Implications Of The DOJ Targeting The President’s Critics

Fresh Air

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🗓️ 1 October 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

President Trump is pressuring the Department of Justice to pursue his political enemies, like former FBI director James Comey. Legal scholar (and former U.S. attorney) Barbara McQuade explains how this damages the rule of law.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from 48 hours.
0:02.5	Want more 48 hours?
0:04.4	Four days a week, the 48 hours podcast is bringing one of TV's most popular true crime series
0:10.3	straight to your ears.
0:11.8	Listen for original reporting and exclusive insights.
0:14.9	Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
0:18.6	This is fresh air.
0:20.0	I'm Tanya Mosley. President Donald Trump's campaign against his political
0:24.5	enemies is intensifying. This week, the Justice Department, ordered federal prosecutors in
0:30.4	at least seven states to draft plans to investigate billionaire George Soros' open society
0:36.3	foundations on potential charges ranging from
0:39.4	racketeering to support for terrorism. The Foundation's president, Binaifer Nowoji,
0:45.6	responded in her first interview since becoming a target by saying, this is not about George Soros,
0:52.1	she told NPR. This is about the United States slowly losing
0:55.7	its democracy bit by bit in ways that we've seen elsewhere in the world. The DOJ directive
1:02.0	follows last week's indictment of former FBI director James Comey on charges of making false
1:07.7	statements and obstruction related to his 2020 congressional testimony
1:11.6	about the Russia investigation. Despite career prosecutors arguing that there wasn't enough evidence,
1:18.2	the president pushed for prosecution. And when U.S. attorney Eric Siebert refused, the president
1:24.1	fired him and installed one of his personal lawyers, Lindsay Halligan, who quickly
1:28.7	secured an indictment. Here's President Trump last Friday, answering a reporter who asked him,
1:34.8	now that James Comey has been indicted, who is the next person on your list?
	...

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