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The Al Franken Podcast

Barbara McQuade and Daniel Richman on Trump’s Politicization of the DOJ

The Al Franken Podcast

The Al Franken Podcast

Government, Progressive, Politics, Senate, Liberal, Senator, Minnesota, Franken, News, Saturday Night Live, Comedy, Snl

4.67.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In his second term, Donald Trump has upended many American institutions, but perhaps none more than the Department of Justice. He's filled the DOJ with lackeys, like AG Pam Bondi, who are corrupting our system of justice in ways never seen before. 

We're joined by two veterans of the DOJ: Barbara McQuade, professor at University of Michigan Law School, and Daniel Richman, professor at Columbia Law School. We discuss the disturbing tendencies of Trump's Justice Department: from emphasizing immigration enforcement, to investigating Trump’s political rivals, to firing agents en masse for prosecuting the Jan 6th cases, and so on. The damage being done will take years, if not decades, to undo.

Plus, the Epstein Files continue to impact Trump’s presidency. Why is Ghislane Maxwell being treated so well? It’s almost as if Trump hopes she’ll exonerate him in exchange for a sweetheart deal.

READ Barbara's book “Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America”: https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4577-attack-from-within

READ Daniel’s recent opinion piece in NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/opinion/trump-is-discovering-the-downside-of-a-justice-department-with-no-credibility.html

Get 20% off your first order of low carb, keto-friendly bread from our newest sponsor, Royo! Use promo code FRANKEN at www.eatroyo.com

Transcript

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0:00.0

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1:04.7

Hey, everybody, we've got a great one for you today. You know, for a change, the great Barbara

1:10.4

McQuaid joins us. You know her as the former

1:14.0

U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and now a law professor of the University of

1:20.0

Michigan. And joining her is Daniel Richmond, who was a federal prosecutor in the Southern

1:25.5

District of New York and is now a professor at Columbia Law School.

1:30.3

They're here to discuss how Trump's unprecedented takeover of the Justice Department has dangerously undermined its credibility.

1:39.6

Whether it's by firing so many of the federal prosecutors who took on the January 6th offenders or hiring

1:46.3

sycophants like Pam Bondi, who has announced investigations Trump asked for regardless

1:52.5

of whether there is any evidence to support them. I mean, do you really think the Justice

1:57.9

Department is going to prosecute Barack Obama for making it look like

2:02.6

Russia was supporting Trump in the 2016 election? One problem, of course, is that Russia did

2:09.3

try to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton, was the announcement of the Obama investigation,

...

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