You all know I’ve been a Merrick Garland champion since day one. And now that the DOJ’s base has proven to be further along than almost anyone outside of the DOJ imagined, I stand by my previous comments. But now we’re moving to a different level, and yet again I ask for patience.
The thing you need to understand is that Garland is, beyond all other things, a DOJ institutionalist. He served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Washington DC office, coming out of private practice to do so. Garland not only served well, he became devoted to the institution of the DOJ.
Garland worked his way up the US federal judicial ladder over 24 years to become the Chief Judge of the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals, the most preeminent federal appellate court in the country. And you don’t get there without knowing your onions.
But the thing you can’t forget is that Garland is by nature an institutionalist. And that institution is the DOJ. When Biden nominated Garland, and the Senate confirmed him, Garland saw his first duty as being to repair the damage done to the DOJ by the Trump regime, and restoring the pride and integrity of the DOJ. But as a strict institutionalist, Gatland restored the Code of Omerta, the code of silence that the DOJ has used since Nixon.
And so it has irritated and frustrated both the media as well as the public that Garland has gone back to the old standard of Shutting up, and letting the DOJ’s court filings do the talking. And the DOJ’s court filings have been an informational thing of beauty. They have led to court decision after court decision slapping down Trump appeals, as well as filing an unprecedented number of charges in connection with the J6 insurrection.
And now Traitor Tot is forcing his hand and he doesn’t like it. A writer for The Atlantic, Franklin Foer had the rare opportunity to interview Garland. And in the interview, one thing became clear. Under repeated questioning, Garland continued to espouse the simple fact that No man is above the law, and expressed frustration that there continued to be a controversy about that.
This is the best news this country could ask for. Because Garland is careful and meticulous, he isn’t going to drop the federal hammer until every i is dotted, and every t crossed. Gatland is hamstrung from any real action until after the midterm election on November 8th, but after that all bets are off.
Take my word for it, Traitor Tot is going down. And when he does, it’s going to be bulletproof. My personal guess is that he’ll be indicted before the first of the new year. And when he does, it’s going to be hard. But Garland is walking a tightrope here. He not only has to prove that no man is above the law, but also to restore the dignity and mission to the DOJ. Let the man work.
I’ll start chilling the champagne. I’m getting very thirsty for an indictment.
I’m as frustrated as anyone when it comes to the documents case the DOJ can bring. At the same time, Trump is getting ever more brash and even reckless in his public “double-dog daring” of Garland to authorize an indictment. My guess is that Trump is increasingly thinking that since Garland hasn’t pulled the trigger yet he doesn’t have the guts so he (Trump) will rub Garland’s and the DOJ’s faces in the dirt to gin up his MAGAts. But, and this is huge we are in that period when traditionally the DOJ goes dark, and the only reason there have been any court filings at all is the DOJ was forced to respond to the bullshit Trump’s lawyers are forcing the courts to deal with. If a given court/judge says “respond by this date” then the DOJ has no choice.
The biggie however is that there’s been no indictment. Trump, being who he is would have demanded his AG file against Obama, the sixty day blackout period be damned. So my thinking is that Trump has convinced himself that since Garland hasn’t authorized seeking an indictment none will happen at all. Hence his obvious glee in his “Yeah – I did it. And they don’t have the guts to do anything about it!” rants.
Like you, I believe Trump is going to learn just how badly he’s fucked up on this. Garland will put Trump in a place where HE (Trump) doesn’t make the rules, and he won’t have a judge Cannon to cover his ass. The term trial of the century gets tossed around all too often, and sadly federal trials don’t allow for cameras in the courtroom or even for reporters to send out real time audio. But the audio gets released quickly, within hours so the evening news will be filled with Trump getting his ass handed to him.
Dare we hope that he will get so out of control that the judge issues a gag order? And throws him in a jail cell, if only for a few hours to make the point when Trump violates it?
The only thing I’m not sure of is DOJ filing charges before the end of the year. They’ve got the goods on the classified documents part of the case but the “expedited” appeal process for the broader case is still too fucking long! Garland will I think want to prosecute the whole smash so I don’t see formal charges until well after the first of the year when Trump loses at the 11th Circuit and SCOTUS says “sorry dude – we’ve got our lifetime appointments and you can’t do shit about it so we aren’t touching this with a ten foot pole!” Even then Garland will insist on a meticulous process of sorting through stuff they could and should be sorting through right this minute. So much as it sucks, we are in fact going to have to be patient.
A reminder via Teri Kanefield: Kyle Rittenhouse should have been the lesson on why indictments alone are inadequate.
Thank you for this impassioned summary but I still worry that so much can go wrong while we’re being patient. No one knows what will happen in the mid-term elections and, if Repubs get control of either chamber, there’s far too much potential for them to muck up the works.
Yes, the GOP can feed tons of shit through a giant fan. What they can’t do is stop DOJ from moving forward with indictments if the evidence is there to support them. Impeachments? Conviction and removal of President Biden, even if they could terrorize enough Democrats into voting with them gives them VP Harris. If they do THAT then it’s President Pelosi. And then SecState Anthony Blinken and so on down through the cabinet. Meanwhile, even if they jump ahead and were able to remove Garland as AG and the rest of the Senate confirmed leadership (and NONE of this, as in actual convictions and removal will happen) the career prosecutors can keep right on pressing their cases in the courts!
The GOP would rue their decision to hang on to the filibuster because Democrats could prevent them from forcing Biden (say with default on government debt) to appoint an Alvin Bragg type (someone who would shut it all down) as AG. That would leave the various U.S. Attorneys in charge of prosecutions in their jurisdictions, and if THEY get forced out you still have the career prosecutors that would carry forward as the system is designed for them to function in the absence of a confirmed U.S. Attorney. I for one wouldn’t want a bunch of pissed off prosecutors out there, who could if provoked cause all manner of legal problems for any politician. Let’s face it, one bipartisan activity that’s existed for way too long is legislative and other favors to donors. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who, even if they beat the charge at trial wouldn’t have a good case that could be made aainst them because the whole system of campaign finance long ago became one of legalized bribery.
The GOP can make a helluva mess but they can’t stop prosecutions if DOJ has evidence that will stand up in court. And if Trump gets taken down which a LOT of GOPers secretly want but since they are fucking cowards won’t lift a finger to help make happen the extremists will suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in. And Liz Cheney and her family connections will be those extremist assholes worst nightmares come true. Loss of office will be the least of their worries. Lives, not just theirs but their families and close friends will be destroyed in retribution if the assholes don’t immediately STFU and quickly find a way off the proverbial stage to “spend more time with my family.” They will I think have a very short window, and a handful of them might not even get that.
Trump will of course try his standard tactic of delay, delay and more delay to run out the clock on any trial. But I see how stunningly quickly the 11th Circuit slapped down judge Cannon on the classified documents, and as I noted they are doing an expedited process on the appeal of the overcall case. SCOTUS, the six Federalist Society Fascist Fuckwads want no part of this. Hell, probably not even Thomas because their worst fear is that public support for expanding the Court with a DEMOCRAT in the WH might suddenly skyrocket if the GOP goes apeshit and starts trying to fuck with the DOJ/criminal process. They might even go so far as to take the case out of FL entirely and transfer it to the juriscition where by law it is SUPPOSSED to be being adjuticated and the DC courts including the premier Appeals Court won’t be at all kind. Things would turn “rocket docket” with the trial of Trump next year.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not without apprehensions but I see a better outcome than you seem to feel will be the case. And who knows? Garland might surprise us all and keep things simple, at least at first. The classified documents case is simple and straightforward and is something even our dumbed down electorate can understand. Trying Trump on that and that alone doesn’t preclude trying him on additional charges as evidence is developed.
TRUMP is not running for office so that “60-day window” is pure hokum.
Well Murph, not much else we can do but wait and see. I just wish the wait and see would move a little quicker. I still worry Garland will give too much weight to the concept of a presidency not being punished in order to preserve the office’s honor/prestige or whatever he thinks is important for the institution of the presidency–more important than the law.
Until something happens it is a guessing game.
If he isn’t indicted, democracy has left our country and so has any decency at all. I actually think they’re scared that the repubs will think this is political. If they do, then they aren’t smart enough to know that you just don’t break the law. Other’s get convicted all of the time, he’s no better, even though he thinks he is. The old fool, I saw a pic of him today in a golf shirt and on it, he’s put “potus, DJT”. Ya know, that’s really sad. His pitiful ego must be so low.