'Typical political rhetoric': Insiders privately dismiss GOP promise to overhaul DOJ as empty 'posturing'

With former President Donald Trump facing a 37-count federal criminal prosecution, countless Republicans are claiming that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been "weaponized" against members of their party. Even Republicans who are running against Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary are making that claim, and they are promising a dramatic overhaul of DOJ if elected president.

But journalist David M. Drucker, in an article published by The Dispatch on June 28, reports that privately, some Republicans are dismissing that promise as right-wing performance art.

Interviewed on condition of anonymity, a Republican attorney who worked at DOJ during the Trump Administration told The Dispatch, "You're not going to fire civil servants. That's posturing."

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A Democratic insider, also quoted anonymously, told The Dispatch, "It's all typical political rhetoric designed to appeal to a section of the primary electorate buying into the notion that the Department of Justice has been weaponized."

Drucker cites Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence as examples of 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls who have been campaigning on a DOJ overhaul. But Drucker notes that two other Republican primary candidates, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, "are treading more carefully."

During a recent CNN townhall, Christie told attendees, "If I'm president of the United States, one thing you can count on for sure: There's going to be an attorney general, who I say to him or her Day 1: 'Go do your job. And unless you need me for something, leave me alone. Just go do your job, without fear or favor or partisanship.'"

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Read David M. Drucker's full report for The Dispatch at this link.