The Dictatorship
There are two kinds of attorneys. Trump’s preference is painstakingly clear.
Since Watergate, Americans have expected presidents to steer clear of criminal prosecutions. But under Donald Trump, presidential interference is happening in broad daylight — enabled by his replacement of seasoned, Senate-confirmed prosecutors with political loyalists devoted to him, not the law.
Trump has only 18 of 93 Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys in place. (He had 46 confirmed during the first year of his first term). But a lack of Senate-confirmed prosecutors hasn’t stopped Trump. To the contrary, he has a network of acting prosecutors who do what Trump wants — particularly prosecuting his critics — as quickly as he wants them, whether or not the law supports it.
Halligan’s decision to present those cases appears to violate Justice Department norms.
Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s hand-picked interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, has no prosecutorial experience, and she did what her predecessor and the nonpartisan line prosecutors in her office refused to do: She presented felony charges to a grand jury against two of Trump’s critics, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Because prosecutors aren’t supposed to bring charges unless the evidence is sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction, Halligan’s decision to present those cases appears to violate Justice Department norms.
The New York Times reported in August that in the Northern District of New York, John Sarcone III, another Trump pick with no prosecutorial experienceissued subpoenas to James’ office probing whether James (whose office won the civil fraud case against the Trump Organization and a high-profile corruption case against the National Rifle Association ) violated Trump’s rights or those of his businesses or the NRA. Sarcone hasn’t been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Attorney General Pam Bondi installed him “indefinitely” through an unusual maneuver after local federal judges declined to appoint him.
In New Jersey, Alina Habba, a former personal attorney of Trump’s who had no experience as a prosecutor, charged Newark’s Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka and Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., with crimes some time after she spoke to a right-wing podcaster about turning “New Jersey red.” Baraka was charged with misdemeanor trespassing outside an ICE detention facility in Newark and McIver with assaulting two law enforcement officers there.
Habba dropped the charge against barka, WHO”https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/nyregion/ras-baraka-alina-habba-lawsuit-ice.html”>now suing Habba, claiming malicious prosecution. At the court hearing where a federal judge approved the government’s request to drop the charge against Baraka, the judge had a scathing rebuke for Habba: “The apparent rush in this case, culminating today in the embarrassing retraction of charges, suggests a failure to adequately investigate.” The judge continued: “Your office must operate with a higher standard. … Your role is not to secure convictions at all costsnor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas.”
Though the case against McIver continues, so do questions about the legitimacy of Habba’s appointment. A bipartisan group of 10 former U.S. attorneys from the Reagan era to the Biden administration filed an amicus brief with the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in which they agree with a federal court ruling that found that Habba was appointed improperly. The appellate court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in that case Monday.
A federal judge in Nevada recently ruled last month that the appointment of acting U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah was invalid. This week in Los Angeles, another judge weighed whether the Central District of California’s top prosecutor ought to be in the position.
None of this is normal. The Senate is supposed to confirm U.S. attorneys — the nation’s top federal prosecutors — to help ensure independence and accountability. While presidents can make short-term appointments, those typically expire after 120 days. At that point, federal judges may appoint temporary replacements. Trump has upended that system, using extraordinary and untested legal maneuvers, such as naming Sarcone “special attorney to the attorney general,” to bypass Senate confirmation and keep loyalists in place.
Ed Martin, Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who failed to win confirmation even in a Republican-controlled Senate, told reporters earlier this year, “There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them.”
None of this is normal. The Senate is supposed to confirm the nation’s top federal prosecutors to help ensure independence and accountability.
“In a culture that respects shame,” he added, “they should be people that are ashamed.”
Martin now leads the DOJ’s so-called “weaponization” working group, but in any previous, post-Watergate administration, his statement would have cost him his job. Federal prosecutors have been taught to bring cases only when there’s enough evidence to obtain and sustain a conviction in court; not to shame people in the court of public opinion.
Trump’s second term has laid bare his determination to replace independent thinkers and prosecutors with political enforcers. The Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section — once the moral center on matters of corruption — has been hollowed out. Most of its veteran lawyers have been fired or reassigned, and The Washington Post reported in May that Bondi was reportedly weighing a plan that would allow federal prosecutors to seek indictments of members of Congress without the customary review of the career prosecutors who remain in the section.
“The reason you have the section is exactly what this administration says they want, which is [to] stop politicization,” former public integrity attorney Dan Schwager, told The Washington Post in that May report. “That requires a respect and ability to understand how the laws have been applied in similar situations in the past. The only way to ensure that public officials on both sides of the aisle are treated similarly is to have as much institutional knowledge and experience as possible.”
And BLN reported Thursday that “Career federal prosecutors are navigating what colleagues describe as an intense White House pressure campaign to execute Donald Trump’s vows of vengeance against his political foes and critics.”
During Trump’s first term, Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to shut down the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and eventually recused himself from it altogether. His successor, Bill Barr, rejected Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. In the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman refused to bring baseless charges against former Secretary of State John Kerry. Even special counsel John Durham, who spent four years and $8 million investigating what Trump termed the “Russia hoax,” found no evidence of politically motivated misconduct on behalf of the FBI.
This is not merely a bureaucratic reshuffle.
In Trump 2.0, those kinds of officials are gone. In their place are people like Bondi, who peddled false claims of voter fraud in 2020, and who said nothing critical after a social media post in which Trump openly pushed for her to prosecute his perceived enemies.
This is not merely a bureaucratic reshuffle. It is a fundamental assault on the post-Watergate norms that have defined the Justice Department for half a century. And Trump’s sidestepping of the Senate and putting in power people whose chief qualifications appear to be a willingness to do what he says threatens not only defendants but public faith in the impartial administration of justice.
There are two kinds of federal prosecutors: those who follow the facts and the law and those who bend to political pressure. It’s clear which kind Trump prefers.
Anthony Coley is a political analyst for NBC and BLN. He was director of the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs in the Biden administration and a communications director for U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran again launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrainand Kuwaiton Sunday following new U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” in negotiations to end the warif Washington continues its attacks.
Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuzwithout Iran’s oversight has sparked days of crossfire. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday it would expand a route near Omanfor inbound and outbound traffic.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday reiterated the claim that Tehran must govern the strait to the Persian Gulfthat once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.
“Any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the level of tension,” Araghchi said.
The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route near the Omani side.
A Pakistani official involved in the technical talks between the U.S. and Iran told MS NOW Sunday that talks between the sides are on hold given the ongoing fighting between the two sides. The source, who did not want to be named to discuss the sensitive matter, said the U.S., Iran, Pakistan and Qatar all have representatives currently in Switzerland to restart discussions when instructed to do so.
But the Trump administration said nothing has been canceled and technical talks are on track for the coming days.
Talks include arrangements around the strait, the removal of a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and sanctions on Iran, and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The two sides have 60 days from their signing of the memorandum of understanding earlier this month to work out details.
Continued conflict in Lebanon threatens the agreement, which says fighting must end on all fronts before certain issues can be discussed.
Strikes target Gulf states hosting US military
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for the attacks in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Kuwait, which hosts a major U.S. military base, said air defenses intercepted Iranian drones and two missiles just after the U.S. strikes in Iran. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Bahrain said the Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The damaged building was not near its headquarters.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it called “a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression.”
Later on Sunday, Qatar said a civilian had been killed, and another person was hurt, by shrapnel related to “military operations in the area” after a vessel didn’t return at its scheduled time on Saturday. It did not give details.
Trump accuses Iran of violating ceasefire
The U.S. military said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship on Saturday. The Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, another key mediator.
U.S. President Donald Trump on social media accused Iran of violating the deal and warned of a point where the U.S. may “be forced to militarily complete the job.”
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump wrote.
The exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vesseloff Oman on Thursday and the U.S. military retaliated.
Ship traffic on the strait had increased over the past 72 hours, “despite the elevated threat environment,” the multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday, adding that “U.S.-assisted commercial transits continued uninterrupted.”
It said 89 such transits had been made, below the historical average of 138 vessels a day.
Iran calls for new ‘conflict control unit’ in Lebanon
Last week, Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreementto end the latest fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, which began two days after the Iran war started when Hezbollah fired at Israel. Israel has responded with an invasion of southern Lebanon and it has said it will not withdraw until Hezbollah is disarmed.
The agreement did not include Iran or Hezbollah, which has criticized itand rejected calls to disarm.
On Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister again said the U.S. must force Israel to halt attacks and withdraw. Israel occupies around 600 square kilometers (231 square miles) in southern Lebanon, which it says it needs as a security buffer.
Sporadic clashes have continued, and Hezbollah’s leader said Saturday that the group would continue fighting until Israel withdraws from Lebanon.
Key Iranian negotiator and parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Sunday that a meeting of a new “conflict control unit” formed among Iran, the United States and Lebanon should meet as soon as possible, Iran’s state broadcaster reported.
Two strikes hit southern Lebanon on Sunday morning — one in Taybeh town and the other in the Nabatiyeh area, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Overnight, Hezbollah militants killed an Israeli soldier in Deir Siryan village in southern Lebanon, according to Israel’s military. Hezbollah did not comment.
Israel targets a village in Syria
Israel’s military targeted Abdin village in southern Syria’s Daraa province with artillery shelling Sunday evening, Syrian state media reported. There was no immediate report of casualties.
State news agency SANA earlier reported that residents had blocked the road into the village with stones to prevent Israeli forces from entering it again after they had entered and withdrawn.
Earlier Sunday, Israel’s military said it had killed several armed men in southern Syria but gave no details. There was no statement from Syrian officials.
Israel seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria in December 2024 following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in an insurgent offensive. Israeli officials initially called the move temporary, but more recently they have said they plan to occupy the zone indefinitely.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has a message for political opponents using him as the new face of the Democratic Party: “Let them.”
Recent primary races in New York turned into a proxy war between progressives, including democratic socialists like Mamdani, and establishment Democratic politicians after candidates endorsed by Mamdani faced off against those endorsed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. After all three of Mamdani’s endorsements bore fruit, a national spotlight shone on the mayor as a growing influence in the Democratic Party.
Asked on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday how he felt about Republicans making him the “poster child” for the Democratic Party, Mamdani said, “Let them. We don’t have to ask ourselves what life looks like if a socialist wins. I won last November, and over the course of these last six months, what we’ve delivered for working people are the very things we were told were impossible.”
He touted recent campaign promises he delivered on, including freezing rents for nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments, expanding free child care and filling potholes across the city.
“I think we are seeing a hunger that is not just felt by New Yorkers, but frankly by Americans from coast to coast for a new politics, one that puts working people at the heart of it,” Mamdani told ABC.
Mamdani dismissed criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike. Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, said last week that he and the mayor “agree to strongly disagree about some of his endorsements, and he’s got work to do in terms of the conversations that he’s going to have with members of Congress moving forward.” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said, “The effort to nationalize New York is going to fail.”
Mamdani said he’s focused on the three congressional candidates he has already endorsed: Brad LanderDarializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez. But he didn’t rule out future endorsements outside of New York.
“It’s not just New York City where working people are asking themselves ‘why can’t I afford my rent, why can’t I afford my groceries, why can’t I find enough money in my pocket for childcare no matter how hard I work?,’” Mamdani said.
When asked about a recent manifesto penned by a number of moderate House Democrats and Democratic candidates, promoting capitalism over socialism, Mamdani doubled down on his vision for the party.
“I’m not interested in writing a manifesto, or frankly, in reading one,” the mayor said. “I’m interested in delivering.”
Mamdani also criticized Democrats who continue to make antagonizing Trump the center of their politics rather than working people.
“You’ve got to have something that you are not just willing to stand up for, but that you’re also willing to explain how this is relevant to working people,” he said. “And I think this just comes back to the fact that I’m leading a city that’s the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. I could end the sentence there and say that life is great for 8.5 million people. But it’s also a city where one in four are living in poverty. And for far too many Americans, those contradictions have become their day to day life.”
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
Despite remaining undefeated in the initial round of the World Cupthe Iran national team is going home after failing to secure enough points to advance. But they do not leave quietly.
Iran’s tumultuous journey in the World Cup has been the subject of widespread attention amid the U.S. war with Iran, with the United States being one of three countries hosting matches. The Iranian team captain, Mehdi Taremi, blamed FIFA, saying, “It’s a disaster World Cup. A disaster.”
“I mean, FIFA, they have to solve every problem here but unfortunately they could not solve it since the beginning,” Taremi said at a press conference Friday after his team drew with Egypt, knocking Iran out of the tournament.
He pointed to the team’s biggest obstacle. “We don’t have our logistics people here. They don’t have a visa,” Taremi said, adding, “We always complain about these things but no one helps. No one.”
The Trump administration denied visas to key Iranian staff and severely restricted players’ travel. The team’s base camp was moved from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, where it was required to return immediately after each game.
“How is it possible we always have to travel from Tijuana? We love the people in Tijuana. We love Mexico,” the Iran team captain said, but added, “It’s not fair.”
Throughout the tournament, the Football Federation of Iran lamented the number of issues, threatening to lodge a formal complaint against FIFA. Head coach Amir Ghalenoei called his team the “most oppressed” in the tournament. A few days before Iran’s final match against Egypt in Seattle on Friday, the U.S. loosened travel restrictions to allow players to enter the United States two days before the game.
“The Iran team will still be required to leave the day the match ends,” the Department of Homeland Security said ahead of the match. “The overall security measures and protocol are the same. We remain committed to providing the safest tournament possible for players, staff, and fans alike.”
Still, Iran finished Group G in third place with three points earned after drawing in its matches against Belgium, New Zealandand Egypt. Under FIFA’s new 48-team format, the top eight of third-place teams move on to the next round, but Iran narrowly fell short.
The team initially seemed poised to advance when it was tied with the same amount of points as Algeria, which scored a goal in stoppage-time against Austria Saturday night. But moments later, Austria tied the game, guaranteeing Iran’s elimination.
Off the field, tensions with Iran heightened Friday when the U.S. struck Iran despite signing a memorandum of understanding meant to halt hostilities in order to finalize a peace deal.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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