Ethics and Independence: The DOJ Under Trump

In just his first six weeks in office, President Donald Trump has issued more than 80 executive orders and other actions, many of them targeting the federal workforce and the structure of the federal government. 

Just Security’s Co-Editor-in-Chief, Ryan Goodman, recently published a timeline of actions that highlight the alarming level of politicization and weaponization of the Department of Justice under the second Trump administration. Politicization includes the misuse of the Department’s powers for political purposes rather than the independent and impartial enforcement of the laws. Weaponization includes a deliberate and systematic misuse of the Department’s powers for political or personal purposes and in defiance of the rule of law. 

Goodman discussed the timeline with Just Security Senior Fellow Tom Joscelyn and Mary McCord, Executive Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP), Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and former Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Justice Department. 

Show Notes: 

• Ryan Goodman (Bluesky – LinkedIn)
• Tom Joscelyn (Bluesky – X) 
• Mary B. McCord
• Ryan’s Just Security article (with Audrey Balliette) “Timeline: Politicization and Weaponization of Justice Department in Second Trump Administration”
• Just Security’s coverage of the Trump administration’s executive actions 
• Music: “Broken” by David Bullard from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/david-bullard/broken (License code: OSC7K3LCPSGXISVI)