President Donald Trump is using the federal government to attack people who oppose him. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched investigations and even indicted individuals who have held Trump accountable through targeted public criticism, investigations, or legal action.
What’s been happening
How is Trump using the government to attack people
Department of Justice investigations
The Justice Department has investigated and/or indicted former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former Trump administration officials Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor, and Senators Mark Kelly and Adam Schiff, among other members of Congress.
Many of the investigations appear to be based on selective enforcement, with allegations ranging from questionable claims of mortgage fraud to complaints over an image of seashells.
The Weaponization Working Group
On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order to “end the weaponization of the federal government.” In it, he directed the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to review all activity and any investigations or prosecutions during President Joe Biden’s administration that Trump or his allies considered “politically motivated,” so that “appropriate remedial actions” could be taken.
In February 2025, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi created the Weaponization Working Group and tapped DOJ attorney Ed Martin to lead it. Recent records suggest Todd Blanche, who is currently awaiting his confirmation hearing to be Attorney General, oversaw the group.
The Weaponization Working Group’s investigations include:
- DOJ and Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol.
- New York’s prosecution of Trump for hush-money payments during his 2016 presidential campaign.
- James’ investigation into the Trump Organization for business fraud.
Bondi’s memo creating the group also instructed it to investigate DOJ’s prosecutions of Jan. 6 participants and people protesting at abortion care clinics, as well as its alleged targeting of certain whistleblowers.
So far, the Weaponization Working Group has not lived up to this sweeping mandate. In February 2026, Martin was removed as head of the group and other members reportedly scrambled to yield more results. As of April 2026, the working group had released just one report. Without any compelling evidence, that report claimed Biden’s DOJ used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to conduct biased prosecutions against people protesting abortion.
Bill Pulte and accusations of mortgage fraud
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte has been a major player in Trump’s attacks on his opponents because of his willingness to use his position to make accusations of mortgage fraud. Pulte recommended that DOJ investigate and/or make fraud allegations against New York AG James, Sen. Schiff, Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors member Lisa Cook, and former Rep. Eric Swalwell.
In June 2026, Trump named Pulte as his acting director of national intelligence, despite his lack of experience in national security.
Who Trump has targeted
James Comey
James Comey was the director of the FBI during President Barack Obama’s second term and the first few months of Trump’s first administration, until he was fired in May 2017. Trump has publicly aired his grievances against Comey for years, most frequently for the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election.
Trump reportedly pressured DOJ to investigate Comey. He publicly threatened to fire Erik Siebert — the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who had been investigating Comey — after Siebert informed senior DOJ officials that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Comey. Siebert then resigned in September 2025. After Siebert’s resignation, Trump nominated his former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan as Siebert’s interim replacement. Just days after her appointment, Halligan secured an indictment against Comey on two charges related to his 2020 congressional testimony. These charges were condemned by attorneys and experts as unfounded and politically motivated.
In November 2025, the case against Comey was dismissed after a federal judge found that Halligan was wrongfully appointed to the role.
Then, in April 2026, Comey was indicted for a social media post containing a photograph of seashells spelling out “86 47.” DOJ claimed that the post was a threat to the president. Comey said that 86, a term common in the restaurant industry to mean that the kitchen is out of something, meant that he wanted Trump out of office.
Letitia James
In 2022, New York AG James filed a civil lawsuit against Trump’s business, the Trump Organization. The case resulted in Trump being barred from serving in top roles in any New York company for three years and a $355 million fine (this amount was later ruled excessive). Trump has subsequently demanded criminal legal action against James.
In March 2025, as FHFA director, Pulte alleged that James had misrepresented information on her mortgage application and referred James to DOJ for potential prosecution. Pulte claimed that James had lied on her mortgage application by claiming the home would be her primary residence in order to get a better rate. However, James’ communications with the lender showed that she stated she did not plan to live in the home, and there was no evidence that the one instance in which she claimed it would be her primary residence was considered in the application.
In August 2025, DOJ appointed Martin as a special prosecutor to investigate James’ real estate applications. DOJ also opened a civil rights investigation into her office to examine if it had violated Trump’s civil rights as part of the investigation into the Trump Organization.
The next month, Siebert indicated he could not find sufficient evidence to indict James. This, combined with Siebert’s unwillingness to bring charges against FBI Director Comey, led Trump to give an address from the Oval Office urging Siebert to resign. After Halligan replaced Siebert, she successfully indicted James in October 2025.
In November 2025, the case against James was dismissed after a federal judge found that Halligan was wrongfully appointed.
John Brennan
John Brennan served as CIA Director under Obama. In January 2017, Brennan briefed members of Congress and Trump, then the president-elect, on the intelligence community’s findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has strongly disputed these findings for nearly a decade. Since he left government, Brennan has been a cable news analyst and frequent Trump critic. Brennan also testified to Congress about the intelligence community’s findings on Russian election interference in 2023.
In August 2025, the New York Times reported that Brennan would likely be investigated by DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group. Congressman Jim Jordan referred Brennan to DOJ in October 2025, claiming Brennan made false statements in his 2023 congressional testimony. Brennan has refuted the validity of the accusations and framed DOJ’s allegations as an abuse of government power and authority.
In April 2026, Reuters reported that the FBI planned on interviewing about six individuals as part of a criminal inquiry into Brennan. That same month, DOJ removed the lead prosecutor from Brennan’s case after she refused to quickly bring charges against him.
Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor
In April 2025, Trump issued a pair of executive orders revoking the security clearances of Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, as well as those of their work associates. Taylor worked in the first Trump administration at the Department of Homeland Security and authored a New York Times op-ed criticizing Trump while still in the administration. Krebs was the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), one of the primary agencies responsible for elections security, during Trump’s first term. Krebs was fired shortly after the 2020 election for challenging Trump’s false claims about widespread election fraud.
Trump’s April 2025 executive order also ordered DOJ to investigate the work of both Taylor and Krebs during the first Trump administration. As of July 2026, no indictment had been announced.
Mark Kelly and other members of Congress
Federal prosecutors sought to indict six members of Congress — Sen. Mark Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Rep. Jason Crow, Rep. Maggie Goodlander, Rep. Chris Deluzio, and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan — over their participation in a video that urged military personnel to refuse to complete illegal orders. In February 2026, a grand jury declined to grant the indictments.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also tried to demote Kelly in his military ranking based on the same video. In February 2026, a judge temporarily blocked this effort.
John Bolton
In October 2025, DOJ indicted Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security advisor in Trump’s first administration, for mishandling classified records. Bolton has been an outspoken critic of Trump since leaving his administration in 2019. The investigation into Bolton started during Trump’s first administration and continued through the Biden administration into Trump’s second. In June 2026, Bolton pled guilty to the charges.
Adam Schiff
In November 2025, Sen. Schiff — another prominent critic of Trump who was the lead impeachment manager of the first impeachment — was investigated by DOJ for mortgage fraud. Martin, Pulte, and associates reportedly sent direct messages on social media and cold called people to try to build a case against Schiff. As of July 2026, Schiff has not been indicted.
E. Jean Carroll
In June 2019, writer E. Jean Carroll publicly accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s. After Trump denied these allegations, Carroll sued him for defamation that November. Carroll sued Trump a second time in November 2022, this time including a claim of battery after a new law allowed sexual assault victims to file civil lawsuits after the statutes of limitations had expired. In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll.
In May 2026, DOJ reportedly began a criminal investigation into Carroll aiming to prove she perjured herself during her trial testimony.
Attacks on the Federal Reserve
Trump has repeatedly pushed the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, arguing that the United States should have “the lowest interest rate of any country in the world.” There are valid reasons to adjust interest rates — in short, lower rates stimulate economic growth, while higher rates curb inflation — but it is worth noting that Trump personally benefits from lower interest rates. For every one percent the Fed drops interest rates, Trump would earn hundreds of millions of dollars on his real estate and bond holdings.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates during the Biden administration to contain rising inflation. After returning to office, Trump has repeatedly urged the Fed to significantly lower interest rates. Trump’s attacks on two Fed members, and DOJ’s corresponding investigations, look like an apparent attempt to strong-arm them into lowering interest rates.
Lisa Cook and mortgage fraud
In August 2025, Trump announced on social media that he wanted to fire Cook, the first Black woman confirmed to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. Trump cited mortgage fraud accusations levied by FHFA Director Pulte. Pulte had posted on social media about Cook nearly two dozen times in the prior 24 hours, and he had referred her to DOJ for investigation. In September, DOJ opened a related investigation into Cook.
Many have argued that Pulte’s accusations — that Cook claimed two homes as her primary residencies to potentially get a lower mortgage — are simply not true. Legal experts have also argued Pulte’s allegations did not provide sufficient cause for Cook’s dismissal.
Cook has challenged her firing, and her lawyers have argued that Trump does not have the power to fire her. The case is currently before the Supreme Court, and lower courts have blocked her removal while the case proceeds.
Jerome Powell and the renovation of the Federal Reserve
Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire Jerome Powell from the Federal Reserve Board, but legal scholars widely agree that the president only has the authority to fire a member of the Fed for cause.
Instead, Trump has pursued criminal investigations into Powell. In July 2025, Politico reported that Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought was investigating cost overruns as part of the renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. In November 2025, DOJ reportedly opened a criminal investigation into Powell regarding the renovation and whether or not Powell made false statements during his testimony to Congress in June 2025.
The Fed received grand jury subpoenas to investigate the issue in January 2026. That March, Judge James Boasberg quashed these subpoenas, finding that their primary purpose was to pressure Powell to either do what the president wanted or to resign, and that the government had no evidence to support its claims.
In April 2026, DOJ dropped its criminal probe into Powell. Powell also announced that he would stay on the Federal Reserve Board after his term as chairman ended.
Why it matters
The federal government should serve the American people and their interests. Instead, Trump has manipulated federal agencies — and misused their tax-payer funded resources — to fulfill his personal vendettas. The resulting politically motivated investigations will likely deter others from standing up to Trump or his administration, making it even easier for Trump to abuse his power.
Trump has abused the Department of Justice, in particular, to prosecute his perceived enemies on flimsy charges. When career prosecutors told him there wasn’t sufficient evidence to press charges, Trump sidelined them out and installed loyalists who would serve his interests. This has greatly eroded the post-Watergate norm that DOJ should be an independent entity, free from presidential influence.
The people who have already been investigated demonstrate how important individual actors are to checking Trump, and how Americans’ lives could be affected if officials stop standing up to the president. If Cook and Powell give into Trump’s demands to lower interest rates, Americans could be facing staggering inflation and a worsened affordability crisis. If Trump is able to pressure people like former CISA Director Krebs to accept his election conspiracy theories, the very integrity of our elections — the bedrock of our democracy — will be lost. If national security leaders like Brennan and Comey are afraid to warn a president and the public about threats, then our national security could be jeopardized.
What we’re doing about it
We’re using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and litigation to investigate these politically motivated actions.
Investigating Ed Martin’s potential destruction of records
In November 2025, following news that the Weaponization Working Group’s then-director Martin was allegedly concealing or destroying official communications to hide the group’s activities, we sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Marco Rubio, then the National Archives and Records Administration’s acting archivist, demanding urgent action to recover any missing records and prevent further destruction.
In December 2025, we sued DOJ after the agency refused to grant expedited processing for multiple FOIA requests seeking communications, directives, and text messages involving Martin. The records could show if Martin was destroying documents and provide more details about who the group was investigating and why.
In January 2026, we expanded our lawsuit because DOJ still had not issued final determinations regarding expedited status on most of our requests and had produced no records.
Suing for records related to Trump’s attacks on the Federal Reserve
In August 2025, we sued the FHFA for failing to release records that could shed light on the Trump administration’s firing of Fed Gov. Cook. Our requests ask for FHFA Director Pulte’s communications with the White House, Congress, and outside actors, as well as his calendars, ethics disclosures, directives, and any related guidance.
In September 2025, we filed more FOIA requests seeking communications between top governors and the White House during the period when Trump publicly demanded Cook’s resignation.
Investigating Lindsey Halligan’s use of Signal
After then-U.S. Attorney Halligan used Signal to communicate with a reporter, it was revealed that her phone had messages set to auto-delete after just eight hours. We launched an investigation into Halligan’s Signal use in October 2025, filing a FOIA request with DOJ for her Signal communications about government business and related DOJ records about her use of the app. We also sent a demand letter to DOJ and NARA, demanding urgent action to preserve federal records arising from Halligan’s use of Signal and its auto-deletion feature.
