Prosecutors Alliance Action Executive Director Cristine Soto DeBerry issued the following statement in response to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States:

“Donald Trump’s election is an endorsement of four more years of hate, division, and cruelty. Any guardrails that existed under Trump’s first term are gone now, and we can expect Trump to try to shred the Constitution, wage war on the rule of law, and overthrow any semblance of prosecutorial independence in the coming years. 

This isn’t hyperbole. Here are just a few things Trump and his advisors have pledged to do:

• • • Use the Department of Justice to prosecute his political enemies, which will likely include Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis;
    • Remove elected prosecutors and other local officials from office over policy disagreements;
    • Use local law enforcement to deport 10 million immigrants; 
    • Prosecute women and doctors for seeking reproductive care; 
    • Pardon the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol and sought to overthrow the government on January 6; and
    • Escalate executions and expand the federal death penalty. 

This is a dangerous future, and we will need courageous, independent prosecutors – who are not beholden to a mayor, a governor, or a president – to stand up and enforce our highest principles of democracy. 

Kamala Harris has said that the job of a prosecutor is not just to get convictions but to have convictions. More than ever, this moment demands prosecutors with convictions. While Trump uses the Oval Office to serve himself and his cronies, we will be standing alongside the brave prosecutors fighting to protect the rule of law and to live up to the ideal of liberty and justice for all.”

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