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Foreign. Welcome back to the Enemy's List. I'm your host as always, Rick Wilson. Thank you for joining me today here on Lincoln Square to look at a person or actually an institution for once on the enemies list, not just a person, the person. Of course, it all trickles down from the top of the fecal mountain that is Donald Trump. On today's enemies list is the Department of Justice. It shouldn't be, but it is. For 235 years, the Department of Justice was largely apolitical, largely dedicated to the key word in its, in its statement, justice dedicated to enforcing the law, dedicating to protecting Americans from threats to their liberties. But on Thursday, as all of you are very well aware by now, a woman named Lindsey Halligan, who is now the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, indicted James Comey. Donald Trump has been screaming bloody murder for months to his doj, publicly and privately, that he wants indictments, he wants punishment. He wants Letitia James and Jim Comey and John Brennan and a whole bunch of other people to be charged, to be prosecuted, to be incarcerated. Comey is the first big fish. While the case, from speaking to two attorneys before I recorded this, while the case against Comey is ludicrously insufficient and in fact the many people at EVDA quit rather than prosecute this case. Lindsay Halligan, who's the former reality TV star, who was on a reality TV show, apparently I gotta, I gotta run this down. Apparently she was a reality TV show one time about tow trucks, another, another reality TV alum in the Trump administration. I'll get more details on that for you. But Comey, who a lot of you don't like. I know, I get it. I understand it. Because of Hillary, a decade has gone by. As much as you want to complain about that decision on his part, and we, we could do so for months. What is more relevant right now? A former FBI director is right now in the crosshairs of a political machine that has been weaponized in the Department of Justice. I've been hearing this line from folks who used to work at doj, used to work at FBI. The department is still largely professional. It's not all political. The department is still doing the, the good work it's supposed to do. I would like to believe that, but I don't. I would like to shout that to the heavens, but I don't. Here's the problem. And I know, I get it. I get how hard this is. People can't walk away easily from a job. I understand that. I did. But I'm a different, different kind of fish. There are still prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia still going to work every day, still showing up every day. There are prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia who have not tendered their resignations or written a letter to Pam Bondi saying, pam, you are a criminal serving a criminal. This is a criminal act. Look, this is, in fact, the very definition of malicious and targeted prosecution. The lawyers I've spoken to have said to me that this case is extraordinarily difficult to win. But Donald Trump, and here's the dirty secret of this, folks. He doesn't care if he wins it or not. He cares that Comey and his family are tortured. He cares that Comey and his family have to spend millions of dollars to defend him. He cares that Comey's reputation will be sullied. He cares that other people see that his political enemies will be punished. He cares that he invokes a climate of fear in Washington. He's not wrong. There is a climate of fear in Washington. It's a growing climate of fear, frankly. It's a climate of fear that he's created. His Republican allies are cheering right now. They're having a great time. They're ripping it up. Oh, justice is served. And look, as much as I would like us to go back to a Department of justice model that was a political. A Department of justice model that was straight up the middle, you are witnessing right now what authoritarians will do when they are given the power of the courts, of the prosecution of the Justice Department. This abuse will not stop with Comey. In fact, the reason he chose the timing of this right now is obviously Epstein related. But you've got the government about to shut down because of a winner in the special election in Arizona last week. They now have the signatures to force the Epstein file petition to go through. Mike Johnson can't stop it. They are literally shutting the government down so that they don't have to have a vote on the Epstein files. He's refusing to seat the new member from Arizona so that he doesn't have to have a vote on the Epstein files. And Trump threw this out there knowing that Washington, D.C. and the national news media would chew it up. It was like chum in the water. And of course, of course they were going to go at it that way. Of course they were going to make it the number one story in the country. And look, frankly, it deserves to be. For once. Most of Trump's bullshit is bullshit. Most of Trump's petty dictator act is petty Dictator stuff. You notice I wasn't, like, tearing the world apart about putting the auto pen picture up. It's just trolling. But what this is, is a precedent. This is a precedent that the Department of Justice, including people who are not political appointees, are presently directly involved in executing. If you believe, as I do, that the Department of Justice has now been perverted to the point where it is a political tool in the direct hands and direct orders of the President, you live in a very dangerous country. Because we do. He will do this. When he needs a distraction, he'll pick another one. It'll be again. It'll be Brennan. It'll be Clapper. It'll be. It'll be Millie. It'll be me someday. You know, look, he sues me or threatens to sue me for a billion dollars three weeks ago, you think he's not going to the DOJ after the Lincoln project at some point? Sure, probably. But Comey has actually done something right here, folks. He basically came out and said, don't live on your knees.
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My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn't imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees. And you shouldn't either. Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant, and she's right. But I'm not afraid, and I hope you're not either. I hope instead you are engaged, you are paying attention, and you will vote like your beloved country depends upon it, which it does. My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I'm innocent. So let's have a trial and keep the faith.
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Whether you agree or disagree with Jim Comey and his prior actions on Hillary Clinton, let it go. Let the enemy of your enemy be your friend. Jim Comey is the tip of the spear of this enormous intrusion of government power. This. This actual weaponization. Remember, everything they say, whenever they say the Democrats are weaponizing government means they're weaponized. The Republicans are weaponizing government. Are you worried now that the next.
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Time there's a Democratic president, they will indict your FBI director or people in your administration? That's what they tried to do, right? They did it with me for four years. They went after me. They went after me for four years. And that doesn't include the four great years that we had in the White House. So when I ran it in 2016, when we won, it began before I got to office. You Know that. Wait a minute. Before I came to office, I started hearing rumors about Russia. I said, what the hell do I have to do with Russia? Nothing. And then it got worse and worse. And some of the fakers, not you, but some of the fake news picked it up and they loved it. And we went through a long time.
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With that every single time. Again, he doesn't care if Comey goes to jail. He cares that he has the distraction, the show that he can give the MAGA base something to. To. To. To gurn on that he can throw a smoke bomb, you know, fireball and distract people for a little bit. He wants to hurt Comey. He wants to hurt his family. He wants to scare other people. But this particular case is almost ludicrously weak. This particular case is almost. Is almost comically bad. But the reason the DOJ itself, I want to go back to this. Is on the enemies this week, is because they know better. And I'm sorry, I get it. You got kids in school, you got. You got a mortgage. You got car payments. I understand. But at some point, your answer isn't I got car payments, I got a mortgage. Your answer for the DOJ employees, these, These prosecutors, these FBI guys who are conducting these arrests and investigations. You know what the real. You know what you're really saying? I can't do anything about it. You know what you're really saying? You were just following orders. Sound familiar? It should. It's the Nuremberg defense, and you all know what it is. I was just following orders. Look, I'm sure a lot of people at Dachau had a mortgage, had bills to pay, kids to feed. Does not dismiss their moral guilt. I'm sure a lot of people in the SS had car payments or. Or loans to pay, families to support. Doesn't dismiss their moral culpability. And I, I'm sure right now there are some DJ who go, how dare you compare us to the ss or the. Or the. Or the. The. The guards of Dachau. If you think Hitler started with the sweeping horrors, he did not. It was a slow expansion of state power. Himmer and Heydrich slowly subsumed all law enforcement into one German super prosecutorial office. I'm gonna. The history of it is longer than we could bear. And it would be boring to. To 99% of human beings, but they built something essentially that the Department of Justice in Germany, their. Their equivalent, subsumed all these amst and die and all these other organizational bodies, including the state and local police forces into the SS and into the German justice system that was controlled at the very top by, oh, you guessed it, mustache guy. We are not at that level yet, but it always starts this way. And if you have a Department of justice that is being directed for political revenge, you are in a dark place as a country, you are breaking the precedent. And I know so many people in the manga were like, oh, norms and institutions. Ha. Trump rules owns you. Trump owns you. I'm gonna have to insist the next Democratic president does not hire Merrick Garland. But I hope the next Democratic president understands that even when Trump is out of office, this movement has shown you what they are. This movement has shown you abundantly clearly what they are. The MAGA movement and the Trump campaign apparatus and the Trump power apparatus and the Trump White House and the Republican elected officials in this country are gleefully celebrating the abuse of state power in order to punish the president's political enemies. While there are still laws in this country that apply to the abuse of power, it is my opinion that we should use them in the most significant and punitive ways possible when there is a Democratic president in this country. Again, some of you are like, how hypocritical. You're no, no, I'm not. Because now it's time for examples. Now it's time to take the people who were maliciously prosecuting the president's political enemies real and perceived, and hold them to account. There are federal laws in this regard. There are federal laws, and I'm not going to rattle them all off. I researched them last night. I was in a rabbit hole on it last night. Those federal laws will be much easier cases to prove. There is a very simple, straight line on obstruction of justice with Dan Bongino and Cash Patel and Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche. There's a very straight line on malicious prosecution with Cash Patel and Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche and Donald Trump. Hey, folks, Rick Wilson here. And if you're listening to the Enemies List, you already know that democracy doesn't defend itself. That's why I'm excited to tell you about the new season of Democracy Decoded, a podcast from the Campaign Legal center that's pulling back the curtain on how our country has reached such a precarious moment and what we can do to fix it. We're talking about dark money, gerrymandering, and the political corruption that's been quietly eating away at our system for years. This season breaks it down, showing how the erosion of Democratic safeguards didn't happen overnight, but over time, opening the door for our system of government to be exploited. Think of it as an inside look at how we turn things around. Facts, legal strategies, and civic action. If you want the roadmap on how we move forward, Democracy Decoded has it. Go listen now@democracydecoded.org or on your favorite podcast app. We'll be right back. Hey, summer's winding down. But you know what doesn't belong in your epic end of summer plans? Getting burned by your old wireless bill. If you're planning those final beach trips, barbecues and three day weekends, your wireless bill should be the last thing holding you back. That's why we made the switch to Mint Mobile. With Mint, you can get coverage and speed you're used to, but for way less money. For a limited time, Mint mobile is offering three months of unlimited premium wireless for 15 bucks a month. So while your friends are sweating over data, overages and surprise charges, you'll be chilling, literally and financially. Say bye bye to your overpriced wireless plan's jaw dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages. Mint Mobile Mobile. They're here to rescue you. 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Speeds may slow above 35 gig on the unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. And now back to the show the idea There was no accountability, no consequence, no nothing that can ever affect Trump himself because of Trump versus United States Supreme Court get out of jail free case that may hold up for a bit. It does not hold up for the people down the chain. It does not hold up for the people down the line. It does not hold up for the people who have executed the strategy. Lindsey Halligan and Get out of here. The next Democratic president needs to put these people in jail. Is it because you want to abuse the power the same way Trump did? No. It is because you are witnessing an abuse of power right now that is against the law. Comey did not break the law. Brennan did not break the law. Clapper did not break the law. Letitia James did not break the law. These people are breaking the law right now, and they're breaking something even worse. They're breaking the constitutional norms of this country in a way that unless the wrongdoers are punished and punished with intent, unless they are held to justice and brought to trial, and if found guilty, sent to prison, they will continue to do this. If the message that MAGA receives is you can break the law with impunity, if the message that MAGA receives is that you can run roughshod over the justice system because of the. The political revenge of the president and no one gets punished for it ever, you will get more of the same. The January six terrorists who attacked the Capitol were all pardoned by Donald Trump. You should have known right then what was coming. The mass firings of people who prosecuted those cases, the mass firings of FBI agents who investigated those cases, the mass firings of. Of people who were involved in the. In the. The probes of Donald Trump's corruption and relation to Russia. You should have known what was coming. Pam Bondi, as I've said this before, Pam is not a particularly bright person. You should know this. I've known who Pam Bondi is. I've known her for damn near 30 years in Florida politics. Okay? She is not particularly bright, but she is loyal. She is obedient. She is pliable. If Donald Trump told her to hang, to put a gibbet in front of the Department of Justice, to threaten to hang his enemies from, she would be at Home Depot tonight. The ambitious weasels around the Department of Justice now, Blanche Halligan, Pangino, Absurd, Patel, they are all so deep in the MAGA obedience cult that they're trying to outdo each other for who's going to be the biggest sycophant of Trump. And if it means breaking the law for him, they will do it gladly. They will do it gleefully. They will do it with a middle finger extended to the rest of the country and the world. It's because they don't care. Donald Trump may have immunity to these things because of Trump versus the United States. The rest of them do not. And if a Democratic president, and there will be another Democratic president, takes the stupid Bait. We've got to just heal the country now that Trump is gone. We've got to come together and sing Kumbaya and we'll all make s' mores by the campfire. If they take that bait, what will happen is it'll be a four year Democratic presidential term and then you will get another monstrous MAGA figure in that job and they will then come back and prosecute the people who prosecuted Bondi and blah, blah, blah. You cannot live in the world that you want, in your imagination of friendship and comedy and love and compassion and compromise and reconciliation until the wrongdoers are punished. Everyone knows, including all the MAGA folks. They know. And you'll see a lot of the screamers, the Shawn Davis's and the, and the, and the, you know, the federalist types and some of the, you know, national review boards will be, how dare the. They know it too. They know this is a bullshit case against Comey. They know it's absolute trash. They know the precedent is terrible. They understand it. But you know, a lot of Republicans who know it, they also think, ah, the Democrats are too chicken. They'll never do it. They'll never come after us. We've got the power, they don't. We're tougher than they are. We can handle this and they can't. They might be right, but if they are, the Republic is truly doomed. If they are, the law is truly doomed. If they are, the justice system is truly doomed. Jim Comey's a smart guy. He's got good lawyers, is a good lawyer. He's going to win this case. But it will not be the last. It will not even be nearly the last, unfortunately. What you have to remember, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, is he picked Comey because he knows Comey divides the pro democracy side. He picked Comey because he needed a big fat Epstein distraction. And by the way, given the panic level, what the hell is in these Epstein documents? Dead girl, live boy, party of goats. What? I don't get it. I mean, I've had the, I, I've had a theory of the case for a long time. There's some bad stuff there. But the intensity of his panic and the really interesting sort of weird admission he made this last week where he said, oh, people don't know what Palm beach was like in the 90s, folks. Go back and look at this show a few weeks ago where I mentioned that Even in the 90s, in the late 90s, I was hearing people in Palm beach, yeah, Epstein Trump their Party and then. And Epstein's a weirdo. Trump admitted it. People don't, it's like, people don't get what Palm beach was like in the night, what everybody was cool with. Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein being a pedophile and running a pedophile ring. Is that, is that what the 90s were, Donald? Is that what they were? We'll be right back. And now back to the show. Trump's abuse of the justice system in the criminal side, from the government side is a travesty, an outrage. His abuse of the justice system on the civil side is an equal outrage. I have been a target of it. When Mike Flynn sued me for $10 million, I was a target of their welfare. It was paid for by a MAGA donor who had very deep pockets. I had to fight it all the way out to, to, to win and to, and to get back my legal fees. But a lot of people have caved. When Trump personally sues them, our response was, you know, gfy. But when Trump personally sues them, this abuse of the civil justice system is equally obscene. Billions and trillions of dollars of damages. Okay, sure, chief, you go with that one. The abuse will not stop until it is stopped. Once again, Donald Trump has managed to break an institution. And Ruth Ben Ghiat's very brilliant about this. He has been on a long path in this second term to break every conceivable institution of government and governance. DOJ is the sort of pinnacle of that. The DOJ is sort of the pinnacle of, of. If you break the doj, the ramifications all the way down the food chain, inside the government and inside our politics are vast. They are enormous. If you release an unhinged group of masked men on our streets who arrest and beat citizens and noncitizens alike with absolute contempt for the law, absolute contempt for the Fourth Amendment, for the Fifth Amendment. When you, when you release an armed thug into neighborhoods to beat people who protest you, who exercise their First Amendment rights, you're in a system of lawlessness. When the military is deployed alongside those mass thugs, you're in a system of lawlessness. And the lawlessness is in some ways the point. The corruption of all these institutions that could put a break or a check, for instance, the sec, securities and Exchange Commission ordinarily by this point would have had their hair on fire because the Trump family is running a gigantic crypto scam and influence peddling operation. Nothing took it apart. The fcc, as you saw, weaponized so they could have a Republican absolute majority where Brendan Carr can Go out and try to threaten and jawbone unsuccessfully this week. Knock wood. Good for you. Disney, private companies, all the things that provided a safety net of law and of oversight and of appropriate regulation, of criminality, are gone. And so you don't live in a country where a system of justice. You live in a country with a Justice Department that is an adjunct of Donald Trump's revenge fantasies and ego. You live in a country where those institutions are being broken down methodically, deliberately, consistently. And there's one institution we're about to see broken down over the weekend, this weekend, there's a secret meeting, not secret anymore, where ptexif has summoned most of the flag officers and generals in the US Military. I think maybe all of them at this point, mandatory appearance. Most of you guys, again, are not going to go down this history rabbit hole. But this has. This is giving Saddam 1979, where he summoned almost all the members of the Ba'ath Party into an auditorium in Baghdad and slowly started accusing them of treason until they started turning on each other and accusing each other. This is giving Cation forest vibes. This is a very, very, very dark moment. And of course, there will be no consequences for Pete Hegson, because he's doing exactly what Donald Trump wants. He's building another institution in this country loyal only to him, obedient only to him, beholden only to him. He's got the DOJ in that position. He's got the intelligence community in that position. He's about to have the military in that position. He's got every other government department in that position. He's got Congress in that position. So as much as Comey will win this case, as much as the charges are spurious almost to the point of being ludicrous, as much as Lindsey Halligan is about to become the next clownish Trump figure, another reality TV star washout who has somehow, somehow been driven up in the flotsam of of Trump's administration. As much as the cases that he's going to bring against Brennan and Clapper and and so many other people are spurious and full of lies and full of absolute nonsense and rubbish, it's the process of killing these institutions that pleases him most. It's the knowledge that he has turned the DOJ into an attack machine. Remember Democrats. Remember what I told you. There's a Democratic president. You better find the exact polar opposite of Merrick Garland. Because what they have told you now is it's okay to have an activist Attorney General. It's okay to have an attorney general with an eye to the political desires of the President. And if that president doesn't understand that punishing the people that executed this for Trump is priority one on day one, they're going to end up on the enemy's list as well. Thanks for watching. As always, really appreciate you. Tune into my other podcast, the Lincoln Project Podcast. You can also catch me streaming three days a week on Tuesdays with the Strategy session joined by Stuart Stevens, Joe Trippy and a cast of thousands. On Thursdays it's the Breakdown with Maya May, and on Fridays it's Behind the Numbers with the Wilsons where Andrew Wilson and I tear apart the polling and the public public opinion information of the week show you where things stand. You can also catch me on my substack at Against All Enemies. Appreciate again. Everyone's listening, watching, tuning in. If you're watching this on YouTube, do me a big favor. Go and let's worship the gods of the algorithm together and click like and click subscribe and hit that bell. Appreciate you all. We'll talk to you again next time. Thanks again. Bye bye.