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US President Donald Trump reads a note handed to him by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House on October 8, 2025 in Washington, DC.
"Trump is trying to turn this government into his own personal fiefdom," warned Rep. Daniel Goldman.
The Not Above the Law Coalition on Thursday released a report documenting how President Donald Trump's administration has been corrupting every aspect of federal law enforcement.
The report, titled Trump's "Crooked Cops": The Corruption of Federal Law Enforcement, said that the president has "gone to extreme lengths to appoint top officials with no compunction about abusing their power to pervert justice to punish political enemies and favor political friends," before showing how these appointees have swiftly eliminated their agencies' independence from White House political pressure.
"Law enforcement that serves the political interests of the president rather than the public eliminates a core tenet of democracy, namely that we are a country of laws, not of men," the report emphasizes.
The report begins by recounting how Attorney General Pam Bondi followed direct orders from the president to file criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, while at the same time noting that she has overseen "a department-wide purge of career officials who were assigned to Trump’s criminal cases or who were suspected to be insufficiently loyal to Trump personally."
Other Trump officials who feature prominently in the report include FBI Director Kash Patel, who is facing a lawsuit from former agents who have alleged they were fired as part of a "campaign of retribution"; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who conducted an interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, and then moved her "to more comfortable, low-security accommodations" after she told him that Trump had no involvement in her former partner Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activities; and White House border czar Tom Homan, who was allegedly caught on video accepting a $50,000 cash bribe from undercover FBI agents.
The report also takes a swipe at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who publicly pressured ABC to take late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air mere hours before the network decided to suspend him.
"This was by no means the first instance of Carr weaponizing his regulatory enforcement power for political ends," the report says. "His threats have been all the more significant as many media companies have business interests pending before the administration.
During a conference call announcing the report, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) described the Trump administration's actions as "so distressing and so disturbing," and vowed that he was "not going to stand by while the Department of Justice is used to subvert the rule of law."
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), a former federal prosecutor, said on the call that it was "personally devastating" to watch the corruption of the Justice Department, and he vowed that House Democrats would be ready to go with oversight investigations should they return to the majority after the 2026 midterm elections.
"Trump is trying to turn this government into his own personal fiefdom," said Goldman, who later described the weaponization of the Department of Homeland Security as "downright scary."
"We're losing the fabric of our country," he said.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The Not Above the Law Coalition on Thursday released a report documenting how President Donald Trump's administration has been corrupting every aspect of federal law enforcement.
The report, titled Trump's "Crooked Cops": The Corruption of Federal Law Enforcement, said that the president has "gone to extreme lengths to appoint top officials with no compunction about abusing their power to pervert justice to punish political enemies and favor political friends," before showing how these appointees have swiftly eliminated their agencies' independence from White House political pressure.
"Law enforcement that serves the political interests of the president rather than the public eliminates a core tenet of democracy, namely that we are a country of laws, not of men," the report emphasizes.
The report begins by recounting how Attorney General Pam Bondi followed direct orders from the president to file criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, while at the same time noting that she has overseen "a department-wide purge of career officials who were assigned to Trump’s criminal cases or who were suspected to be insufficiently loyal to Trump personally."
Other Trump officials who feature prominently in the report include FBI Director Kash Patel, who is facing a lawsuit from former agents who have alleged they were fired as part of a "campaign of retribution"; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who conducted an interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, and then moved her "to more comfortable, low-security accommodations" after she told him that Trump had no involvement in her former partner Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activities; and White House border czar Tom Homan, who was allegedly caught on video accepting a $50,000 cash bribe from undercover FBI agents.
The report also takes a swipe at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who publicly pressured ABC to take late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air mere hours before the network decided to suspend him.
"This was by no means the first instance of Carr weaponizing his regulatory enforcement power for political ends," the report says. "His threats have been all the more significant as many media companies have business interests pending before the administration.
During a conference call announcing the report, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) described the Trump administration's actions as "so distressing and so disturbing," and vowed that he was "not going to stand by while the Department of Justice is used to subvert the rule of law."
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), a former federal prosecutor, said on the call that it was "personally devastating" to watch the corruption of the Justice Department, and he vowed that House Democrats would be ready to go with oversight investigations should they return to the majority after the 2026 midterm elections.
"Trump is trying to turn this government into his own personal fiefdom," said Goldman, who later described the weaponization of the Department of Homeland Security as "downright scary."
"We're losing the fabric of our country," he said.
The Not Above the Law Coalition on Thursday released a report documenting how President Donald Trump's administration has been corrupting every aspect of federal law enforcement.
The report, titled Trump's "Crooked Cops": The Corruption of Federal Law Enforcement, said that the president has "gone to extreme lengths to appoint top officials with no compunction about abusing their power to pervert justice to punish political enemies and favor political friends," before showing how these appointees have swiftly eliminated their agencies' independence from White House political pressure.
"Law enforcement that serves the political interests of the president rather than the public eliminates a core tenet of democracy, namely that we are a country of laws, not of men," the report emphasizes.
The report begins by recounting how Attorney General Pam Bondi followed direct orders from the president to file criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, while at the same time noting that she has overseen "a department-wide purge of career officials who were assigned to Trump’s criminal cases or who were suspected to be insufficiently loyal to Trump personally."
Other Trump officials who feature prominently in the report include FBI Director Kash Patel, who is facing a lawsuit from former agents who have alleged they were fired as part of a "campaign of retribution"; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who conducted an interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, and then moved her "to more comfortable, low-security accommodations" after she told him that Trump had no involvement in her former partner Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activities; and White House border czar Tom Homan, who was allegedly caught on video accepting a $50,000 cash bribe from undercover FBI agents.
The report also takes a swipe at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who publicly pressured ABC to take late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air mere hours before the network decided to suspend him.
"This was by no means the first instance of Carr weaponizing his regulatory enforcement power for political ends," the report says. "His threats have been all the more significant as many media companies have business interests pending before the administration.
During a conference call announcing the report, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) described the Trump administration's actions as "so distressing and so disturbing," and vowed that he was "not going to stand by while the Department of Justice is used to subvert the rule of law."
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), a former federal prosecutor, said on the call that it was "personally devastating" to watch the corruption of the Justice Department, and he vowed that House Democrats would be ready to go with oversight investigations should they return to the majority after the 2026 midterm elections.
"Trump is trying to turn this government into his own personal fiefdom," said Goldman, who later described the weaponization of the Department of Homeland Security as "downright scary."
"We're losing the fabric of our country," he said.