Trump’s Retribution Push Has Expanded Even as It Hits Legal Barriers
Shortly before noon on Monday, the Pentagon announced a highly unusual investigation into Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, who had infuriated President Trump by saying in a video last week that members of the military could refuse to obey illegal orders.
Less than an hour later, a federal judge dismissed indictments that the Trump administration had brought against two of the figures that Mr. Trump had demanded be prosecuted by the Justice Department: James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Letitia James, New York’s attorney general.
The back-to-back developments demonstrate two important truths that are emerging from Mr. Trump’s retribution campaign as he enters the 11th month of his second term.
The first is that Mr. Trump is facing obstacles as he tries to use the Justice Department to investigate, prosecute and jail those he targets.
The second is that he has other options for pursuing and penalizing those he perceives to have crossed or undermined him.
Not limiting himself to pursuing his foes through the criminal justice system, his administration is using a whole-of-government approach to imposing some kind of penalty on his foes.
Mr. Trump’s political appointees are harnessing a range of departments, obscure agencies and rarely used powers outside the Justice Department to inflict pain….
