There are real victims of Biden’s weaponized Justice Department, and it is time to make them whole. The fix is quick, easy, and immune to judicial meddling.
Consider the outrageous prosecution of Douglass Mackey. The Biden Justice Department went after him for tweeting a joke that Hillary supporters could vote by text in 2016. It was telling that he was indicted four years after the tweet, just days after Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his ridiculous conviction this year because “no rational jury” could have found him guilty.
DOJ prosecuted the Florida resident in New York because no rational jury could be found in Brooklyn.
If Dan Bongino and Pam Bondi want to drain the swamp fully, consult the DOJ press release on Mackey’s conviction:
James Smith, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence. . . . This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Erik D. Paulsen and F. Turner Buford of the Eastern District of New York’s Public Integrity Section and Trial Attorney William J. Gullotta of the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section.
James Smith, Erik D. Paulsen, F. Turner Buford, and William J. Gullotta, check your email.
Despite his exoneration, Mackey still had hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees.
He is not alone. Across America, innocent bystanders were forced to respond to Justice Department subpoenas investigating the Russia collusion hoax and the January 6 investigation.
The roster of innocent bystanders includes many of President Trump’s political allies, campaign staff, and leadership from his presidential campaign and first administration. Merely being a campaign staffer could win you a visit from a United States Marshall with a subpoena.
There were other DOJ targets.
Pro-life activists were also targeted by Biden’s authoritarianism. If you engaged in protected First Amendment speech outside abortion clinics, the DOJ hit many with subpoenas. I wrote about one pastor who was even subpoenaed for the content of his sermons.
What do those who say Trump is authoritarian call that?
Americans who were merely adjacent to Trump after the 2020 election were subjected to subpoenas even though they were genuine bystanders.
That was the design. The process was the pain. Paying attorneys to help prepare for depositions and grand jury proceedings was part of the pain.
The flurry of subpoenas wiped out college funds, savings accounts, and assets owned by those icky right-wingers.
We get how you leftists roll. You sent swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
Some good news. There is a way to compensate the victims.
Attorney General Pam Bondi can use the little-known “Judgment Fund” to compensate millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees and costs.
Never heard of the Judgment Fund?
The Judgment Fund is a pot of money sitting at the Treasury Department used to pay “judicially and administratively ordered monetary awards against the United States.” The federal regulation that governs the fund, 31 CFR § 256.1, says it can be used to pay “amounts owed under compromise agreements negotiated by the U.S. Department of Justice in settlement of claims” against the government.
The Judgment Fund is a “permanent, indefinite appropriation” that pays out millions of dollars for mistakes, errors, and violations of federal law committed by federal agencies and federal employees. The “permanent, indefinite appropriation” language means that the money just magically shows up for Treasury and the Justice Department to use without needing a specific appropriation from Congress.
Simply, this fund is used to pay off judgments that victims could potentially win against the federal government.
Victims don’t need a court order or a finding by a tribunal to be compensated by the fund. The Justice Department can use the Judgment Fund to pay claims presented to the department through settlements of “actual or imminent litigation” that the Justice Department, in its sole discretion, thinks are appropriate.
“Imminent litigation” would include lawyers for the victims presenting claims to DOJ seeking compensation and threatening to sue if their claim is not paid. It would only take settling one claim to open the floodgates.
The Justice Department essentially has carte blanche to use this fund to compensate all the individuals who incurred costs of representation against the Biden Justice Department’s misbehavior.
Under the regulations, the DOJ merely fills out a form and sends a copy of the “settlement agreement” to the Treasury Department to request payment.
DOJ can quickly settle claims to pay the attorney fees and costs.
Congress and organizations like the radical leftist groups that fill D.C. have no standing to complain. Neither can courts. This is an Executive Branch decision from stem to stern.
Not everyone will be made completely whole, like former Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland and many others, such as Dr. Eithan Haim of Dallas.
DOJ lawyer Tina Ansari wrongly prosecuted Haim for reporting that Texas Children’s Hospital was violating a Texas law banning surgical mutilation of children.
DOJ has Office of Professional Responsibility complaints against Ansari for multiple ethical violations, and so does the Texas Bar. Yet it appears she is still on the DOJ payroll.
Reimbursing the victims of Ansari, Strock, and all the authoritarians in the Biden DOJ for their legal costs would go a long way to repairing the harm that an abusive, corrupt administration deliberately inflicted.
Attorney General Bondi and the new leadership at the DOJ can use the Judgment Fund to provide at least a small measure of justice to all these victims.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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