NYT Says 50 Legal Experts Fear the DOJ Turning Into a Tool of the White House

What, they couldn't find 51 experts? That's the bar that was set with the letter stating that the Hunter Biden laptop story had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.

Instead, Emily Bazelon of the New York Times surveyed 50 legal experts, allegedly equally divided among Republicans and Democrats (remember, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney are "Republicans"), and found that they're very, very worried that the Trump administration is using the Justice Department as a tool of the White House, unlike President Barack Obama and his "wingman" Eric Holder.

A survey of the Washington legal establishment, evenly divided among Republicans and Democrats, captured almost universal fear and anguish over the transformation of the Justice Department into a tool of the White House. @emilybazelon https://t.co/ANBUI7dXxN
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) October 7, 2025

For a good 10-year review of Democrats weaponizing the Justice Department, refer to Sen. Eric Schmitt's speech Tuesday at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Bazelon reports:

Eight months into his second term, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to those beliefs. “What’s happening is anathema to everything we’ve ever stood for in the Department of Justice,” said another former official who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Trump’s first term.
…
Our new survey channeled their collectively grim state of mind. All but one of the respondents rated Trump’s second term as a greater or much greater threat to the rule of law than his first term. They consistently characterized the president’s abuses of power — wielding the law to justify his wishes — as being far worse than they imagined before his re-election.
And every single one of the 50 respondents believe that Trump and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, have used the Justice Department to go after the president’s political and personal enemies and provide favors to his allies.

This is written by Emily Bazelon, who is about the most left-partisan legal analyst out there, and it is, of course, silent on the insane weaponization of the DOJ against Trump -- problems that far exceed anything that has happened in Trump's second term. Disregard. https://t.co/g9CNRQF5zw
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) October 7, 2025

This piece was just as cartoonishly bad and dishonest the first time it ran -- https://t.co/jCOjyl37ro
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 7, 2025

Mollie Hemingway writes about another New York Times piece by Bazelon on the survey when it was given the first time, this one called, "Why Legal Experts Are Worried About a Second Trump Presidency."

The Times headline is “Why Legal Experts Are Worried About a Second Trump Presidency.” The subhed added, “In a survey of 50 members of the D.C. legal establishment, many warn that Trump could follow through on his threats to prosecute his political adversaries.” The term “gaslighting” has gained popularity in recent years, a reference to the 1944 movie “Gaslight” about a husband who manipulates his wife into thinking she is insane. Even in a sea of media manipulation, there is perhaps no better example of gaslighting than this piece.
The article begins with an unsubstantiated claim that Trump seeks to engage in political prosecutions. The only quote offered in support of this claim is Trump saying people who violate federal election laws will be prosecuted and sentenced. They inaccurately characterize this as “Donald Trump could not be clearer about his plans to use the Justice Department to seek revenge against his enemies.”
The opening paragraph also references Trump supporters chanting “Lock Her Up!” of Hillary Clinton, who had gotten away with setting up a secret server to mishandle classified information. Left unsaid by the New York Times is that Trump didn’t go after Clinton during his time in office, saying it would be “divisive” to pursue political opponents. The New York Times also doesn’t mention that the Democrat National Convention featured chants of “Lock Him Up!” when Hillary Clinton spoke.

I stopped reading at Washington legal establishment. While I wouldn't compare them to the Gaza Health Ministry, unless I was merely likening the off-putting to the outright obscene, small to great as Milton used to write, there was no need to say more. :)
— Confessions of a Conservative (@TwisteChristian) October 7, 2025

We should probably already go ahead and arrest them so we can have their worst fears realized sooner than later to relieve their psychological pain.
— Husker4Life (@NE_good_life) October 7, 2025

This started with Obama & Holder. Even the Clinton Justice Department hated to lose in Court and could generally be counted on to reject political positions that couldn’t be legally defended. When you pointed out to Obama’s people that they were going to lose in court — *shrug*.
— Athénaïs (@AthenaisdeMont) October 7, 2025

Show me your breathless doomsaying posts from when Dems weaponized every single organization within the justice system in an attempt to silence, bankrupt, and imprison a political opponent and feed misinformation to the American public. 🤔
— CarolinaConservative3 (@1776Carolina3) October 7, 2025

I can't imagine there are more than a handful of people outside the beltway who give a crap what the DC legal swamp thinks about anything. They ignored Biden weaponizing the DOJ for years. They can pound sand.
— JackStraw (@JackStr67850681) October 7, 2025

Retribution is sweet. Perhaps your heroes should have engaged in some critical thought and stopped before they started using the state to take down political opposition. Did they think they were immune? They're fools if they did. The worm always turns.
— An Exile in Jersey (@g_mantua) October 7, 2025

Democrats told us a second Trump term would be a revenge presidency. Revenge for what? Did something happen?

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