Trump DOJ Uses MILITARY LAWYERS as CIVILIAN STAFF QUITS!!

What this episode is about

The Department of Justice is experiencing an unprecedented staff exodus, leading to a reliance on military lawyers from the Judge Advocate General Corps to handle federal prosecutions, particularly related to immigration enforcement in Minnesota. This shift raises concerns about the constitutional obligations of the government regarding detainees, as a federal judge highlighted the challenges faced by the DOJ in managing a surge of cases.

Key takeaways

• When military lawyers become prosecutors, you know the DOJ has entered an alternate universe.
• 14 departures from the Minnesota DOJ this year? That’s a legal mass exodus, not just a turnover.
• ‘My job sucks’ should be the slogan for the DOJ—lawyers overwhelmed and undertrained are the new norm.
• Federal judges don’t accept chaos as a defense for unlawful detentions—'administrative difficulty' won’t cut it!
• If ICE lawyers are volunteering for the DOJ, we might really need to rethink our punishment policies.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ben Meiselas (Host) · 9 min speaking
• Harry Litman (Guest) · 6 min speaking
• Julie Ye (Guest) · 2 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Department of Justice, Julie Ye, ICE, Josh Gerstein
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Department of Justice, Harry Litman, Julie Ye, Talking Feds
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Department of Justice, Harry Litman
4. 12:00 – 15:00: Department of Justice, Harry Litman, ICE, Talking Feds

Notable quotes from "Trump DOJ Uses MILITARY LAWYERS as CIVILIAN STAFF QUITS!!"

• Court there. Okay. So, they have individuals dressed in military gear, ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo, invading Minneapolis, invading St. Paul and now they have military lawyers…

  about ICE · at 0:39

• Card. I'm in the DOJ system as of yesterday. Then the judge says, Where are you working before? I was working for the Department of Homeland Security as an ICE attorney in the…

  about Julie Ye · at 3:42

• I want to bring in Harry Litman from the Talking Feds YouTube channel, the Talking Feds podcast, and the Talking Feds Subste. Now Harry, a lot of people have been focusing on that exchange, the.

  about Harry Litman · at 5:02

• Judges can't even rule. That essential safeguard is just gone. And the Department of Justice has abdicated that role mainly because it's been, it's been leveled down to the studs and now not even the studs. So, the abject.

  about Department of Justice · at 8:33

• Everybody subscribe to Harry Litman's YouTube channel, Talking Feds, his Substack Talking Feds, and his podcast, Talking Feds. Harry is traveling, but he was nice enough to do this with us while.

  about Talking Feds · at 14:45

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Harry Litman — Person · Main guest · 3 mentions · first at 5:02
  Brought in as a legal analyst to interpret the DOJ staffing collapse in Minnesota, the court exchange involving Julie Ye, and the implications for detention, habeas petitions, and public safety.
• Julie Ye — Person · Referenced DOJ/DHS lawyer central to the court transcript · 2 mentions · first at 1:35
  Her on-the-record exchange with a federal judge is used as evidence of institutional breakdown: lack of training/orientation, overwhelmed habeas workload, and inability to coordinate with ICE on court-ordered releases.
• Josh Gerstein — Person · Referenced journalist (source of reporting) · 1 mention · first at 0:25
  Cited as the reporter whose coverage supports the claim that military (JAG) lawyers are replacing civilian federal prosecutors in Minnesota cases tied to the immigration enforcement surge.
  As Josh Gerstein reports, despite moves by Trump to ease the surge in Minnesota, military lawyers have started taking over for civilian prosecutors in federal court there.…
• Renee Mlin Good — Person · Referenced victim in civil-rights context · 1 mention · first at 4:57
  Mentioned as the subject of a requested civil rights investigation (into her killing by an ICE officer), which the transcript claims the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office refused to initiate—contributing to resignations.
  From a laundry list of demands on that office from the Department of Justice and the refusal to initiate a civil rights investigation into the killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer.

Companies & orgs

• Department of Justice — Company · Business focus · 6 mentions · first at 0:00
  Central to the discussion about the depletion of its staff and reliance on military lawyers, highlighting systemic issues.
• ICE — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at 0:45
  Discussed in the context of its role in immigration enforcement and its interaction with the Department of Justice.
• Department of Homeland Security — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 3:46
  Mentioned in relation to its former employee now working at the Department of Justice, indicating inter-agency dynamics.
  Yesterday. Then the judge says, Where are you working before? I was working for the Department of Homeland Security as an ICE attorney in the immigration court. Then the judge…

Sponsors

• Talking Feds — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 5:02
  Mentioned as a platform where Harry Litman discusses legal and political issues, contributing to the broader conversation.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 The Department of Justice is so thoroughly gutted of its lawyers and staff because they've all quit that now the DOJ is relying on military lawyers from JAG and not the lawyers from the Department of Justice to help them because nobody's working at the DOJ anymore. You can't make this stuff up. As Josh Gerstein reports, despite moves by Trump to ease the surge in Minnesota, military lawyers have started taking over for civilian prosecutors in federal court there. Okay. So, they have individuals dressed in military gear, ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo, invading Minneapolis, invading St. Paul and now they have military lawyers acting as the prosecutors because there's no one working at the DOJ anymore. So it says military lawyers taking over the prosecution. Dude, you can't make this stuff up in federal criminal cases stemming stemming from Trump's immigration crackdown. You mean his invasion? I hate when they use words

1:14 like immigration crackdown stemming from his invasion in Minnesota. uh judge advocate general corin attorney signed on to replace the civilian prosecutors in several cases on Wednesday. Now this follows a federal judge in Minneapolis uh having the following exchange with that lawyer judge with Julie Ye. Remember she's the lawyer who said my job sucks. I want to get out of here. I don't want to work anymore. Here's what the federal judge said to Ye. If the government undertakes an enforcement operation of this scale, one that results in the detention of a large number of people, including individuals who are lawfully present ini in the United States, then the government assumes a corresponding obligation to ensure that each detention complies with the constitution and with court orders governing release. The judge went on to say, "Having what you feel are too many detainees, too many cases, too many

2:17 deadlines, and not enough infrastructure to keep up with it all is not a defense to continue detention. If anything, it ought to be a warning sign. But what you cannot do, and he's talking to that lawyer, Julie Yei, remember her? She was the immigration lawyer who was also filling in because there's no more federal prosecutors and said, "My job sucks. Please detain me. Hold me in contempt so I can get some sleep. The judge says, "But what you cannot do is detain first and then sort out the lawful authority later. Continued detention is not lawful just because compliance with release orders is administratively difficult for you." And then Julie Yei gets up and she goes, "So, uh, so I Okay. Okay. Just to have some background, I was put on this special mission to help with the US attorney's office with all the habius claims that they have received. In other words, the habius petitions to release people to

3:18 petitioning under habius corpus to release people who have been unlawfully detained. And some of these could be US citizens, people who are lawfully here, people who have not received any detention hearings. Then Julie says they're overwhelmed. They need help. So, I have to I have to say stupidly enough to volunteer. I started with the agency on January the 5th. As of today, it's been more than four weeks. I just got my card. I'm in the DOJ system as of yesterday. Then the judge says, "Where are you working before?" I was working for the Department of Homeland Security as an ICE attorney in the immigration court. Then the judge goes on to say, "So, are you telling the court that you were brought in brand new, brand new into this role and you received no proper orientation or training on what you're supposed to do?" The lawyer, Julie, says, "I have to say yes to that question, your honor. I don't know what

4:11 I'm supposed to do." That's a transcript from a person as a federal prosecutor. And meanwhile, 14 more people apparently have resigned this year from the DOJ in the Minneapolis office. I didn't even know that there was 14 more people to resign or that everyone's gone. But here, let's play this clip from this morning.

4:34 This morning, the Min Minnesota Star Tribune reporting that 14 attorneys have either left or announced they will leave the Minnesota US Attorney's Office this year. Reminder, this is the only the first week of February. The massive departure is unprecedented and it stems from a laundry list of demands on that office from the Department of Justice and the refusal to initiate a civil rights investigation into the killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer.

5:02 I want to bring in Harry Litman from the Talking Feds YouTube channel, the Talking Feds podcast, and the Talking Feds Subste. Now Harry, a lot of people have been focusing on that exchange, the salacious details of Julie Ye, the lawyer for the DOJ, saying, "Hold me in contempt. I haven't slept. you know, I you know, that was the But when you read deeper into the transcript, she's actually talking about something far more dangerous that she volunteered, she says, because she wanted to actually try to help some of these people, these immigrants, and these citizens who are locked up, who have filed habius petitions who have been ordered by judges to be released. So, she said that she she's an immigrant herself. her parents came in from Vietnam and she moved here when she was 1993. So she's saying I wanted to actually help with the habius petitions because people are being locked up for months and months

6:02 and months after your honor told them to leave and I don't know what I'm supposed to do and nobody's returning my calls and I'm trying to keep up with all the petitions and there's nobody who's who I can report to. So Harry, there are people locked up right now in concentration camps in the United States trying to get out who judges like this federal judge and others have ordered out, but they're staying stuck because of the administrative backlog because there are no lawyers. That was the bigger story in that Julie exchange, Harry. That's exactly right. So, look, you know, she put it in colorful words and you couldn't help but uh but sort of quote it and it was there's a you can't make this up kind of a comic aspect, but it is tragic comic in in at least a couple ways. First, they have flooded Minnesota with all these um you know, hundreds and thousands of actions. This was one of the points that the chief

7:00 judge made. You didn't come to us. you've given us no kinds of uh preparation when you do a big job like this you always sort of um uh coordinate with the bench but much more than that the entire place it's in this is like apocalyptic you've never seen I've never seen and I'm and the only um competition would be over this last year the people who quit at public integrity the people who quit at the criminal section of the civil rights division but a whole office the the vote of no confidence. People are used to serving uh different Republican or Democratic um officials and political who tell them what to do, take certain positions. This is way past that. You have a complete rogue agency that literally will not the the chief judge in Minnesota said you've violated more orders in January than most agencies have done in their entire lifetime. This is just some combination of uh fecklessness and just they don't

8:12 care kind, you know, kind of callousness has made them operate, continue to flood the zone with no um allowance at all for what's going on in the courts. And think about it, somebody has to step up. There's no lawyers there now. somebody has to step up and explain what's going on, make a legal position, or otherwise judges can't even rule. That that essential safeguard is just gone. And the Department of Justice has abdicated that role mainly because it's been, you know, it's been uh leveled down to the studs and now not not even the studs. So, the abject failure and then just the, you know, it's beyond embarrassing. You have a whole office that have said you guys are we we cannot work for you. That's a really serious thing for even a single a USA to say and this is now on moss. This is this is just you guys are have completely ruined this place. Oh, and by the way, you we're not even h don't even

9:17 come to us and try to support your operation ice storm or whatever it is. We're gone. And good luck trying to just corral uh ICE and have them follow the the rules of the of the game that courts are setting. They're just beyond law in both practically and uh legally now.

9:40 Harry, one of the things to mention though is is that now they're using military lawyers. So it seems what they tried to do is use immigration lawyers from ICE and people who who who were not skilled in being federal prosecutors. I mean there's a lot of training that goes into federal pro. It's very hard to become an a USA. It's not like you could just plug in anybody to be an assistant United States attorney. I mean the training is rigorous. you know, in many ways it is a um it is a Navy Seals style training of federal prosecutorial world. And so now they're like, well, wait a minute, we can't pull from the immigration lawyers because this is what's happening. So where can we pull from? And now they're pulling from JAG, but there's a whole different set of milit like it's not the same body of law. I mean, yes, you're a lawyer, but JAG lawyers follow a JAG handbook of of, you know, of court

10:43 marshalling and military discipline and laws of engagement and, you know, and and they have to they have to know uh admirality law and naval stuff. Like, it's a whole different area versus federal prose civilian lawyers. It's it's it's different types of law. like I couldn't all of a sudden as a civil lawyer start to function as a copyright lawyer immediately or function as a uh whatever you know a patent attorney like it just so they're so you're putting people in here who don't who have to now learn the federal rules of criminal procedure at its most basic level like what's rule one what's rule 6B what's a grant the most basic stuff you know I yes you can learn it but like what's happening Now with all the violent crimes, what's happening with the fraud case?

11:35 So that's that all of public safety in Minneapolis is is being uh compromised. But it's even worse than you say, Ben. Look, here's the normal process. You hire very good people now. They're all gone. And we did a different tape where you see, you know, they're they're trying on Twitter, you know, anybody come on down. Any warm body. So that you start there. But even if you put in someone with no experience, it'd be 18 months until they're actually in the position that that Julie Lee was in that on their feet. First, you shadow someone, maybe you handle an appeal, uh, etc. So, you would have the whole 18 months and then here, as best we can tell, and I think she's really saying it straight, there's not even a crash course. It's just, oh yeah, here you go.

12:21 Go into court. Just, I don't know, tell them something. And of course, they're dealing with a client who because of the political priorities of the administration and because of their the whole culture that uh they have they are championing, the client doesn't won't won't deal with the DOJ lawyers. If you read that whole transcript, part of it is, you know, nobody at ICE will answer my calls. Nobody will do uh anything. This whole lynch pin of the system is just gone. and the Department of Justice in certain areas is just gone and God knows how to even think about putting the pieces back together again. But in the meantime, as you say, public safety suffers in Minneapolis, but also people suffer in these detention centers where they, you know, maybe have been ordered to be uh released. Some of them are citizens. They're just not doing it. And the courts can't keep up. Nobody can keep up because this one funnel has been

13:22 shut down by a completely destroyed Department of Justice. It's it's an a mess without any remote precedent.

13:32 You know, um who's benefiting a lot from this? Criminal defendants, by the way, who are presumed innocent until found guilty. Um but it must be a field day for the criminal defense bar right now in federal cases. I mean, just think about all the deals that are probably being cut behind the scenes because there's no DOJ lawyers who can handle cases. Lawyers who were used to, you know, DO, if you're a criminal defense lawyer, you go, "Okay, we'll take you to trial." And then they're not ready to, you know, you declare ready for trial.

14:03 Don't do extensions. Say you're ready to go. Force the DOJ to hand your client a plea deal where they, you know, no jail time just because there's no staff. It's like what they're doing with the IRS. You know, I mean, you know, Trump hated to pay taxes, he guts the IRS. Trump's a criminal, he guts the DOJ. You know, there's a broader pattern right here, Harry.

14:23 14 months ago, this was without doubt the biggest, best law firm in the world. 115,000 people, people who knew what they were doing, people who the justice system relied on for, you know, ev every part of, including victims. They're it's just a postapocalyptic uh landscape there. at Zombie Land.

14:45 Everybody subscribe to Harry Litman's YouTube channel, Talking Feds, his Substack Talking Feds, and his podcast, Talking Feds. Harry is traveling, but he was nice enough to do this with us while traveling. Thanks, Harry.

14:57 Pleasure. Thanks, Ben. Love this video. Support independent media and unlock exclusive content, add free videos, and custom emojis by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Trump DOJ Uses MILITARY LAWYERS as CIVILIAN STAFF QUITS!!"?

Ben Meiselas (Host), Harry Litman (Guest), Julie Ye (Guest).

What is "Trump DOJ Uses MILITARY LAWYERS as CIVILIAN STAFF QUITS!!" about?

The Department of Justice is experiencing an unprecedented staff exodus, leading to a reliance on military lawyers from the Judge Advocate General Corps to handle federal prosecutions, particularly related to immigration enforcement in Minnesota. This shift raises concerns about the constitutional obligations of the government regarding detainees, as a federal judge highlighted the challenges…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Department of Justice, Harry Litman, Julie Ye, ICE, Josh Gerstein, Department of Homeland Security. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Trump DOJ Uses MILITARY LAWYERS as CIVILIAN STAFF QUITS!!"?

The episode runs 15 min; the transcript is about 2,445 words in 21 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

• All analyzed episodes
• Books mentioned on MeidasTouch
• People mentioned on MeidasTouch
• Sponsors mentioned on MeidasTouch
• Topics mentioned on MeidasTouch