When I was sworn into the bars of Florida and Washington, D.C., I took an oath, a solemn promise to uphold the law, to act with integrity, and to never pursue frivolous claims or charges. That principle is not a mere formality; it is the backbone of our legal system. Every attorney, whether arguing for a client in civil court or prosecuting a defendant in criminal court, is bound by that duty to seek justice, not vengeance.
Yet today, that bedrock of our democracy is being shattered in real time by one attorney: Lindsey Halligan, the President’s former personal lawyer and now the Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In that role, she has taken the unprecedented step of turning the Justice Department into an instrument of political retribution.
These are serious times, and makes the threats I and other journalists receive even more serious. If you value fact-driven journalism that refuses to flinch or look away, I ask you to subscribe and support this work. Independent reporting exists because of people like you, not because of billionaires. Your support allows me, and others like me, to keep doing this work freely, without pressure to soften or sanitize the truth.
Under Halligan’s direction, the Justice Department has become an arm of the President’s political machine. Her office is now pursuing criminal charges against individuals who happen to be among the President’s most outspoken critics, not because of credible evidence of wrongdoing, but because of direct, public orders from the Oval Office. It began with the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, a move so clearly political that many career prosecutors refused to participate. Now, the same treatment has been turned on New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is facing the possibility of decades in prison for doing her job.
As an attorney and as a journalist, I cannot stay silent. I have represented clients against the Justice Department in investigations and criminal proceedings. I have seen firsthand the professionalism, diligence, and integrity of many DOJ attorneys. But what we are witnessing now is unlike anything I have ever seen. We are watching the deliberate dismantling of the Justice Department’s independence, replaced with loyalty tests and political vendettas.
The President himself recently posted, by mistake, a private message on Truth Social instructing his Attorney General to prosecute political opponents more aggressively. When the sitting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia refused to comply, he was fired and replaced by Halligan, a loyalist who had never even presented a case to a grand jury. Two weeks into her appointment, two of the President’s critics have been indicted, and the list of targets seems to be growing. Today it is Letitia James. Tomorrow it could be Adam Schiff. Next time, it might be a reporter, an activist, or any citizen who dares to question those in power.
This is not law enforcement; it is authoritarianism wearing a prosecutor’s badge. Since January 20th, this administration has weaponized the Justice Department in ways that should alarm every American. It has pursued pro-Palestinian protesters for exercising their First Amendment rights, targeted undocumented immigrants for comments made on social media, and now turned its prosecutorial power against public officials fulfilling their lawful duties.
We cannot normalize this. We cannot let this become just another headline that fades within 24 hours. When James Comey was indicted, the story disappeared quickly, and the administration took that silence as permission to go further. If we allow the indictment of Letitia James to slip quietly into the news cycle, the message will be clear: the rule of law is negotiable, and justice is whatever those in power say it is.
This is not just about one attorney or one administration. It is about whether the Justice Department will serve the Constitution or the whims of a President. It is about whether any of us, regardless of politics, will be safe from prosecution for doing our jobs or exercising our rights. I took an oath to uphold the law and to fight against frivolous, politically motivated charges.
That oath demands that I speak now. If we remain silent, we risk losing more than our justice system; we risk losing our democracy itself.
