A group of criminal defense attorneys has launched a war against the Trump Department of Justice’s “abnormal behavior,” according to a report.
The lawyers banded together and created a tool called Case Tracker, a database of federal cases in which eyewitness testimony undermines government charges. The tracker is sponsored by The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, KBPS reported.
“We created the Case Tracker because you cannot defend against an enemy you cannot see,” Steven Salky, a lawyer in the Washington, D.C., area who oversees the project, told the outlet. “The Tracker is intended to spotlight for the next several years the unusual cases being prosecuted by the Department of Justice.”
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has been heavily scrutinized for filing frivolous charges against perceived political enemies. For instance, the Department of Justice has pursued mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who secured a fraud conviction against Trump, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who led Trump’s impeachment efforts during his first term.
The Trump administration has also moved to charge average Americans with trumped-up charges as well. Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., tried to charge a protester with assault after he threw a sandwich at federal officers. A federal grand jury declined to charge the individual after deliberating for just 30 minutes.
“This tracker is an essential tool for an era where federal overreach has become the standard operating procedure,” NACDL Executive Director Lisa Wayne told KPBS.
