DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE STATES FOR CRIMINAL CONDUCT BY TRUMP AND HIS ALLIES

The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) should be an independent institution, capable of investigating and prosecuting violations of federal criminal law in an impartial manner. It no longer is. It has been co-opted by Trump to serve his interests and not the interests of our country. Trump and his senior officials have fired non-partisan career civil servants who investigated and prosecuted Trump and his allies, and they have fired government officials tasked with government and corporate oversight across multiple government agencies, including the DOJ and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  The DOJ is now led by officials loyal to Trump rather than to the laws they are charged to uphold. DOJ employees—those who have not been fired—are keenly aware of the cost of disloyalty to Trump, and that loyalty will require turning a blind eye to criminal acts by the Trump Administration.

It therefore is more important than ever that state and local prosecutors exercise their own sound judgment in investigating and prosecuting crimes that occur in their jurisdictions.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States does not remove the authority of state and local prosecutors here. That decision only grants immunity to a President for official acts. Kidnapping, extortion, and coercion are not official acts. The fact that Trump abused the power of his office to commit these offenses does not convert them into official acts, nor immunize him from prosecution.

Letters calling upon state and local prosecutors to investigate the illegal kidnapping of residents from their homes, neighborhoods, and communities.

Trump, in coordination with senior officials within the Department of Homeland Security and the DOJ, orchestrated the kidnapping of Rümeysa Öztürk, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and others. Rümeysa Öztürk was kidnapped by six masked ICE agents from the street in her neighborhood and imprisoned illegally for months, without proper access to medical care, attorneys, or her family. Her crime? Co-authoring with several others an op-ed in support of Tufts’ students’ vote to disinvest from Israel. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was kidnapped from his car in front of his young child, illegally smuggled out of the country, and imprisoned for months in El Salvador in a scheme funded by the U.S. government, and in defiance of a court order prohibiting his removal to El Salvador. There are others who have similarly been kidnapped and imprisoned for exercising their First Amendment rights, in violation of court orders, and under circumstances indefensible under the law. People are being taken from their homes, families, and communities by masked agents, deprived of their rights, and subject to criminal abuses in prison. State and local prosecutors should not stand by while federal agents commit crimes in their jurisdictions, particularly those that visit violence on their residents and undermine the security and safety of their communities. FSFP calls upon state and local prosecutors to carry out investigations into unlawful kidnappings and to prosecute where appropriate.