Trump's Justice Department is open for business

It's official: Donald Trump's Justice Department is open for business.

A directive Monday from acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop the pending bribery and fraud indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The reasons Bove cited are political, not legal, saying the decision was reached "without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based ... this directive in no way calls into question the integrity and efforts of the line prosecutors responsible for the case." 

It's all transactional now. Trump has eviscerated the independence of the department, making it clear that Justice is an enforcement arm of the White House. The memo explicitly says that Adams needs to be let off the hook because the Trump administration is "particularly concerned about the impact of the prosecution on Mayor Adams' ability to support critical, ongoing federal efforts to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement."

Adams, who has cozied up to Trump in the last few weeks, claimed his prosecution was the result of having criticized the Biden administration's border policies — but the probe began well before Adams' criticism. The mayor said Tuesday that he never broke the law and  is no longer facing "any legal questions."

But Bove wrote that the Adams case could be revived at a later date. That means Trump owns Adams for the rest of this mayoral term and for a second term if he is reelected this fall. Bove's language allowing a possible revival of the case also undermines the words of Adams' well-connected defense attorney Alex Spiro — who has also represented Elon Mu  sk — that the case has no merits. Spiro has denied reports that he made it known to the Justice Department that Adams would be compliant on immigration if the case was dropped. On Friday, Adams reportedly told his top deputies at a staff meeting not to criticize Trump and cooperate with all of the administration's enforcement efforts. 

Trump has said both he and Adams were "persecuted" by prosecutors. On Monday, Trump, who had already commuted the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, pardoned the disgraced ex-governor who served eight years in prison for attempting in 2008 to sell the governor's appointment to the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. It gives the appearance that Trump has a soft spot for crooked politicians. So far in his two terms, Trump has pardoned, commuted or dropped charges against at least eight Republicans who served in Congress in addition to Blagojevich and Adams, both Democrats. The takeaway is clear: Trump is saying politicians are not corrupt; they are unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, just like he was. 

The only question now is how long it will take for Trump to demand a compliant Justice Department target his enemies with prosecutions.