By Josh Gerstein, Betsy Woodruff, and Kyle Cheney - 12/23/24

Some former DOJ officials cautioned that the feds’ decision not to bring a criminal case does not amount to the “exoneration” Gaetz has repeatedly claimed.

“Generally speaking, the Justice Department’s decision to not charge an individual doesn’t mean that he or she didn’t commit wrongdoing,” former DOJ spokesperson Anthony Coley said. “Criminal prosecution is a high bar that relies on a variety of factors — evidence, witnesses, etc. Bottom line: No charges does not equal full exoneration.”

12/2/24

Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department official in the Biden administration, said “the pardon itself is appropriate” given the danger to Hunter Biden. Mr. Trump has announced that he will nominate Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who has assailed Hunter Biden, to run the Justice Department, and Kash Patel, a former aide who has promised to “come after” the president-elect’s adversaries, to run the F.B.I.

“Trump is putting people in place to weaponize the Justice Department and what father wouldn’t protect his own only surviving son from unjustified political harassment?” Mr. Coley said.

Still, he added, Mr. Biden’s assertion that politics drove the prosecution of Hunter Biden by the Biden Justice Department echoes Mr. Trump’s own grievances and is not supported by facts. “I can’t imagine that with distance of time, history will view that language any more favorably than many view it today,” Mr. Coley said.

By Eugene Daniels and Rachel Bade - 11/26/24

The big question now is whether or not Smith will take his remaining time on the job to finish reports on the two cases for submission to AG MERRICK GARLAND that could potentially be released publicly. We’ll note that Smith took pains in his filings yesterday to say that he stood by the merits of the indictments he secured.

Those in and around Garland’s DOJ certainly hope he does. “Jack Smith should release his final report with as many details as possible,” former top DOJ spokesperson ANTHONY COLEY told us last night. “That’s important for historical purposes; to correct the false narrative that the DOJ wasn’t aggressively investigating Trump early on; and to further correct Trump’s lies that the prosecution was politically motivated.”

By Rebecca Beitsch - 11/27/24

The high court initially declined to take the case earlier in the process, determining months later that former presidents retain broad immunity for core official actions they take while in the White House. The ruling leaves unanswered numerous questions over what presidential crimes can ever be prosecuted.

It was a key victory for Trump, both on the merits and on the timeline — the various appeals and review ate up about seven months.

“This lingering criticism of DOJ ignores public facts and, more importantly, the elephant in the room: that the conservative majority on the Supreme Court was always going to have Trump’s back, no matter what DOJ did. This Court seemed hellbent on protecting Trump at whatever cost and that’s what they did,” Anthony Coley, former head of DOJ public affairs, told The Hill in a statement.

“To help correct the record, my hope now is that Special Counsel Smith, as part of his final report, will include a detailed timeline of DOJ efforts to try to hold Trump accountable from the beginning of the administration.”

By Eugene Daniels and Rachel Bade - 12/2/24

The more interesting reaction, frankly, has come from Democrats — who are split as to whether Biden was justified in sparing his son from potential Trump retribution or whether he committed a regrettable act of hypocrisy that further undermines governing norms and lowers the bar for condemning Trump’s own behavior.

In the former camp, count former AG ERIC HOLDER, who claimed last night that no federal prosecutor “would have charged this case given the underlying facts,” and former DOJ official ANTHONY COLEY, who texted us this last night: “Biden was right to do it. Trump is putting in place the pieces to weaponize the DOJ — why would Biden leave his only surviving son exposed in that way?”

In the latter camp, you so far have Colorado Gov. JARED POLIS, who called it a “bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” and Rep. GREG STANTON (D-Ariz.), who said “Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”

Perry Stein and Tyler Pager - 11/1/24

The people close to Harris and the transition efforts, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said she wants an attorney general who would take a public role in explaining and forcefully defending the Justice Department’s policies and legal decisions.

“Every leader has the right to make out her or his own team or their batting order,” said Anthony Coley, the former top spokesman under Garland.