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Welcome to the Logoff. At the moment I’m overlaying one other purge on the Justice Division, the place Donald Trump’s administration is taking revenge in opposition to high-ranking profession prosecutors who prosecuted Trump allies over January 6 and in different legal circumstances.
What’s the most recent? The pinnacle of the Washington, DC, US lawyer’s workplace demoted seven high-ranking prosecutors on Friday, Reuters experiences, shifting them to entry-level positions in a bid to power them to stop. These demoted embody:
The skilled attorneys will now largely deal with misdemeanors and low-level crimes. The demotions observe the January firing of US attorneys who prosecuted Trump over his try and steal the 2020 election.
Why have been they demoted? Ed Martin, the Trump-appointed new head of the DC workplace, claimed the strikes mirrored a shift in priorities and a concentrate on native crime in DC. However the Trump-related experiences of the officers chosen — and the transfer of skilled prosecutors to entry-level jobs — make it tough to imagine this wasn’t an act of retribution.
What’s the massive image? The demotions ship a robust sign to prosecutors that there shall be penalties for officers who attempt to maintain Trump and his allies accountable to the legislation. It’s additionally one other blow in opposition to the DOJ’s independence, as Trump works to remake legislation enforcement as a software he can wield for political ends. And the transfer weakens the US lawyer’s workplace in Washington, which is tasked with prosecuting abuses of energy by a number of the nation’s strongest folks.
And with that, it’s time to log out…
Vox’s Grey Space podcast this week is concerning the science of fixing one’s personal persona — how, why, and if one ought to endeavor to repair the elements of ourselves that we don’t like. It’s a 45-minute pay attention, excellent for a stroll outdoors (or, in my case, performing some long-overdue dishes). No matter you determine to do whereas listening, I promise it’s a far, much better possibility than the doomscroll. I hope you take pleasure in it. Thanks for all of the sensible emails this weekend, and I’ll see you again right here tomorrow.