Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department
Carol Leonnig and Aaron C Davis, Penguin, £23.51

GUBU was the acronym for grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented, which entered the political lexicon when coined by the political columnist Conor Cruise O’Brien. That was referencing the Irish Taoiseach Charlie Haughey’s comments after the discovery of a vicious murder suspect staying in the home of his Attorney General. But that Irish situation and even the Watergate scandal are but small beer in comparison to what has befallen the US Department of Justice under the Trump presidency.  

This superb book discloses all of that and more. It’s revelatory, astonishing and even frightening given we’re talking about a world superpower with a nuclear arsenal. The recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE show the consequences of the Justice Department and its agencies being corroded and even corrupted.

The book is well researched and easy to read as is only to be expected from the authors who have both been Pulitzer prize winning journalists with the Washington Post, ironically the outlet which exposed Nixon and Watergate.

What adds to the woes and compounds the irony is that the United States was forged by and prides itself on its constitution, the rule of law and the separation of powers. It’s in the nation’s DNA. A country which also has more lawyers per capita than almost every other country, with the Justice Department alone possessing more staff than many lands have in their entire civil service.

The book begins with Trump’s first ascendancy to office in 2016. What started then was boorish, undignified, inappropriate and damaging for the independence of the institution. An organisation, with multiple agencies accountable to it including the FBI had, since its inception and certainly since the Civil War, been viewed as independent. Breaches of that independence, such as the infamous Watergate events, had seen further reviews and changes. But those transgressions, major as they were, had been by individuals. What was coming was a complete change in the nature of how and for whom the office and agencies operated.

New hires to what was seen for young attorneys as the plum office to join, akin perhaps to the Foreign Office or Treasury in this country, were asked if they had voted for Trump, the past leadership was seen as suspect and removed, and loyalty was demanded from all others remaining. The oath of office to uphold the Constitution and respect the rule of law was sidelined if not jettisoned. Two thousand Department alumni who had served over many decades signed a public letter expressing concern. But it was only to get worse.

Trump’s first term was grim but thankfully it came to an end with the election in 2020. The book, with meticulous research and information from sources at all levels, then narrates how close to disaster America came with Trump’s efforts to avoid defeat. A clear and concerted conspiracy by him to fix the election is laid out which, if the book was a political thriller, would be viewed as an exciting read.

The extent to which the assault on the Capitol was encouraged by Trump really hasn’t had much publicity, and certainly not in this country. How close the authorities came to being overwhelmed is frightening. The bravery of individuals, FBI officers and others upholding their oath of office quite inspiring.

The Biden presidency, which should have seen the exposure of Trump’s crimes in office and taken action against him, instead sees a system that is hamstrung by senior officials, judges and a legal system that is faltering, fearing or failing. That left more junior staff, who had worked assiduously and methodically to indict Trump, to carry the can when 2024 sees him returned to power.

His crimes were manyfold. His scant regard for classified information is breathtaking but it’s what he has done to institutions, their ethos and the rule of law which is his legacy. However bad you thought Trump was, this book shows it’s worse.