Untouchable

A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB 'MUST-READ'
#1 ON COSMOPOLITAN'S 11 BEST NEW NON-FICTION BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR TBR PILE IN 2023
CNN senior legal analyst and nationally bestselling author Elie Honig explores America’s two-tier justice system, explaining how the rich, the famous, and the powerful— including, most notoriously, Donald Trump—manipulate the legal system to escape justice and get away with vast misdeeds.
How does he get away with it? That question, more than any other, vexes observers of and participants in the American criminal justice process. How do powerful people weaponize their wealth, political power, and fame to beat the system? And how can prosecutors fight back?
In Untouchable, Elie Honig exposes how the rich and powerful use the system to their own benefit, revealing how notorious figures like Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, and Bill Cosby successfully eluded justice for decades. He demonstrates how the Trump children dodged a fraud indictment. He makes clear how countless CEOs and titans of Wall Street have been let off the hook, receiving financial penalties without suffering criminal consequences. This doesn’t happen by accident.
Over the four years of his administration, Donald Trump’s corruption seemed plain for all to see. The former president obstructed justice, flouted his responsibility to the Constitution, lied to the American people, and set the United States on a dark path to disunity and violence. Yet he has never been held accountable for any of his misdeeds. Why not?
Untouchable holds the answer. Honig shows how Trump and others use seemingly fair institutions and practices to build empires of corruption and get away with misdeeds for which ordinary people would be sentenced to years behind bars. It’s not just that money talks, Honig makes clear, but how it can corrupt otherwise reliable institutions and blind people to the real power dynamics behind the scenes.
In this vital, incisive book, Honig explains how the system allows the powerful to become untouchable, takes us inside their heads, and offers solutions for making the system more honest and fairer, ensuring true justice for all—holding everyone, no matter their status, accountable for their criminal misdeeds.

Reviews

"He is a fluid writer and careful researcher, and even as someone who has taken a professional interest in criminal justice for decades, I was surprised to learn a lot of fascinating tidbits. . . . especially valuable when Honig provides original reporting and analysis." — Scott Turow, The Washington Post, on Untouchable"CNN legal analyst Honig (Hatchet Man) delivers a disturbing analysis of how the U.S. justice system makes it so difficult to hold the wealthy and well-connected to account for their crimes…[Honig’s] fluid prose and sharp analysis amount to a slam-dunk case that American justice is far from blind." — Publisher's Weekly on Untouchable"Cogent analysis of how privileged individuals skirt criminal prosecution... A distressing account of how power often trumps justice within the American criminal justice system." — Kirkus Reviews on Untouchable“Written with all the color and pacing of a legal thriller.” — Variety on Hatchet Man“[A] damning, convincing account….A resounding excoriation of an unquestionably corrupt operator.”   — Kirkus Reviews on Hatchet Man“A sharp-edged account…this is a comprehensive indictment of one of the most controversial figures of the Trump administration.”  — Publishers Weekly on Hatchet Man“With a mixture of humor, analysis, and expert storytelling, Elie has written much more than a compelling takedown of an unfit attorney general; he also offers a blueprint for how impartial and apolitical justice should be administered in America.”  — Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and author of the New York Times bestseller Doing Justice, on Hatchet Man“Elie Honig, like all the best prosecutors, is a master storyteller… This is an essential analysis for anyone committed to understanding the abuses of the Trump administration so we can ensure they never happen again.”  — Joyce White Vance, Professor of the Practice of Law at the University of Alabama and NBC and MSNBC legal analyst“With surgical precision, Elie Honig’s Hatchet Man masterfully, lucidly, accurately, and brutally fillets the record of former attorney general William Barr by dissecting the myriad ways Barr corrupted and politicized the Department of Justice. Honig ably draws on his own experiences as a prosecutor to illustrate the ideals of prosecutorial independence and the apolitical administration of justice, and to demonstrate how Barr repeatedly despoiled them. Honig’s book provides essential reading for all who cherish the rule of law in America.” — George Conway, attorney and contributing columnist for the Washington Post, on Hatchet Man“Timely and engrossing, Hatchet Man uses Bill Barr as an example of how privilege and partisanship become corrupting influences at the highest level of power in America. With his trademark excellence and candor, Elie Honig lays out a startling and disturbing case, including the implications within the Department of Justice. I couldn’t put it down.” — Sunny Hostin, Emmy Award–winning journalist, author, and cohost of ABC’s The View, on Hatchet Man