June 11, 2025

Shortly before the 2024 election, Donald Trump threatened lawyers like me with criminal prosecution. Our crime? Working for Democrats and protecting voting rights.

This was not exactly new, but it was an escalation. Several months earlier, Trump had posted an article on his social media platform entitled “Marc Elias Is Scared…And He Should Be,” and as early as 2018, Trump had called me “the Democrat’s best election-stealing lawyer.”

What made his statement in the fall different, however, was his promise to use the Justice Department to imprison those of us working against him: “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences.”

Thus far, I remain unindicted and unbowed by his threats. The same cannot be said of others.

In the short time he has been president, Trump’s Department of Justice has...

You’re reading a shortened version of Marc’s reaction to the DOJ escalating threats against political opponents like Gavin Newsom. Upgrade to a premium membership to read the rest and always receive exclusive analysis like this.