The Trump administration’s Justice Department hosted pro-life advocates following the firing of key prosecutors who led the targeting of peaceful demonstrators under the previous administration.
The meeting at Justice Department headquarters came after the release of a nearly 900-page report from the Trump administration’s weaponization working group. The report details how the Biden-era Justice Department closely collaborated with pro-abortion organizations to weaponize the FACE Act against pro-life Americans while largely ignoring violence against pro-life pregnancy centers and churches.
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John Mize, CEO of Americans United for Life, attended the meeting with Civil Rights Division officials.
“We were just applauding the administration and DOJ for taking action,” Mize said.
Mize described revelations about the prior Justice Department’s collaboration with abortion advocacy groups as “troubling” and “frightening.”
The Trump administration fired at least four prosecutors Monday, including longtime federal prosecutor Sanjay Patel from the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section. A Justice Department spokesperson said the department “has terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act who still remained at the department.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche criticized the Biden Justice Department for “working very closely with outside organizations” to “go after individuals who were pro-life.”
He added, “I’ll tell you what, there’s no emails in my inbox from NGOs telling me what to do.”
Blanche vowed, “This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice. No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows called the findings in the report “shameful.”
“Lawyers who should have known better withheld evidence, worked to keep committed religious people off juries, and generally allowed the Department of Justice to be used as the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests,” Burrows said.
The report found that federal authorities received detailed dossiers compiled by outside groups on individuals attending pro-life conferences. One such dossier exceeded 130 pages and included photos of attendees’ spouses and minor children along with their driver’s license information.
Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, said the report shows the Biden Justice Department “weaponized the law specifically against the pro-life community.”
The report also highlighted stark disparities in enforcement. Prosecutors sought an average of 26.8 months in prison for pro-life defendants compared with 12.3 months for those who attacked pro-life facilities. Peaceful pro-life protesters received average sentences of about 14 months, while those committing arson or firebombing pro-life centers received sentences averaging just three months.
Mize said his organization does not seek unequal enforcement and would support prosecution of anyone who commits violence against abortion activists.
