USA Today | Opinion: Our justice system held Trump accountable. Now he's weaponizing AG, DOJ against it.

USA Today | Opinion: Our justice system held Trump accountable. Now he’s weaponizing AG, DOJ against it.

By Cristine Soto DeBerry

On her first day in office this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a “Weaponization Working Group” to investigate prosecutions against President Donald Trump, including his 34-count felony conviction by a jury in Manhattan and the $486 million civil fraud judgment against him in New York.

Bondi’s move is not surprising. For years, Trump and his followers have been threatening the prosecutors courageous enough to hold him accountable. Even so, it is the height of hypocrisy as we witness Trump himself politicize the justice system at a scale never before seen in modern U.S. history.

In a month, we’ve seen Trump pardon more than 1,500 people charged in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021; his Justice Department investigate thousands of career federal prosecutors and FBI employees; and most recently, his DOJ direct federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.

Former acting Manhattan U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon and several other Justice Department employees have resigned over the Adams directive. In Sassoon’s resignation letter, she accused the mayor’s lawyers of urging a “quid pro quo” agreement in which the case dismissal would be traded for Adams’ collusion on immigration enforcement.

Amid this uncertainty, chaos and erosion of justice, people can and should find hope in a crucial but overlooked role: the independent prosecutor.

The tenets of an independent prosecutor are straightforward yet powerful: They uphold the rule of law, protect civil and human rights, hold the powerful accountable equally, act independently from political pressures and defend democracy.

While this is the floor, not the ceiling, for what we should expect, these principles are under attack from the White House and the billionaires who care more about power and money than the good of our communities.

Independent prosecutors are those like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, now under investigation by Attorney General Bondi for prosecuting Trump. They, along with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia, pursued accountability in the face of immense political pressure and personal risk.

All have spoken of the death threats they’ve received as a result of their prosecutions against Trump.

Fortunately, they haven’t backed down from their commitment to ensure that no one – even the president of the United States – is above the law.

It’s no wonder that Trump and his allies have targeted independent prosecutors, who pose one of the last remaining checks on their authoritarianism….

This is also about the hundreds of victim advocates across Virginia who are already overworked and underpaid but working tirelessly to protect and support survivors. They deserve not only our gratitude but also our investment in the resources they need to serve our communities.

What we’re asking for is, frankly, a drop in the bucket. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed 2026 budget is more than $92 billion. Our request — $8.25 million — is less than 0.01% of that. To put it in further perspective, it’s less than half of what the commonwealth is projected to spend this year on a commission to commemorate the American Revolution’s 250th anniversary. Honoring our history is certainly a worthy cause, but shouldn’t we be spending at least as much to honor survivors who need our support today?

And let’s be clear, $8.25 million is the bare minimum we need to maintain services for survivors of sexual and domestic violence in 2025. But it is not enough. We need funding for all victims of all crime, including children, and for all the victim advocates who support them.

A just, equitable and well-rounded criminal legal system supports victims before and after their day in court. So while we ask the legislature to act now and address the imminent needs of sexual and domestic violence survivors, we also need to look for long-term solutions. It’s highly unlikely that federal VOCA funding will be restored. Elected leaders, including prosecutors, must come together to develop sustainable models that will support the survivors in our commonwealth not just today but for decades into the future.

The federal government has turned its back on victims of crime. We must make sure Virginia doesn’t do the same.

Ramin Fatehi is the commonwealth’s attorney for the city of Norfolk. Robyn Sordelett of Hopewell is the survivor center director at the Prosecutors Alliance Action.