Donald Trump was elected president after promising to use the power of government to enact vengeance on his political adversaries. That agenda has hit some road bumps but continues.
The most recent target is former FBI Director James Comey.
Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was put in charge of investigating two people who Trump promised vengeance against, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Comey. But Siebert found no evidence of wrongdoing in either case, so he resigned on Friday rather than go along with Trump’s vengeance agenda.
Siebert is a highly respected career prosecutor who was appointed to that position by Trump during his first administration after receiving bipartisan support in the Senate. On Monday, Trump appointed Lindsey Halligan, formerly one of his personal lawyers, to the position. Having never prosecuted a case, Halligan is vastly underqualified for the position, but for Trump she has the most important qualification of all — loyalty to Trump.
“I am your retribution,” was one of Trump’s most repeated campaign promises during his 2024 campaign.
Democracies should follow the will of voters, but that must be balanced by the rule of law. So when voters elect a president who promises to ignore the rule of law in preference to rule of man, we have two other branches of government to counter that authority. Halligan will, no doubt, bring charges but whether that leads to a successful prosecution is another matter, assuming we’re still a nation governed by the rule of law.
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