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After the Post’s report on Siebert’s successor, Trump muddied the waters with a post on Truth Social, insisting that his judgment that “They’re all guilty as hell” supplant prosecutors’ assessment of cases. In addition to publicly posting a missive to “Pam,” his Attorney General, directing her to prosecute cases against people he has identified as his enemies, he suggested a different nominee for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsay Halligan, who he emphasized “likes you” (not a qualification to be U.S. Attorney any more than personal loyalty to the president is.)

Lindsey Halligan is currently a “Special Assistant to the President,” where she has worked on the information purge at the Smithsonian. Before this, she practiced insurance law in Florida, becoming a member of his legal team and handling her first federal case in 2022 when Mar-a-Lago was searched. She has no apparent ties to the Eastern District of Virginia and does not appear to be a member of the Virginia Bar. She has never handled any kind of prosecution. Unlike Cleary, who was qualified for a U.S. Attorney’s position, Halligan’s resume wouldn’t get her an interview, let alone a job as an assistant, let alone as the United States Attorney.

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It feels like it should be unnecessary to state the obvious here, that there’s not much of a case if the only way to get it prosecuted is by firing an experienced prosecutor to get an inexperienced one (or no prosecutor at all) to bring it. So let’s be clear about what Trump wants. He wants to turn us into a banana republic where the ability to prosecute people becomes a political tool in the hands of the president. That means he wants to exercise the ultimate power to put down any opposition to his rule.

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“Show me the man and I’ll find the crime.” That comment is attributed to Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s head of the Soviet secret police. It signifies that regardless of guilt or innocence, political enemies of the state can be targeted to quell opposition. Justice is not the goal. Adam Schiff and Letitia James understand that message, but they continue to choose to defy it. We need to all stand with them in the days and weeks ahead. Protecting the First Amendment and the integrity of the criminal justice system against abuse by the president may we[ll] be the two most important challenges we will take on between now and the midterm elections.

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