Trump DOJ Plagued by Unprecedented Errors' More Than 1 Out of 5 of Its D.C. Criminal Cases Are Getting Tossed

"They say a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, but the criminal cases brought by the prosecutors at President Donald Trump's Department of Justice are ending up toast with embarrassing frequency. The axiom about a prosecutor's apparent ease in convincing a grand jury to indict that proverbial sandwich highlights the slanted nature of the proceedings, with only a government prosecutor in the room and the defendants and defense counsel unable to participate in the process or submit evidence or witnesses for their side."

"Many legal commentators have chalked this up in large part to the numerous top DOJ officials and career prosecutors who were fired, encouraged to resign, retired, or quit. From January to November, the DOJ has seen a mass exodus of more than 2,900 attorneys triple the number of those who left in each of the previous four years, according to a report by Sarah N. Lynch at Reuters, a significant loss of institutional knowledge that is viewed as leading to unprecedented errors."

"Another contributing factor to the DOJ's woes is clearly the types of cases the DOJ is choosing to take and the charges they're filing. Among the high-profile federal prosecutions that have flopped are the attempts to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom got their cases dismissed and are widely viewed as being in a strong position to fend off new efforts to indict them."

Prosecutions by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice have recently experienced high-profile failures and dismissals. Grand jury proceedings are described as slanted because only government prosecutors participate while defendants and defense counsel cannot present evidence or witnesses. The DOJ has simultaneously enjoyed structural advantages like large budgets and experienced teams, but recent staffing upheaval has eroded that edge. From January to November, more than 2,900 DOJ attorneys left, tripling prior years' departures and depleting institutional knowledge. Case selection and charging decisions have contributed to setbacks, with dismissed prosecutions of prominent figures illustrating prosecutorial missteps.

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