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    • Who will Trump choose as attorney general?
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    Who will Trump choose as attorney general?

    Umito Posted on

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    WASHINGTON – Like President-elect Donald Trump organizes his administration, a key decision will be who to appoint as attorney general to lead a Justice Department that he and his allies say has been hopelessly politicized by the Biden administration.

    Trump’s relationship with the department has been tumultuous.

    During his first term, Trump I tried to block the department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election that he won. He demanded investigations into baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 race that he lost. And Trump was sued in two federal cases – for alleged interference in elections And improper handling of classified documents – after leaving office.

    Today, attorney general is considered Trump’s most important appointment.

    “He needs to appoint someone with a very skeptical eye — someone the base is going to downright fear,” said Mark Corallo, a former Justice Department spokesman who served as a communications adviser to the team. Trump’s legal counsel during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s tenure in Russia. investigation.

    Trump is expected to choose from a field of loyal candidates who will help implement potentially controversial policies such as mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

    “Throughout the campaign, Trump made it clear that he would appoint loyalists to his administration, and we can expect no less when it comes to the head of the Justice Department,” said Wayne Unger, assistant professor in law at Quinnipiac University.

    “At bottom, whoever Trump appoints is likely to erode the Justice Department’s traditional separation and independence from White House politics,” Unger said. “Trump has repeatedly expressed that he will place a heavy hand on the scales of justice as president.

    Here is a sampling of candidates — among lawmakers, members of his first administration and appointees — who are being considered, according to media reports and people working on the transition:

    Senator Mike Lee

    Senator Mike LeeR-Utah, is one of the most mentioned names. Lee worked closely with the White House after Trump mistakenly called him during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, while trying to reach another senator.

    Lee exchanged emails with Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to discuss how to challenge the 2020 election results. In texts obtained by CNNLee expressed “unequivocal support for you to exhaust all legal and constitutional remedies available to you,” although the senator ultimately voted to certify the election.

    Lee clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Lee has been in the Senate for 14 years and sits on the judicial committee.

    John Ratcliffe

    John Ratfcliffe, Trump’s former director of national intelligence and a former member of the Texas Republican Party, is another important name under discussion.

    Ratcliffe defended Trump from his seats on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election.

    Trump then chose him to lead the intelligence community, what Ratcliffe called “America’s best spy.” Trump awarded him a National Security Medal.

    Jeffrey Clark

    Jeffrey Clark, former deputy attorney general, was once considered by Trump for attorney general.

    Trump spoke with Clark about aggressively challenging the 2020 election results, and Clark wrote a letter urging states to investigate claims that other Justice Department and Republican election officials had already refuted . When Trump proposed elevating Clark to attorney general, top lawyers from the department and the White House threatened to resign together because he had never been a criminal lawyer.

    “You are an environmental lawyer,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told Clark at a news conference. a confrontation in the Oval Office on January 3, 2021. “How about you go back to your office and we will call you in case of an oil spill. »

    Clark is a co-defendant with Trump in an election racketeering case in Georgia. The DC Bar Association is consider disbarment.

    Judge Aileen Cannon

    U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannonwas appointed by Trump in 2020 and charges dismissed he illegally retained classified documents after leaving the White House.

    Trump has repeatedly praised her as “a well-respected federal judge,” including in a speech at the Republican National Convention. Some legal experts have criticized Cannon’s decisions in the documents case as follows: too pro-Trumpand two of its decisions were overturned by the 11th United States Court of Appeals.

    Cannon confronted the attorney general’s rumors when she refused to step down from the prosecution against Ryan Routhaccused of attempted assassination of Trump. Routh raised the “prospect of judicial promotion” in asking for his replacement, but Cannon decided she didn’t need to recuse herself on “very fragile speculations”.

    Mike Davis

    Mike Davis helped guide Trump’s judicial nominees through the Senate Judiciary Committee and became a staunch advocate during his criminal investigations, but joked that he would struggle to be confirmed.

    Davis worked under Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, after serving as a special assistant United States attorney in President George W. Bush’s White House. He is a pugnacious defender of Trump, urging elders Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., And special advisor Jack Smith will be named “attorney” on their role in the investigation into the January 6, 2021 riot by Trump supporters.

    Davis also said his current mood toward his political rivals was “drag their dead political bodies in the streets, burn them and throw them from the wall” through legal, political and financial measures.

    “I’m too charming to be confirmed as attorney general,” Davis said Wednesday in a social media post.

    Marc Paoletta

    Marc Paoletta is an old Advisor for 10 years to a House committee and a White House veteran. He represented Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, at the Jan. 6 House inquiry.

    Paoletta served as lead counsel to the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, where he led 200 investigative hearings. As part of the Trump administrationPaoletta served as general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget, which is the gatekeeper of all federal spending and reviews policy changes.

    Paoletta also helped prepare two Supreme Court nominees and Cabinet officials for confirmation hearings, and he previously served as deputy legal counsel to President George HW Bush, when he worked to confirm Thomas.

    Stephen Miller

    Stephen Miller, a senior advisor in the Trump White Housecampaigned enthusiastically alongside Trump to advocate for a strong southern border and for mass expulsions of millions of undocumented immigrants.

    Miller had worked on immigration issues at the White House during controversial conflicts over a ban on Muslim travelers entering the country and a “zero tolerance” policy for undocumented immigrants, which led to family separations.

    Miller would warm up the crowds for Trump by describing how Americans have seen “the lives of their loved ones taken away from them by illegal aliens, criminal gangs and thugs who have no place in this country.” as he said on October 27 at Madison Square Garden gathering in New York. “America is for Americans and Americans only. »

    Miller is not a lawyer, but since the first Trump administration he has managed to defend his priorities. founder of America First Legal.

    Contributors: David Jackson and Dan Morrison, USA TODAY

    Umito
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