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Foreign Today, Trump appointee Lindsey Halligan did what President Donald J. Trump placed her at the position of U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to do deliver an indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud. The previous U.S. attorney there, Eric Siebert, refused to take either the James case or a case against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly lying to Congress to a grand jury for an indictment. Believing there was not enough evidence to convict, Siebert resigned in the face of Trump's fury at his decision, and Trump replaced him with Halligan, a former aide and Trump's personal lawyer. It is not clear that Halligan holds her position legally, but she has now delivered the indictments Trump demanded. Trump bears a grudge against Comey for his pursuit of an investigation into the relationship between members of Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian operatives, a relationship two subsequent investigations proved. He bears a grudge against James for successfully suing the Trump Organization for fraud. The Department of Justice is supposed to be nonpartisan, and it certainly is not supposed to be an arm of presidential lawfare. Nonetheless, Trump has been perverting it to protect his loyalists and persecute his perceived enemies. On September 20, Trump posted on social media a message apparently intended privately for Attorney General Pam Bondi. Such a communication is a violation of the Presidential Records act, by the way, demanding prosecution of Comey, James and Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat of California. We can't delay any longer. It's killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice and indicted me five times over nothing. Justice must be served now, he wrote. Just five days later, Halligan delivered an indictment of Comey. The former FBI director appeared at his arraignment in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, yesterday. He pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial. Comey's lawyers told the judge they will be challenging the charges as vindictive and selective prosecution. They will also be challenging Halligan's appointment as U.S. attorney as unlawful. Now Trump has secured an indictment of Attorney General James, she responded in a statement saying, this is nothing more than a continuation of the president's desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State attorney General. These charges are baseless, and the president's own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president's actions are a grave violation of our constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties. His decision to fire a United States attorney who refused to bring charges against me and replace them with someone who is blindly loyal not to the law but to the president is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country. This is the time for leaders on both sides of the aisle to speak out against this blatant perversion of our system of justice. I stand strongly behind my office's litigation against the Trump Organization. We conducted a two year investigation based on the facts and evidence, not politics. Judges have upheld the trial court's finding that Donald Trump, his company and his two sons are liable for fraud. I am a proud woman of faith, and I know that faith and fear cannot share the same space. And so today I am not fearful. I am fearless, and as my faith teaches me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. We will fight these baseless charges aggressively and and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights, and I will continue to do my job. The Trump administration's attempt to consolidate power by claiming a vast conspiracy is trying to undermine the government appears to be too much for increasing numbers of Americans. A Reuters Ipsos poll released yesterday showed that Trump's approval rating fell after the president's speech to the nation's top military officials. In his rambling remarks, Trump claimed the US Faces a war from within and suggested the military should use cities as training grounds. The poll said that 58% of American adults think the president should deploy troops only to areas with external threats, while 25% disagree. 83% of adults think the military should remain politically neutral. That number includes 93% of Democrats and 78% of Republicans. Only 10% of the adults polled disagreed that the military should remain politically neutral. That number included 5% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans. Federal judges are standing firm against the administration's overreach. Today, U.S. district Judge April M. Perry stopped the federal deployment of 200 National Guard troops from Texas and another another 300 from Illinois in and around Chicago, Illinois for two weeks. I have found no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois, perry said. She pointed to the refusals by grand juries, including one Tuesday night to indict protesters accused of assaulting law enforcement and said they cast doubt on the Department of Homeland Security's credibility and assessment of what is happening on the streets of Chicago. Illinois governor JB Pritzker posted, donald Trump is not a king and his administration is not above the law. Today the court confirmed what we all There is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois and no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago. Earlier in the day, U.S. district Judge Sarah L. Ellis granted a two week temporary restraining order prohib federal agents from dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical force against any person whom they know or reasonably should know is a journalist unless defendants have probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime. Federal agents in Chicago have been targeting journalists. Both Governor Pritzker and California governor Gavin Newsom have asked Republican governors to take a stand against the administration administration's attacks on state sovereignty, even as Texas governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has permitted soldiers from the Texas National Guard to be deployed in Illinois. Pritzker and Newsom have threatened to leave the National Governors Association, a bipartisan organization founded in 1908 to enable governors to work together outside of partisanship if it did not speak up about the unlawful deployment of federal troops in their states. Today, in an interview with J. David Goodman of the New York Times, current chair of the National Governor's Association, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, said the association could not weigh in because it is an educational organization under IRS code. But Stitt went on to criticize the federal deployment of troops in Illinois, making him the first Republican governor to question that deployment. Stitt noted that once such a precedent is established, future presidents could use it against Republican states. He said Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.
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Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, MA. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.