BOOK CLUB: Trump versus justice
The Ink Book Club kicks off 2026 with "Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department," by Pulitzer Prize winners Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis
Could there be a more timely topic?
In 2025, we witnessed an unprecedented consolidation of power over the country by the Trump administration, but as Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. David write in their stunning and all-too sobering new book Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department, that was made possible by a prior and more consequential power grab: the subjugation of the DOJ.
In the book, Leonnig and David tell that story as a “tragedy in three acts”: the politicization of the Department during Donald Trump’s first term; the inadequate response to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Attorney General Merrick Garland; and the failure of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation to bring Trump to trial. The calamitous result: a “disemboweling” of the department, with even well-intentioned players within the DOJ helping to “pave a path for Trump’s reascendance, and his eventual unraveling of the department’s core mission.”
On December 17, former Special Counsel Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door deposition that reportedly lasted more than eight hours. The inquiry was part of the committee’s oversight investigation into the alleged “weaponization” of the DOJ by Democrats and others accused of being out to get President Trump. The Republican-led committee then released the full 255-page transcript and video of the session on New Year’s Eve. Smith told the committee that he and his team felt that, based on the words of Trump’s own allies, they’d had “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump was guilty in his handling of classified documents and in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The assault on the Capitol “doesn’t happen without Trump,” Smith said.
Nor does yesterday’s brazen assault on Venezuela, after which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would “face the full wrath of American justice on American soil,” and praised President Trump for his leadership and for having the “courage to demand accountability.” Where previous presidents have been restrained by Congress, the courts, and, importantly, their own Justice Departments, Trump has encountered no such obstacles — rather, he’s bent the DOJ to his will.
In their book, authors Leonnig and Davis, who have both won multiple Pulitzer Prizes, contemplate how and why those safeguards have collapsed. Why, when it comes to January 6, have “the country’s memories splintered so sharply” with many Americans rejecting the reality of what happened on that infamous day altogether Leonnig and Davis to shed further light on this and other lingering questions, about why a “trusting” Special Counsel Robert Mueller “failed to see the end game,” and whether, in addition to Russia, Trump was “beholden to Egypt” in his 2016 victory.
Recent polls and election results suggest that Trump’s grip on the electorate may be weakening, and that the public may be growing tired not only of the President’s failure to deliver on many of his key campaign promises, but also of his disregard for the rule of law and the rules of common decency. But how extensive is the damage to the DOJ — and how permanent? As Leonnig and Davis point out, “The department’s political independence was never protected under law, but flourished through American presidents’ shared respect” for its core precept: to operate “without fear or favor.” They write that “many inside the department fear a cycle has begun of mixing politics and prosecutions that will fundamentally change justice in America for decades to come.”
This month marks the fifth anniversary of the January 6 assault on the Capitol, and on Wednesday, January 7, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, Injustice authors Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. David will join The Ink Book Club live on Substack to offer their insights. Has the DOJ been “vanquished,” as the book’s subtitle suggests? How can a course correction take place? Is there even a hope of that under Trump and Bondi?
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