The “tragic” weaponization of the U.S. Department of Justice against opponents of the Biden administration is coming to a merciful end, argues Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt.

A former state attorney general and now a member of the vaunted Senate Judiciary Committee that’s vetting President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees, Schmitt was tasked with the privilege of formally introducing attorney general nominee Pam Bondi at her confirmation hearing that began Wednesday and was to conclude Thursday.

As part of his introduction, though, Schmitt gave the country a crash course in Democrats’ partisan attorneys general of recent years, as well as the highly political lawfare they waged against candidate Trump in 2024.

Asked why he did that, Schmitt said he was inspired to become a lawyer in his youth – but was disconsolate to see the justice system be used for nakedly partisan political purposes under Biden.

“Well, growing up I didn’t know any lawyers at all,” Schmitt told The Heartlander in an exclusive interview Thursday. “And I was inspired to become a lawyer because I felt like it was a great equalizer, that people, no matter your background or your income level or your race or your gender, whatever, people should be treated fairly under the law.

“This is sort of a cornerstone of our republic, is a legal system where people are going to be treated fairly.

“What the Biden administration has done the last four years is tragic – going after political opponents. And this sort of lawfare that has been exhibited the last four years, it just has no place in our country.”

At Wednesday’s hearing, Democrats expressed incongruous concern that the DOJ under Trump might prosecute selected people rather than wrongdoing itself – echoing the Bolsheviks’ ominous dictum “show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” – despite the maxim’s resemblance to the Biden DOJ’s own modus operandi.

“Democrats sort of found religion yesterday,” Schmitt opined.

Indeed, Schmitt noted in his own committee remarks how then-AG Eric Holder described himself as President Obama’s “heat shield and wingman,” and then-AG Loretta Lynch met privately on a tarmac with Bill Clinton while she was supposed to be investigating his wife’s alleged crimes.

“And Merrick Garland probably gets however many gold stars you want to give for the most politicized, weaponized Department of Justice we have ever seen.”

“Spare me the moral concern that you have now,” Schmitt told The Heartlander of Democrats’ alleged concerns about a weaponized DOJ. “Because literally, Jack Smith was picked by Merrick Garland to put President Trump in jail for the rest of his life – to effectively take out Joe Biden’s, his boss’s, political opponent.

“That’s nuts. That’s Soviet-style justice.”

Asked what he thought of Democrat committee members’ questioning of Bondi and Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth – the latter of which was roundly criticized, even by Democrat supporters – Schmitt was dismissive.

“It was pretty desperate. They don’t really have anything to go on, so they just tried to bloody them up a little bit. I think they know that they’re both likely to be confirmed. I don’t think there’s any Republican that’s not going to support Pete Hegseth and Pam Bondi. I think they’re both sailing towards confirmation.  

“That’s a good thing. Those are very important roles of the Cabinet to get in place as soon as possible. Pam Bondi’s up again today, but then after that I would look towards us having her teed up for a confirmation vote in the committee and then on the floor pretty soon. And same with Pete Hegseth.”

Asked about what might be a wary security atmosphere in the nation’s capital in advance of President Trump’s second inauguration on Monday, Schmitt said security is ultra-tight – and perhaps as a result, the climate is more optimistic than pensive.

“Washington is pretty locked down. The perimeter has been established; there’s a lot of security, which is a good thing. …

“ I think there’s a lot of optimism here about the opportunities that we have over the next four years. I mean, President Trump was given a mandate. Republicans have majorities, so I think it’s incumbent upon us to act on that.”

That spirit stands in stark contrast to that of Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters demonstrating against what they still believe was a stolen election stormed the Capitol – and as many as 1,600 were ultimately swept up in arrests and prosecutions and long prison stays that have shocked the conscience of many, especially among conservatives.

Trump is expected to pardon many if not all the so-called J6ers. But what else needs to happen to get to the bottom of what happened that day?

“Well, it is interesting that the so-called January 6th Committee destroyed all their documents on the way out the door,” Schmitt says. “It was really a joke. It was just a predicate, effectively, for [special counsel] Jack Smith to then go out and begin these political prosecutions. 

“As relates to the J6ers, I think President Trump’s been pretty clear, and I think Pam Bondi was yesterday, that they’re going to review each one of the cases on an individual basis, and that’s the right way to approach this. …

“I think one of the worst things about this whole thing is, the Democrats’ intention was for half the country to be demonized, effectively, because they had Trump Derangement Syndrome. And they were willing to call anybody any name and go after their political opponents to effectively undermine a movement that was victorious Nov. 5th.

“The American people rejected all the lawfare. They rejected the lies, they rejected the terrible policies of the left. And we have a real opportunity now, with President Trump coming in, to fix a lot of those things and get America back on track.”