Should Donald Trump once again become president in 2024, close advisors hope to make changes to the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel that would give him free rein to do as he pleases while in office without fear of ever being prosecuted, according to a report.
The exclusive story from Rolling Stone claims MAGA advisors are working with lawyers to tie the hands of the DOJ by making the independent OLC more beholden to Trump if he takes office again.
As the report notes, the DOJ is dependent upon the OLC for advice about the efficacy and constitutionality of potential criminal investigations and, by tampering with its independence, the OLC could put its finger on the scale for Trump.
Add to that, with the possibility that the Supreme Court may shoot down Trump's current claims of presidential immunity if it reaches the nation's highest court, changes at the OLC and DOJ level could mean the president is never investigated and charged, leaving the court's ruling out of the loop.
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And that would cover him even after he leaves office.
According to Rolling Stone, "The former president’s aides and policy architects say that could happen primarily through a second administration’s personnel choices. Trump plans to appoint a reliably loyal and pliable attorney general and stack the DOJ with a pre-vetted roster of MAGAfied lawyers who would be more responsive to the White House, and effectively erase the federal cases against him."
The report added, "Several of these preliminary plans — some of which have been briefed to Trump and were devised by lawyers and MAGA diehards hoping for jobs in a second Trump administration — involve wielding the Justice Department to try to turn the ex-president’s fantasy of 'total' legal immunity into something closer to reality."
A fly in the ointment for Trump could pop up after he leaves office, with his successor flipping the script and making changes in DOJ personnel to appoint people who would not be in his corner, at which point an adverse ruling from the Supreme Court for Trump would be back in play.
You can read more here.
