President Trump’s post-election purge at the Justice Department triggered demonstrations on Thursday in hundreds of cities around the country.

Months ago, the Nobody Is Above The Law coalition set up an emergency action plan should the administration fire Special Counsel Bob Mueller or otherwise impede the investigation.

The announcement of Matthew Whitaker, former AG Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff, as his replacement triggered a call to action. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was immediately relieved from overseeing the investigation into Russian activities in the United States.

The new acting AG previously authored an op-ed for CNN accusing Mueller of going “too far,” and called for Rosenstein to “limit the scope” of Mueller’s investigation. He also chaired the 2014 campaign of Sam Clovis, a grand jury witness in that case.

Additionally, Whitaker authored an opinion piece for USA Today two years ago saying Hillary Clinton should have been criminally charged. During an unsuccessful race in 2014 for US Senate in Iowa, a columnist with the Des Moines Register reported on an event where Whitaker promised to only support the confirmation of judges with a “New Testament” biblical point of view.

San Diego demonstrations were called for four locations, starting a 5pm:

Downtown San Diego: Federal Courthouse, 333 West Broadway Escondido: Westfield North County Mall
Ramona: Collier Park
Carlsbad: Carlsbad Outlet Mall

I attended the downtown event, which drew 500+ people. Congresswoman Susan Davis gave an amazingly fiery speech. Cars driving by the location honked in support.

The message in San Diego and everywhere else was the same: Nobody Is Above the Law

From Common Dreams:

Photos and videos flooded social media platformslike Twitter and Instagram all night long as people celebrated the energy and size of the turnouts in large cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco as well as scores of smaller ones like Madison, Raleigh, Plymouth, Omaha, Orlando, Doylestown, Alexandria, Bellingham, and countless others.

“If you have any doubt about the resiliency of our democracy – especially in the wake of a bruising election – then go type in #ProtectMueller on Twitter and you will be heartened and inspired by the pictures and videos of protests across the country,” said Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn.

Izzy Bronstein, Flynn’s colleague at Common Cause, said “These protests were pulled together by sheer determination on the day after Election Day. People came about because no matter how tired we are, we will always put our country first. The efforts of these activists are amazing and inspiring. Tonight, they made it very clear that they do not intend to stop until our democracy is no longer under siege.”

Here are some photos from around the country:

Thanks to Rich Kacmar for the first photo.

***

I read the Daily Fishwrap(s) so you don’t have to… Catch “the Starting Line” Monday thru Friday right here at San Diego Free Press (dot) org. Send your hate mail and ideas to DougPorter@SanDiegoFreePress.Org     Check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Doug Porter

Doug Porter was active in the early days of the alternative press in San Diego, contributing to the OB Liberator, the print version of the OB Rag, the San Diego Door, and the San Diego Street Journal. He went on to have a 35-year career in the Hospitality business and decided to go back into raising hell when he retired. He won numerous awards for his columns from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Doug is a cancer survivor (sans vocal chords) and lives in North Park.

Latest posts by Doug Porter (see all)

• Last Call. Last Column. - December 14, 2018
• Which Presidential Candidate Will You Support in 2020? - December 13, 2018
• Mounting the Assault on Big Gay and Other Drivel From SDSU’s Minimum Wage Scrooge - December 12, 2018