By delaying any investigation or prosecution of Trump until almost two years after he became attorney general, Garland hamstrung Jack Smith, the dogged and beleaguered special counsel, leaving little time for the predictable unpredictabilities of two high-stakes prosecutions. Both were as solid as federal cases get, and now neither has any chance of being completed before the election, leaving voters without clear legal conclusions about Trump’s responsibility for the Jan. 6 riot and the highly classified documents he took from the White House.

Archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/QGUMD

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    Garland should never have been AG.

    Garland was supposed to be a SCOTUS justice, blocked by McConnell, et al. When he was appointed AG, he exercised great caution to ensure that nothing he did had the appearance of “revenge” or selective prosecution. That behavior is absolutely necessary, but it wouldn’t have been if it wasn’t Garland as AG.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Right?

      Picking him as AG was absolutely baffling to me at the time, and it’s panned out to be perhaps the worst pick in the entirety of the Biden administration. Like, genuinely, the only worse play off the top of my head would have been to just keep Bill Barr around.

        • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          I agree DeJoy is extremely bad, but a proper AG would have swept him out with the rest of the trash too, seeing as he aided and abetted the election fraud and interference that Trump perpetrated.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      He wasn’t even that. He was literally chosen to call the Republicans bluff when they said that Obama would never nominate someone like him even. Then Obama did.

      It just turns out that it wasn’t a bluff. And the racists never had any intention of ever being sensible or normal. But I think that was pretty much obvious to anyone with a couple of brain cells.

      Garland however, was never a leftist. He wasn’t even ever “progressive”. Let alone a Democrat. He was always a false neutrality, status quo droid. Plus, regardless of who was put in office. Republicans were always going to claim any consequences for their behavior was revenge. Even if it was revenge though. Why should we be concerned. Sometimes revenge and justice are the same thing. And justice shouldn’t be denied. Perhaps Republicans should stop giving people grounds for wanting revenge?

  • 2piradians@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    If Garland outlives me I’d like him to be a pallbearer at my funeral so he can let me down one last time.

    • Tolookah
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      2 months ago

      Ag Jack Smith? (No idea what extra qualifications are needed)

      • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        For Harris one name floating around is that of Doug Jones, who was briefly a senator from Alabama. He could be confirmed even with a Republican Senate.

        • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I don’t know much about Doug Jones, but this seems like a suicidally stupid idea at first glance. What kind of Democrat does it take to get elected senator in Alabama? That sounds like the kind of conciliatory milquetoast centrist bullshit that has gotten us into this mess.

          When a group of people decides that they are no longer going to respect democracy, and they are willing to burn down the republic for their own gain, milquetoast centrism is suicidal. Going easy on these bastards didn’t make them stop. They’re still denying they lost, and they’re still trying to steal the election. Historically, this type of authoritarian movement that seeks to destroy democracies only ends up one of two ways. Either the authoritarians end up winning, or everyone remotely involved gets multi-decade prison sentences. While the Justice Department has tried a lot of the low-level people, Garland’s intransigence has protected the real people in power, the ringleaders behind the whole thing. Trump hasn’t faced justice. The Republican Congressional members involved in the scheme haven’t faced justice. The media that deliberately fomented the rebellion hasn’t faced justice.

          Compare this to something like the Guy Fawkes’s attempt to blow up the English parliament. They didn’t give those people a slap on the wrist and say, “it’s time for the nation to heal.” Back then they rounded up everyone remotely involved and publicly executed them via torture. Historically, the absolute worst punishments a state could apply were reserved for treason and rebellion. And they were applied liberally after any serious attempt at overthrowing a government.

          Now, we’re not in that era anymore. We don’t need to resort to mass summary executions or public executions by torture. We hopefully are a bit more enlightened now. But these people still cannot just be allowed to run around and continue their attempts at overthrowing the government. The people who organized it? The people on the ground? The legislatorss involved? The prominent media figures who deliberately spread lies about the election being stolen? All of them should never see the light of day again.

          And yes, that includes people in the media. Look at how the Union states cracked down on Southern-sympathetic press during the Civil War. That’s we what we should be doing now. I’m sorry, but if you are deliberately spreading lies about an election being stolen, you should be in jail for attempting to foment a rebellion. You’re as guilty as Goebbels or any Nazi propaganda minister. The first amendment does not protect conspiracy to treason.

          Instead we did nothing. Milquetoast centrist bullshit led us to ignore the scale of the problem. Now these same bastards are attempting to foment a pogrom against Haitian immigrants in Ohio. THAT is what treating these people with kid gloves gets you. It doesn’t let the nation heal, it just gives the traitors another bite at the apple.

          We do not need another limp-wristed centrist leading the Justice Department. We need someone willing to come down like Hammer of God on these people. Maybe I’m being unfair to Doug Jones. But the fact that he was able to get elected as a senator in Alabama hints that we might just be making the mistake all over again.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            What kind of Democrat does it take to get elected senator in Alabama?

            One who was running against Roy Moore, the predator who would sexually assault teenage girls he met at the mall. We’re talking a guy in his 30s who would hit on teenagers at Sears.

            That said, yeah, Garland was a shit choice and Jones probably isn’t the best either, but the staunchest legal attack dog in the Democratic Party I know of is, well, currently running for president.

      • RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Roy Cooper is on the short list. He was also short listed for VP.

        He was elected statewide in NC as AG and Governor. He did a great job.

        Currently, he can’t leave the state because the Lieutenant Governor is the craziest MF you ever heard of and would be acting Governor if he leaves.

        Cooper is term limited at the end of the year.