In a rare move, the Department of Justice is convening a special grand jury in Washington, potentially paving the way for federal prosecutors to investigate major political figures opposed to President Donald Trump.
While it’s uncertain which specific cases it will review, the grand jury is not typical. Its 23 members can concentrate on a single case or a group of related cases and may even produce a public report listing individuals accused of misconduct, regardless of whether they are charged.
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One of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s top allies in her office, Steven Vandervelden, will oversee the grand jury, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the panel’s existence.
Vandervelden has worked on major investigations that have been widely viewed as politically motivated, including the probe into former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and whether D.C. police deliberately manipulated crime stats.
What led to this?
This development follows Trump’s public criticism of Pirro after her office dropped charges against Olympian David Hearn claiming he had vandalized the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. Trump said Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in closing the cases against Hearn and others, even though evidence showed damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by poor workmanship rather than vandalism. Regardless, the Post noted that prosecutors had already submitted the paperwork for this grand jury before the case was dropped.
News of the special panel also comes just days after Todd Blanche was sworn in as the new attorney general.
Typically, special grand juries are used to investigate government officials or to probe broad conspiracy cases and organized crime. Those who spoke to The Post noted that this instance is notable, given Trump’s interest in prosecuting his adversaries.
Such special grand juries, however, are very rare. Legal experts have stated that there is no recent example of a similar grand jury being convened in Washington.
Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor in Alabama, wrote on Substack that the formation of the special grand jury echoes Trump’s attempt in his first term to have the Justice Department investigate alleged fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
“Because this is Trump,” Vance wrote, “we should always assume the rules … may not be applied. But here, absent legitimate grounds for reporting and action, it’s difficult to envision how a special grand jury could become a mechanism for executing Trump’s revenge agenda, although even falling under investigation can cause serious reputational damage and financial harm to those who find themselves under scrutiny.”
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