Peter Keisler served as acting attorney general and assistant attorney general for the civil division in the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush. He also worked in the Office of Legal Counsel in the Ronald Reagan administration. He is a charter member of the Society for the Rule of Law.
The following interview was conducted by Mike Wiser for FRONTLINE on March 27, 2025. It has been annotated and edited for accuracy and clarity as part of an editorial and legal review. See a more complete description of our process here: https://to.pbs.org/4lVZKzA
This interview is being published as part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind our documentaries. Explore the annotated transcript of this interview, and others, on the FRONTLINE website: https://to.pbs.org/45etOQj
To access the annotated transcript here on YouTube, scroll below and click “Show Transcript.â€
Explore a collection of more interviews from “Trump’s Power & The Rule of Law†here on YouTube via this playlist: https://bit.ly/40ih9tV
Open the video description and click “Show Transcript†to see an annotated version of this interview. And access a collection of these interviews here: https://bit.ly/40ih9tV
What a crock of shite!
We gotta vote Trump out next election. That’s the answer. Demolish him. Bury him in votes. You wanna hurt Trump? Having him lose in a landslide so that even he knows he lost fair and square…then we let time do its thing with Trump and then these upcoming generations of politicians need to start repairing the damage, normalizing relations with foreign governments (both friend and foe), and move forward in a new era of politics that leaves behind the corruption that started when the Supreme Court passed citizens united. No more money in politics! No more lobbyists. Regulation of AI and media, not to suppress free speech, but to eliminate the obvious problem we currently have of deciding what is true and what is not. It needs to get back to brass tax. If not…this will just repeat itself sooner than you think.
No Trump made US see how dumb things are in DC 🤔 And he was right!!~*😥
I don’t care. Your side corrupted the criminal Justice system against a duly-elected president. Suck it.
I find it laughable that this clown 🤡 is whining about lawfare from the Trump Administration after 4 years of attempting to jail him, bankrupt him, throw him off the ballot by any means available 🙄.
BTW, the Department of Justice is an Executive Branch agency under the command of the duly elected President of the United States. If there were any weaponization of the DOJ it was done by the Biden Regime.
😮😮😮
I sure love it when the interviewer sucks in a gallon of air mid-question
Love this interview so much. I wish the interviewer was not taking huge sips of a nitrious ballon though during questioning. :(. that noise is so dramatic. hard to ignore for me
Well this aged well. It's great to see SCOTUS uphold the unitary executives power to run the administration
Talk about how the democrat party put trump on trial during the election in order to establish a dictatorship. Please talk about thism
That "neutral " decision part has flown out the legal fair representation window.
The two shall not co exist
Awesome interview: clear, direct, analytical.
Despite his long-standing Republican credentials, Keisler joined a group of former Republican officials who endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, citing concerns that Trump’s return to office would threaten American democracy and the rule of law.
This Keisler dude is a real beauty. Never explains why they tried a lawfare against President.
My very real concern is that Trump will bring America to a state of war of civil or international proportions to deflect the agitation to release the Epstein files. He will do all in his power to save himself as every American must know. Watch this space!!
Seems like a discussion of Lawfare and Judicial Supremacy should be part of the discussion. What happens when the Courts become corrupted by Politics ? Discuss Unitary Executive idea as well as Congress running us into a 38 trillion dollar debt at the increase of 2 trillion per year debt with no repercussions…
How many small businesses have been discriminated against by local government and don’t have the money to hire lawyers ? Quite a bit I would guess and Trump has said he is “your†Retribution.
Do we care about big DC Law firms who play politics and become effectively lobbyists ?
How does one discipline an out of control judge ? It’s nice to have a reasonable discussion but the 4th estate has been remiss in focusing upon issues that people care about and so we are left with videos appearing on Social Media.
Thank you for your sobering words .
It’s not ethical to run Our Country 🇺🇸 This way …Praying for America 🇺🇸
What is the interviewers breathing problem? Very distracting.
Trump is the leader of a political movement not a political party…The People are taking back their country…their sovereignty…..their liberty….Some day we’re going to get around to this Lawyers….and that can’t happen soon enough.
So only Democrats get to weaponize the justice system. Vengeance and retribution is a dish best served COLD.
Trump's your President. He represents the people who elected him. Dumbocrats are dumb bitches
Just remember this interview when you listen to all the rest & listen to the propaganda they spew on how Trump and the admin. is helping. It’s SICK!! Remember all the MAGAets when they ruin this country which they already have by pardoning animals that’s desecrated our houses of Gov because of a lie a total lie and they keep spewing that lie and are erasing it from history. Pure & simple this is the Nazi playbook and you sick Fuks voted it in! MAGAets!!
The next largest investigation in U.S. history will be into Trump's Administration and Gestapo.
Does interviewer have COPD or emphysema?
i loved this show ever since i can remember. it’s such a joke now. ask a question when u know the answer will paint a negative light and compound it by asking follow up questions implying the negative. idc if u hate trump, as a reporter ask questions that reports the news and current affairs. stop framing the narrative. pbs like most mainstream is on life support. no one wants to be told what to think. report facts…. such losers