Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away with It

CNN legal analyst Honig (Hatchet Man) delivers a disturbing analysis of how the U.S. justice system makes it so difficult to hold the wealthy and well-connected to account for their crimes. Though Honig’s case studies include Mafia bosses, Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein, his particular focus is on Donald Trump. Among factors that help to insulate elites from legal action, Honig identifies the use of lower-level actors to carry out crimes; the hiring of top lawyers who have the connections and knowledge to game the system; and prosecutors’ reluctance to bring cases against powerful criminals without an overabundance of evidence. Zeroing in on Trump, Honig details how he was protected by the Justice Department’s long-standing policy that a sitting president can’t be indicted, and argues that the copious evidence of Trump’s alleged crimes—including obstruction of justice, campaign finance violations, and incitement of sedition—should have resulted in an indictment soon after he left office. Honig is particularly harsh on Merrick Garland, arguing that the attorney general “took far too long to set his sights squarely on Trump—and even then, he behaved more like a tepid bureaucrat than a determined prosecutor.” Though Honig underplays the politics involved in charging Trump, his fluid prose and sharp analysis amount to a slam-dunk case that American justice is far from blind. (Jan.)