Dem Rep. Jamie Raskin: We Will Resist Trump’s Effort To Politicize The Department of Justice | Video | RealClearPolitics
QUESTION, HUGO LOWELL: Let me change gears, then, and go to the Judiciary Committee. What are the oversight tools that House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have going into this next Congress as they conduct oversight over the Trump DOJ? What are the biggest concerns you have when it comes to how Trump might use the DOJ for his personal ends?
REP. JAMIE RASKIN: Well, the Department of Justice traditionally has enjoyed institutional independence from the office of the president. The president has not ordered investigations into specific individuals or terminated investigations into others. That principle was, of course, tested during Donald Trump s first presidential administration. He seemed to want to treat the Department of Justice as a mere adjunct of his own presidency, under the unitary executive theory.
We are going to try to defend the principle of the independent integrity of the law enforcement function under the Department of Justice. We will resist and oppose any efforts to politicize the department so that it goes after the president s enemies, in the current parlance, or goes easy on his friends. That is simply not how the rule of law works, and it directly undercuts more than two centuries of understanding about how the United States government operates.
Well this is good to hear. Nobody wants the DOJ to be politicized. That would be a disaster.