What I find really sad about the Garland/Smith investigation of Trump

[bigtree]

...is that so many people, especially prominent legal punditry, have couched every move by Garland as insufficient to their expectations, and it's turned a lot of people away from actually supporting the probe, our probe. Our administration that we voted into office.

If you convince yourself, for instance, as so many try to convince each and every day, that our Democratic administration's Justice Dept.'s prosecutor, who convicted the Oklahoma City bomber, won't prosecute Trump in the end, it precludes acknowledgement of what happens in between, more and more time passed reinforcing every negative fear.

But this investigation is our history happening in front of us. Every bit of it. It's not, as some would argue, a history of our government ignoring or refusing to confront the assaults on our democracy and on our system of elections. There's no evidence of that. Right in front of us, our nation's Justice Dept. is confronting every instigation of insurrection, from obstruction to sedition, and more.

No one at DOJ has shown any indication that they are slowwalking their investigation or refusing to follow the evidence where it leads, no matter the level of power, as Merrick Garland has promised repeatedly.

The fact that he hasn't just folded up his dual grand juries and rolled into court as fast as some may want or believe he could, means next to nothing if he produces the indictments and convictions that are indicated by what and who the DOJ is looking at.

The last refuge of this infectious din of second-guessing Garland is in skeptics' conviction that, after all of the efforts of the over 20 prosecutors he's hired; after the grand juries he's been feeding evidence and witnesses make their decisions; that the AG who was championed by most Democrats as Obama's choice for the Supreme Court just isn't interested in prosecuting assaults on our democracy, wherever he finds it.

That's a very weak straw.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. It's terribly sad that some can only chirp "xxx months and counting"

Without offering any substance other than their own uninformed cynicism.

The last refuge of this infectious din of second-guessing Garland is in skeptics' conviction that, after all of the efforts of the over 20 prosecutors he's hired; after the grand juries he's been feeding evidence and witnesses make their decisions; that the AG who was championed by most Democrats as Obama's choice for the Supreme Court just isn't interested in prosecuting assaults on our democracy, wherever he finds it.

Projecting one’s fears and ignorance onto the blank canvas of a situation where there is little to no public information is not the sole domain of MAGA nut jobs- good, kind hearted people can succumb to the impulse to create certainty where there is none, even if that certainty is in the form of a negative outcome, the opposite of the outcome they desire.

[Bev54]

2. Yes, those that keep riding on Garland and Smith totally ignore what we do know

is happening behind the scenes should they wish to do a little reading and research. A wise man I read said the following:

"Blathering things on the internet is a hell of a lot easier than proving them in court to a jury."

[ShazzieB]

11. What bugs me is when people assume they know stuff they can't possibly know.

Last edited Thu Feb 16, 2023, 12:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Stuff like:

•Garland's not ever going to do anything (from people who have no way of knowing what he's already done, is currently doing, or plans to do)
•It's been [fill in the blank] months, years, etc. since J8 (ignoring that the guy now in charge of the investigation got started only 3 months ago and is cranking out subpoenas like it's going out of style)
•Nothing will ever happen to Trump because Nixon skated (ignoring that Ford pardoned him before anyone even had a chance to consider charging him with anything)
•Nothing will comes of Jack Smith's investigation because nothing came of the Mueller investigation (ignoring that Barr was pulling the strings behind the scenes to make damned sure Trump wouldn't be harmed by Mueller's probe)
•Trump will get away with everything bcause he always has in the past (ignoring that the past is in the past, that Trump no longer has Bill Barr sitting in the DOJ shielding him, and that the things he's done since the 2020 ellection are way worse and the stakes way higher than has ever been the case before
•and so on and so forth.

[KS Toronado]

13. Thank you

[Bev54]

28. Thank you, Trump has gotten away with a lot and will get away with a lot but

not all of it. The problem is there are so many crimes that it will be just the more recent serious crimes that he will be indicted on. I wish (and still have some hope) that they could charge him under RICO so they can include all of his crimes while in office and running for office. I hope he falls hard.

[uponit7771]

18. Including Michelle Obama? (link) Thx in advance

https://therecount.com/watch/michelle-obama-on-top-secret/2645887638

[Moosepoop]

20. Where in that clip does Michelle Obama chirp "xxx months and counting"?

Or where in it does she say that the AG isn't interested in prosecuting assaults on our democracy?

[Fiendish Thingy]

23. Didn't see her post here on DU. Nt

[Bev54]

29. A statement made about the imbalance of the laws in the US based on race

is not a continued whining about Garland not doing anything. A real stretch there.

[uponit7771]

30. It's an intimation that something WOULD"VE been done .... BY NOW .... if the race was different.

[yaesu]

3. What makes me really, really, really sad is

tRump still free to incite deadly violence years after he did it before.

[onetexan]

4. THIS!!☝️

Not just sad, dangerous & frightening.

[uponit7771]

17. +1, the rule historically is people who aren't put in jail for half a generation for treason will

... come back and do it again.

Lenin, Spanish Nationalist, Hitler ... that's just one continent !!!

[quakerboy]

7. Heck, Im still waiting for a new postmaster

[DENVERPOPS]

12. No shit

me too and also the entire staff of the USPS.

If he crashes the USPS, everything will go to Fedex and UPS. All those Trump Loving, Bright Red rural folk would explode.
They are too stupid to realize that they would be paying fifteen bucks for a first class letter in addition to waiting for a once a week delivery to their location.

[quakerboy]

31. If?

I recieve monthly mail from some folk i work with whos office is about 45 minutes away by car. Before dejoy, it reliably arrived the day after they sent it, sometimes same day.

Now it takes anywhere from 3 days to a week to arrive from that same office.

Before dejoy there was an occasional lost piece of mail but not much worry.
Now If i forget to respond to things mailed to me within a few days, i get calls making sure i got it, rather than it getting lost.

I will grant that USPS is still more reliable than the delivery services I have to deal with on the regular. But the average guy now has concerns about USPS dependability.


Why is Dejoy still in place? We are now several months past the ends of the terms of two more USPS board members, which would give a democraticly appointed majority and the ability to replace him. And we have control of the senate. I doubt even S&M would throw up a roadblock to getting that done

[calimary]

36. No kidding. Hello Injury? Meet Insult.

[brush]

14. Yep, the stolen docs case is obvious obstruction.

Isn't is often said a ham sandwich can be indicted? Well those docs found at MAL are the whole hog times one hundred.

[uponit7771]

16. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾

[Paladin]

27. +1000.

Garland's lack of timely action against trump has allowed an unconscionable growth of fascism in this country. The Republicans get more radical and more dangerous by the day. A brief daily glance at the threads on DU bears this out. Merrick Garland is the wrong man for the job.

[bigtree]

32. fascism has actually had its first significant confrontation by this DOJ

...having run rampant in Trump's term.

Blaming the people working to hold these forces accountable for some supposed rise in their activity is just false. Two major organizations of hate, Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been confronted with charges and convictions, up to sedition.

What you wrote is just untrue.

I remember the Oklahoma City bomber was convicted two years after his crime. Justice in that case and this one is a due process of law, not a rush to judgment.

[Paladin]

33. No point in arguing with you. (nt)

[bigtree]

34. nope

[betsuni]

5. Thank you, well said.

[Hekate]

6. TYVM

[live love laugh]

8. DOJ investigations don't need support. They happen based on

the integrity of those in charge. The results will be on the same basis.

[Duppers]

9. Indeed! 👍

[BWdem4life]

10. What does the Oklahoma City Bomber have anything to do with this?

It doesn't take much courage to indict a terrorist who blows up a building.

Although, If Trump had done it, maybe he wouldn't have been indicted.

[bigtree]

22. many people have said Garland is afraid of the white supremacists supporter backlash

...that's why.

That prosecution makes Garland especially equipped to handle this case where a good chunk of the nation is in revolt against the government.

“We had tremendous confidence in him, and I think his handling of that very challenging situation was flawless,” said Jamie Gorelick, Garland’s boss at the time of the Oklahoma City attack and one of the country’s longest-serving deputy attorneys general. “If you look at his background, he was very well suited for working both with the FBI and the other investigative agencies, and well-regarded by all of them, and he had a wonderful way of bringing people together on the ground.”

“The Oklahoma City bombing and its legacy are critical to understanding the domestic extremist movements of today,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report last year.

People who know Garland from his work in Oklahoma believe that the country could have no better ally in the fight against homegrown extremism, a broad job whose challenges include not only prosecuting the recent insurrectionists but also preventing the next attack, disrupting extremist groups on social media, rooting out white supremacists from police forces and the military, and restoring public trust in the rule of law.

“He played a pivotal role here, but I think, fast-forward to 2021, and he can play a remarkable role in bringing our country back together,” said Kari Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum. “Judge Garland is a unifier. He brought families to the table, he brought survivors, first responders to the table that were still dealing with loss, and surgeries, and putting their lives back together.”

“I would say that his experience in Oklahoma City – and the work we needed to do in response to the church bombings that took place when we were at main justice in the mid-1990s, as well as the abortion clinic bombings – grounded him in the importance of civil rights,” Gorelick said, “and in the importance of coordinated and strong approaches to dealing with the enforcement of our laws relating to civil rights and protecting the country against terrorism of any sort.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/01/merrick-garland-oklahoma-city-timothy-mcveigh-attorney-general

[uponit7771]

15. Michelle Obama disagrees (link) After seeing this I am disappointed in DOJ

https://therecount.com/watch/michelle-obama-on-top-secret/2645887638

[Moosepoop]

21. What in the OP does she "disagree" with?

She was asked a joke question on a comedy show, and gave a joking answer.

She said they didn't have any classified docs, and if they had, her husband would be in "somebody's jail" by now.

Note that she did not say "Garland's jail."

After all of TFG's hollering about 33 million classified docs that Obama supposedly made off with (debunked, of course,) the implication is that if that accusation had been true, TFG/Barr would have used it against Obama back when they had the power to do so.

That's my take, anyway. I think you're giving her one-liner far more weight than she intended.

[uponit7771]

24. That wasn't a joking answer and you know it

[Moosepoop]

26. No, I don't "know it."

I told you that was my take on it. Please do not presume to tell me what I "know" and what I don't.

And you did not answer the question. You said that her quip to Jimmy Kimmel "disagrees" with the OP.
I'm asking you to spell out just how it does that, since she made no reference to Garland or his investigation.

[brer cat]

19. K&R

[fightforfreedom]

25. You and I are in complete agreement and we will be proven correct.

[hamsterjill]

35. You just keep on believing that.

That is completely within your right to do so.

But it is also within my right to disagree. Garland hasn’t done anything yet, he’s had a lot of time to do something, time is of the essence, every day that Trump remains free, he creates more havoc, pain and injury to people in this country, and he should have been stopped long ago.

If you have a problem with me having an opinion that differs from yours, then that would be your problem. I am not here to be Garland’s cheerleader. When he does something meaningful, I’ll admit it. But until then, I’m going to call it like it see it. And he hasn’t done shit that really matters.