Former President Barack Obama issued a sharp warning Tuesday against the politicization of the Justice Department, arguing that the attorney general must remain independent from the White House and not serve as the president's personal legal fixer. In an interview on CBS's The Late Show, Obama stressed that the nation's top prosecutor is the People's lawyer, not the president's consigliere—a pointed critique as the Trump administration's DOJ escalates investigations into political opponents.
Obama told host Stephen Colbert that while democracy can survive bad policy or questionable elections, it cannot withstand a justice system weaponized for political gain. 'The White House shouldn't be able to direct the Attorney General to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants prosecuted,' Obama said. He added that the attorney general is 'the People's lawyer, it's not the president's consiglieri,' using the Italian term for a trusted counselor or fixer.
The former president's remarks come amid a series of high-profile prosecutions by the Trump Justice Department against perceived adversaries. Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted twice—first on charges of false statements and obstruction, which were later dismissed, and again last week on charges of threatening the president's life over a cryptic social media post. The DOJ has also opened criminal investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, among others.
Obama did not name President Trump directly, but his comments were widely seen as a rebuke of Trump's public pressure on the Justice Department. In September, Trump posted on Truth Social to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, complaining that prosecutors had not acted against Comey, Representative Adam Schiff, and others. Bondi resigned earlier this year amid tensions with Trump over the pace of DOJ actions.
'You can't have a situation in which whoever's in charge of the government starts using that to go after the political enemies and reward their friends, right?' Obama said. He also cautioned against issuing pardons to donors or allies, a practice he called corrosive to democratic norms.
Obama noted that during his presidency, he consulted with Attorney General Eric Holder on broad policy issues but never on specific cases. The distinction, he argued, is critical to maintaining public trust in the rule of law. 'The idea is that the attorney general is the People's lawyer,' he reiterated.
In a related development, the DOJ's case against Comey has drawn scrutiny. A federal grand jury indicted Comey last week for allegedly threatening Trump's life with a since-deleted seashell post interpreted by Trump allies as a coded threat. Comey has denied any intention of violence. Legal analysts have questioned whether the prosecution is a routine threat case or a political stretch, as covered in our analysis of the Comey indictment.
Obama has previously criticized Trump's approach to governance, including his 'side hustles' and politicization of federal agencies. In a recent interview, he explained why he does not criticize Trump more often, but Tuesday's remarks were among his most pointed on the Justice Department. The former president's warning echoes concerns from civil rights groups about the weaponization of the DOJ, a topic explored in our report on the SPLC indictment.
As the Trump administration continues to use the Justice Department to target political rivals, Obama's call for independence underscores a deepening partisan divide over the role of the nation's top law enforcement agency. The question remains whether the DOJ can restore its reputation as an impartial arbiter of justice.
