Letters from an American - Manipulating the Judicial Process

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

August 2, 2026The dismissal of the DOJ case against David Hearn for vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool came after Hearn’s lawyers received transcripts of the grand jury proceeding that led to the indictment, Lawyers told the court that there were irregularities that “call into question whether the grand jury was misled,”  The DOJ has been caught misleading other grand juries or committing misconduct in getting indictments, Judges across the country are calling out lawyers for the DOJ, calling their behavior “unlawful” among other things, The DOJ is being turned into an instrument of Trump’s political wrath, That can be seen in the fight over the confirmation of Todd Blanche to be attorney general, Blanche has flouted the law to do Trump’s bidding, Blanche has secured indictments against Trump’s perceived enemies, such as James Comey, He has backed the deal to establish a slush fund to pay Trump’s allies, and the move to agree that no claims will be made against Trump, his family, or the Trump Organization, Blanche’s confirmation is being held up by senators who have asked for assurance that the slush fund/nonprosecution deal is dead, but Trump has thrown a wrench into the process by declaring that he will push for its implementation. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

August 2, 26. Friday's dismissal of the Department of Justice case against David Hearn for vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool came days after Hearn's lawyers asked for transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment. The lawyers noted that the government's only witness testified that the pool was already damaged before Hearn went near it, and that the witness could not quantify the cost of any damage Hearn might have done over and above the cost of repairing the existing damage. The lawyers told the court there were irregularities in the government's presentation of the evidence to the grand jury, that call into question whether the grand jury was misled. The Department of Justice has been caught repeatedly misleading grand juries or committing misconduct, in getting indictments. Hearn's lawyers were suggesting

that the Department of Justice engaged in the same misconduct in the indictment of David Hearn for damaging the bottom of the reflecting pool. In their filing, they note that a judge and former federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia

had recently stated that generations of presidential administrations and public officials have reinforced the idea called the presumption of regularity, that public officials do their jobs properly, operate in good faith, and follow correct procedures. But, the judge noted,

in just six months, the President of the United States may have forfeited the right to such a presumption. On July 28, J. David McSwain, Prathik Rabala, and Carla Astudio of ProPublica, reported that judges across the country are calling out lawyers for the Department of Justice, questioning whether they can be trusted to tell the truth and whether they are operating according to centuries-old norms. Judges have called behavior by Department of Justice lawyers

unlawful, unethical, unseemly, and otherwise dishonest. The degradation of the Department of Justice, which is charged with defending the rule of law, for the American people, into an instrument of Trump's political wrath, has been illustrated in the fight over the confirmation of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to Attorney General. Before going to the Department of Justice, Blanche was Trump's personal attorney. He led Trump's criminal defense team in the case of falsifying records to cover up hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, as well as his defense against the two cases

is brought by special counsel Jack Smith, the one indicting him for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and the one indicting him for retaining classified documents after leaving office. Since he took over for former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Blanche has openly flouted the law in order to do Trump's bidding. He secured indictments against people Trump perceives to be enemies, including former FBI director James Comey, for posting on Instagram a picture of seashells arranged to form the number 8647. On July 29th, Devlin Barrett and Alan Fuhrer of the New York Times reported that the Secret Service agents who interviewed Comey in May 2025 were told to send a summary of that interview as quickly as possible to Trump on Air Force One. Trump's close

involvement in the case, the authors wrote, is one of the most glaring examples to date of the degree to which Mr. Trump now directs federal law enforcement actions. On July 28, Comey's lawyers filed motions to throw out on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution the federal charges Blanche brought against him. They noted that Trump had repeatedly made it clear he wanted Comey indicted, even going so far as to put his former special assistant Lindsay Halligan into office as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where she indicted Comey just four days later. That appointment was later found to be invalid. The filings from Comey's lawyers appear to show that FBI officers engaged in warrantless surveillance of Comey. Like the lawyers in the Hearn case, Comey's lawyers suggested that,

Irregularities in the grand jury process influenced the grand jury to return an indictment. Like Hearn's lawyers, they asked the court to disclose the transcripts and audio recordings of all proceedings before the grand jury in this case, or to review them himself to make sure they followed the law. In a previous case against Comey, they note, magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick found that the government's actions raised genuine, issues of misconduct that were inextricably linked to the government's grand jury presentation. Blanche's indictment of Comey to please Trump colors another of his actions. He backed the deal Trump made with the Department of Justice to establish a $1.776 billion slush fund to pay off

those convicted of committing crimes surrounding Trump's attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Blanche put his name to the second half of that deal that seems to be being eclipsed by the slush fund, but is clearly Trump's main interest, an agreement between Trump and the Department of Justice promising to drop any pending claims against Trump, his oldest sons, or the Trump organization for past illegalities in tax returns. and promising not to conduct audits of Trump's tax returns. That slush fund non-prosecution deal has been a sticking point for Blanche's Senate confirmation to Attorney General, as two Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Tillis of North Carolina,

want him to put in writing that the deal is as dead as he claims it is in his confirmation hearing before they agree to support his nomination. but he has refused to do so. On Thursday, Trump suggested he was willing to withdraw Blanche's nomination until Cornyn and Tillis are out of office, leaving him as acting Attorney General. Then at 703 Friday morning, Trump threw a monkey wrench into this fight by posting that in fact he emphatically supports the slush fund.

He appears to reject the idea that it is dead and seems to be counting on Todd Blanche to implement it, exactly as critics have said. Trump seems to have been thwarted from getting his way quietly by putting Blanche in as Attorney General without any promise to kill the slush fund and its accompanying promise not to prosecute Trump or his associates for crimes associated with their tax filings. And so, on Friday, Trump filed notice that he and the rest of the parties to the agreement

will appeal the July 13th ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams. She said that the suit that led to the $1.776 billion slush fund and the accompanying non-prosecution promise was filed to manipulate the judicial process. Williams said the Justice Department could not claim the deal it made with the Trump's was a judicial agreement. At 732 Saturday morning, Trump posted, If Senators Cornyn and Tillis both upset because I wouldn't endorse them, they lost and quit, respectively, aren't going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals,

according to everybody in the country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as acting AG and push hard to get the anti-weaponization bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the crooked Joe Biden and Obama administration. I get nothing, although I was treated horribly. Past. Todd Blanche was a voice of reason. It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

President D.J.T. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead of Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.