In a detailed examination of FBI Director Christopher Wray, California Congressman Ted Lieu — a Georgetown-trained lawyer — enumerated a series of criminal convictions against numerous people who have worked in former President Donald Trump‘s inner circle.
By naming convicted criminals like Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, and Paul Manafort, Lieu seeks to disembowel an argument some Republican lawmakers make that the recent spate of Trump-directed criminal charges are politically motivated and are the result of the so-called “weaponization” of government agencies by Democrats against their Republican rivals, especially the former President.
Lieu argues against the notion that there exists separate standards of justice for Republicans and Democrats — the so-called “two-tiered justice system” — by naming not only Trump’s convicted relations, but those responsible for their convictions. In every case, the cited convictions were overseen not by Democrats but by powerful Republicans appointed by Trump himself.
"It is not the fault of the FBI that Donald Trump surrounded himself with criminals" — brilliant line of questioning here from Ted Lieu highlighting how a range of Trump staffers were convicted by a DOJ overseen *by Trump staffers* pic.twitter.com/Y2hP4hoGzH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2023
Part of the Republican denigration of the FBI and the Department of Justice has included asserting a party-line bias in the investigations and charges the agencies pursue.
Lieu’s exchange with Wray, part of the official Congressional record, demonstrates that the justice meted out to Stone, Cohen, et al, was delivered at the hands of Trump’s own appointees like former Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions.
“Trump advisor Roger Stone was convicted in a federal court…Trump donor Elliott Broidy was convicted in a federal court,” says Lieu.
“The Attorney General at the time for those two convictions was Bill Barr — who nominated Bill Barr?” Lieu asks.
Wray answers that it was President Trump.
Lieu continues with twice-convicted former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, whose second conviction came under Acting AG Matthew Whitaker, also appointed by Trump. Lieu then names Trump’s former campaign staffers Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, both convicted in federal court.
Lieu names George Papadopoulos also, reminding Congress that all three of the latter were convicted under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was nominated by Trump. Wray, incidentally, was also nominated by Trump. If the convicted men were victimized by the system, they were victimized by the GOP leaders at the time.
“What these facts show,” Lieu asserts, “is that we don’t have a two-tiered system of justice.”
