President Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. Justice Department has been “weaponized” against him.

But one former Justice official argues the president is not just weaponizing the government but running it like an organized crime syndicate.

Author and law professor Barbara McQuade served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017.

She successfully prosecuted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on corruption charges.

Now McQuade is out with a new book, “The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.”

She says the book stems, in part, from what she found during the Kilpatrick trial.

Democrats control the state senate and the governorship. The squeaky wheel is the Michigan House – controlled not just by Republicans but by Speaker Matt Hall who has often taken an antagonistic stance toward Democrats. 

House Democratic Leader Ranjeev Puri spoke to WDET about previous budget problems and Speaker Matt Hall.  

Puri: It’s going better than last year. Unfortunately, last year, noticeably, the speaker dragged the budget out well past the constitutional deadline into September, October. This year, I think there is a motivation to try to get it done on time. 

McNamara: So, what’s the difference there in the motivation? Is it embarrassment after last year, or is it more familiar with the process, or is there better communication? 

Puri: I think it’s a little bit more the former. I think he’s understood the pitfalls of trying to play political games with so much of the state’s resources, and resources that so many institutions count on, and so it’s hard for these groups to budget for the year, not knowing and having so much uncertainty of that money is actually coming through, and so I think they got an earful around the state about that, and then noticeably there is a big election around the corner, and it’s time to get out of Lansing and into your districts. 

McNamara: Right, so everybody can go out and campaign a little bit. So, what are the main priorities for Democrats in the state budget? 

Puri: We want to continue to fight for critical programs and making sure that the investment happens again. We have a pretty large state budget relative to other states, and we want to make sure that we’re funding programs that millions of Michiganders count on, so making sure that we’re continuing to do our best from a state standpoint to work against H.R.1 federally, the Big Beautiful Bill, and so just making sure that health care access is as strong as possible in the state of Michigan, making sure we’re funding our schools and doing whatever we can to put programs out there making sure that Michiganders can succeed around the state. 

McNamara: Speaker Hall likes to rail against waste, fraud and abuse. I’m guessing that your definition of waste, fraud and abuse is maybe a little bit different. Is there some compromise to be had, where you can see some pork to trim, as it were. 

Puri: I think every elected official, Republican or Democrat, wants to be stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars. I think that is an immense responsibility given to us, and no one wants to see government money spent inefficiently. I think the reality is to these conversations is that you can’t just take a sledgehammer to the budget and call it all waste, fraud and abuse. He took money away from newborns. If we’ve gotten to a place in our political discourse that’s saying that newborns are waste, fraud and abuse, we’re just not going to agree. And I think, unfortunately, the reality of the conversation is that there are so many non-negotiables out there of things that we need to be doing to make life easier for Michiganders, and if you just call everything in the budget waste, fraud and abuse, it doesn’t magically become true. And I think he learned the lesson the hard way last year, and so that’s why you’re seeing a little bit different of an approach—but of course, you know he loves the political gimmicks, and being able to call everything waste, fraud and abuse, and then just throws everything into that bucket as if it’s magically some cure-all. But the reality is that the budget is $80 some billion. That should be scrutinized where we spend it, but we don’t need to call every program waste, fraud and abuse. 

McNamara: Is there a hard line, something you refuse to go back down if the budget line on this is staying where it is? 

Puri: Again, same thing as last year, it’s the school meals. I think Michigan has set a standard around the country in terms of what we can do to provide access to making sure that a Michigan student in all corners of the state is guaranteed a meal, both breakfast and lunch, at their local public institution, and I think that’s something we should take a lot of pride in, just being able to make sure that kids are learning on a full belly. The speaker wanted to make that a political fight last year, and fortunately, we were able to come out on top, and that’s going to be another priority this year as well.  

McNamara: Part of that is addressing food insecurity for a lot of kids. The cost of living is going back up again. Gas prices have gone up considerably. The Trump administration and Congress have taken millions of people off of SNAP benefits. So, what is the state of Michigan doing to kind of help address that, even outside of the school meal program? 

Puri: It’s been a priority for the House Democrats. We introduced legislation to try to backfill some of that, but the reality is that the state’s treasury is never going to fill the government coffers, the federal government coffers, when they decide to do something, and a substantial amount of our state budget, I believe roughly 40, 41% of our state budget comes back from federal funds coming back to back to Michigan, so when the feds decide to decide to do something, it does have a very material impact to the way the state can operate, and so cutting SNAP benefits has affected millions of people in Michigan, and it is again one of those critical programs that I’m speaking of that we need to be doing whatever we can, and so I’m glad you brought that up. I tell people we need to be Trump-proofing our state. It’s a time when we need to put the Democrat-Republican hat down and making sure we’re fighting for Michigan. Unfortunately, Speaker and House leadership right now on the Republican side, we’ve seen them rubber-stamp everything out of DC, even when those policies can disproportionately affect Michigan. When they get into those economic trade policies, we have an auto industry that relies on foreign trade, so those things disproportionately affect Michigan. Those things might poll great in Oklahoma or Alabama, but Michigan, we take a lot of pride in who we are and what the state means, and so it’s about time we have people that are standing up for our state of Michigan. 

McNamara: How is your relationship with Matt Hall? I realize the Matt Hall you might get behind closed doors is a little bit different than the one that has his press conference, and he does tend to go on. However, can you go to him and just talk with him? 

Puri: I cannot. To his credit, he is the same, both on and off camera. Our relationship is largely nonexistent. 

McNamara: Gotcha. So, I know we’re at a place, and it seems like the theme of the Mackinac Policy Conference is always bridging a better tomorrow. Where can we find compromise in all that? Do you find sometimes the rhetoric that just kind of overlooks the reality of the current political climate? 

Puri: Yes, I think you can’t lose sight of civility and the need for things to get done in a better way. The voters in Michigan last year wanted split government, in ‘24 they voted for split government, and so we should be acting as such. The reality is that the House Democrats have a majority of 58-52 but our world and politics shouldn’t be binary. That shouldn’t give them exclusive control to dictate every single thing we do. They shouldn’t bring a lens, as if they are in some sort of Republican trifecta, to how they approach their work. There just hasn’t been a willingness from House leadership to work in a bipartisan manner, like I said, our relationship is largely nonexistent. I’ve from the start extended my hand trying to find a way to work for Michigan, team Michigan, and that hasn’t been the dynamic that the speaker has wanted, and so unfortunately we’re all human, and so you can pick up on that at some point, and we’ve been fighting again as House Democrats, we have been standing up for those values that we hold dear, like making sure that everyone has access to food and health care and education, and bringing down the affordability crisis, and being able to stand up against the federal administration when we think that it’s not acting in Michigan’s best interest, but the other reality is that we do have a pretty monumental election around the corner here in November, and as we get closer, more and more eyeballs are turning to November and looking for the dynamic to change in just a few months. 

McNamara: Does it seem like the political winds are blowing in a way they are nationally?  

Puri: As crazy as our political discourse becomes, I think one thing that we can all agree, you don’t mess with is gas prices. I don’t know how you defend $5 gas in Michigan, that’s just not me. Again, two or three weeks ago, there was a special election in Senate District 35. There was a 20-point correction from November just a couple months ago, and a 20-point swing in the Democrats’ favor. If you apply that statewide, that’s going to be massive, massive wins for Democrats up and down the ballot. So, I think there’s tremendous amount of tailwinds right now, and there’s a lot of excitement for trying to send a mandate out to Washington that again, the policies have just not been Michigan first. 

There’s a lot going on in the state of Michigan, and compounding that there’s a big election that assures new leadership in the top three offices. At the helm is Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has led the state over seven uneven years. 

Whitmer spoke to WDET about her plans after she leaves office and reflected on her time as governor. 

McNamara: I don’t want to focus on looking back but what was the weirdest thing you had to navigate?

Whitmer: A pandemic, we’ve had incredible weather challenges from floods to tornadoes that have taken the lives of Michiganders and taken their homes. We’ve had a plot to kidnap and to kill me. We have had to navigate righteous demonstrations for racial justice that played out and a number of communities across Michigan during the George Floyd year, and I think we’ve had incredible challenges that that we’ve had to navigate, and yet, I’m always reminding myself, my oath is to the people of Michigan. I’ve got to show up and fight to make sure that we deliver for people and stay focused on fixing things like roads and helping people keep money in their pockets, and that’s always kind of centered me, even with all the chaos in our environment right now. 

McNamara: And you know, providing for the people of Michigan. To that end, I have to give you some credit. You might not remember this, but last year at this time, people were talking about you holding the blue folder over your face in the Oval Office. You cracked the code, because in Trump’s second term, flattery will get you everywhere, I guess. So, is there more milk to be gotten from that bell cow? Can you bring more money to the state? What can we do to get more federal money flowing into the state of Michigan via the federal government? 

Whitmer: Well, I’m going to continue to work at it. The Trump administration, we’ve got a litany of differences, right? But at the end of the day, my job is to show up for the people of Michigan. And while that was a moment in the Oval Office, I was there to advocate for a new fighter mission at Selfridge, and yesterday I signed a bill that ensured that Michigan’s aerospace and defense sector is solid and is growing, but the linchpin is this fighter mission.

So the fact that we got this done with Donald Trump in the White House and me as the governor I think is a testament to the fact that if I stay focused on delivering for Michigan, I can find common ground with just about anybody on some really important things for our state, and that’s what this job is all about.

McNamara: Last year it was difficult finding common ground with Matt Hall, House Speaker, getting a budget deal done. It’s an election year this year, somehow the budget process is moving more smoothly. From your perspective, how is it shaping up? 

Whitmer: Well, it’s not unusual in an election year for the legislature to want to get home and campaign, so budgets sometimes do move faster in election years. I think there are lots of things that are difficult for Michiganders in the Michigan economy right now—the tariff chaos, and coupled with the Iran war, it’s tough—and so I think it’s very important that we deliver a budget on time that actually helps people keep money in their pockets and makes the critical investments in our workforce and our infrastructure, the things that impact Michiganders every day, and help them get ahead. So I can’t open up the Strait of Hormuz unilaterally, but I can deliver a budget on time that helps Michiganders get ahead and defray some of the costs that we’re all bearing, because of the chaos coming out of DC right now.

McNamara: Because of that chaos, there are federal cuts looming for your time out of office. Does Michigan need more revenue, aka taxes? 

Whitmer: I don’t think that there’s really a great hope of getting anything on that front done with a split legislature in an election year. That will be a question for the next set of leaders that come in January 1. 

McNamara: You tried. 

Whitmer: Yeah, and we were successful. We raised $2 billion for our road infrastructure, so I ran on fixing the damn roads. We can say yes, we actually got the biggest investment in that infrastructure in 40 years in the state. But I do think that it is going to be incumbent on the next set of leaders to deal with all the cuts that are coming from the Trump administration and the Republicans in DC, with that house bill one, the Big Beautiful Bill, whatever the hell you want to call it, we know that there is more stress coming on all those fronts because of the actions that they took last year. 

McNamara: You spent a lot of time and effort trying to build the state’s population and build the economic base for people to come here. How are you feeling about that? 

Whitmer: We have seen more people move into Michigan than out for the first time in decades. We see Detroit’s population growing three years in a row. There are a lot of good things happening. Yes, there’s more to do. There’s always more to do, but to make Michigan a place where our young people want to stay, where businesses can find the workforce that they need, where we have a growth mentality, is going to be a continuing effort, needs to be a continuing effort, no matter who follows me in this role. 

McNamara: Two years ago, at the Democratic National Convention, you told me, kind of talking post plans, you wanted to go visit some national parks. Are those plans made?  

Whitmer: They’re not made yet. I leave office January 1, so I’m gonna take a little break, but yeah, I think maybe next spring, summer, my husband and I and our two dogs will hit the road, and I’m looking forward to that. Although I have not driven in eight years, so state police are gonna have to take me out to the state police drag and teach me how to drive again. 

McNamara: There are no national parks in Iowa. Will you visit anyway? 

Whitmer: No! 

Editor’s Note: Iowa is the traditional first stop for any potential presidential candidate. The early nature of the Iowa caucuses make an early success there a springboard to a successful run.

Last month, hundreds of Oakland County residents packed a Pontiac meeting room. They came to speak against a proposal that would put surveillance drones, built by a company called Flock Safety, into the hands of the county sheriff.

Police nationwide have used Flock cameras to run thousands of immigration-related searches on behalf of ICE.

Many residents did not get a chance to speak. Just before the discussion began, Commission Chair Dave Woodward held a vote to move public comment to the end of the meeting, after the contract had already passed.

When Commissioner Charlie Cavell asked for a roll call vote — to make every commissioner go on the record — Woodward denied it and moved on.

The drones were approved, 14-4.

After that meeting, residents launched a campaign to recall Woodward, and by late April, petition language was approved. 

Yesterday, Woodward appealed that approval in Oakland County Circuit Court. If a circuit judge upholds the petition language, organizers will have 60 days to gather roughly 9,000 signatures across Royal Oak, Birmingham, and parts of Troy.

Woodward has called the recall “a distraction.” 

He joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss the recall effort, his business connections that have prompted ethical concerns, and whether he should have handled that April meeting differently.

Editor’s note: During this conversation, Woodward said some people involved in the recall campaign are advocating for political violence. The Metro reviewed the social media posts Woodward referred to. In one, a person supporting the recall effort praised Luigi Mangione — the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December of 2024 — calling him “the closest thing to a superhero we have.” A leader of the recall campaign says that supporter is no way affiliated with the campaign. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Highland Park is a small city that once had a relatively large population for its size. At the height of Detroit’s automotive boom, more than 50,000 people lived within Highland Park’s 2.9 square miles. Today, the population is less than 9,000.

WDET’s Crossing the Lines series features conversations with and stories about Highland Park’s people, culture, and history.

Detroit Public Radio’s Citizen Vox project gives residents a chance to express how they feel about their communities and the issues that matter to them.

WDET’s Pat Batcheller spoke with Highland Park resident Ken Bates at a coffee shop on Woodward Ave. on April 10, 2026.

Bates was born in Detroit but moved to Highland Park with his wife more than 25 years ago. They bought a Craftsman-style bungalow in a historic district of the city. Voters elected Bates to the city council in 2018, where he served until 2022. He chairs the board of an energy nonprofit called Soulardarity. Its mission includes installing solar-powered streetlights in Highland Park’s neighborhoods.

Bates shares his thoughts on housing, poverty, community pride, and development.

Ken Bates: We know that there’s a housing crisis, a housing shortage nationally, affordable housing. Highland Park has an abundance of land that is underutilized, that really could be put forth in terms of development. So, we could look at land trusts. We could look at affordable housing, low-income housing, market rate housing, duplexes to grow the population because that’s what we have in abundance.

Manufacturing? I doubt that will ever come back to the extent that Henry Ford and Chrysler and some of the other manufacturers had here. That’s a bygone era.

And so, we have to look into the future as to what will help Highland Park become sustainable. What kind of industries should we count on?

You have to get education on board. You have to get private development. You have to get your government funding all in order, and you have to have a plan and a vision and the expertise in order to do it.

If not, you’re just maintaining the status quo. And year after year, you’re just one disaster away from some financial calamity, whether it be a natural disaster or something like the Great Lakes Water Authority suing us for $19 million and threatening to put it on our tax rolls.

Pat Batcheller: What do you like about being in Highland Park?

KB: Highland Park is centrally located. It’s convenient. There’s a sense of—like with my block, I never expected it to be so diverse. And yet you’ve got immigrants, you’ve got people of different faiths. You’ve got people who are ascribed to different lifestyles. I mean, it just it goes on and on, different political beliefs, and we all live together in the same community, and we’re able to communicate and talk and look out after each other.”

PB: From the conversations I’ve had with you and some of the other folks I’ve talked to, it isn’t really the borders that define Highland Park, it’s the people. Would you agree with that?

KB: Well, yeah, I would say the people do define Highland Park because, because again, they’ve been here. Most have been here quite a long time. And even if you travel outside of Highland Park and talk to people that formerly lived here, many people will tell you, ‘Yeah, my grandparents lived here.’ They remember it as a great city. They’ve had fond memories.

The historical district is obviously something that has gained attention. People are looking at those homes and, if they have the means to renovate them, are coming in and deciding, “well, let’s renovate this home.” Because you can’t rebuild those anywhere for anything that I would consider reasonable.

Highland Park has just had its own identity for a long, long time. And so, I can’t see that changing because it would be so difficult to incorporate us into the Detroit culture. We’re not Detroit. We’re not Hamtramck. We’re Highland Park.

PB: What’s the most pressing issue facing Highland Park right now?

KB: It’s poverty. You’ve got to figure out how to raise people’s incomes up, so to speak, their standard of living. So, whether it be through employment, homeownership, because poverty impacts everything around us. For example, ALDI is usually out of shopping carts because people abscond with them. If you’re running a business, that’s not helpful. We were fortunate in that Foot Locker moved into the old CVS building because CVS, Rite-Aid, and another drugstore left.

Convincing businesses to come here is a real challenge because the landscape has changed. Brick and mortar stores aren’t necessarily how people are going about retail experiences. You would think that we would have a thrift shop or something of that nature in a community like that. We don’t.

So, trying to look at trends that will allow people to be gainfully employed, increase home ownership, educate their children are things that should be made priority.

The appearance of the city has to change because we have a lot of blight. We had a press conference celebrating the announcement of Highland Towers on Woodward being torn down. We’ve got to have news that is uplifting, that is showing progress now. Yes, the building should be torn down because it’s caught on fire sixteen years ago. But we need to be announcing opportunities for growth projects that will bring about change.