Trump's DOJ targets Jan. 6 convictions, broadens Fed construction site probe

[0:00] The Justice Department is at the center of multiple major developments this week, [0:04] from a new report alleging political weaponization under former President Biden [0:08] to fresh efforts to reverse January 6th convictions [0:11] to an unusual visit connected to an inquiry involving the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. [0:17] Our justice correspondent, Allie Rogan, joins us now with the latest. [0:20] So, Allie, let's start with this legal effort to drop the convictions [0:23] connected to the most serious crimes related to January 6th. [0:27] What more do you know? [0:27] Yeah, so to understand this latest news, it's helpful to go back to the beginning [0:31] of President Trump's term, right after inauguration, when he issued a blanket pardon [0:36] for most of the January 6th rioters, more than 1,000 people. [0:41] Trump did not pardon everyone, though. [0:43] There were 14 members of the extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, [0:49] whose sentences he commuted, meaning he reduced them, but he didn't outright pardon them. [0:54] Those people included Oath Keepers head, Stuart Rhodes, who was facing 18 years in prison [1:00] and was among, had the most serious convictions against him. [1:05] So those 14, once those commutations came in, they were released from their sentences, [1:10] but their cases were still making their way through the appeals process. [1:14] Now what has happened is the Department of Justice is asking the D.C. appeals court to completely dismiss [1:21] these cases with prejudice. [1:24] That means that the cases will permanently be closed. [1:28] And the D.O.J. said in a short filing that this is in the interests of justice. [1:33] This is, however, a major blow to those attorneys who previously were at the D.O.J. [1:38] and prosecuted these January 6th cases, many of which had already been wiped away. [1:44] But some of them today said that this was a reminder that the administration does not care [1:49] about constitutional due process, Jeff. [1:51] And separately, the Justice Department released a report alleging that the Biden Justice Department [1:57] weaponized the agency against its perceived enemies, which is the very thing the Trump [2:02] Justice Department is accused of. [2:04] How did this come to be? [2:05] Yes. [2:05] This is the first product of the so-called weaponization working group, which is something [2:09] that former Attorney General Pam Bondi stood up. [2:13] The stated goal was to uncover instances of the Biden administration using the levers [2:18] of government power to achieve political ends. [2:21] This report is about the Biden D.O.J.'s application of a law that criminalizes interfering with someone [2:29] who is seeking to access reproductive care, including abortion. [2:33] It's known as the FACE Act. [2:35] And the report alleges that the Biden administration selectively enforced the act by protecting abortion [2:41] clinics, but not other pregnancy centers that oppose abortion rights, that they coordinated [2:46] with pro-abortion rights advocacy groups, exercised prosecutorial misconduct, including screening [2:53] jurors based on religion, and that they sought longer sentences for defendants who oppose abortion [2:59] rights than for those who support those rights. [3:01] Meanwhile, a former leader of the Biden-era D.O.J.'s civil rights division says that that [3:07] team enforced the law even-handedly. [3:09] And what more have you learned about the way the Trump Justice Department purged the people, [3:13] the prosecutors who worked on past cases? [3:16] That's right. [3:16] I heard today from a department spokesperson who said that the department has fired personnel [3:23] who worked on those Biden-era FACE Act cases who had previously remained employed at [3:29] the Department of Justice. [3:30] Jeff, of course, all of this is happening, as President Trump has repeatedly and directly [3:35] called for the Department of Justice to prosecute his political adversaries. [3:41] And Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in an interview with NBC last night, defended [3:46] that contact. [3:48] That type of communication from President Trump should make every American happy, because [3:53] it means that there's an executive, a chief executive, that is making sure every one of his [3:57] cabinet members are working as hard as they should. [3:59] The president is a driver of results. [4:01] And so I don't have any issues with that. [4:03] And as a matter of fact, I think it's why he was elected. [4:06] So add to all of that, the D.O.J. continues to investigate the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. [4:11] And this includes a visit to the construction site where the Fed headquarters is undergoing [4:15] a renovation. [4:16] What more do you know? [4:16] This was an attempt to progress in that investigation, which has seen multiple roadblocks. [4:22] Yesterday, these employees from the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office made an unannounced visit [4:29] to the site of the Fed renovation. [4:33] They were trying to check on progress at the site. [4:35] This after, last month, a federal judge threw out subpoenas the Department of Justice issued [4:42] to the Fed, saying that there was abundant evidence that the main purpose of these subpoenas [4:48] and this investigation was to harass and pressure Fed Chair Jerome Powell to either resign or [4:54] yield to President Trump's policy demands. [4:57] Upon hearing of this unannounced visit yesterday, outside counsel for the Fed emailed the employees [5:04] who tried to seek access and told them that the federal judge had concluded that their interest [5:09] in this site was, quote, pretextual and asked that they commit not to seek to communicate [5:15] with the Fed outside of the presence of counsel, Jeff. [5:18] All right. [5:18] Lots to track. [5:19] Allie Rogan, our thanks to you, as always. [5:20] You bet.