Turning the government’s power to his own ends

He pushed out the prosecutor who found too little evidence to charge his enemies, installed his own former lawyer to indict James Comey and Letitia James, and a federal judge threw out both cases as unlawful.

He publicly pushed for years to prosecute people who crossed him. When the U.S. attorney in Virginia found too little evidence to charge former FBI Director James Comey and was pushed out, Trump installed his own former personal lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, who had never tried a case. Within weeks she secured indictments against Comey and against New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office had won a fraud judgment against Trump. In November 2025 a federal judge dismissed both cases, ruling Halligan’s appointment unlawful and her actions “unlawful exercises of executive power.” Court filings also revealed the grand jury was never shown the final indictment it supposedly approved against Comey. His DOJ had announced the Comey charges itself, and separately indicted his first-term national security adviser, John Bolton.

SourcesThe DOJ's own press release announcing the charges · A judge dismisses both cases as unlawful (CBS News) · The grand jury never saw the final indictment (PBS News)

He pushed out the prosecutor who found too little evidence to charge his enemies, installed his own former lawyer to indict James Comey and Letitia James, and a federal judge threw out both cases as unlawful.
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