Over the last four years, America has watched as the Biden administration engineered a campaign of lawfare against Biden’s political opponents. Fortunately, President Donald Trump was elected with an overwhelming mandate to end the weaponization of the federal government.
In his inauguration speech, President Trump promised, “Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents,” and within his first 24 hours in office, he delivered. The executive order titled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government” directed his new administration to review the activities of all federal agencies and ensure that federal programs are reoriented to follow the rule of law instead of inflicting political pain.
The United States has a new leader, and we will no longer tolerate the corruption festering just beyond our borders.
This is a critical step, but the administration must set its gaze on how Biden’s lawfare and corruption extend far beyond our borders and have been exported internationally as well. Foreign assistance managed by the State Department is ground zero.
Thankfully, Trump signed another order that calls for an immediate 90-day pause in U.S. foreign aid while the administration undergoes a thorough review of all assistance programs. But officials are not going to like what they find.
Throughout the world, American taxpayer dollars are being routed toward programs that export Biden’s lawfare overseas through groups like the Judicial Studies Institute. The brainchild of Democratic Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, the JSI is the chief propaganda facility that trains hundreds of judges from dozens of countries in Latin America.
Funding for the program comes from the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, which oversees nearly $1.5 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars appropriated for foreign assistance. INL’s funding is then routed to the Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training, which in turn runs the JSI in coordination with the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. But a 2019 inventory of inter-government programs lists OPDAT’s total funding at more than $20 million through “interagency transfers,” meaning none of it was appropriated by Congress and raising serious questions about oversight and accountability.
While Merrick Garland’s Justice Department ran a School of the Americas in Puerto Rico, Justice Sotomayor herself continues to regularly address JSI conference participants and has lauded the program for its role in “transforming Latin American justice.” And transform Latin American justice it has.
One needs only to take a cursory look at which countries have sent judges to participate in JSI training to see how Biden’s lawfare is taught and then implemented.
Colombia — which is no stranger to using the American court system for lawfare — sent its jurists to learn at the JSI before returning home to do the bidding of leftist President Gustavo Petro. So has the Dominican Republic. With the Dominican’s proximity to San Juan, it’s no surprise that hundreds of Dominican jurists are regularly among the converts at the JSI.
The Biden administration previously praised the Dominican Republic as a “democratic bright spot” for “combatting corruption” and sent senior administration officials to visit with President Luis Abinader. Yet since he’s come into office, Abinader has instigated five investigations under the guise of “anti-corruption” that have all targeted the opposition party.
Of course, none of these investigations have produced any convictions. Instead, Abinader’s goons — with the JSI’s support — have been waging a campaign of lawfare against his political opponents. Naturally, though, none of Abinader’s allies faced any similar level of scrutiny, even though Biden’s own Justice Department indicted his deputy for trafficking heroin.
JSI graduates also hail from Honduras. This is similarly fitting since Honduran President Xiomara Castro, like Abinader, has targeted her opponents under the guise of anti-corruption while she herself is tied to the country’s criminal networks. Yet again, Biden turned a blind eye — sending Vice President Kamala Harris for a visit — while Castro circumvented the rule of law to unilaterally handpick the nation’s attorney general.
Enough is enough. Abinader is no friend of the United States.
The decision by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to halt funding of this program is prudent, and he has the opportunity to end the JSI completely. Furthermore, his trip to the region this week sends a message to leaders like Abinader: It’s time to end the weaponization of the state against your political opponents.
The pause on foreign assistance is just the beginning. The United States has a new leader, and we will no longer tolerate the corruption festering just beyond our borders. As we right the ship in America, it’s high time for our neighbors to clean up their act as well.
Marco rubio, Latin america, Corruption, Lawfare, Weaponized justice, Sonia sotomayor, Stephen breyer, Judicial studies institute, State department, Opinion & analysis
