A federal judge excoriated the Justice Department over its handling of criminal cases during the Trump administration’s ongoing federal takeover of Washington, D.C., saying at a hearing Thursday that the department has brought “embarrassment and shame” on the government during its “rush” to charge individuals.
U.S. District Judge Zia Faruqui apologized to Edward Dana, a man who was charged for what the Justice Department and U.S. Secret Service said was a threat to kill President Trump last month. Dana spent a week in jail, only to have the charges against him dropped Thursday.
Faruqui said the U.S. is “past the point of constitutional crisis,” as the Trump administration “is playing cops and robbers, like children” during the federal takeover of Washington’s police department.
The judge also criticized the Justice Department over the D.C. U.S. attorney’s multiple failed indictments in recent weeks, saying he had a “grave concern” that in a “rush to get stats on Twitter or Truth Social” touting the takeover, the Justice Department has not given time to those who have been “illegally detained.”
Faruqui said there have been “too many misfires” by the Justice Department in attempting to prosecute people in D.C., and that the federal government is operating under the concept of “we’ll arrest people… then see what happens.”
Dana did not comment on the dismissal of charges when asked by CBS News for a reaction after the hearing.
Dana was arrested in August for allegedly destroying a light fixture and other property at a D.C. restaurant, but he was charged for threatening comments he made about Mr. Trump while he was being taken to a D.C. police station.
While he was seated in the back of a police car, charging documents allege Dana said he was “not going to tolerate fascism” and would “protect the Constitution by any means necessary,” before, the document alleges, he threatened to kill Mr. Trump and the officer driving him to the station.
“And that means killing you, officer, killing the President, killing anyone who stands in the way of our Constitution,” Dana said, according to a Secret Service affidavit. “You want to stand in the way of our Constitution, I will f****** kill you.”
Faruqui ordered the Justice Department to make a filing by Thursday night explaining its handling of Dana’s case, saying, “It’s Sept. 4. As of now we still have a constitutional democracy.”
At the end of Thursday’s hearing, Faruqui looked at Dana, who is a person of color, and said that “the government’s message to people who look like Mr. Dana is ‘be very afraid,'” before adding, “I’m afraid right now.”
In a post on X, U.S. Attorney in D.C. Jeanine Pirro said that Faruqui “took an oath to follow the law, yet he has allowed his politics to consistently cloud his judgment and his requirement to follow the law. America voted for safe communities, law and order, and this judge is the antithesis of that.”
