(May 20, 2026 at 6:17 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: I just keeps getting better.  The DOJ has hereby declared that the irs is forever barred, in all caps, from investigating any trump financial crimes.

(May 20, 2026 at 11:01 pm)Jackalope Wrote:

(May 20, 2026 at 6:17 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: I just keeps getting better.  The DOJ has hereby declared that the irs is forever barred, in all caps, from investigating any trump financial crimes.

That obliquely sounds like a confession of financial crimes.

(May 20, 2026 at 6:17 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: I just keeps getting better.  The DOJ has hereby declared that the irs is forever barred, in all caps, from investigating any trump financial crimes.

Quote:Dahlia Lithwick: Even by the low, low standards of the DOJ these days, this was quite a bomb. Judge Perry told the U.S. attorney: “I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.” And she added: “I think there is also a potential here, separate and apart from the merits of this case and how this case ends up proceeding, on sanctions for prosecutorial misconduct and for potential ethical violations, including lack of candor to the court.” Walk us through what happened here.

Mark Joseph Stern: Prosecutors had tried to conceal these grand jury transcripts from the court, and now we can see why. Here’s what we discovered: First, prosecutors did something called “vouching,” assuring grand jurors that they are trustworthy and would never bring an unjust case, so the charges must be sound. That is fundamentally unfair and never allowed. Second, it turns out that the grand jury originally refused to indict the Broadview Six, and instead came back with what’s called a “no true bill.” So prosecutors then allegedly removed the grand jurors who had refused to vote for an indictment, then went back to the remaining grand jurors and asked them to indict, which they did. That is obviously a violation of the Fifth Amendment.

Third, prosecutors allegedly had communications with grand jurors outside of the grand jury proceedings. We don’t have clarity on exactly what was said, but based on Judge Perry’s reaction, I strongly suspect they lobbied grand jurors to indict. That is, of course, totally improper and unacceptable. In light of these violations, the U.S. attorney moved to drop all the charges, and Judge Perry dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be brought again. She also said that this Justice Department had lost “the presumption of regularity” because the long-standing “trust” in prosecutors’ candor to the court “has been broken.” So we have yet another judge saying she can no longer trust Trump’s DOJ to tell the truth or pursue justice.