During Joseph Stalin’s reign in the Soviet Union, the dictator staged the Moscow Trials, which put prominent members of his political opposition on trial. Denied any kind of due process, most of the defendants were charged with crimes against the Soviet government. Several were sentenced to death. These show trials, which often centered on the defendants’ collusion with foreign powers, were a late step along the road to Stalin’s mass purges, one of the most horrifying periods in Soviet history.
When federal agents raided my father’s home at dawn Thursday morning, the Biden Justice Department was sending a clear message to America: If it can happen to the former mayor who led New York City through 9/11, it can happen to you, too.
This raid, like Stalin’s tactics, was conducted for the sake of imagery — intended to have a symbolic significance. While it is highly unusual for federal agents to target a client’s attorney, the Justice Department has come to rely on this tactic for attacking the Democrats’ political opposition. The ramifications for this are terrifying for the rule of law: One of its most fundamental pillars, attorney-client privilege, is being eroded amid highly theatrical displays of partisan warfare.
When President Joe Biden was first sworn in, Trump supporters were terrified about the ramifications. If Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and George Papadopoulos could be arrested during President Donald Trump’s White House, what would happen when the Democrats had free rein to prosecute any opponent they wanted?
Now, we know the answer: They will target the opposition’s highest-profile allies over past issues that have been thoroughly investigated and cleared. Trump may have been acquitted over his dealings in Ukraine, but his allies are still being stalked and harassed over theirs. The outcome is worse than many of us feared and parallels Stalin’s prosecution of political rivals.
Democrats ignore allegations against their own. Iran’s foreign minister, in a leaked recording, said that John Kerry discussed with him classified information about Israeli military operations. Where is the investigation into this? Where is the pre-dawn raid of our climate change envoy’s home in Washington, D.C.?
If this were about the rule of law, the federal agents who raided my father’s apartment would have seized the laptop we had belonging to Hunter Biden. But that would distract from the imagery.
Andrew Giuliani is the son of Rudy Giuliani and a former special assistant to the president and associate director of the Office of Public Liaison in Trump’s White House.
