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Podcast: Commonwealth Club of California Podcast
Episode: Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department
Description: In 1861, abolitionist Wendell Phillips said, “I think the first duty of society is justice.” What, then, would he think about the current state of America’s Department of Justice?
Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporters Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis say that throughout his first administration, President Donald Trump did more than any other president to politicize the nation’s top law enforcement agency, pressuring his appointees to shield him, to go after his enemies, and even to help him remain in office after his 2020 election defeat. They say the Justice Department has never fully recovered.
Decisions and actions by...