By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on November 15, 2024
An Editorial Opinion
On Wednesday, president-elect Donald J. Trump picked former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for U.S. Attorney General. Gaetz’s selection sent shockwaves throughout the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Gaetz resigned from the House of Representatives immediately after Trump’s announcement. Gaetz was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, obstruction of an investigation, and related allegations. That probe is now likely ended, as it only applies to sitting House members.
Gaetz was previously investigated by the DOJ for sexual misconduct involving a 17-year-old girl, a charge which he denied. DOJ never charged Gaetz with wrongdoing in that case.
Whether Matt Gaetz assumes the Attorney General position, via a Senate confirmation vote or a recess appointment, he will oversee the entire federal law enforcement apparatus, including the DOJ, FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals, all 94 U.S. Attorneys offices, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Unlike state attorneys general who are elected to their positions, the U.S. Attorney General is an appointed cabinet member. The Attorney General's job in the federal system is to advance and protect the president's public policy initiatives using the federal legal apparatus to do so. The Attorney General also has a concomitant duty to enforce the labyrinth of more than 8,000 federal civil and criminal laws.
An Opportunity to Reform a Historically Corrupt DOJ
The DOJ is one of the most corrupt law enforcement organizations on the planet. The agency has a long, ugly, and documented history of targeting innocent, law-abiding Americans for persecution and prosecution dating back to social justice activist Callie House’s politically-motivated prosecution on phony fraud charges in 1916.
Other high-profile targets of DOJ weaponization programs include pan-African businessman Marcus Garvey, singer Billie Holiday, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., actress Jean Seberg, anti-Vietnam War activist Daniel Ellsberg, Congressman Harold Ford, Sr. (D-Tennessee), Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr., former federal judges U.W. Clemon and Alcee Hastings, Alabama Gaming Magnate Milton McGregor, Baltimore businessman Nathan A. Chapman, U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Governor Bob McDonald (R-Virginia), and state attorney Marilyn J. Mosby (D-Maryland).
The DOJ operated COINTELPRO from 1956 to 1971, Operation Fruhmenschen from 1972 to 1982, and Good Ol’ Boys Roundup from1980 to 1995, all of which targeted innocent Americans whom the department deemed were threats to the established political order of their day.
Rogue federal prosecutors and wayward FBI agents roam America's political landscape like a pack of rabid dogs. Donald Trump has publicly called these wayward FBI agents "scum" and has repeatedly declared that the federal criminal justice system is "rigged."
Modern-day presidents, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, were too weak, compromised, or aloft to reign-in DOJ lawlessness.
The worst Attorney General in modern history is Merrick Garland. Charitably speaking, Garland is a weak-kneed, psychologically castrated, eunuch. Politically-motivated prosecutions flourished on his watch. Nobody in Washington respects him.
One of the worst federal prosecutors in DOJ history is Special Counsel Jack Smith. His lawlessness has been documented in multiple court cases.
To put Jack Smith in context, I must mention William "Chick" Bush. The coldest person I have ever met in life is William Bush, a convicted killer who has been on Alabama’s death row since 1982.
The second coldest person I have met in life is Jack Smith. If there is a conscience in Smith’s body, I was not able to find it. He reminds me of a government-backed "hitman."
The chief of DOJ's criminal division when Donald Trump was catching the most hell from Jack Smith was Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. This is the same official who oversaw the DOJ's shady attempt to "fix" Hunter Biden's felony gun possesion and tax evasion cases with an undeserved "no jail time" plea deal that blew up under judicial scrutiny. Polite fled the DOJ after Biden's "sweetheart" plea deal fell apart.
The Rabbit's Got the Gun
As a defendant in two pending federal criminal cases who says the federal criminal justice sytem is "rigged," Donald Trump's pick of Matt Gaetz for Attorney General sends a strong signal that the president-elect intends to reform it. In my neck of the woods, local hunters describe Trump's pick of Gaetz this way: "Oh shit, the rabbit's got the gun."
If Matt Gaetz's DOJ (a) investigates Merrick Garland, Jack Smith, and Kenneth Polite, Jr., for running a system of criminal prosecutions that targeted law-abiding Americans for political reasons, while showing extreme favoritism to a well-connected politico like Hunter Biden, and (b) prosecutes this trio of rogue DOJ officials (if warranted), this law enforcement action would go a long way towards reforming the federal criminal justice system.