As this week got underway, a senior political official at the Justice Department issued a striking warning to U.S. attorneys across the country. According to MS NOW reporting, Akaash Singh, a top lieutenant to Attorney General Todd Blanche, told federal prosecutors to either get on a “wartime footing” for the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency or consider leaving the DOJ altogether.

As remarkable as this message was, at least one prominent federal prosecutor appears to have taken the directive seriously. The Wall Street Journal reported:

In an unusual move on Wednesday, Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas, demanded that Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D., Conn.), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, preserve all documents related to what he says are threats against Trump allies.

In a letter he posted on social media, Reitz accused Blumenthal of violating federal civil rights law and warned of “significant legal consequences” if the senator doesn’t comply by Nov. 18.

Before digging in on the substance of this, let’s quickly review who Aaron Reitz is, because his background is relevant to the conversation.

A few years after a failed Republican congressional campaign in Texas, Reitz served as chief of staff to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Trump later tapped Reitz to lead the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy — during his confirmation hearing, he suggested that the president might have the legal authority to ignore court rulings — though his tenure lasted less than three months: He resigned to run for state attorney general in the Lone Star State.

As a candidate, Reitz told Texans that if he were elected, he was prepared to wage a “civilizational battle with anti-American forces on the left.”

That didn’t work out especially well — he finished fourth in a GOP primary — but Trump, who has a knack for hiring Republicans rejected by voters, quickly tapped him to serve as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, where he was sued for trying to intimidate state election officials.

Now, evidently, he’s threatening Connecticut’s senior senator, too.

And what, pray tell, did Blumenthal do to warrant a warning of “significant legal consequences” from Reitz? The Democratic lawmaker — currently the ranking member on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations — is asking questions as part of an official inquiry into the White House ballroom project.

Not surprisingly, Reitz received backup from Trump’s DOJ: Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, the second-highest-ranking official at the department, responded to Reitz’s post, saying, “The First Amendment expressly prohibits Congress from infringing the speech and association rights of Americans.”

Team Trump hasn’t been subtle about its panic in response to routine congressional oversight that hasn’t actually started yet, and the pushback against Blumenthal is further evidence of an administration that appears terrified of reasonable questions.

Blumenthal said in a statement responding to the letter that he would “not be intimidated,” vowing to “vigorously pursue investigations into this Administration’s persistent misuse of taxpayer dollars and any corporate entity that has enabled their boundless corruption.”

“The Trump Administration is so afraid of transparency and oversight that they are weaponizing the Department of Justice to baselessly target Congress in direct violation of the Constitution,” Blumenthal added.

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