Trump’s Unprecedented Political Prosecutions From a Historical Perspective

By Thor Benson  |  October 1, 2025 | 2:05pm
Photo by The White House
Trump Administration Donald Trump
Trump’s Unprecedented Political Prosecutions From a Historical Perspective

Donald Trump told us during the election last year that he’d be coming after his perceived political enemies if he returned to office, and he’s following through on that promise. He recently made his desires quite explicit when he posted some instructions on TruthSocial for Attorney General Pam Bondi regarding who he’d like prosecuted, and his list of names included former FBI Director James Comey, who has now been indicted.

We’ve had a president who had an enemies list before and tried to ruin his enemies, in the form of Richard Nixon, but it’s been some time since we’ve seen anything like this. As usual, Trump is taking it to the next level. He always takes it to the next level.

Kate Shaw, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, told Splinter that she doesn’t see anything “remotely comparable” to what Trump has done to the Justice Department in history. 

“There have, of course, been previous episodes of politicization,” Shaw said. “Nixon famously attempted to politicize the apparatus of federal law enforcement. During the George W. Bush administration, a number of U.S. attorneys were fired, in some cases for resisting pressure to investigate the administration’s political rivals. But in both instances, the consequences of these breaches were severe.” 

Shaw noted that Nixon’s actions led to his resignation, and Bush’s attorney general Alberto Gonzales ended up resigning following a public outcry.

Rebecca Roiphe, a distinguished professor of law and historian at New York Law School, told Splinter that Nixon was the worst example of a president going after their political enemies in modern history.

“The most egregious example before this was President Nixon’s effort to force his attorney general to fire the special prosecutor who was investigating the Watergate break-in,” Roiphe said. “Nixon failed in his effort because his attorneys general refused to do his bidding.” 

Trump, however, has been more successful at pursuing his political enemies, because he has installed loyalists in positions of power who will go along with his demands. During Trump’s first term, he had trouble with career civil servants and others getting in his way when he wanted to do something immoral or illegal, but he learned from that experience and is now surrounded by sycophants. 

“During Watergate, President Nixon compiled an enemies list and tried to use federal agencies to pursue the individuals on that list,” Roiphe said. “Other presidents have also been accused of using the IRS to pursue political foes. Some have tried to urge their attorneys general to investigate dissident groups, but I am not aware of any other president seeking to use federal agencies to pursue particular political enemies.”

After Nixon’s presidency ended, Congress worked pretty diligently to pass government reforms into law that would hopefully restrict future presidents from behaving like Nixon did. Many norms were also established to do things like keep the Justice Department independent. Obviously, Trump doesn’t care about norms, and he doesn’t care about the law. 

“The norm that prosecutors are independent of political actors and attorneys general are supposed to protect their independence has been embraced at least since Watergate,” Roiphe said. “The president has a warped understanding of the role of the chief executive, which seems to make him think that everyone in the executive branch works for him. Lawyers in the DOJ represent the United States, not the president.” 

Roiphe said the president isn’t supposed to direct prosecutors to do something that is not “in the public interest.” He’s also not supposed to tell them to do anything unlawful, obviously. Taking a person’s political beliefs into account in prosecutions is “antithetical to the duty to seek justice,” Roiphe said.

“Another important norm, expressed by former AG Robert Jackson in a famous speech in 1940, is that prosecutors pursue cases,” Roiphe said. “They apply law to facts. They do not seek to prosecute a particular individual because of that person’s disfavored beliefs or identity.” 

The DOJ seems to have abandoned that norm under Trump. It is now going after people specifically because of their politics, what they allegedly have done to Trump that has upset him and what they represent to him. It’s also clear he hopes to strike fear in those who might oppose him in the future. 

“Without these norms, the president can scare political opponents into submission. This is anti-democratic and inconsistent with democratic values,” Roiphe said. “It also breeds corruption throughout the system. If currying favor from the president is a get-out-of-jail-free card, then the president can not only scare his enemies but make everyone beholden to him.”

 
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