{"id":596785,"date":"2026-05-05T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=596785"},"modified":"2026-05-05T19:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:40:00","slug":"from-doj-to-ballot-box-the-rise-of-lawfare-candidates-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=596785","title":{"rendered":"From DOJ To Ballot Box: The Rise Of Lawfare Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

From DOJ To Ballot Box: The Rise Of Lawfare Candidates<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Julie Kelly via RealClearInvestigations<\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the beneficiaries of Virginia\u2019s aggressive attempt to gerrymander the state for Democratic advantage could be a former federal prosecutor<\/strong> whose campaign for Congress hinges on his efforts to use the law to target President Trump and his supporters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When a slim majority of Virginia voters gave the legislature authority last month to create congressional districts that could give Democrats a 10-1 advantage, J.P. Cooney cheered the outcome in a\u00a0message<\/a>\u00a0on social media<\/strong>, boasting that the new district he was running in had been drawn \u201cexpressly for the purpose of standing up to Donald Trump\u2019s and MAGA\u2019s corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the fate of Virginia\u2019s 7th Congressional District remains unclear \u2013 a state judge immediately blocked<\/a>\u00a0the measure, and the issue is expected to end up\u00a0before<\/a>\u00a0the Supreme Court <\/strong>\u2013 Cooney\u2019s candidacy represents a small but growing wave of former prosecutors who are running on their anti-Trump bona fides. So far, at least two other former Justice Department officials are seeking office by touting their work against the president, his supporters, and his current administration. All are running as Democrats.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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J.P. Cooney is hoping to ride the anti-Trump credentials he accrued as a federal prosecutor to Congress.\u00a0LinkedIn<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

To their supporters, these candidates represent a principled stand against what they see as the lawless excesses of the Trump administration.<\/strong> To many Republicans, the entry of supposedly neutral federal prosecutors into the brass knuckle world of politics confirms their suspicions that the DOJ is filled with partisans who used their power to target the president and the MAGA movement in general.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ryan Crosswell, who is\u00a0running<\/a> for Congress as a Democrat in Pennsylvania\u2019s 7th\u00a0Congressional District, resigned from his position as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York last year, after the Justice Department sought to\u00a0drop<\/a>\u00a0the indictment against then New York City Mayor Eric Adams on corruption charges. Crosswell\u2019s superiors decided the case should be dropped over\u00a0evidence suggesting<\/a>\u00a0the Biden DOJ had targeted the mayor because he was a vocal critic of the administration\u2019s immigration policies.<\/p>\n

In what has become a popular tactic by anti-Trump DOJ lawyers, Crosswell\u00a0issued<\/a>\u00a0a public resignation letter: \u201cI cannot fathom how anyone would do this to the public servants he is supposed to be leading.<\/strong> And the damage done was not limited to two offices \u2013 it appalled prosecutors throughout the Department and our alumni.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his video announcement, Crosswell showed a clip of Trump walking into a courthouse (followed by now acting Attorney General Todd Blanche) and denounced the president for forcing prosecutors to \u201cdrop a case against one of his friends.\u201d (It is unclear whether Adams is actually a \u201cfriend\u201d of Trump\u2019s.)<\/p>\n

In Minneapolis, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Le is using her opposition to Trump\u2019s immigration policies in her bid to replace another fierce Trump critic, Rep. Ilhan Omar, in the Democratic primary.<\/strong> Le gained national attention in February when she had a meltdown before the judge. \u201cWhat do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks. And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need,\u201d Le\u00a0said<\/a>, referring to the DOJ\u2019s overwhelming caseload. Le also\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the judge, \u201cWe have no guidance or direction on what we need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impeccable Anti-Trump Credentials<\/h2>\n

Le was quickly fired. She\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the Washington Post that \u201cshe had never voted for Trump and opposed his brash enforcement style.\u201d While Croswell and Le are hoping their anti-Trump credentials will help usher them into office, their record of resistance pales in comparison to Cooney\u2019s, whose record of anti-Trump activity goes back a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cooney <\/strong>\u2013 a Notre Dame\u00a0grad<\/a>\u00a0where he served as the president of the College Democrats club before earning a law degree at the University of Virginia \u2013\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0his campaign in a crowded field by boasting about his key role in several anti-Trump prosecutions pursued by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel Jack Smith between 2021 and 2025<\/strong>. After Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel in November 2022, Cooney became his top deputy in the DOJ\u2019s Jan. 6, 2021-related indictment against the president in Washington. They pushed for a quick trial before Election Day. Cooney also successfully\u00a0sought<\/a>\u00a0a gag order against the president one year before the 2024 presidential election, banning the president from making any public statements about potential witnesses in the case, which included former administration officials such as Vice President Mike Pence and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, who were at the time criticizing Trump\u2019s plan to again run for office.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Special Counsel Jack Smith, who sought ot prosecute Trump on multiple fronts, has endorsed Cooney.\u00a0AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Cooney, then chief of the fraud and public corruption section of the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in Washington, drafted the initial plan for how the DOJ could pursue Trump, as well as several figures and organizations who had participated in the events of Jan. 6. But Cooney\u2019s plan was so aggressive, according to a 2023 Washington Post\u00a0article<\/a>, that it alarmed top FBI and DOJ officials and was immediately scuttled.<\/p>\n

Trump fired Cooney shortly after Inauguration Day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The J6 case against the president was dropped after Trump won the 2024 election, but Cooney wants to finish the job. \u201cWe have the evidence to convict this president,\u201d Cooney\u00a0said<\/a>, pointing to the White House, in one social media post. \u201cThat justice can still come.\u201d Cooney also\u00a0insists<\/a>\u00a0that if Trump hadn\u2019t \u201cescaped trials by winning the election,\u201d the president right now \u201cwould be in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCooney was the mastermind of the J6 case against the president,<\/strong>\u201d John Lauro, the president\u2019s trial counsel in the J6 case in Washington, told RealClearInvestigations. \u201cSmith and Cooney used the sacred powers of the DOJ against Trump and political movement. Now we see the ultimate fruition of that with Cooney running for office as a far left Democrat and to use his experience as a persecutor against Trump to get an advantage in the far left wing of the Democratic party.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack Smith Endorsement<\/h2>\n

Jack Smith is endorsing his longtime colleague \u2013 the pair worked together at the Obama DOJ\u2019s public integrity unit \u2013\u00a0calling<\/a> Cooney \u201ca man of integrity who has committed his career to upholding the rule of law, and he\u2019s the model of who our country needs in public service.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president and congressional Republicans disagree. Cooney is currently the subject of both House and Senate investigations for allegedly abusing his authority at the DOJ to pursue Trump and his allies.<\/strong> During an April 21 hearing, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley\u00a0accused<\/a>\u00a0Cooney and other former Biden DOJ officials of \u201cliterally trying to destroy\u201d the country; Grassley, an Iowa Republican, released an extensive trove of text messages and emails between Cooney and Molly Gaston, his co-counsel in the J6 case against Trump.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sen. Chuck Grassley has accused Cooney and other former Biden DOJ officials of \u201cliterally trying to destroy\u201d the country.\u00a0AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Immediately following the events of Jan. 6, Cooney worked with Gaston to also investigate a handful of Republican House members for allegedly conducting \u201creconnaissance tours\u201d on Jan. 5. That accusation was made by then Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherill, now the governor of New Jersey. Sherill\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0groups of individuals, some perhaps tied to Republican lawmakers, were walking inside the Capitol the day before the protest in an effort to scope out the building.<\/p>\n

In a Jan. 16, 2021,\u00a0text<\/a>\u00a0to Gaston, Cooney said he believed the \u201ctour\/map thing has legs.\u201d He stated that Sherill\u2019s allegations \u201cmade perfect sense\u201d to him. \u201cI am fairly confident that we are going to put a map or some other information relevant to coordinated activity in the hands of an extremist group and trace it back to a congressional office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaston replied, \u201cyep.\u201d A week later, the FBI Washington field office opened \u201cOperation Rampart Twelve\u201d to investigate Sherill\u2019s accusations; the inquiry initially focused on Reps. Lauren Boebert and Paul Gosar based on groups of individuals walking near each representative on Jan. 5, 2021. (Sherril also made a similar allegation against Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who was cleared by Capitol Police after a separate investigation.)<\/p>\n

FBI headquarters closed \u201cOperation Rampart Twelve\u201d a year later, after finding no evidence to support Cooney\u2019s claims.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cooney\u2019s anti-Trump fingerprints stretch from Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation to \u201cArctic Frost,\u201d the Biden DOJ\u2019s\u00a0investigation<\/a>\u00a0into Trump and hundreds of Republican organizations, donors, and officeholders for the so-called \u201cfake electors\u201d plan. Emails released last year by Grassley\u2019s committee showed Cooney\u2019s central role in\u00a0obtaining<\/a>\u00a0the toll records of several Republican members of Congress related to the probe.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Cooney’s team prosecuted Roger Stone for lies and obstruction in connection with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russiagate probe.\u00a0AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to buy Democrats\u2019 claim that Arctic Frost was a nonpartisan, by-the-book investigation when Jack Smith\u2019s top henchman is now openly campaigning as a Democrat and running on a platform of impeaching President Trump<\/strong>,\u201d a spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee told RCI. \u201cCooney\u2019s campaign is saying the quiet part out loud. Arctic Frost was never about justice \u2013 it was always about using the federal justice system to take down President Trump and the Republican Party. Thanks to Chairman Grassley\u2019s oversight, which has exposed the Biden administration\u2019s internal records, Americans are seeing the dark reality of the weaponized Arctic Frost investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But three ongoing federal criminal investigations into the president, a year before the 2024 election, were not enough for Cooney. A few months before Smith handed down his first indictment against the president in Florida for allegedly taking classified documents with him to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, Cooney wanted to open yet another line of inquiry into Trump\u2019s involvement in a song produced by the so-called \u201cJ6 Prison Choir,\u201d a group of inmates detained at a special prison in Washington. Cooney wanted to know whether Trump was profiting from sales of the song. \u201cCan we do some work on this to nail down Trump\u2019s role in this?\u201d Cooney wrote<\/a>\u00a0to his\u00a0colleagues at the special counsel’s office in March 2023, referring to a Forbes\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0about the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe special counsel\u2019s team was filled with inbred ideologues,\u201d Lauro said\u00a0<\/p>\n

Excessive Sentences, False Rumors<\/h2>\n

After longtime Trump confidant Steve Bannon was found guilty by a D.C. jury in 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress, Cooney sought excessive prison time for Bannon\u2019s refusal to cooperate with the Select January 6 Committee. He filed a 24-page\u00a0sentencing memo<\/a>\u00a0for two misdemeanors that are rarely, if ever, prosecuted in the nation\u2019s capital; he asked Judge Carl Nichols to send Bannon to prison for six months and pay a $200,000 fine. \u201cThe rioters who overran the Capitol on January 6 did not just attack a building \u2013 they assaulted the rule of law upon which this country was built and through which it endures. By flouting the Select Committee\u2019s subpoena and its authority, [Bannon] exacerbated that assault,\u201d Cooney wrote.<\/p>\n

Nichols sentenced Bannon to four months in prison and imposed a $6,500 fine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was another sentencing request in a separate Trump-related case that offended both the DOJ\u2019s inspector general and House Republicans. Cooney was part of the government\u2019s team prosecuting Roger Stone, a longtime Trump associate, for allegedly interfering in the bogus Russia collusion investigation. Just like Bannon, Stone was\u00a0found guilty<\/a>\u00a0by a D.C. jury of all charges, including obstruction and making false statements.<\/p>\n

Cooney attempted to throw the book at Stone, asking for a sentence of between\u00a0seven and nine years in prison<\/a>. But the following day, Cooney\u2019s boss at the office, who had already sparred with Cooney over what he saw as an excessive sentencing request, filed a separate sentencing recommendation,\u00a0informing<\/a>\u00a0Judge Amy Berman Jackson that the initial memo \u201cdoes not accurately reflect the Department of Justice\u2019s position on what would be a reasonable sentence in this matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That prompted Cooney, according to then-DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, to start rumors claiming President Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr had intervened to help Stone obtain a lower sentence.<\/strong> A\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0issued in 2024 by Horowitz, following an extensive investigation into the Stone sentencing controversy, \u201cdid not identify documentary or testimonial evidence that the actions and decisions of those involved in the preparation and filing of the first and second sentencing memoranda were affected by improper political considerations or influence.\u201d House Judiciary Chairman James Jordan subsequently\u00a0opened<\/a>\u00a0a congressional investigation into Cooney\u2019s false claims of political interference in the matter.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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While serving as the DOJ’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz found that Cooney had spread false rumors about Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr.\u00a0AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Attempts to reach Cooney\u2019s and Crosswell\u2019s campaigns were unsuccessful. Despite repeated requests, a DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment on their candidacies.<\/p>\n

Cooney\u2019s years-long pursuit of the president and everyone around him, Lauro insists, helped Trump get elected in 2024. \u201cBecause of [Cooney\u2019s] efforts, President Trump won the presidency. So he was terrific for the president and the MAGA movement in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Cooney\u2019s anti-Trump legacy may not be finished yet.<\/strong> If Cooney wins his Virginia race and Democrats retake the House in the fall midterm elections, the former prosecutor could play a central role amid reports that his party is already planning to impeach Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nTue, 05\/05\/2026 – 15:40<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From DOJ To Ballot Box: The Rise Of Lawfare Candidates Authored by Julie Kelly via RealClearInvestigations, One of the beneficiaries of Virginia\u2019s aggressive attempt to gerrymander the state for Democratic advantage could be a former federal prosecutor whose campaign for Congress hinges on his efforts to use the law to target President Trump and his… Continue reading From DOJ To Ballot Box: The Rise Of Lawfare Candidates<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-596785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=596785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/596778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=596785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=596785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=596785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}