“Trump attorneys say NO!” Justice Department REBUKES Trump

You're watching the Legal Breakdown, Glenn. We've got a huge black eye for. Pam Bondi and the DOJ. Can you explain. what just happened at the US Attorney's. office in DC? You know, Brian, try as he. might to prosecute the innocent, even. Donald Trump's own DOJ attorneys are. standing up and saying, "No." Now, I. don't think they're doing it overtly, but what they are doing, here is the. latest example. Donald Trump wanted his. federal prosecutors at the DC US. Attorney's office, my former home for.

decades, to prosecute Joe Biden, in. indict Joe Biden for doing what? Using. an auto pen. Now, first of all, virtually all presidents have used auto. pens since they were invented. Second, there's a DOJ Office of Legal Counsel. opinion saying that presidents are. lawfully entitled to use auto pens, but, you know, evidence be damned, facts be. damned, criminal statutes be damned,

Donald Trump wanted his prosecutors to. indict Joe Biden. Well, we just learned. from some brand new New York Times. reporting that the prosecutors at the DC. US Attorney's office apparently did some. work, they looked into it, and then they. just kind of quietly shelved it and. decided there was no there there. What. is this an example of, Brian? Donald. Trump's inability to follow through on. his never-ending threats to prosecute.

his perceived enemies. I mean, how many. times do we have to see cases either be. dismissed by judges, as was the case. with, um, FBI Director James Comey and New York. State Attorney General Letitia James, Donald Trump sent his flunky Lindsey. Halligan into grand juries to indict. them, and she wasn't lawfully entitled. to be in grand juries, plus she violated. all kinds of rules, laws, and norms in.

the grand jury when she was twisting. their arms to get an indictment out of. them. And federal judges instantly, virtually instantly, threw them out. And. what have we seen? Those cases have not. successfully been rebrought. You know, and whether it is the six members of. Congress, senators Kelly and Slatkin and. four representatives who committed no. crime, Donald Trump said prosecute them. for crimes up to and including death. penalty eligible crimes, and grand.

jurors stood up and said, "Oh, hell no.". And then when he could squeak a case. into trial, like the guy who threw the. sandwich at the police officer because. he was so incensed that they were. militarizing the streets of his city, Washington, D.C., trial juries stood up. and said, "Oh, hell no, not guilty. Go. away, Janine Pirro, the D.C. U.S. attorney." Um, and now it looks like. even the the federal prosecutors are. looking at Donald Trump's demands to.

prosecute his perceived enemies and. they're saying, "No. Can't be done. We won't do it." And. And Brian, this is an example of Donald. Trump being defeated by grand juries, by. trial juries, and by his own Department. of Justice notwithstanding. the lack of ethics from Janine Pirro, Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, and others. It's actually an example of the rank and. file in the Department of Justice.

standing strong as a de facto bulwark, as a firewall against Trump's. lawlessness. And by the way, you would. be able to speak to that better than. anybody because you served as, you know, a federal prosecutor for 30 years. And. so, I would ask for those who are. watching right now to get this. perspective, this unique perspective, the best way to do that is to subscribe. to both of our channels. I'm going to. put those links in the post description. of this video. So, if you're not yet. subscribed to this channel and Glenn's. channel, please make sure to hit the. subscribe button. Completely free to do.

so, but a great way to support our work. Glenn, it's worth asking here, as we. watch this process play out, Trump has. fired prosecutors for much less. And so, do you presume that any prosecutors who. rebuked Trump on this signature issue of. his, because nothing incenses him more. than the prospect of Joe Biden, the. notion of Joe Biden using an auto pen, do you presume that these federal. prosecutors are not long for this world, given uh given the fact that they're not. just blindly throwing their whole career. away uh to, you know,

curry favor with him? Yeah, Brian, Trump's going to have to. take it out on somebody, right? When. federal prosecutors refuse to indict Joe. Biden, even though he committed no. crime. Now, whether it will be Jeanine. Pirro, because it was her office that. just ultimately decided that they would. not comply with Donald Trump's. vindictive attempted prosecution of Joe. Biden, or whether she'll sell out some. poor, you know, line prosecutor and say, "Well, it was really their fault that.

they didn't aggressively pursue it. enough." Somebody will probably be made. to pay, even though all they did was. stand up for the rule of law and do the. right thing. But, you know, it reminds. me of some more new reporting involving. Donald Trump and the Department of. Justice when, just a couple of days, um. the Department of Justice quietly filed. a motion to withdraw all of its appeals. of the trial court rulings that Donald. Trump's executive orders trying to.

punish law firms were absolutely. unlawful and unconstitutional. Now, you. know, the decision to withdraw those. appeals, throw in the towel, cry uncle, that's an admission that they had no. chance of winning on appeal. That was. undoubtedly vetted through Pam Bondi. She made that decision, right? Because. the whole issue was the scope of Donald. Trump's presidential power to punish. people. You know that is something near. and dear to Donald Trump's heart. But,

you know what? DOJ, I'll give them. credit, did the right thing, filed that. motion to withdraw all of their appeals. And what happened the next day? I am assuming Donald Trump got wind of. it and DOJ went back into that court of. appeals and said, "I know we threw the towel in yesterday, but we want to take our towel back today. and we want to pursue these losing. appeals." Who do you think directed Pam. Bondi to do that? So, listen, Pam Bondi.

is not going to stand up to Donald. Trump, nor is Todd Blanche, nor is. Jeanine Pirro. But, I want everybody to. remember and take some comfort in the. following. There are still 100,000. employees at the Department of Justice. who were there before Donald Trump took. the oath of office for his second term. They've hunkered down. They're keeping. their head down. They're doing the work. of the American people, not of dear. leader. And that is why they will. forever be on the chopping block,

potentially for doing the right thing, until Donald Trump falls from power. Clint, can you can you answer kind of a. technical question here? If Trump wants. something done, why can't Jeanine Pirro, I mean, she's there for an obvious. reason. She's an appendage of Trump. She's there to to carry out his orders, no matter how abusive, unconstitutional, or illegal they may be. And so, why. can't she uh unilaterally just move. forward with any of these prosecutions? Is she able as uh the US attorney to put.

her name on on these prosecutions? Does. she need a a rank and file prosecutor to. be able to do this? Like, can you just. explain the mechanics a little bit? Great question. United States attorneys. are presidential appointees. However, their name appears on virtually every. filing during the time they are in. charge of a particular US Attorney's. Office, but they are never what's called. the line attorney, the attorney who.

actually does the work in the grand jury. or in court. They're kind of like a. figurehead as that signature, that first. signature on all court filings and. pleadings. But, you always have a line. attorney, a worker bee, the people who. go in and try cases. Um, but you don't. have to have that worker bee. actually sign their name on the dotted. line. The US Attorney could certainly. try to bring a charge herself. But, Brian, she has virtually tried that.

When she hired this guy whose name I. don't retain because it's not important, she hired somebody into the DC US. Attorney's Office who presently works as. a dance photographer, but he was a. prosecutor up in I believe Westchester. County with um Jeanine Pirro years and. years and years ago. She brought him in, she gave him some title, special counsel. to Jeanine Pirro, and she sent him into. the grand jury to do Donald Trump's.

dirty work of trying to indict those six. members of Congress who committed no. crime. All they did was read military. law, which says military members must. disobey unlawful orders. And that person. went in there and he walked out with. zero votes from the grand jurors to. indict those six members of Congress. So, when you ask the question, well, couldn't Jeanine Pirro do it herself? She could walk into the a grand jury in. Washington, DC. We have about eight.

grand jury sitting at all times in DC. Um, and she could say, "I want you to. indict Joe Biden for using an auto pen. even though it is lawful and the. Department of Justice has a written. policy, a legal opinion saying it is. appropriate for a president to use it.". She would be required to tell the grand. jury that because that is exculpatory or. helpful evidence or what we call Brady. evidence that would help the defense and. we by by our rules and procedures at the. Department of Justice, we must present.

that helpful evidence to the grand jury. to give them a balanced picture. But she. would walk out with no votes to indict. So, she would be in the same position. that the dance photographer was in when. no grand jurors would vote to indict. those six members of Congress. Here is. the fallback position and she's tried. this. Jeanine Pirro has tried this. She tried to indict the sandwich thrower. in the grand jury for an 8-year federal. felony and the grand jury said, "Go. away, Jeanine. We're not indicting the.

sandwich thrower." She tried to indict. somebody else, Sydney Lori Reed is her. name, who stepped in between uh. immigration enforcement agent and an FBI. agent on the one side and an immigrant. they were trying to detain and there was. a very minor scuffle. There were no. punches, there were no weapons. Tried to. indict her, Sydney Lori Reed, for an. 8-year felony. Grand jury said, "Bye-bye, Jeanine. Go away. We're not. indicting." So, what did she do? She took a pen, figuratively speaking, and she signed what's called a criminal. complaint, which is enables her to bring.

a very low-level criminal charge, a. misdemeanor rather than a felony which. you need a grand jury to indict. And she. fumbled forward and she went to trial. She forced people to go to trial against. the sandwich thrower, whose name is. Shawn Dunn. He was a paralegal at the. Department of Justice when he was so. incensed at the militarization of the. streets of DC and the way they were. mistreating immigrants that he lost his. cool and threw a sandwich. It bounced. off the officer's bulletproof vest, right? Yeah.

>> Fumbled forward against Shawn Dunn and. Sidney Lowry Reed, and both juries in. two separate trials, you know, without having time for a cup. of coffee during jury deliberations, not. guilty, not guilty, which is a unanimous. verdict by all 12 jurors in each case, not guilty, not a single vote. So, she. she can't get around the grand jury. sitting as the conscience of the. community if she wants to indict. somebody for a felony or a trial jury.

sitting as the conscience of the. community if she wants to bring a. low-level misdemeanor charge against. somebody. So, what everybody should. remember, Brian, is those people in the. grand jury and the trial jury are just. ordinary everyday citizens, and they are. we the people. That's we the people. standing up against Donald Trump's. lawlessness and prosecutorial abuse. And. finally, last question here on that. point, does that almost put Jeanine. Pirro in a tough position because Trump.

doesn't care? Like, Trump just wants his. edicts followed, the law be damned. But, does Jeanine Pirro have a little bit of. a better understanding than Trump in. that she knows that this is all a fool's. errand, that she's basically going to. waste her time, waste her resources, waste her breath finding some line. prosecutor to go in for what is very. clearly a doomed effort, and so she has. to dance this line. And and granted, this is not me having any sympathy for. Jeanine Pirro, but is she in a position. where she knows that she has to listen. to the edicts handed down by the god.

king, but also at the same time go into. a courtroom where she's just going to be. laughed out of court? And so, is that. the position that she's in? It is the position, but she's put. herself in that position. She could. stand up and do what the top prosecutor. in Washington, D.C. should do and say, "Mr. President, I can't indict the. innocent, and I can't indict somebody. for an 8-year felony for throwing a. sandwich because it's barely a. misdemeanor and I can't even win the.

misdemeanor. So, what she does is she. sends sacrificial lambs who should also. stand up and say no into the grand jury. and into these misdemeanor trials to. look foolish and to look, you know, unethical rather than stand up and do. the right thing. Here's the other thing. Sometimes prosecutors will go into the. grand jury and almost look for top. cover. What do I mean by that? If you. present, for example, the case of these. six members of Congress who did nothing.

but state that, you know, the military. law accurately, if you go into the grand. jury and all of the grand jurors say, "Hell no, we're not going to invite. these these six members of Congress. They committed no crime." You can walk. out and you now have top cover. How, you. say? "Well, you know, we presented it to. the grand jury, Mr. President, and they. are the only ones who can indict a. felony charge and they said no, so we're. stuck with that." Maybe that That's the. weak person's way out of having to stand.

up to Donald Trump. Put on a little show. and make it look like it really wasn't. your fault that these people weren't. charged. It was the grand jury's fault. Right. No, and and and that's exactly. right. I I and I appreciate getting. checked on that because I think our. expectations for these people get so low. that we just expect like that I'm. sitting here thinking that there should. be some sympathy for someone like. Jeanine Pirro when she's got agency. She's a grown ass woman. She has the. authority right now to be able to stand.

up and say, "This is No." But, of course, she can't do that and I think. you know, this it everything becomes. normalized and the Overton window shifts. and our expectations fall to the floor, but but they shouldn't. And so, I'm I'm. glad that you that you flagged that. point right there. Again, for those who. are watching, if you want to see more of. legal analysis like this and other legal. breaking news, the best way to do that. is to subscribe to both of our channels. I'm going to put those links right here. on the screen. So, if you're not yet. subscribed, please go ahead and hit the. subscribe button. Great way to support. us, our work, independent media, and.

again, it's 100% free. I'm Brian Tyler. Cohen. And I'm Glenn Kirschner. You're. watching the Legal Breakdown. >> [music].