Judge Demands Answers From DOJ For Refusing To Dismiss Reflecting Pool Case With Prejudice
from the hi-we're-from-the-'how-high'-department dept
There are multiple things this administration is incapable of doing: winning wars, curbing inflation, not acting like Nazis, wearing shoes that fit them, etc. But if there’s one thing it’s most known for, it’s the unwillingness to take a loss and move on.
That’s why the DOJ is still trying to imprison/jettison into a war-torn African nation its first spectacular failure: Kilmar Abrego-Garcia. And that’s why — multiple attempts and several million dollars later — Trump is still pretending what happened to the Lincoln Reflecting Pool were acts of vandalism, rather than the shoddy work of his preferred contractors. Those facts are on the permanent record, supplied by his own DOJ and his handpicked US Attorney (and former Fox News personality, natch) Jeanine Pirro.
The DOJ claimed Doug Burgum’s Interior Department lied to it when it moved to dismiss federal vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn. To his credit(?), Burgum has been nothing if not consistent. Burgum continued to spread the lies. And Trump has continued to double-down on his bogus “vandals” claims since the DOJ dropped the charges.
The continuing problems aren’t limited to Burgum’s and Trump’s constant lies. The main problem for David Hearn is that the DOJ can always try to run him through the court system again. While the DOJ made it clear any damage was due to poor workmanship, it refused to dismiss the charges with prejudice — something that would have prevented the DOJ from re-charging Hearn in response to White House pressure and/or a series of hirings/firings meant to replace Pirro with someone more sycophantic.
While the DOJ may have an infinite amount of time and money to blow on stroking off Trump’s revenge fantasies, its lawyers have been learning repeatedly that federal judges have a finite amount of patience for their constant bullshit.
Hearn’s legal team has refused to let this case go simply because the DOJ has refused to let this case go. It has asked the court to bring the DOJ back to explain why it won’t dismiss the charges with prejudice, even after publicly admitting any alleged “vandalism” was simply the end result of shitty pool repair work.
The DOJ still refuses to take this step, which has naturally resulted in DOJ lawyers being berated by yet another exasperated federal judge:
Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman asked assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence how he was supposed to look at the president’s statements about David Hearn, one of his attorneys and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro as “anything other than [Trump] pressuring your office, your boss and the three of you to charge Mr. Hearn, recharge Mr. Hearn with what you had decided to be a meritless prosecution.”
“Isn’t this a unique threat of meritless re-prosecution?” Edelman said.
You’ll notice it’s US Attorney Michael Spence now handling this case, since Pirro has been sidelined (but not officially fired) for refusing to engage in a malicious prosecution on Trump’s behalf. In return for Pirro momentarily demonstrating better judgment and displaying some respect for her office, Trump has repeatedly maligned her in public comments and Truth Social posts.
That leaves Spence with nothing but the dirtiest of dirty work — ensuring the Hearn prosecution remains on life support until Oval Office pressure forces him to move forward with “meritless re-prosecution,” to quote Judge Edelman.
Spence had nowhere to go. Having been painted into the corner by the administration that currently employs him, all he could do was offer up a weak non-rebuttal that kind of throws Trump under the Truth Social bus he’s driving, while being as noncommittal as possible about the future of the Hearn prosecution:
Spence replied only that Trump’s statements “speak for themselves,” while also arguing it was premature to discuss that hypothetical notion because no further grand jury action had happened.
Bro, this discussion isn’t “premature.” Rights are there to be protected, rather than just vindicated after the fact. The court isn’t obligated to allow the DOJ to engage in a malicious re-prosecution before it can draw inferences from the administration’s actions and statements. Courts aren’t just there to clean up the messes the other branches make. They can also block the government from moving ahead with planned rights violations.
US Attorney Spence is saying as little as he can in hopes of saving a job that’s probably not worth having. The future will only hold worse things for anyone who thinks it’s possible to appease both Trump and an apparently never-ending series of annoyed federal judges. 30 seconds of boiler plate editing is all it would take to end the Hearn saga for good. But Spence — and the cowards who work with him — will never close this case because Trump won’t be happy until he’s put someone — anyone! — in jail for botching a job he’d spent months bragging about.
Filed Under: asshats, david hearn, doi, doj, doug burgum, interior department, jeanine pirro, malicious prosecution, refelecting pool, trump administration
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Comments on “Judge Demands Answers From DOJ For Refusing To Dismiss Reflecting Pool Case With Prejudice”
Somebody should tell the DoJ that doing something without prejudice is kind of woke.
Re:
You win ten Internets today, but please don’t go there.
Libs without prejudices terminate the unjust prosecution with prejudice. Conservatives terminate the defendant with extreme prejudice.
Judge who could have dismissed this case with prejudice but decided not to for shits and giggles, demands anybody else except him answer for dismissing this case without prejudice.
Re:
I believe the angle here is that if the DOJ requests to dismiss with prejudice, they’re eliminating their ability to recharge the defendant and they can’t appeal their own voluntary action. But if the judge dismisses with prejudice, the DOJ can appeal that ruling.
I was under the impression that a judge had the ability to dismiss a case with prejudice. How is this one different?
Re:
He does, but he’s also faced with the problem that if he does over the DoJ’s objections the Supreme Court at least is likely to rule that he overstepped his authority because the record doesn’t contain any statements by the DoJ that they will re-prosecute and the mere possibility that they could re-prosecute isn’t sufficient to justify overruling the DoJ’s objections.
Reflections on thought-control.
With apologies for ripping this one phrase out of context, it got me thinking:
In material terms, what does Trump achieve with this quixotic crusade? This is not a question that requires any inside information to answer: It is a question of observed behavior and substantial effects.
If Trump keeps this up for long enough, it’ll gaslight some people into believing that they themselves must be crazy. After all, no President of the United States could be this crazy. Don’t believe your lying eyes.
It’ll make others feel paralyzed with helplessness. If a Federal judge can’t stop Trump from senselessly grinding his axe on the ass of a completely innocent person, it means that Trump can do anything, no one can stop him, and you can do nothing. It is consistent with the tactics common to schoolyard bullies, abusive parents, and adult intimate partner abusers. Give up. It’s hopeless. Daddy’s gonna do whatever he wants, and get whatever he wants. Shut the fuck up, and pray that you can avoid pissing him off.
It lets Trump deny that he himself ruined the Reflecting Pool—while he plays the victim over the heinous vandalism of his remade Reflecting Pool, done by an innocent scapegoat whom he relentlessly attacks. Any of us could be David Hearn; he is our proxy. This fits neatly into Trump’s habituated, generalized, patent strategy of government by DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender). Indeed, DARVO is an unofficial plank of the Trumped-up Republican Party’s platform.
All of the substantial effects here hew to coercive thought-control. None of the observed behavior has any relevance to the actual Reflecting Pool.