By Allan Lengel
It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” So it’s with gratitude each year that we pick our ticklethewire.com Fed of the Year for 2023 for fighting for justice.
This year it goes to two people: Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting ex-President Donald Trump, and Eli Rosenbaum of the Justice Department who spent decades hunting Nazis in the U.S. Rosenbaum is retiring at the end of the year.
Jack Smith
Taking on Donald Trump is no easy task. It requires thick skin, extreme competence, not to mention personal sacrifice, and the fortitude and mental strength to deal with concerns about personal safety and accusations of bias.
Smith, a tough, straight-shooting prosecutor has handled the task with true professionalism. He’s proceeded swiftly and competently. Some see him simply as a tool of Democrats trying to derail Trump’s bid for the White House. Others argue that the justice system would be remiss if it didn’t address the grandest attempt in U.S. history to sabotage a legitimate election. It’s one thing to believe in your gut that the election was stolen. It’s another to be told by many people in the know, including your attorney general, that there simply is no evidence to support the steal.
Then there’s the document case in which there are allegations of obstruction and witnesses who have alleged those allegations.
Whether he’s victorious or not, Smith deserves credit for taking on a herculean task.
Eli Rosenbaum
Eli Rosenbaum was once described by British historian Guy Walters as” the world’s most successful Nazi hunter.” Kudos for his efforts over the years to go after people involved in mass murder.
Granted, this pick comes with a little bias on my part, having had both parents who survived the Holocaust. Still, it makes the award no less deserving. Going after Nazis who were part of a collective atrocity is important. The world has to see that war crimes, which are still being carried out today in all corners of the world, can’t be ignored.
Rosenbaum worked for DOJ for 38 years. Last year, he was appointed head of the Justice Department’s War Crimes Accountability Team, which was established in June to prosecute war criminals for atrocities in the Ukrainian conflict.
Previous recipients of the ticklethewire.com Fed of the Year Award include: Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (2008): Warren Bamford, who headed the Boston FBI (2009), Joseph Evans, regional director for the DEA’s North and Central Americas Region in Mexico City (2010); Thomas Brandon, deputy Director of ATF (2011); FBI agent John G. Perren, who was assistant director of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) Directorate (2012); David Bowdich, special agent in charge of counterterrorism in the Los Angeles FBI Field Office(2013); Loretta Lynch, who was U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn at the time (2014); John “Jack” Riley, the DEA’s acting deputy administrator (2015); D.C. U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips (2016); Joe Rannazzisi, a retired DEA deputy assistant administrator (2017); Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (2018); DEA agent Joe Piersante (2019); Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney in New York (2020); Eugene Goodman, U.S. Capitol Police officer (2021) and Paul Abbate, the FBI’s deputy director (2022).
