Trump pulls DISGUSTING stunt with his Justice Department

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, we've got. really chilling news in light of the. Charlie Kirk situation that's happened. this year, and that is that the DOJ uh. has declined to pursue charges against. two people who threatened to kill. Congressman Eric Swallwell. And I frame. this in light of the Charlie Kirk. situation because obviously the DOJ was. willing um to put forward any resources. necessary uh to fight what they what. they said was left-wing violence or. violence against right-wing figures. But. now we have very clear, obvious uh and.

and proven violence against uh a uh a. left-wing uh member of Congress, a. Democratic member of Congress, and there. aren't these federal um resources being. allocated toward anybody who has a D. next to their name. And so in light of. this disparity, what does this mean. moving forward for a movement that has. largely relied on violence to get what. they want? I mean, we have January 6 to. look at as a very clear testament to. that in light of any of it kind of uh. being being uh uh prevented by the folks.

in charge. Yeah. So, everyone look, this. is about as important a video as Brian. and I have ever done. You know, this is. we've now done just over 300 videos and. this is a really important one. And so I. want you to watch to the end because. we're going to cover a lot of things. here that are unpleasant, but they are. important for you to hear and they're. important for you to be equipped with. good information about. So Brian, look, uh, you know, the fact is that those of. us who are standing up to Donald Trump,

whether they are elected officials like. the congressman, whether they are people. like you, whether they are lawyers like. me, we're really on our own. I mean, the. fact is that the Department of Justice. is not there to go after right-wing. extremists. They are not there to go. after people who may make threats. against you or against me or against, you know, any number of other people who. are viewed as opposition figures. And. that is in addition to the threats that.

we face at the hands of the Trump. administration itself, right? So, in. addition to, you know, what does it mean. to be in the crosshairs of the Trump. administration? What does it mean to. have the Donald the president of the. United States give a speech about me for. example at the Department of Justice or. to target me in executive memorandum and. orders? What does it mean for, you know, for for you to offer content that he. clearly hates every single day and and. people in the White House know who you. are? Like that's one set of risks. But. but everyone needs to recognize what. Brian's talking about here is something. that's actually much more dangerous,

which is that right-wing vigilantes, right-wing, you know, uh uh agitators, people who are going to take the law. into their own hands, perhaps, for. example, people who were pardoned by. Donald Trump, who were involved in an in. insurrection in the nation's capital, who want to take violent retribution or. want to engage in harassment or other. unlawful behavior. I I just don't think. we can expect that federal law. enforcement will do anything to protect. us. I don't think that they will protect. us proactively. I don't think they'll. they'll try to vindicate or solve any.

crimes that are committed. I mean, in. some ways, Brian, look at the lies and. the absolute disgraceful comments that. were made when Speaker Pelos's husband. was assaulted. Assaulted. Assaulted in. his house. Assaulted. tried to they. tried to kill him. And what did Donald. Trump do? He mocked it, >> right? >> He spread false lies and information. about it. What did we see when. legislators in in Minnesota were.

murdered murdered in cold blood by what. clearly is someone who was very. disturbed and a right-wing um motivated. by right-wing animists. They lied. They. lied about it. And then they they have. kind of quietly omitted that from the. list of of violence that they carry. >> By the way, Mike Mike Lee also mocked. it. You had sitting US senators who. mocked it. >> Yeah. I mean, you know, and and so I. think we all need to be cleareyed about. the risks that people are running right.

now. And you know, that's not to say. that we shouldn't speak out loudly and. and stand tall. I do and Brian does and. many other people uh who are in this. public eye do. But we also need to. recognize that the failure of the Trump. Justice Department, an FBI, to go after. someone who is threatening a member of. Congress, one of only 435 people who are. elected by the citizens of this country. to represent them in Congress. You know, if they if they are going to protect.

Democratic members of Congress, who who. are they going to protect? Well, I guess. the the bigger question then is is this. not a message that's being sent to. people proactively who the Trump. administration knows are going to be. violent, knows are going to do their. bidding. There are plenty of these. right-wing paramilitary groups out. there. We've seen them. Uh they were in. large part very active during January 6. So, how is this not a message to those. people by saying, "Hey, hey, when there. are actionable threats against. Democrats, we're very clearly not doing.

anything about it." when you have people. who were locked up for committing. violence on behalf of Donald Trump, we're going to give them pardons. And. so, how is that not a message to the. next wave of people in advance of 2026. or in advance of any event really um by. saying that, hey, violence against the. left is legal now? >> Absolutely. I mean, look, Donald Trump. is using and abusing the pardon power in. so many different ways that it is. sometimes hard to keep focused on the.

simplest way he is using it, which is to. send exactly that message. I mean, he. pardoned a bunch of people who not only. broke into the nation's capital, not. only tried to prevent the peaceful. transfer of power, but but some of whom. assaulted police officers, some of whom. tried to assault members of Congress. Like, he pardoned all of them. So what. message did he send? The exact message. he intended to send, which is that if. you commit violence in the name of. Donald Trump, if you do the thing that. Donald Trump wants you to do and it is.

violent, that it's a get out of jail. free card, >> right? >> And this is not a new message from him. And you know, I'd add one more thing, Brian. You know, look at the look at the. rationale he gave to pardoning George. Santos. Now, in fairness, Congressman. Santos is a fraud and and not but not. violence, as far as we know. So there's. no violence there. But among the reasons. he said he pardoned George Santos was. because he voted Republican. >> Right. >> Right. I mean like if that's the. criteria, Brian, what safety is there?

>> Right. Well then I guess that raises the. obvious question here which is what do. those people do? What do the Eric. Swallwells of the world do? What does. the next person who's the victim of. physical political violence at the hands. of some right-winger do if Pam Bondi and. Donald Trump aren't going to lift a. finger or broadcasting that they're not. going to lift a finger to get some type. of uh vindication? >> Yeah. So, look, this is why I ask people. at the beginning to watch this video to. the end because this this is the really. important part. And by the way, you. know, hit the subscribe button if you're.

not already a subscriber to this channel. and hit the bell to make sure you're. alerted because Brian and I do this. content in order to make sure you are. kept informed. And this is really. important stuff. It's really dangerous. times for us in democracy and and it's. really an informed citizenry is the. start to the answer to this question, right? We all need to stay aware and. informed. We need to be cleareyed. We. cannot live in a fantasy world. And. unfortunately, there are still too many. Democrats. There are still too many. people um on the left who want to.

believe that we are living in a normal. judicial system. We are living in a. normal criminal justice system. That. when prosecutors charge people or don't. charge people, it's being done on the. merits. That if the FBI says there's no. case, then there must be no case. If. they say there is a case, there must be. a case. And and I'm telling you, we have. to we have to for the sake of democracy, for the sake of people's safety, we have. to stop giving this presumption of. benefit of the doubt to this Department. of Justice. Okay? This is Pam Bondi's.

Department of Justice. Every federal. prosecutor who works at the Department. of Justice right now works for Pam. Bondi. And so when people say, "Oh, they're a career prosecutor." Yeah, they're a career prosecutor who's been. willing to stay in their position to. work for career for Pam Bondi. If. they're an FBI agent, they're willing to. stay an FBI agent to work for Cash. Patel. So, be very skeptical. It doesn't. mean that you can never believe it, they. say, but be skeptical to start with. The. second thing is we need to really really. implore governors, mayors, um, uh, state.

officials, towns that they are going to. have to fill in this gap. I mean the. fact is you know you're in California. and I am sure that Gavin Newsome and the. you know the city authorities where you. know whatever city you live in you know. they they would take this seriously and. we've seen instances of that and so. we're going to have to you know lean. harder into federalism into this idea. that states and local governments are. going to be the ones who are going to. have to pick up a lot of this work. And. and I should note for for folks who are.

watching right now, you know, Trump has. already uh expressed his intention to go. after Mark. And so I think the one. thing, one small step that we can all. take to help bolster his profile so that. it makes it that much more difficult for. them to be able to go after him is to. support him publicly and the best way to. do that is to sign up for his news. outlet. This way he's able to reach. everybody beyond just relying on the. social media platforms. A direct line. from him to you in the event that he is. targeted or it goes even further than. that. So, I'm going to put the link to. democracy docket right here on the. screen and also in the post description.

of this video. If you sign up for. democracy docket, that's his way to be. able to reach you directly. Um, >> and you know, and you know, Brian, one. of the things you said there that I want. to hammer home is we also can't count on. the legacy media, you know. Yeah, >> the legacy media has failed us in so. many different ways in the pro-democracy. movement. They fail us. They find new. ways to fail almost every day. But I. also don't have a whole lot of. confidence based on how they have. reported other stories that you know.

like that that there would not be a. certain element of take what the. government says in good faith you know. cover the things that the FBI will. confirm right. >> you know and and so I think it's really. important whether it's democracy docket. whether it's um whether it's uh Brian's. YouTube channel or his Substack or his. podcast whether like or or for that. matter it's any number of other. independent media like we're going to. have to build a left of center. pro-democracy media ecosystem and Brian.

has been instrumental in that in a lot. of different ways but but as much work. as he puts into it or I put into it it's. only as strong as you all are willing to. support it by willing to sign up whether. it's for democracy docket or this this. channel or for other people's. newsletters whatever it is so we really. need you to lean into independent media. because legacy media is not going to do. this work. >> mark it's worth asking asking here you. you'd mentioned a really smart point and. that is that the states have to step up. and fill the gaps and so I have two.

questions here one is are states going. to have the resources available for you. know for example if if Eric Swallwell is. is publicly threatened and he knows that. the federal government is not going to. step in and and and charge the people. responsible do the states have the. resources or is there even standing for. the states to be able to step in and. prosecute the people that the federal. government won't. And the second part of. that question is what happens in red. states where even if they do have the.

ability, do have the resources, do have. the standing to bring uh bring. prosecutions against people, there's no. there's no political appetite to do so. And so in that instance where let's say. there is, you know, standing or the. resources, do they only have to be in. states with with uh you know, Democratic. attorneys general or Democratic. governors to be able to avail themselves. of that option? >> Yeah. No, you've pointed to two big. problems, which is why it's not an ideal. solution, but it's the solution we have. Um, the first is resources. You know,

the FBI is has been historically the. premier law enforcement agency of the. United States for a reason. It has a lot. of resources. It has access to a lot of. data and information. Uh, it also can. operate nationally, right? It can. operate across jurisdictions. So, if you. have someone who's making threats in one. place and another place or they travel. across state lines, right? The FBI and. DOJ is everywhere. So they they are a. much more comprehensive solution with a. lot more resources than a lot of state. governments do and certainly a lot of. municipalities do. But you know that.

just means that states are going to have. to dedicate more resources to it. In. terms of you know red states versus blue. states uh you know we haven't yet and. I'm going to say this. I'm not being. blindly optimistic but we've not yet. seen that state governments including in. red states are unwilling to investigate. crime in their own jurisdictions. They. have reasons, you know, they have local. reasons to be concerned about unsolved. crimes or unadressed crimes in their. jurisdictions. So, I have a little more. hope even in some red states, but also. remember there are also multiple layers. of police and prosecutors. In a lot of.

places, prosecution is done not even at. the state level, it's done at the county. level, it's done at the city level, right? So, in a lot of states, you know, if you want to prosecute crime, you go. to the county attorney uh or the local. DA. And so, you know, there are going to. be a patchwork of this, which again is. not going to be perfect. Uh, but. hopefully, you know, in those in those. jurisdictions where it's closer to the. people, like I said, there's more of. just a tough on crime incentive. Uh, that may that may take hold. >> Well, look, again, I I know I had.

mentioned this before, but I want to put. a fine point on this. uh the the reality. is that in this world where you kind of. present yourself as a public uh figure. opposed to what this administration is. doing, you make yourself a target. And. so again, the best way to be able to. fight back uh against an administration. that wants you to kind of operate in. obscurity is to make sure you have as. big profile as you can so that if and. when this administration goes after you, you're able to to cause as much of a. ruckus about it uh as you possibly can.

So, a small step that everybody can take. to uh right now to to help kind of. secure the folks who are outspoken. opponents of this administration is, for. example, as it relates to Mark to sign. up for democracy docket. So, again, I'm. going to put that link right here on the. screen and also in the post description. of this video. If you're not yet. subscribed to this YouTube channel, that. link is on the screen as well. I'm Brian. Teller. Let me let me say, by the way, that I try to use the Democracy Docket. platform not just. >> for me, but for anyone who is being um. uh who is being targeted by the Trump.

administration. You know, I I I I. regularly speak out uh on Democracy. about what's happened to Congresswoman. MacGyver in New Jersey, who is still. under indictment for frankly just doing. her damn job and Donald Trump being. pissed off. I've spoken up and used my. platform for James Comey, who I have no. love for because I believe he helped. cost uh Hillary Clinton the election in. 2016. I've used it obviously for Tis. James, but I've also used it for John. Bolton. And there are a lot of leftist. center platforms that are really walking. away from the Bolton case. And I. understand a lot of you don't like John.

Bolton. I don't like John Bolton, but. but Donald Trump's going after John. Bolton because because he was a critic. of this administration. So, you know, I. try to use this platform not just for, you know, narrow interest, but really to. to be to be consistently out there, you. know, trying to stand up for democracy. >> And and again, couldn't recommend enough. uh that the the need to support that. platform. So, that link is right here on. the screen. I'm Brian Taylor Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch. [Music].