Trump Has Dropped an ‘Atomic Bomb’ on the Department of Justice

Opinion|Trump Has Dropped an ‘Atomic Bomb’ on the Department of Justice

I want to begin with a tale of scandals past. On June 27, 2016, with Hillary Clinton in the thick of her presidential contest against Donald Trump, her husband met briefly with Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Their planes were parked close together at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, and Bill Clinton took the opportunity to talk to Lynch.

Lynch said the conversation was innocuous, mainly about their families and their travels, but Republicans were outraged. Hillary Clinton was at the time under F.B.I. investigation into her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s first term.

Although Bill Clinton had no formal authority over Lynch, the concern was obvious: Was a former president attempting to influence the investigation of his wife?

Even some Democrats expressed concern. “I do think that this meeting sends the wrong signal,” said Chris Coons, a Democratic senator from Delaware, “and I don’t think it sends the right signal. I think she should have steered clear, even of a brief, casual, social meeting with the former president.”

Looking back now, in 2025, I have two thoughts.

First, Senator Coons was right — the meeting never should have happened.

Second, how quaint — if anything like that happened today, it wouldn’t even register.

Simply put, Donald Trump has changed the stakes. The problem with his Department of Justice isn’t with an appearance of impropriety, but rather with a direct frontal assault on the integrity of the department. He is rapidly transforming it into a primarily political institution, where all other missions are subordinate to Trump’s whims — and to Trump’s quest for vengeance.