On the surface, Todd Gilbert seems like the kind of person the White House should like. Gilbert was a longtime Republican state lawmaker in Virginia who climbed the ranks and ultimately served as speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates up until last year. No one was especially surprised when Donald Trump tapped Gilbert a few months ago to serve as a U.S. attorney in the commonwealth.
His tenure, however, was short-lived for an unexpected reason. The New York Times reported:
Career prosecutors at the Justice Department do not believe criminal charges are warranted from an investigation seeking to discredit an earlier F.B.I. inquiry into Russia’s attempt to tilt the 2016 election in President Trump’s favor, according to people familiar with the matter. It leaves unclear what political appointees at the Justice Department might do, given the breadth of Mr. Trump’s demands that it pursue people he perceives as enemies.
The reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC, is a little tough to summarize, but at issue is a ridiculous set of circumstances.
Senior officials at Trump’s Justice Department reportedly ordered Gilbert to open a grand jury investigation related to the FBI’s handling of Trump’s Russia scandal. Gilbert reviewed the matter and told his superiors he couldn’t find sufficient evidence of a crime.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (both of whom worked as defense lawyers for Trump) not only weren’t satisfied with Gilbert’s assessment, they also blamed a veteran prosecutor named Zachary Lee (who was appointed by George W. Bush) for swaying the U.S. attorney not to pursue a case.
So DOJ leaders ordered Gilbert to demote Lee, while simultaneously offering the U.S. attorney more resources to pursue a case that would make the president happy.
Told that he hadn’t sufficiently sidelined Lee, Trump’s Justice Department told Gilbert he would be fired after just two months on the job. He resigned soon after.
“Defense lawyers who have clients caught up in the case have expressed bafflement at what possible crime could have been committed,” the Times added, “and one witness approached earlier this year was told the investigation was being conducted at the specific direction of [FBI Director Kash Patel].”
It’s ridiculous to see senior law enforcement officials pretend there’s a criminal case worth pursuing related to the FBI and Trump’s Russia scandal, but let’s not overlook the broader pattern related to punishing prosecutors for not bending over backward to satisfy Team Trump’s political wishes.
Indeed, Gilbert’s ouster deserves to be seen as a scandal in its own right, but it’s made worse when one considers how much company he has.
Shortly after Gilbert was ousted as the U.S. attorney in Virginia’s western district, Erik Siebert was also ousted as the U.S. attorney in Virginia’s eastern district because he wouldn’t bring baseless criminal charges against Trump’s political enemies.








