The Former Prosecutors Running for Congress Would Add Muscle to any 2027 Probes of Trump

Former Assistant US Attorneys have deep experience with subpoenas, depositions, field work

If Democrats win control of the U.S. House in November, they’ll uncork a series of investigations into President Trump, his Administration and his actions in office. Depending on how some individual races unfold, some of those Congressional “investigators” will be people who have investigated - or blown the whistle on – Trump before.

At least three U.S. House candidates are former U.S. Department of Justice attorneys who were fired – or quit in protest – during the first 14 months of Trump’s second term. All have unique experience as prosecutors or investigators, who would be uniquely equipped to contribute to Congressional investigations, author subpoenas, sculpt investigative questions and prepare for the legal strategies often employed by Trump.

One of them is J.P. Cooney of Virginia, who was part of special counsel Jack Smith’s team probing into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In a green vest and shirtsleeves, Cooney met with voters on a sunny day in the Washington, D.C.-suburb of Arlington Saturday, with volunteers helping him canvass the community in support of an April referendum in the commonwealth. (Cooney will need that referendum to pass next month, for the state to move forward with a re-draw of the district that he’s seeking to win)

Cooney is running for the Democratic nomination in Virginia’s 7th Congressional district, if the new district is approved. He acknowledged that this is a big shift in paradigms for a career public servant and non-political employee of the Justice Department. Cooney told me, “There is going to be no candidate in the country that has actually gone about the work of holding Donald Trump accountable in a court of law.” (more in the clip below)

He isn’t subtle about what could happen next year, if he’s victorious. Cooney said, “Nobody has the experience that I will bring about exposing Donald Trump’s abuses.”

Cooney said he’ll be “ensuring at every stage that the US Congress is providing a check.” He notes how Trump has distinctively impacted his Congressional district, including through the mass layoffs of federal workers and program cuts. “Our district is hurting as a result and so is the United States.”

Cooney is immersed in a very crowded primary field, which includes a former first lady of Virginia and state legislators who also have been eyeing the nomination.

To outflank the competition, Cooney is leaning in to his previous work probing Trump. He’s pledging to take a particularly hard line against Trump, whose federal workforce cuts have slammed the Washington D.C. suburbs in the 7th district.

Other former Justice Department attorneys who are seeking seats in the US House have also emphasized their aspirations to put a check on Trump. And they’re championing their bio - and their effort to blow the whiste against Trump’s politcization of the Justice Department – in the process.

Ryan Crosswell is seeking the Democratic nomination in a very competitive US House race in northeast Pennsylvania. Crosswell, a longtime federal prosecutor, resigned from the Justice Department in 2025, in protest of the controversial department decision to drop criminal corruption charges against former New York City Mayor Eric Adams and amid a purge of the agency’s public integrity division.

Crosswell isn’t shy about blistering the President. In an interview with me months ago, when he launched his campaign, Crosswell said, “What the administration has done is removed one of the most important guardrails against corruption within the government at all levels: state, local and federal. We’re now moving into an area where prosecutions would be determined by political loyalty.”

Crosswell’s campaign homepage isn’t subtle. It says “When Donald Trump tried to get the prosecutors in my section to use the Department of Justice as a weapon against his enemies, that was something I would never do, so I stepped down. And now, I’m fighting back.” It continues by saying he intends to ”stop the biggest threat our Democracy has ever known, even if he’s the President of the United States.”

Both Crosswell and Cooney scored early booms in fundraising to launch their campaigns.

Democratic Congressional aides who would help organize investigations of Trump in a Democratic-controlled U.S. House have taken note of the possibility of trained federal prosecutors joining as Members of House committees.

One US House aide told me this weekend, “The House has a responsibility to do real, independent investigations into the Trump Administration and that responsibility will be even more urgent in the year ahead. With more Justice Department attorneys stepping forward to run, Congress has a chance to bring the kind of experience needed to finally get to the truth and expose all of the corruption.”

Former federal prosecutor Julie Le is also seeking the Democratic nomination for a US House seat. She’ll be challenging an incumbent Congresswoman, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), in the state’s Congressional primaries. She has also emphasized her bio – and her recent experience operating inside the Justice Department - as she seeks support.

Le generated publicity earlier this year, during a court appearance in which she was representing the Trump Administration at a hearing in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota. As she juggled deadlines and a series of immigration cases, Le told teh federal judge that she’d be keen on being held in contempt of court, “so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep. What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks,” according to a transcript reported by the Associated Press.

Le’s campaign page begins by saying “Julie T. Le is a former Assistant Chief Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security and a former Special Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office and Mitchell Hamline School of Law graduate who has witnessed firsthand the complexities of our immigration and legal systems. She knows firsthand how broken they are.”

Le, Cooney and Crosswell must first conquer Democratic competitors to win their primary, before they can set their sights on general elections and future Congressional investigations. But their party is increasingly bullish on prospects of seizing control of the US House in November. A party campaign official tells me there are 44 Republican-held seats that are now in play for takeover in the midterms.

Campaigning is a new muscle for these longtime public servants. Cooney told me, “It comes naturally to me to speak publicly and say what I believe. But communicating with voters is a lot different than communicating with a judge. I’m stretching those muscles.”

Crosswell has had months to fine tune his message. His campaign literature and sites show images of him in shirtsleeves, talking about his military service and showing him interacting with the people of the small towns in Pennsylvania. That’s a sweet spot for Congressional ads. He recounts growing up in a small coal town and amplifies his bonds to the region. But yes… he also makes clear that he has the skills of a former prosecutor.

Le’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.