The result is an extraordinary threat to fundamental #constitutional rights of #DueProcess & #LegalRepresentation….

#Legal scholars say no previous US admin has taken such concerted action against the legal establishment, with #Trump’s predecessors in both parties typically respecting the constitutionally enshrined tenet that everyone deserves effective representation in court & that #lawyers cannot be targeted simply for the cases & clients they take on.

#Trump’s crackdown on #lawyers is having a chilling effect on his opponents’ ability to defend themselves or challenge his actions….

#Biden-era ofcls said they’re having trouble finding #lawyers willing to defend them. The volunteers & small nonprofits forming the ground troops of the #legal resistance to #Trump admin actions say that the well-resourced #LawFirms that once would have backed them are now steering clear.

#Trump also seemed to briefly back away from the extraordinary idea he had just posted. He was asked: Would other things #Biden signed as president using an autopen also be considered null & void?

“It’s not my decision,” he said. “That would be up to a court. But I would say that they’re null & void, because I’m sure that Biden didn’t have any idea that it was taking place.”

The use of an autopen is not new; it apparently was first used to sign a bill into law at the direction of a president in 2011, when President Barack Obama was traveling in Europe & wanted to sign a piece of legislation that Congress passed extending the Patriot Act another 4 yrs.

After he made the post, #Trump was asked on Air Force One if he had ever used an autopen. “We may use it, as an example, to send some young person a letter,” he said….

#Trump, who specifically took aim at the #pardons granted to members of the bipartisan House cmte that investigated the #Jan6, 2021, #insurrection, offered no evidence for his claim, & there is no power in the #Constitution or case #law to undo a #pardon. But Trump’s assertion, which embraced a baseless #FarRight #ConspiracyTheory about #Biden, was a new escalation of his antidemocratic rhetoric.

During his first 6 weeks in power, #Trump & his appointees have torn down many of the barriers that have long existed between the White House & the #DOJ to prevent political #interference in the impartial application of #justice & ensure the #independence of federal #law enforcement agencies.

But Trump, who was 2X indicted by the DOJ, has long viewed the agency as the center of “deep state” resistance to him.

He implored his political appointees at the #DOJ not to “be deflected” by critics in enforcing his agenda—& he suggested he was preparing new executive actions to personally target the “violent vicious lawyers”who prosecuted him or opposed his policies in court.

“We’re turning the page on 4 long yrs of corruption, weaponization & surrender to violent criminals, & we’re restoring fair, equal & impartial justice,” Trump said, standing in the Great Hall of the #Justice Dept.

“Unfortunately in recent years, a corrupt group of hacks & radicals within the ranks of the American government obliterated the trust & good will built up over generations,” #Trump told an audience made up of supporters & law enforcement ofcls. “They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence & law enforcement agencies to try & thwart the will of the American people.”

If #Trump’s delivery verged on *free association* [paranoid angry ramblings], his message was unmistakable: Trump intends to bend the vast powers of the federal #law enforcement establishment to his will — in the pursuit of an *anti-crime* agenda &, perhaps, vengeance.

#Trump also accused the #DOJ’s #Biden-era leadership of trying to destroy him, & declared President Joseph R. Biden Jr. the head of a “crime” family.

“Scum,” Trump called his adversaries — in the same room where Attorney General Robert Jackson delivered a famous 1940 speech urging prosecutors be animated by “fair play” rather than a blind drive to win.

The event, held in the Great Hall of the #Justice Dept, was billed as a major #policy address to reposition #DOJ from the purported political “weaponization” of the #Biden era to a renewed focus on crime, punishment & fighting drugs.

But in an hourlong speech, #Trump veered from his prepared remarks to launch into a bitter spiel in which he lashed out at lawyers & fmr prosecutors by name in a venue dedicated to the impartial administration of justice.