• March 29, 2024

Chris Christie Should Lead the DOJ Under a Republican President

C Christie

Don’t rush to judgement on this.  Yes, Chris Christie is a liberal republican and would have made a lousy president, but his skills as a prosecutor are without equal, even surpassing Trey Gowdy.  He was appointed as a federal prosecutor by George W Bush in 2001 and at the time of his appointment declared that his office would concentrate on public corruption by elected officials.  He went after crooked republicans and crooked democrats alike.  In that capacity, he tried and won convictions in 130 cases and brought down huge power brokers in New York and New Jersey.

He won convictions against:

Democratic Hudson County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski in 2002 on bribery charges Republican Essex County ExecutiveJames W. Treffinger in 2003 on corruption charges, former Democratic New Jersey Senate President John A. Lynch, Jr., in 2006 on charges of mail fraud and tax evasion State Senator and former Newark Democratic mayor Sharpe James in 2008 on fraud charges, and Democratic State Senator Wayne R. Bryant in 2008 on charges of bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud.

The next chief of the DOJ will have plenty of corruption to prosecute, especially if Lynch refuses to indict Hillary as FBI Director James Comey will undoubtedly recommend.  Then you have Gina McCarthy, Kathleen Sibelius, Huma Abedin, Patrick Kennedy, Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton, John Koskinen, Lois Lerner and a host of other lawless Obama co-conspirators.  That means the new chief needs to be fearless and willing to prosecute anyone who deserves it.  Of course, he will go after crooked republicans also.  That’s something I would fully support.

How good was Christie as a prosecutor?  Chris Christie was on Bush’s original list to be fired at the time he relieved 7 of their duties.  Christie did survive.  Let me show you a quote:

“I was shocked when I saw Chris Christie’s name on the list last night. It just shows a [Justice] department that has run amok.” Charles Schumer, US  Senator

“Among his peers, Chris stands out as one of the most admired. If you were to create a list of the U.S. attorneys who have had the greatest impact, Chris would be one of the top two or three names I’d put on it. This defies explanation.”  Pat Meehan, the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia

He also pioneered a new tack in fighting corporate corruption.  Instead of convicting and slapping a fine on the corporations, he placed them in a DPA (Deferred Prosecution Agreement). What that is is a promise not to prosecute them for their criminal offenses in exchange for imposing certain conditions.  That included the firing of the executives responsible for the offenses and the hiring of independent monitors, who would keep track to make sure that there were no repeats of their previous actions.

Compare that to the fine and let them go policy, where some companies are constantly back in court for new offenses, such as Goldman Sachs and General Electric and many others.  Although the practice was soundly criticized at the time, it has become more and more popular among federal prosecutors.

It was his record as a prosecutor that earned him two terms in the dark blue state of New Jersey.

 

 

 

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