by Sarah Bonilla
Trump ran on “making the country safer” then in his first week, he released 1500 insurrectionists from prison.
More than 150 police officers were viciously attacked for several hours while defending the Capitol, resulting in deaths and serious harm to those dedicated law enforcement personnel.
Trump recklessly and callously pardoned them and took public information about these 1500 criminals off the government website. These felons deliberately attacked democracy itself.
Videos showed the rioters stating their intent to kill members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence.
The goal of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 was to keep Trump in power after he lost the election. He rewarded these felons who attacked democracy with pardons.
The lawlessness and celebration of violence is pure Trump. Remember him calling Nazis “good people”?
The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) supported Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, and criticized Trump, because violent rioters who attacked police officers were released from prison.
FOP and the International Association of Police Chiefs issued a joint statement:
“Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public safety. They are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law. When perpetrators of crimes, especially serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence.”
One week after taking office, Donald Trump’s acting attorney general James McHenry fired the prosecutors who worked on the January 6, 2021 insurrection case and the classified documents prosecutions against Trump.
During the pendency of the cases, legal experts across the country viewed the cases against Trump as “slam dunks” because the evidence was so strong.
Both Trump’s last-minute appointee Judge Aileen Cannon of Florida and the Supreme Court of the United States delayed the prosecutions until Trump was elected, so the prosecutions never got their day in court.
A Colorado jury in 2024 found that Trump was liable for his role in the January 6 insurrection and disqualified him under the 14th Amendment from being placed on the ballot.
The jury’s verdict was upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court but the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) overturned the Colorado Supreme Court and ordered Colorado to put Trump on the ballot.
Other states were still in progress on that issue and their cases were halted by the SCOTUS ruling.
Trump promised revenge if he was elected and his firing of these prosecutors is the start of his revenge.
A president can’t fire career federal prosecutors for doing their job. The evidence strongly showed that crimes had been committed. Independent grand juries in multiple locations listened and viewed the evidence.
Grand juries decided to indict Trump on 91 charges (3 were dismissed) in four different federal cases spread out across the eastern U.S.
That’s not counting his status as an unindicted co-conspirator in state cases around the country.
Prosecutors can be fired based on their conduct or performance if they are given notice, an opportunity to improve, and sufficient time to do so.
Trump firing the prosecutors is a warning shot to all federal employees – be loyal to him or lose your job.
Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney is retaliating against prosecutors who followed the evidence and did their jobs.
The U.S. attorneys did nothing wrong in bringing obstruction cases; these were good-faith prosecutions supported by the evidence. The indictments against Trump were decisions of the grand juries who viewed the evidence.
Regarding the insurrectionists, the January 6 convicts pleaded guilty in open court or the juries convicted the defendants. Some of those convictions brought up on appeal, were affirmed by the appellate courts.
Political appointees in a new presidential administration don’t have the authority to fire prosecutors just because they were assigned to work on cases the new president doesn’t like.
Trump is once again – as he did in his first term – violating the law to see how far he can go before there is opposition. Trump’s lawlessness and disregard for democracy are happening again.
What can you do? Don’t be quiet. Talk with others about why it is wrong for a president to routinely break the laws.
A democracy cannot have a lawless man in charge of the country. That leads to tyranny.
It’s time for Americans, even the ones who supported Trump, to raise their voices and say they didn’t vote for this. We can write to our elected officials and let them know we are watching.
Trump kept promising he wanted to be a dictator if elected. In his first term , he and his family profited from his position of power.
Remember Jared Kushner’s $2 billion from the Saudis and Trump’s $10 million from the Egyptians?
On January 27, Trump posted a video saying that he wants to run for a third term.
If we want to continue the democracy we enjoy and live under, we need to push back on Trump and reign him in.
If we don’t and we continue to let Trump violate the laws, where does it all end?
At the end of the United States as we know it. If you love our nation and our democratic way of life, push back when he violates the law.
Make it clear to Trump that we expect laws to be followed and we love our democracy and want it preserved.
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