Democrats’ New Stunt: A Shadow Hearing on Trump’s Unprecedented Use of the DOJ

The hearing is the latest platform Democrats are using to try to ride recent resistance momentum.

Dick Durbin

Annabelle Gordon/Sipa USA via AP

Congressional Democrats used a shadow hearing on Monday to make the case they belong to the party interested in preserving democracy as part of a continued effort to define themselves relative to President Donald Trump despite a lack of power to significantly affect policy change.

Members of the House and Senate judiciary committees questioned three former Justice Department officials — all of whom resigned or were fired after Trump took office this year — and one lawyer who resigned from a firm that struck a deal with Trump.

The lawmakers repeatedly said their decision to highlight these members of the legal community was a response to the unprecedented steps the Trump administration is taking with the Justice Department and other federal agencies.