David Brooks: I Would Love To See Mike Lee as Attorney General, Intelligent and Independent
PBS NEWSHOUR: David Brooks of The Atlantic and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including the political debate over the war in Iran, reaction to President Trump’s address on the conflict, Trump’s economic policies and the latest No Kings protests.
AMNA NAWAZ, PBS NEWSHOUR: Speaking of the members of his administration, we have now seen the second Cabinet member fired in a month by the president. The attorney general, Pam Bondi, is out after 14 months in office. There have been a few names already floated as possible replacements, including the EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, the U.S. attorney in D.C., Jeanine Pirro, the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, senators like Eric Schmitt and Mike Lee. David, what do you make of the decision to fire her and who do you think replaces her? DAVID BROOKS, THE ATLANTIC: Our friend Ruth Marcus had a piece in “The New Yorker” today saying, of all the attorney generals in the history of America, she’s the worst. That’s — a very plausible argument could be made. She gutted the agency. Any lawyer with integrity or most of them, they just can’t stomach this. Her handling of the Epstein files was obviously horrendous. And she was ineffective at doing the illegal things that Donald — that she tried to do on behalf of Donald Trump. And so the difference with this and the Kristi Noem firing was that Noem… NAWAZ: Former homeland security secretary. BROOKS: One got the sense that Trump knew that the ICE policy had gone too far. The Bondi fire, one has the sense he believes the Justice Department and the lawfare, the prosecuting political enemies, didn’t go far enough. So one assumes that he’s going to pick somebody who will go farther. And that’s why I would love to see a Mike Lee, for example. He’s at least — he’s an intelligent man with an independent career. I doubt we’re going to see somebody like that. I think we will see something wholly owned by Donald Trump, who will do whatever he wants, which is to further politicize the department.
