Democracy Dies in Darkness

Trump’s tactics are bending the criminal justice system to his personal preferences

Trump and his team have mounted a direct assault on all three pillars of the justice system: Judges, prosecutors and the legal profession.

10 min
President Donald Trump on the roof of the White House on Tuesday. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
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President Donald Trump is bending the U.S. justice system to his personal purposes in a way that is unprecedented in American history, prompting significant questions about how a system built on independence will fare in the months and years to come.

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Trump’s team has mounted a direct assault on all three pillars of the justice system, attacking judges whose rulings he dislikes, firing prosecutors for doing their jobs and taking revenge on law firms for having clients or partners he considers hostile.

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Naftali Bendavid came to The Washington Post in January 2019 after stints at the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune and other news organizations. He was the Post's White House editor during the Biden administration.@NaftaliBendavid
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