Eli Lake admits that he doesn’t like Trump and feels that he’s a dangerous demagogue. But he also believes that Letitia James is only prosecuting Trump because of political and partisan reasons and says that it threatens our democracy.
Lake said this on Twitter and got immediate pushback from other Democrats, like Jonathan Chait who writes for the New York Magazine:
Just because you don’t like a politician doesn’t mean that politician should be prosecuted selectively. Trump is a dangerous demagogue. But prosecuting him in such an overtly partisan fashion, as @TishJames is doing, threatens our democracy. She should be shunned.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) October 5, 2023
Agree that just because you don’t like a politician doesn’t mean that politician should be prosecuted selectively. I don't like Ron DeSantis, and if somebody prosecuted him, I'd be concerned. But Trump is a criminal who went into politics.
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) October 5, 2023
Lake pointed out what so many of us have said, that Letitia James campaigned on prosecuting Trump and now she’s interfering in a Republican primary:
She campaigned on prosecuting him. Her case is dubious, thin and unprecedented. She wants to confiscate his fortune because he was trying to make the Forbes list? I don’t like Trump either, but an elected Democrat is interfering in the Republican primary. You don’t see that?
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) October 5, 2023
Chait ignored Lakes argument and went back to his ‘Trump is a criminal’ mantra:
He's a professional swindler who went into politics. Lying to his counterparties was one of his many, many crimes that should have been prosecuted long ago. It's nothing like a political enemy being charged.
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) October 6, 2023
Lake doubled down, saying Letitia James prosecution of Trump is “not a fair application of justice”:
I get that you really really don’t like Trump. I don’t like him either. But Trump is the political enemy of the Democratic Party. Tish James campaigned on prosecuting him. This is not the fair application of justice, it’s the fulfillment of a campaign promise.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) October 6, 2023
Another Democrat chimed in trying to justify James’ prosecution of Trump, but Lake pointed out that the case is a nothing-burger and that this is an abuse of power by James:
But this case is so old, weak and novel that it was rejected by the Manhattan DA. She’s asking for a penalty that far exceeds the technical violation. She doesn’t claim the lender was harmed. It’s an abuse of her power. It’s the equivalent of prosecuting Trump for jaywalking
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) October 6, 2023
While they are few and far between, it is nice to see there are honest Democrats out there who are willing to call James out for her weaponization of justice.