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The Fire Stairs at Justice
What goes on in Justice stays in Justice.
One of the perks Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi will inherit if confirmed is access to the fire stairs at Justice. These stairs provide exit to an alley without crossing into public space and consequently facing clamoring reporters, or as in the case of former AG John Mitchell, an FBI investigative team.
In 1974, armed with subpoenas, a forensic team arrived to search Mitchell’s office for evidence in the Watergate cover-up trial. As he was leaving, Mitchell was reported to have said, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
In 2020, Attorney General Bill Barr used similar stairs and private exit to avoid reporters outside the office demanding clarification of his December 1 statement that FBI and Justice Department investigations found “no evidence of irregularities that would have changed the outcome of the presidential election.”
Barr would leave pursuing false claims of election fraud which perpetrated the January 6 insurrection to his successor, Merrick Garland.
On Wednesday, January 15, during testimony before the Senate Judicial Committee, nominee Pam Bondi evaded questions as to her public statements regarding false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 elections. Bondi had crafted her own fire stairs — a public display designed to…
