We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) claimed Thursday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that the Department of Justice was not weaponized against President-elect Donald Trump.

Host Nicolle Wallace said, “I guess the problem with that is men like Bill Barr had a hard time stopping Donald Trump’s desire to use the IRS and use the Department of Justice against Trump’s enemies. Trump was relentless in this request. Do you think that it is a prerequisite for whoever replaces Matt Gaetz that they be willing to do retribution?”

Whitehouse said, “Can we start with the beginning big lie in all of this which is the question of whether the DOJ was weaponized? And the question of DOJ being weaponized and New York prosecutors and Georgia prosecutors being an a part of a weaponization thing is simply the counter narrative to the fact of the matter that Trump is a criminal who got caught, and had to do all sorts of weaseling to get out of it and in other places was found guilty or liable. So behind all of this is an effort to scrub out the underlying fact that the guy they are supporting, the head of this cult is in fact a criminal. And when you can’t admit that, you have to go after the prosecutors. Then you get into the cascade of rhetorical consequence that opens the door for turning the office into the actual weapon that you are pretending it was against Trump.”

Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN