Dem
47
GOP
53
And now, an item about a different kind of failure from the Trump administration. In this case, Team Trump is actually interested in doing something (as opposed to looking the other way, as with the child trafficking). The current (and probably ongoing) failure to deliver results is a product of the administration's iron-fist, bull-in-a-china-shop approach to EVERY problem.
At particular issue here is allegedly lawless Washington, DC, which certainly does have a crime problem. To solve that, the President and his underlings would very much like to throw a lot of residents of the District into prison, and throw away the key. Further, since D.C. is also the seat of government, Trump wants the staff there to go after his enemies, and to pursue his pet causes.
The first person who was put in charge of implementing Trump's agenda, as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, was the utterly incompetent Ed Martin. He had zero experience as a prosecutor before being tapped, and it showed. Not only did he go on crusades that made a mockery of the law, and were sure to get tossed out of court, but he also foolishly pursued numerous idiotic causes of action BEFORE he had been confirmed by the Senate. As any Supreme Court justice (among many others) will tell you, you NEVER show your true colors until AFTER you are confirmed. Anyhow, Martin became so radioactive that even Senate Republicans said he was a bridge too far.
The problem is that during his 114-day (10.4 Scaramucci) tenure, Martin did plenty of damage. A lot of attorneys and staffers did not want to work on the specific cases he put them on, or they generally did not want to work for a department mostly interested in witch hunts. So, there were huge numbers of resignations, particularly from senior members of the office, leaving a rather sizable labor shortage.
Former (and probably future) Fox entertainer Jeanine Pirro took over on May 14, and was formally confirmed by the Senate on August 2. Unlike Martin, she does have prosecutorial experience. And she's doing better than Martin (admittedly, a low bar to clear). That's what everyone that CNN talked to said, for a piece that ran yesterday under the headline "'My job is to prosecute': Jeanine Pirro carries out Trump's crime crackdown with gusto. But her DC office is in turmoil."
If you read that headline the first time as "My job is to prostitute," don't feel bad, so did we. Certainly that's what Martin's job was. In any event, although Pirro has tried to replenish the ranks of the D.C. Attorney's office, after all the resignations triggered by Martin, it's been an uphill battle. The office is supposed to have 414 lawyers and, even after a hiring push, only has 344 right now. It's also supposed to have 367 support staffers, including paralegals, legal secretaries, researchers, etc. It's down to just 227 right now. And, of course, even once a new person is hired, it takes time for them to get up to speed, and to really learn the ropes. So those 344 lawyers and 227 staffers are surely not getting as much done as a random selection of 344 lawyers and 227 staffers from the same office, a couple of years ago.
Meanwhile, Pirro is not as incompetent as Martin, and she does not appear to be using her post to wage nationwide culture-wars battles, the way Martin was. However, as the headline (specifically, "My job is to prosecute") hints, she has her own blind spots. As we have written a couple of times already, her office (aided by ICE and the FBI) is casting a wide net. Needless to say, the more cases that have to be dealt with, the thinner everyone is spread.
But it gets worse. Because Pirro is "zealous" (read: kind of nuts), she is in the habit of overcharging defendants (i.e., charging them with a more serious crime than their actions would seem to warrant). That means that the staff has to work considerably harder to cross their t's and dot their i's in filings, particularly as regards finding relevant precedents for, say, charging a sandwich-thrower with aggravated assault.
Grand juries are now on to Pirro, and have rejected at least eight indictments in the last month or so. Judges have caught on, too, and are dismissing cases they find wanting. This adds to the staff's workload even more, because if they are going to try for a new indictment, then it's another round of research and brief-writing. It's to the point that the National Review, not exactly a bastion of Godless pinko communism, published a piece earlier this week wondering "If You Want Indictments in D.C., Is Jeanine Pirro the Right U.S. Attorney?"
This item, and the previous one, thus form an interesting dichotomy. In one circumstance, the administration is failing because it's not trying hard enough. In the other, it's failing because it's trying too hard. Governing is hard, even under the best of circumstances. It gets harder if an administration relies substantially on people who are: (1) not very competent, or (2) have personal axes to grind, or (3) both of the above. But again, at least Team Trump is doing a very good job of reining in late-night snark. (Z)