The article discusses the rejection of federal grand jury indictments against several Democratic lawmakers involved in a video urging service members not to obey illegal orders, highlighting that grand juries did not find probable cause to charge them. It argues that grand juries are typically cautious and not easily swayed, and suggests that recent efforts to push politically motivated prosecutions reflect a shift away from impartial justice toward serving political aims. The author criticizes this perceived shift, citing the display of Trump’s image and slogan at the Justice Department as evidence of a partisan influence on federal justice.

Opinion - Pam Bondi thought grand jurors were stupid. They showed her a thing or two.

Doubtless you have heard the old trope that grand juries “will indict a ham sandwich.” Attorney General Pam Bondi has learned the hard way that it’s not true, and maybe it never was.

After its initial indictment was dismissed, the Justice Department twice tried and failed to re-indict Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud. It failed to obtain indictments of a woman who threatened the president on social media, a man who threw a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, and — after three attempts — failed to indict a woman accused of assaulting an FBI agent.

But the stunner was a Washington D.C. federal grand jury’s rejection of a proposed indictment of Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Jason Crow (D-Colo.) — all military veterans or former intelligence officers. Their supposed crime? Appearing in a video urging service members not to obey illegal orders.

Until Trump sent the Justice Department on a quest for vengeance against his perceived political enemies, a grand jury’s rejection of a proposed indictment was as rare as an unassisted triple play in baseball. That’s not because grand juries are pliant tools of federal prosecutors. A principal reason is that grand juries apply the forgiving probable‑cause standard to cases that prosecutors have already screened to meet the most demanding burden in the criminal law: proof of guilt at trial “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

When Trump demanded that Democrats in the unlawful orders video “be arrested and put on trial,” it is doubtful that anyone in the Justice Department — least of all Bondi — wanted to tell Trump they would lose. The Democrats had a slam dunk defense under the First Amendment to the reported allegation of interfering with the loyalty and discipline of the armed forces.

The video did not urge any specific command or servicemember to disobey any specific order. The video only restated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which in fact requires servicemembers to disobey manifestly illegal orders. The Democrats arguably were acting in their capacity as elected officials with oversight responsibility for the military.

In fact, a federal judge subsequently ruled that the Pentagon’s effort to punish Kelly for participating in the video violated the First Amendment.

Nonetheless, the Justice Department’s priority was an indictment — never mind the facts and law. The case was fast-tracked to the grand jurors, who discussed it among themselves after a presentation by prosecutors. Their deliberations are secret, but they probably asked themselves, “Are these prosecutors asking us to charge four congressmen and two U.S. Senators with a crime because they essentially told service members not to violate the law?”

Perhaps one of them even went so far as to say, “They must think we’re stupid.”

The grand jurors voted not to return an indictment.

The Justice Department may keep looking for grand juries willing to indict the six Democrats, since its mission is no longer to ensure the “fair and impartial administration of justice” but to satisfy Trump’s psychological and political needs.

Any remaining doubt on that score evaporated when a multistory blue banner was draped across the facade of the Justice Department’s headquarters, displaying Trump’s scowling face and cold eyes — seemingly fixed on every passerby — and the words “Make America Safe Again.”

The message could not be clearer: Federal justice in America exists to serve him.

Gregory J. Wallance* was a federal prosecutor in the Carter and Reagan administrations and a member of the ABSCAM prosecution team, which convicted a U.S. senator and six representatives of bribery. He is the author of * “Into Siberia: George Kennan’s Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia.”

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Opinion - Pam Bondi thought grand jurors were stupid. They showed her a thing or two. - AOL

Opinion - Pam Bondi thought grand jurors were stupid. They showed her a thing or two.

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