Page W38From§Each21 September 2026
§38 —
On the witch hunt
Democrat
TWO GRAND JURIES
Read the docket in both directions. His own: 34 counts in Manhattan, sentenced in January 2025 to an unconditional discharge, with a third attempt to move the case to federal court denied in August 1. The $5 million verdict for the writer was made final when the Supreme Court denied rehearing in August; a petition on the separate $83.3 million award is pending 2.
Now the other direction, in the same eighteen months. In November 2025 a judge dismissed the cases against the former FBI director and the New York attorney general, finding the prosecutor had been unlawfully appointed 3. The department then took the attorney general's case to two grand juries, on December 4 and December 11, and both refused to indict 4. The former director was indicted again in April, over a post about seashells 5. The former national security adviser pleaded guilty in June to one count, with sentencing next month 6. Two grand juries looked at one of these and declined. That is what the word is supposed to describe.
Sources
- Sentenced to an unconditional discharge in January 2025; a third bid to move the case to federal court denied in August 2026 — CNBC, 28 August 2026 ↑
- The $5 million verdict finalized after the Supreme Court denied rehearing — Forbes, 17 August 2026 ↑
- Cases against the former FBI director and the New York attorney general dismissed after a judge found the prosecutor unlawfully appointed — NBC News, 24 November 2025 ↑
- Two grand juries, on 4 and 11 December 2025, declined to indict the New York attorney general — CNN, 11 December 2025 ↑
- The former FBI director was indicted again in April 2026 over a social media post — CNN, 28 April 2026 ↑
- The former national security adviser pleaded guilty to one count in June 2026; sentencing set for 28 October — NPR, 26 June 2026 ↑
Republican
WITCH HUNT
The phrase is nearly a decade old — one count in 2019 put it at 294 uses on the platform he was then using, and no one has kept the tally since 1. It is worth stating why it has held on: a defendant who believes the process is the punishment will say so, and in this instance an appellate court agreed with a version of that.
In August 2025 the Appellate Division vacated the $464.6 million penalty against him as an excessive fine, splitting on the underlying liability 2. That is a court — not a spokesman — finding that the punishment sought exceeded what the offense could carry. If you want the strongest evidence that the legal pressure has at times outrun the conduct, that ruling is it, and it belongs on this side of the page in full.
Sources
“I keep a list, and this one has four lines. The thirty-four counts in Manhattan: that verdict stands, the sentence was an unconditional discharge, and the move to federal court has now been denied three times. The four hundred sixty-four million dollar penalty in New York: an appellate court threw it out as an excessive fine, and the state's top court has it now. The five million to the writer: final, the Supreme Court closed it in August. And the fourth line — two grand juries, eight days apart, refusing to indict the New York attorney general. Sorry, before you go. Which of those four is the hunt?”— Lou
“A witch hunt, he calls it, and one tally had him at two hundred ninety-four by 2019 — the counting stopped, the saying didn't. Here's what one actually looks like from the inside: a prosecutor installed without lawful appointment, two cases thrown out because of it, and a grand jury that said no twice in one week. Only that hunt was pointed the other way, at the state attorney general who'd sued him. The word came with a floor plan.”
“A prosecution is only a witch hunt if it fails, which is why the ones that failed prove the point entirely, and the one that succeeded is under appeal and therefore not yet available for comment.”