WASHINGTON — Anti-abortion advocates met with Justice Department officials Wednesday, just hours after the Trump administration fired prosecutors it accused of coordinating too closely with abortion-rights advocacy groups during the Biden administration.
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John Mize, CEO of Americans United for Life, arrived at the Justice Department’s headquarters holding a folder bearing the name of his organization. “Dead giveaway,” his colleague joked after NBC News mentioned the folder.
The group seeks to advance the “human right to life in culture, law, and policy,” according to its website, and it advocates for defunding Planned Parenthood, which has accused Americans for Life of misleading attacks.
Mize was there for a meeting with Civil Rights Division officials, he said. It wasn’t clear who initiated the meeting.
Mize said he wanted to laud the Justice Department for a report released this week by the Trump administration’s “weaponization working group,” dedicated to uncovering what Trump officials have said was a misuse of the Justice Department during the Biden administration to go after Trump, his allies and other right-wing groups.
The report found the Biden-era Justice Department “closely collaborated” with abortion-rights groups, including the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood and the Feminist Majority Foundation, to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law passed in 1994 in the wake of attacks on abortion clinics and providers.
The Justice Department fired at least four people Monday in connection with its report, NBC News reported. A spokesperson said they had been responsible for weaponizing the law.
“We were just applauding the administration and DOJ for taking action,” Mize said outside the Justice Department, about an hour and a half after he went inside.
He told NBC News that the revelations about the work of non-government organizations (NGOs) and their collaboration with the Justice Department was “troubling” and “frightening.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche criticized prosecutors Tuesday on Fox News for “working hand in hand with NGOs and nonprofits” to target anti-abortion activists.
“I’ll tell you what, there’s no emails in my inbox from NGOs telling me what to do,” he said.
Blanche told NBC News that the report showed the Biden-era Justice Department was “working very closely with outside organizations” to “go after individuals who were pro-life.”
A Justice Department official told NBC News on Wednesday that Mize didn’t meet directly with Harmeet Dhillon — the high-profile Trump administration official who heads the division and who some Trump supporters say should be promoted to a more prominent job in the Justice Department after Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“In this DOJ, the Civil Rights Division routinely meets with interest groups from all perspectives, but sets litigation priorities consistent with the priorities of the Administration,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a written statement.
Asked whether they discussed anything outside of FACE Act enforcement, Mize said the “impetus” behind the meeting was the FACE Act report.
Asked to articulate the difference between his group’s working with the Justice Department and the groups criticized in the report for working with the department during the Biden administration, Mize started to say, “We’re not targeting pro-abor- …” but then trailed off.
Mize contrasted his group’s advocacy with the actions of anti-abortion groups he believes improperly worked with the Justice Department under Biden. He said his group doesn’t encourage any unequal enforcement of the FACE Act.
Mize said that if there was a “militant pro-lifer” who was going to kill an abortion doctor, he would “absolutely” support prosecution under the law.
The weaponization working group report wasn’t a normal Justice Department product; it revealed internal communications and criticized long-term employees over their past actions. Reviews of past work are normally conducted by nonpartisan officials in the inspector general’s office.
