DOJ reduced to 'skeletal' crew of 'frightened' hangers-on 'struggling to survive': Analyst

Over a year after President Donald Trump returned to office, the Justice Department hasn't just been twisted to serve his own political goals, but hollowed out to the point it can barely function, The Atlantic staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick told MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on Thursday's edition of "Deadline: White House."

This comes amid reporting that the Trump administration was still considering under-the-table ways to enact their "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to pay out money to the president's allies who were charged with crimes, even after the DOJ said they were tabling it.

"Sarah, where is this heading inside the Department of Justice?" asked Wallace, noting that huge numbers of DOJ attorneys have resigned en masse rather than carry out illegal orders and other politically-charged policies. "Is a slush fund creating any similar tensions?"

"Morale, I'm told, has never been lower for a variety of reasons," said Fitzpatrick. "I think the idea of a mass resignation, that time has already passed. The types of people that would do that so far have left or have been forced out."

All that remains now, she continued, "is a skeletal staff that is being asked to do more with less. And you have a group of people, I think, that feel a responsibility to one, keep their heads down. They are concerned about being polygraphed. They are concerned about being even perceived as political, much less having any political affiliation. And so I think you see a lot of people just putting their heads down and trying to get through the day and trying to survive."

This, Fitzpatrick said, is part of why it's so difficult to report on the DOJ these days.

"There's just so few people left, and they're very, very frightened," Fitzpatrick said.

"Of course, within the Justice Department, there are some people who are true believers who believe that this weaponization fund was absolutely a great idea ... and just felt that the rollout wasn't handled well, it was too public, it was too flashy," Fitzpatrick added. That being said, "there's a real tension within the Justice Department and within the leadership, and we're going to see how that plays out as they have to defend this fund in court surface."

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