Chris Truax

Opinion contributor

That’s it. Line crossed.

It came Monday when President Donald Trump tweeted: “Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......”

In other words, President Trump is now angry that Attorney General Sessions did not put party politics ahead of enforcing the law. He thinks that the Justice Department should have suppressed the charges against Reps. Chris Collins of New York and Duncan Hunter of California because bringing those charges might cost Republicans two safe House seats.

This is exactly what the rule of law does not look like.

When it comes to enforcing the law, it should be — and, up until now, it has been — completely irrelevant whether a politician was “popular” or “Republican,” how close it was to the midterms or even whether the target of the investigation was going to have an “easy win.” The Justice Department carries out its investigations with all deliberate speed and files criminal charges as appropriate, all without giving any consideration as to who might be helped and who might be hindered by the impartial enforcement of the laws.

Party politics instead of justice and law

This is not the department's first rodeo. It has a long history of prosecuting members of Congress and detailed procedures to ensure it does so impartially. A member of Congress cannot even be investigated, much less charged, until the U.S. attorney’s office consults with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section.



On top of that, both U.S. attorneys bringing the cases are Trump administration appointees. This is not a partisan “witch hunt,” even though Trump tries to make it sound like one by claiming these charges were the result of “two long running Obama era investigations.” While the investigation into Hunter has been ongoing — and widely reported —since April of 2016, the charges against Collins have nothing at all to do with Obama because they all relate to crimes that allegedly occurred in June 2017.

Politically, Hunter’s situation is a carbon copy of what happened to Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, the powerful head of the Ways and Means Committee indicted by the Justice Department. This was back in the 1990s, and it was Democrat Bill Clinton's administration that prosecuted Rostenkowski, an Illinois Democrat.

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Amid a well-publicized corruption investigation, Rostenkowski won his primary. As in Hunter’s case, Justice filed formal criminal charges after the primary but before the general election. Despite what was supposedly a safe seat — Rostenkowski's Chicago constituents had not elected a Republican for 35 years — he lost the general election and eventually went to prison.

So the idea that Justice is doing something outrageous by prosecuting a couple of “popular” congressmen from the president’s own party “just ahead of the midterms” is ridiculous. It’s not outrageous. It’s standard operating procedure, and it has been for many decades.

What is outrageous is Trump’s assumption that Justice should be politicized. It seems odd to have to make the case for the rule of law, but these are odd times. Whether you support Trump or not, you should be horrified by the idea that the Justice Department ought to protect the president’s friends and punish his enemies. Now that it is Trump running the show, you might think it’s a fine idea. When, say, Elizabeth Warren is president and decides to follow Trump’s example and weaponize the Justice Department, how will you feel then?

Tweet is most impeachable Trump action to date

If you do support Trump and his agenda, there is another reason to speak up for a Justice Department that enforces the law without fear or favor. It is because Trump’s tweet castigating Sessions for not politicizing the department is the single most serious and potentially impeachable thing he has ever done. He is denigrating — worse, he simply has no conception of — one of the cornerstones of our entire constitutional system of government.

If Trump wants to have any hope of completing his term, much less getting re-elected, he must be quickly and sharply educated. If he is not, he will eventually act on what to him seems a perfectly natural and logical idea: that the Justice Department exists to do his personal bidding. Should that happen, it would be a disaster, both for America’s political system and Trump’s presidency. He needs to be forced back from the brink, before it is too late.



Placing some clear limits on Trump is in everyone’s interest, and Congress needs to take immediate steps to make its displeasure known. Perhaps it could pass a joint resolution condemning Trump’s tweet and affirming the necessity of an apolitical Justice Department.



In addition to defending the rule of law, such a resolution would help separate the sheep from the goats. Anyone in Congress who is not “brave” enough to take a public stand against turning the Justice Department into the enforcement arm of a new Committee to Re-elect the President has no business in public life.



Much has changed over the past few years, and many things we have taken for granted are now in question. But one thing we cannot allow to be normalized, one line we cannot cross, is the corruption of our justice system. No matter what.

Chris Truax, an appellate lawer in San Diego, is on the legal advisory board of Republicans for the Rule of Law.