthe federal government at ourdisposal, and we have ICE, wehave the FBI, we have the Department of Justice, and weare here."
Kent went on to argue that Trump had done "tremendous" and "long-lasting" damage to the DOJ, and that his dismantling of his former employer was "on two fronts." One being at the institutional level — in which longtime prosecutors with decades of knowledge and experience were driven out — and the other in the form of a potentially permanent loss of credibility.
"Look at the civilrights division, where I worked.Three quarters of the lawyershave left," he said. "... And who havewe been replaced by? Partisan ideologues ... Nobody is going totrust the department of justice.So the damage? We're not talkingyears. We're talking decades."