Scharf’s Pseudoconstitutional Barf

The administration’s sternly worded letters are losing their bite

The administration sent a threatening letter to Representative Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, over public comments he made about holding the administration accountable. Garcia shared the full contents of the letter publicly and said he would not be deterred.

In relating the above I am not talking about the events of this week. I am talking about February of last year, when then interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin sent a letter to Garcia over the latter’s statements on CNN about opposing Elon Musk and DOGE:

“At this time, I respectfully request that you clarify your comments from February 12, 2025. During a live interview with CNN, when asked how Democrats can stop Elon Musk, you spoke clearly: ‘What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy.’

“That sounds like a threat to Mr. Musk—an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you call a ‘dick’—and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry.

“We take threats against public officials very seriously. I look forward to your cooperation with my letter of inquiry after request.”

Garcia was not intimidated at that time, when a member of the minority party in a Congress dominated by Trump’s personality cult at the apex of its popularity. 

Needless to say, Garcia was even less impressed by White House counsel Will Scharf’s threatening letter this week, coming as it does when Garcia is preparing to step into leadership of the House Oversight Committee after a historic crushing of the Republican Party at the ballot box last week. 

To recap: Garcia issued a two word statement on election day: “Lawyer up.” Attorney General Todd Blanche made some defensive remarks in response. Then, yesterday, Scharf sent his letter:

“I will remind you of the foundational limits that the Constitution imposes on congressional investigations and subpoenas, which you and members of the new Congress have evinced a clear intent to transgress. …

“We are monitoring the abusive and capricious threats that are now proliferating from Democrat[sic] legislators who seek to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and to interfere with the lawful functioning of government. Recent public statements underscore these concerns. You and your congressional colleagues have asserted that they will issue subpoenas to harass, threaten, and deter dedicated members of the Administration from further service. Several have compared their subpoena pledges to handing out ‘candy.’ ‘Mardi Gras beads,’ and enough paper to level forests.”

There is no area where GOP projection is more acute than when it comes to accusing others of “abusive and capricious threats” or their more general umbrella term, “weaponization.” The Trump DOJ’s “Weaponization Working Group” was a very honest name, from a certain point of view.

Sending letters from the executive branch threatening legal action is, however, no joke. Martin, a U.S. Attorney no less, did so in abundance—some might say he handed them out like candy, or Mardi Gras beads, using up enough paper to level forests. Martin’s nomination was ultimately sunk—he never made it past being interim—which was a sign of administration weakness even in the first year. Still he certainly wielded the office to intimidate the administration’s enemies.

Such behavior from the administration clearly did not stop with the sinking of Martin’s nomination, who himself only shuffled over to another position. Just days before last week’s election—or more accurately, near the end of the election, given early voting—the Justice Department sent target letters to 20 individuals in Alaska to people associated with Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign. Glenn Thrush, Devlin Barrett and Anna Griffin noted with typical New York Times understatement that “Sending such notifications in the days leading up to Election Day is highly unusual.”

“Target letters are not proof of guilt. Many of the department’s investigations into Mr. Trump’s critics and adversaries have gone nowhere for lack of evidence, or been thrown out of court by judges and grand juries. And in the past, department leaders have taken procedural steps to publicly demonstrate to the White House that they are taking action.”

These frivolous threats are, again, no joking matter, but the more they fail to turn into actual legal action, never mind legal action which actually sticks in court, the less threatening they become. Nearly two years in, after losing every last drop of trust most federal district courts had in their statements, after engaging in toothless threat after toothless threat, and after voters unambiguously signaled their disgust with the administration by handing vast swaths of our political systems’ power over to its enemies, these tactics reek more of desperation than danger. Especially when the letter does not even come from the DOJ, but a White House counsel. What’s Scharf going to do to Garcia? Write a strongly worded legal interpretation?

Just like he did last year when he was relatively powerless, Garcia responded appropriately: 

Senator-elect Scott Colom

This is worth pausing a moment for. Scott Colom has officially won the Mississippi Senate race. The votes are counted and his Republican opponent has conceded. As Daniel Arkin, Bridget Bowman and Kyla Guilfoil report in NBC News:

“Mississippi last elected a Democrat to the Senate 44 years ago, just a few weeks before Colom was born in 1982. Colom will become Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.

“The historic win comes after days of uncertainty in the race, with Colom holding a razor-thin lead over Hyde-Smith as more votes continued to be counted. Colom, a district attorney, remained confident throughout the vote counting that he would prevail.”

A few facts about this race I’d like to highlight. Christopher Wiggins reports one of them in The Advocate:

“Three years ago, Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith used her Senate power to block Scott Colom from becoming a federal judge, citing his supposed position on transgender athletes. Now, Mississippi voters have chosen him to take her seat.”

The other is that, this historic victory aside, real work remains to be done for the democratic freedom of state governments in general, and Mississippi in particular.

Typically classy behavior

Haley Britzky, David Brooks, and Natasha Bertrand report in CNN:

“A US Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier reprimanded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a group of his senior advisers Wednesday after some in the group laughed and talked near the solemn memorial following a Veterans Day ceremony.

“‘All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times,’ the sentinel called out, stopping his patrol to face the group as they departed.

“Hegseth was standing and taking photos in front of the tomb with his wife, Jennifer, chief of staff Ricky Buria, deputy chief of staff Patrick Weaver and senior adviser and deputy assistant Tami Radabaugh after the ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery for Veterans Day. Some in the group were laughing and chatting after taking photos, prompting the soldier patrolling in front of the Tomb to yell out and correct them.”

Jensen Huang out

Robbie Whelan, Josh Dawsey and Amrith Ramkumar report in the Wall Street Journal:

“NVIDIA Chief Executive Jensen Huang has resigned after two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy and another with an employee.

"The company said Thursday that finance chief Colette Kress had agreed to serve as interim CEO until a permanent successor is named. The board is starting a search for the company’s next CEO and will consider internal and external candidates.”

Remembering

Around Liberal Currents

• The Family Annihilator Presidency, by Samantha Hancox-Li: Donald Trump has dragged the entire Republican Party into the tomb with him.

Keeping up

• “Richard Posner, R.I.P.” by Daniel Drezner.
• “Rep. Lou Correa Had Heart Attack, Missed Pete Hegseth Impeachment Vote Due to Surgery,” by Kaitlyn Schallhorn in the Orange County Register.
• “US Envoys Meet with Putin in the Kremlin After Ukraine Talks in Abu Dhabi,” by Harriet Morris for the Associated Press.
• “Brooklyn Building Collapse Kills at Least 8 and Injures 17 as Search Continues,” by Richard Luscombe in the Guardian.
• “5 people shot in Washington, D.C.'s Logan Circle neighborhood, authorities say,” by Kerry Breen in CBS News.