‘Golden era to be a rich criminal in America’: Trump Justice Department comes to defense of allies

What this episode is about

The Justice Department is facing scrutiny for appearing to protect allies of former President Trump while pursuing charges against his perceived adversaries, raising concerns about politicization within the agency. Recent cases highlight this trend, with instances such as the defense of Steve Bannon and the failed attempts to indict Democratic lawmakers, suggesting a focus on retribution rather than impartial justice.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Brendan Belu (Host) · 4 min speaking
• Jackie (Guest) · 2 min speaking
• Pam Bondi (Guest) · 2 min speaking
• Merrick Garland (Guest) · 1 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Department of Justice, Brendan Belu, Sean Bannon, Janine Pirro
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Alex Epstein, Trump inaugural committee
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Donald Trump, Alex Epstein, Merrick Garland, Joe Biden
4. 9:00 – 11:04: Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Justice, Latitia James

Notable quotes from "‘Golden era to be a rich criminal in America’: Trump Justice Department comes to defense of allies"

• JOINING US NOW, BRENDAN BELU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR AND FORMER LAWYER WITH THE I WANT TO JUST JUMP RIGHT INTO RELOOKING AT THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE ENEMIES LIST THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS, THIS IS ELEMENT FOUR, GUYS.

  about Brendan Belu · at 1:32

• And you look at any number of folks who have given contributions to the Trump inaugural committee or made business deals with Trump's crypto companies.

  about Trump inaugural committee · at 3:00

• NONE OF THEM ASK Merrick Garland, over the last four years, one word about Jeffrey Epstein.

  about Alex Epstein · at 5:07

• I find it interesting that she keeps going after for President Trump, the greatest president in American history.

  about Donald Trump · at 7:32

• Yeah. The damage to the Department of Justice, it's going to last for a generation.

  about Department of Justice · at 9:04

• FOR A PROSECUTOR GOING TO THE GRAND INDICT A GRAND JURY IN VIRGINIA REFUSED TO INDICT LATITIA JAMES AND NOW WE SEE NOT ONE OF THE 23 THESE PEOPLE WANTED TO INDICT THESE PEOPLE.

  about Latitia James · at 10:00

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · Central referenced political figure · 3 mentions · first at 5:18
  Framed as the president whose DOJ is allegedly targeting perceived enemies while aiding allies; repeatedly referenced as the focal point of the 'enemies list' and favoritism claims.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi — Person · Referenced official / main subject of critique · 2 mentions · first at 9:29
  Discussed as the Attorney General whose public conduct and DOJ posture are portrayed as politicized; cited for comments about Epstein and for confrontational defense of Trump in hearings.
  This sort of behavior, it's that it's actually making it harder for Pam Bondi to do her own job.
• Brendan Belu — Person · Main guest / referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 1:32
  Introduced as a former federal prosecutor providing analysis on DOJ credibility, grand juries, and the alleged politicization of investigations and enforcement priorities.
• Alex Epstein — Person · Referenced subject of accountability discussion · 2 mentions · first at 5:12
  Used as an example of alleged non-prosecution/under-prosecution; discussion centers on 'accomplices' and what DOJ is not pursuing.
• Merrick Garland — Person · Referenced comparator / former DOJ leader · 2 mentions · first at 5:07
  Invoked as a contrast point in the discussion of DOJ independence; mentioned in relation to questions about Epstein and his distance from the Biden White House.
  MERRICK GARLAND, SHE BROUGHT UP MERRICK GARLAND, THAT MAN DID NOT WANT TO TALK TO JOE BIDEN.
• Sean Bannon — Person · Referenced Trump ally / legal case example · 1 mention · first at 0:51
  Cited as an instance where DOJ is described as aiding a Trump ally by seeking to undo his conviction related to defying a congressional subpoena.
  DEFENSE OF TRUMP'S FORMER strategist Steve Bannon seeking to undo his conviction for defying a congressional subpoena regarding the January 6th insurrection.
• Janine Pirro — Person · Referenced DOJ official in segment · 1 mention · first at 0:59
  Named as the U.S. Attorney for D.C. (as stated in the transcript) who argued undoing Bannon's conviction should occur 'in the interests of justice.'
  Janine Pirro told a judge it should be done, quote, in the interests of justice.
• Joe Biden — Person · Referenced political figure (context for DOJ independence) · 1 mention · first at 8:31
  Mentioned to contrast DOJ-White House distance under Garland, emphasizing norms of independence versus the behavior attributed to the current DOJ leadership.
  MERRICK GARLAND, SHE BROUGHT UP MERRICK GARLAND, THAT MAN DID NOT WANT TO TALK TO JOE BIDEN.
• Latitia James — Person · Referenced legal/political figure (grand jury example) · 1 mention · first at 10:07
  Raised as an example of a grand jury refusing to indict, used to illustrate grand juries as a check on prosecutorial overreach.

Companies & orgs

• Department of Justice — Company · Key institution · 4 mentions · first at 2:21
  Central to the discussion about its role in prosecuting or defending political figures and its perceived bias.
• Trump inaugural committee — Company · Political entity · 1 mention · first at 3:01
  Mentioned in the context of alleged favors to contributors and its connection to Trump's administration.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:02 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT. THE CONTINUED RETRIBUTION CAMPAIGN AGAINST TRUMP'S PERCEIVED ENEMIES, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME THE AGENCY HAS COME TO THE AID OF HIS ALLIES. WE SAW INDEPENDENT GERALLISTS STOUNN THEM LEMON, AMONG OTHERS, IN A MINNESOTA COURTHOUSE JUST YESTERDAY, PLEADING NOT GUILTY FOR THEIR ALLEGED ROLES IN DISRUPTING A RECENT CHURCH SERVICE. LEMON SAYS HE WAS ONLY REPORTING ON THE PROTEST, NOT PARTICIPATING IN THE DEMOCRATS. HE WAS NOT ONLY REALIZING WHAT THIS ADMINISTRATION IS ALL ABOUT.

0:37 THE PROCESS IS THE PUNISHMENT. I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED. I WILL NOT BACK DOWN. I WILL FIGHT THESE BASELESS CHARGES AND I WILL NOT BE SILENCED. EARLIER IN THE WEEK, WE SAW THE DOJ COME TO THE DEFENSE OF TRUMP'S FORMER strategist Steve Bannon seeking to undo his conviction for defying a congressional subpoena regarding the January 6th insurrection. The U.S. Attorney for D.C. Janine Pirro told a judge it should be done, quote, in the interests of justice. Also this week, Pyrrho's federal prosecutors tried and failed to secure indictments on charges of seditious conspiracy against the six Democratic lawmakers who released a video last year urging TROOPS TO REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS.

1:20 MS NOW HAS LEARNED THAT NOT A SINGLE GRAND JEWER WAS WILLING TO GO ALONG WITH THE INDICTMENTS. NOT ONE. NOT NARIA ONE. NARIA ONE. NARIA ONE. JOINING US NOW, BRENDAN BELU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR AND FORMER LAWYER WITH THE

1:44 I WANT TO JUST JUMP RIGHT INTO RELOOKING AT THE QUOTE-UNQUOTE ENEMIES LIST THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS, THIS IS ELEMENT FOUR, GUYS. THIS AND WHEN YOU SEE THE FOLKS ON THE SCREEN THERE, RIGHT, This is folks that have no charges, subpoenaed indicted some very happy ones on the right that were dismissed and or not charged. The thing that comes to my mind Brendan is what is not being investigated. They're spending so much time going after people that the president feel like has wronged him. The DOJ is a really important institution.

2:23 You guys just do important work, right? What are the things that are not being investigated? At the same time that the president is prosecuting or investigating his political enemies, he is essentially dismantling the infrastructure for going after rich criminals. So you look at the fact that they dismantled the klepto-capture task force, which went after Russian oligarchs. The crypto task force, which went after crypto scammers. They're literally planning to dismantle the entire tax division, which goes after rich tax sheets.

2:50 So they're really making it this is a golden era to be a rich criminal in America generally. And then you look at, you know, he's got his enemies list, but he's got his friends list. Yeah. And you look at any number of folks who have given contributions to the Trump inaugural committee or made business deals with Trump's crypto companies or other ventures and then either saw their investigations dropped, their civil litigations dropped or their criminal prosecutions dropped. These are extraordinary favors to be getting THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE BEEN REPORTING ON, JACKIE.

3:22 YEAH, THAT HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BECOME, AT LEAST DEM LEADERS ARE HOPING THAT THIS IS GOING TO BE THE TARGET FOR INVESTIGATIONS, ESPECIALLY IN AN ERA WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE IS MOST LIKELY NOT GOING TO ENGAGE WITH DEMOCRATS IF THEY DO GET BACK SUBPOENA POWER AND TAKE BACK THE HOUSE NEXT YEAR? YEAH, AND IF I CAN ADD JUST ONE THING REALLY BRIEFLY TO THAT. YOU KNOW, IF DEMOCRATS TAKE POWER IN THE FALL, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO INVESTIGATIONS. BUT THAT'S NOT A PROSECUTION. THAT'S NOT A LITIGATION. AND IN A WORLD WHERE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IS NOT WILLING TO GO AFTER RICH CRIMINALS, ONE THING THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IS STATE AGs AND INDIVIDUAL CIVIL LITIGANTS NEED TO BE DOING THE WORK THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REFUSES TO DO RIGHT THEY ARE ALLOWED TO PICK UP THE PIECES LIKE THAT?

4:04 HOW DOES THAT WORK? YEAH, SO, YOU KNOW, THE AGs, THERE WERE GREAT CASES IN THE FIRST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ABOUT HOW THEY HAVE STANDING UNDER THE THE DEMOCRATS, THE DEMOCRATS, THE DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN EMOLUMENTS CLAWS, INDIVIDUAL LITIGANTS. YOU HAVE FOLKS THAT HAD THEIR CASES DROPPED THAT WERE OLD MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO TO THEIR VICTIMS, RIGHT? THOSE VICTIMS WERE OWED MONEY. IT WOULD BE REALLY INTERESTING FOR SOME OF THEM TO BE SUING UNDER CIVIL RICO CHARGES, UNDER UNJUST ENRICHMENT COMMON LAW CLAIMS.

4:30 THERE'S A WHOLE RANGE of creative causes of action that folks could be bringing right now to try to hold people accountable. So, Paul, we're talking about things that a normal functioning Department of Justice would be DOING, ESPECIALLY IF THAT NORMAL FUNCTIONING DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HAD A NORMAL AND FUNCTIONING ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. AND INSTEAD WE GET THIS, THIS THIS IS ATTORNEY GENERAL PAM BUNDY'S RESPONSE TO A QUESTION ABOUT HOW MANY EPSCINE ACCOMPLICES HAVE BEEN INDICTED. AND HERE'S HER RESPONSE.

5:07 NONE OF THEM ASK Merrick Garland, over the last four years, one word about Jeffrey Epstein. How ironic is that? You know why? Because Donald Trump, the Dow, the The Dow right now is over, the Dow is over $50,000. I don't know why you're laughing, you're a great stock trader as I hear Raskin. The Dow is over $50,000 right now the S &P at almost 7,000 and the Nasdaq smashing records Americans 401ks and retirement savings are booming. That's what we should BE TALKING ABOUT. SHE IS NOT THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, SHE IS NOT THE COMMERCE SECRETARY, SHE IS NOT THE HEAD OF THE FED.

5:57 THE THE DOW, THE DOW, THE DOW. EVERY TIME I GET IN TROUBLE, I'M GOING TO SAY THE DOW. SHE WAS GOING SOMEWHERE THERE. SHE HAD A GOOD POINT SHE SHOULD HAVE JUST LANDED THAT. IN THAT ROOM, SHE'S GOT A FEW OF THE MORE THAN 1000 WOMEN AND

6:21 SHE REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE TO THOSE PEOPLE AND WHEN WE ASKED, IS SHE TALKING ABOUT SHE IS CALLING JAMIE RASKIN A FAIL LAWYOR AND WHEN WE'RE ASKING WHO'S NOT BEING PROSECUTED, HOW ABOUT THOSE 10 CO-CONSPIRAITORS WHO THERE'S EVIDENCE IN THE EPSTEIN FILES THAT THEY WERE INVOLVED IN PROCURING GIRLS AND WOMEN, SETTING UP STUFF. THAT THEY WERE INVOLVED IN PROCURING GIRLS AND WOMEN, SETTING UP I WANT TO KEEP, UM, DIGGING AT THE PAM BANDI OF IT ALL BECAUSE THIS IS ALSO HER IN THE CONGRESSIONAL HEARING OVER AND OVER COMING TO DONALD TRUMP'S DEFENSE LOOK AT this.

7:09 Have you apologized to President Trump? Have you apologized to President Trump, all of you who participated in those impeachment hearings against Donald Trump? You're obsessed with Donald Trump. You have Trump derangement syndrome. This guy has Trump derangement syndrome. He needs to get, you're a failed politician. You sit here and you attack the president and I am not going to have it. I'm not going to put up with it. I find it interesting that she keeps going after for President Trump, the greatest president in American history.

7:38 And if they could maintain their composure, this isn't a circus, this is a hearing. Oh my God says the ringmaster. It was a hearing until she got there, I mean, I MEAN, EVEN CALLING PEOPLE FAILED POLITICIANS WHO LITERALLY ARE CURRENT POLITICIANS WHICH DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER. BRENNAN, IT IS AND I KNOW WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED THAT THIS IS the behavior she would exhibit. But I think it is important for us to continue to call out that the attorney general of the United States is not the president's attorney.

8:10 The attorney THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THEY CAN OPERATE. SOMETIMES IN NORMAL TIMES THEY CAN INVESTIGATE FOLKS WITHIN THE ADMINISTRATION, FOLKS WITHIN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, THAT IS SOMETHING THEY MAY END UP DOING. MERRICK GARLAND, SHE BROUGHT UP MERRICK GARLAND, THAT MAN DID NOT WANT TO TALK TO JOE BIDEN. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE BIDEN WHITE HOUSE WAS ALWAYS UPSET THEY WANTED HIM TO BE A LITTLE BIT CLOSER TO THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND TO THE WHITE HOUSE. WHEN YOU WATCH THIS, THE DAMAGE IT DOES TO THE D.O.J., WE'RE A YEAR AND LIKE A MONTH AND A HALF INTO THIS ADMINISTRATION, FAST-FORWARD WITH ME ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THIS ADMINISTRATION WITH AN ATTORNEY GENERAL THAT ACTS LIKE that.

8:59 Whether or not she sticks around, the die has been cast. Yeah. The damage to the Department of Justice, it's going to last for a generation. Is it irreparable? It's certainly going to take years, maybe decades to recover from this, you know? Because we always say the only thing the Department of Justice has is its credibility. Its ability to convince judges and juries to do things. And that credibility gets eviscerated when you see an attorney general behaving in that way. If there's any sort of silver lining to this sort of behavior, it's that it's actually making it harder for Pam Bondi to do her own job.

9:31 You know? You see this happening, for instance, in the attempted prosecution of these six Democratic elected officials that not only were they not able to secure an indictment, not a single grand juror voted in favor. Has it ever happened? Not one grand juror. Yeah, not one, but again, the constitutional design is for grand jurors to push back against overreach PROSECUTORS LIKE PAM BONDI, AND SO I NEVER HAD A GRAND JURY REFUSE TO INDICT. IT'S SO EASY. I ALWAYS SAY IT'S LIKE SPA DAY FOR A PROSECUTOR GOING TO THE GRAND INDICT A GRAND JURY IN VIRGINIA REFUSED TO INDICT LATITIA JAMES AND NOW WE SEE NOT ONE OF THE 23 THESE PEOPLE WANTED TO INDICT THESE PEOPLE.

10:17 I COULD SEE THEM, THEY WERE CHARGED WITH SEDITIOUS CONSPIRACY FOR TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT MILITARY OFFICERS SHOULD NOT OBEY, DISOBEY, SHOULD DOES NOT OBEY ILLEGAL ORDERS. THERE'S A TRAGIC HISTORY THERE STERMING FROM NAZI GERMANY. AGAIN, THEY WATCHED THE VIDEO. IF THEY ASKED THE PROSECUTOR IS THIS LEGAL? THE PROSECUTOR SAYS, YES, IT'S legal, what the senators are saying. How is this seditious conspiracy? I mean, this is an unreal Justice Department. The unwillingness of grand jurors to

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "‘Golden era to be a rich criminal in America’: Trump Justice Department comes to defense of allies"?

Brendan Belu (Host), Jackie (Guest), Pam Bondi (Guest), Merrick Garland (Guest).

What is "‘Golden era to be a rich criminal in America’: Trump Justice Department comes to defense of allies" about?

The Justice Department is facing scrutiny for appearing to protect allies of former President Trump while pursuing charges against his perceived adversaries, raising concerns about politicization within the agency. Recent cases highlight this trend, with instances such as the defense of Steve Bannon and the failed attempts to indict Democratic lawmakers, suggesting a focus on retribution rather…

What is mentioned in this MS NOW episode?

11 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Brendan Belu, Alex Epstein, Trump inaugural committee. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "‘Golden era to be a rich criminal in America’: Trump Justice Department comes to defense of allies"?

The episode runs 11 min; the transcript is about 1,718 words in 18 timestamped sections.

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