Biden deputy attorney general asks Justice Department watchdog to probe Trump-era seizure of Democra

[soothsayer]

Link to tweet

?s=21


Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
WASHINGTON (AP) — AP source: Biden deputy attorney general asks Justice Department watchdog to probe Trump-era seizure of Democrats' data.

[dem4decades]

1. How about the DOJ investigate them? More nothing action?

Damn it, the Republicans are full on weaponizing everything, how about something other than playing nice, nice.

[RegularJam]

2. The watchdog is a part of the DOJ.

This is where it starts and is major.

[dem4decades]

5. Well now i'm happier. Thanks

[RegularJam]

7. I'm trying to remember what it was....

But this is the same process that fought for the whistleblower that Trump was after. It’s headed up by the DOJ’s Inspector General. They are the end game for defining rules, procedures, and if they were broken or not. Their report will determine what happens. Unlike some other similar government operations the DOJ IG office seems to be aggressive and blunt in their assessments.

[dem4decades]

12. Just saw Neil Katyal and he agrees with me, not enough.

He said it would take years.

[RegularJam]

13. He is wrong.

Completely. It shows a complete lack of understanding of what’s going on. The IG will not come even close to taking one year, much less multiple years.

[dem4decades]

15. Seriously? You're suggesting Katayl has a complete misunderstanding?

Sorry, unless you have more experience than him, and who does, i'll just have to defer to his position on this.

[RegularJam]

16. Trump has more experience at being President than you do.

I would still defer to you over him.

That’s not a good reason to hold a belief.

[RegularJam]

14. Orders have already been fully received.

https://oig.justice.gov/news/doj-oig-initiates-review-department-justices-use-subpoenas-and-other-legal-authorities-obtain

[Ocelot II]

3. I think what's beginning to happen is that the Biden admin, including Merrick Garland,

are discovering the true depth of the rot that's infected the entire executive branch and all the agencies. Many agencies were so gutted and depopulated that they can barely function; others, like the DoJ, are gradually being revealed as infested throughout with Trump loyalists who have been steadily undermining the agency's purpose of nonpartisan furtherance of the rule of law. Garland, an institutionalist to the bone, almost certainly did not realize at first how bad it was, and figured he could just keep on keeping on like the pre-Trump/Barr agency had done, at least most of the time since the Nixon era. The latest revelations about how it was spying on journalists and members of Congress, their staffs and their families, had to have been a wakeup call. Cleaning up that agency and many of the others will be a Herculean task, specifically, cleaning the Augean stables.

It would be sort of like if you bought an old house that was once owned by your grandmother but was sold to a stranger and had fallen into disrepair. But you really want to live there, and figure you can fix it up pretty fast and it will be nice again like you remembered it. You move in and find that there are carpenter ants and cockroaches, so you call an exterminator to get rid of them. But after that's done, you learn that the previous owner had operated a meth lab in the basement, so it's full of toxic chemical residues, and worse yet, termites have been gnawing at the joists and the foundation is sagging dangerously, and there's black mold in the walls. Looks like you're going to have to strip out all the drywall and completely restore the foundation. It will be costly and take a long time.

We are discovering the equivalent of toxic chemicals, termites, and black mold in the structure of our government. There will be no quick fix.

[soothsayer]

6. This

[StarfishSaver]

8. I agree. But I don't think that Garland didn't realize how bad it is

He probably understood that better than most. But there's a difference between knowing the house is a mess and knowing where the rot is and the nature and shape of it - until he and his people got in and started digging around. That takes time - and they probably still haven't gotten close to the bottom of it.

So the "why hasn't he fixed it yet?!" attacks are way beyond the pale. Because, as you said, there is no quick fix and this is going to take a lot of time.

Your house analogy is really good. But I can also equate it with doctors trying to treat a person with a serious infection. Doctors can know he's sick as hell and that an infection is causing the problem, but until they get in and figure out exactly what strain the infection is, which organs it's attacking and in what order and degree so they can know what antibiotic it will respond to, they can't properly treat it.

[Ocelot II]

9. He probably knew it was going to be a mess, but as you say,

hadn't yet discovered the nature and extent of it. I don't think anybody really knew, or knows even yet, how deep the rot has gone. Garland and aides will have to find out who was responsible for carrying out what Trump/Barr/Sessions ordered and either fire them (which might not be easy in some cases per Civil Service rules) or at least sideline them, and figure out what else they might have done that isn't yet known. In the meantime Biden has to stay out of it. Trump and his minions - he couldn't have done it without eager and compliant minions - have made a bigger mess in four years than we could have imagined was possible. Even Nixon left a few agencies intact and functional.

[StarfishSaver]

10. And they also have to make sure not to fire the wrong people

There are a lot career people who were there under Trump who may not be raging liberals or even great people, but who know a lot of information that's needed to get to the root of what happened and help fix it. It can't be assume that every hold over is a bad guy who needs to be tossed out. The department needs institutional memory and competent people and it takes a while to figure out who is who. It would be a mistake to do a clean sweep and leave the department without the depth of experience needed to deal with the situation.

[NewJeffCT]

4. Congress needs to send Barr, Sessions, Trump and others subpoenas

immediately, Give them a week to comply and tell them fines & jail follow if they do not. Time to cut the BS.

[Xoan]

11. I think it's too late for a watchdog.

The crime is done.