Senator JD Vance turned the discussion around on “Meet The Press” host Kristen Welker after she inquired if the Ohio senator would endorse the “weaponization of the Department of Justice” should former President Donald Trump win re-election.
“The DOJ told Congress this week it reviewed all communication since Biden took office and found no contact between federal prosecutors and those involved with that case in New York,” Welker said. She referenced Vance’s past statements criticizing politically motivated prosecutions of former President Donald Trump. She then claimed there is “no evidence” of a weaponized DOJ under President Joe Biden. “If it’s not okay for Joe Biden to weaponize the Justice Department, as you say, which there’s no evidence of that, why is it okay for Donald Trump to do that?” Welker asked.
Without hesitation, Vance brought up the questionable hiring of Matthew Colangelo, who stepped down from a senior position at the Biden Department of Justice to take on a lower-level prosecutor role in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
“Well, Kristen, first of all, you said that it happens all the time, that the number three person in the Department of Justice jumped ship to join a local prosecutor’s office to go after the president’s political opponent. I don’t think that’s ever happened in the history of American democracy, and I don’t think that we should legitimize it,” the freshman Ohio senator said. “Now, if Donald Trump’s attorney general had his number two or his number three jump ship to a local prosecutor’s office in Ohio or Wisconsin, and that person then went after Donald Trump’s political opposition, that’s a different conversation. All he’s suggesting is that we should investigate credible arguments of wrongdoing.” He added: “That’s all Donald Trump is saying. That is not a threat to democracy. That’s merely reinforcing our system of law and government.”
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In December 2022, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg appointed former Biden Department of Justice official Colangelo to focus on white-collar crime prosecutions. Soon after his hiring, Colangelo was assigned to the Trump case, where he has been actively involved in the prosecution efforts over the past month. When Colangelo left his role at the DOJ to join Bragg’s office, he was not just an ordinary employee. He had served as the Acting Associate Attorney General during the early days of the Biden Administration, making him the third-highest-ranking official in the Department of Justice.
Colangelo worked with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who initiated a controversial investigation into Donald Trump concerning allegations of property value inflation. Additionally, Colangelo’s connections extend into the political realm; in 2018, he provided consulting services to the Democratic National Committee. According to FEC records, the DNC Services Corp/Democratic National Committee compensated him with two payments totaling $12,000 on January 31, 2018.”