“Exodus of Legal Talent” Is A GOOD Thing!

Trump: "The New York Times wrote a story today entitled, 'Trump Administration Sees Striking Exodus of Legal Talent,' as though that’s a bad thing, when actually, it’s very good." pic.twitter.com/YlEEWO94vB

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 31, 2026

Are we in a “Twilight Zone” episode, Anthony?

Let's see:

The federal prosecutor who signed an indictment accusing former FBI Director James Comey of threatening President Trump by posting an image of seashells arranged as "86 47" is no longer on the case, according to court papers filed late Friday.

Friday's court filing requests that Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Petracca, who was listed as the government's lead lawyer on the Comey case, be removed from the docket. Federal prosecutor Timothy Severo was swapped in.

Petracca has also been taken off at least three other cases since last week, according to court filings, which do not specify why he is stepping aside.

Yeah, that’s very good. Right? How about the case of the Broadview Six?

[Judge] Perry flagged three problematic events in the grand jury. First, she said there was “vouching,” in which a prosecutor improperly put “her personal credibility and trustworthiness on the line in support of the charges,” according to the judge.

Second, Perry said a prosecutor crossed a line by having “substantive” communications with grand jurors outside of the grand jury room.

The judge said a prosecutor also excused grand jurors “who disagreed with the government’s case from the deliberations process.”

Finally, it turns out the case had once been rejected by grand jurors, a result known as a “no bill.” Three other Midway Blitz defendants were cleared last fall because of grand jury “no bills” — which were once considered an incredibly rare rebuke of prosecutors.

However, defense attorneys say the misconduct didn’t stop there. Boutros said he learned what happened in late April, when he said he made the decision to abandon the grand jury’s indictment and pursue misdemeanors through a separate charging document.

Boutros’ office moved forward toward trial, even as defense attorneys raised questions about the grand jury proceedings. They allowed Perry to speculate as recently as Monday that redacted portions of transcripts from the proceedings were simply related to “IT issues.”

Meanwhile, 90 potential jurors were expected to arrive Tuesday to possibly hear the case.

The assistant U.S. attorneys involved in the case were Sheri Mecklenburg, William Hogan, Matthew Skiba and Andres Almendarez. Mecklenburg served as the lead prosecutor when the case was indicted, but she left to serve as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Courtroom commentary Thursday indicated Skiba and Mecklenburg appeared before the grand jury, with Skiba as the junior prosecutor who had just joined the office in July.

Hogan filed his appearance in the case in February, roughly three months after the indictment. But he’s no stranger to such controversies. Claims of misdeeds during the prosecution of El Rukn street gang cases in the 1980s and 1990s led to Hogan’s firing in 1996.

He was rehired after an administrative judge cleared him of wrongdoing, according to previous reports in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Oh, that wasn't all:

Perry later ordered that a transcript of that proceeding be unsealed. It was released around 6 p.m., revealing specific details of what occurred.

The hearing was the result of a lengthy effort by defense attorneys in the case to pierce the secrecy of the grand jury. Specifically, they wanted to know how the conspiracy law had been explained to the panel. Alternatively, they suggested Perry take a look.

The judge agreed to do so, and prosecutors filed the transcripts with the judge. But they apparently gave her a redacted version. Not only that, but it turned out pages were missing from the transcript, according to Parente.

Perry called a hearing April 29 and told the feds to bring unredacted copies of the transcripts. However, moments into that hearing, Hogan said the indictment was being abandoned. Perry agreed that made the defense request “moot” — meaning there was no reason to read the unredacted transcript.

Defense attorneys continued to press, and Perry finally agreed on Monday to look again.

That’s right; the prosecutors redacted the transcripts so the judge wouldn’t know what they’d done. That’s “very good,” too, right? So good the judge is suggesting there may be sanctions for the prosecutors. After all charges had to be dismissed.

And what about the record number of grand jury no bills? The 37 arrests in the Chicago apartment house that were all dismissed? The DOJ has lost so many lawyers they’re putting law school graduates in the courtroom. Best of all, the DOJ has lost the presumption of regularity that it had deservedly earned.

Since Trump thinks all of that’s good, he’d probably be interested in this deed to the Brooklyn Bridge I could sell him.