NBC: AG Garland APPROVED the Trump indictment by Jack Smith.

[brooklynite]

[Ocelot II]

1. Of course he did. Was there ever any question?

[gab13by13]

2. It was obvious after Trump was notified he was a target.

[agingdem]

3. Garland played it just right..

once the GOP narrowly took the House (midterms 2022) Garland had to insulate the two investigations (J6 and MAL classified document) from MAGA sewer rats Jim Jordan/Kevin McCarthy...enter Jack Smith..

[enough]

4. Could it have happened without Garland's approval?

[Ocelot II]

8. Nope. He had to sign off on it.

[Takket]

5. He has to. The SC works for the AG

[mcar]

6. Of course he did

But I appreciate this, bc I know some won't believe it.

[Celerity]

14. No, he did not approve them

[Autumn]

7. Since Garland appointed the SC of course he approved the Trump indictment. Obvious.

[JuJuChen]

9. I did a shot of whiskey to celebrate anyway

[we can do it]

10. Well what will the Garland bashers do now?

[W_HAMILTON]

11. Might want to retract this, since NBC is reporting the exact OPPOSITE right now.

[Celerity]

12. No

[Marius25]

13. This is wrong. NBC reporting Garland did not sign off on this

[Ocelot II]

15. Yes, and I found out I was wrong when I said he had to. The Special Counsel law

says that the AG can veto a decision to prosecute only if he concludes it's completely out of bounds, and that he does not have to affirmatively approve it. Weissman and Katyal said it was done this way in order to insulate the AG and the Biden administration from accusations of a politically-motivated prosecution, since Smith isn't a political appointee, just an ordinary nonpartisan government employee.

[Marius25]

16. Of course we all know that's fairly pointless since accusations are already flying

of it being politically motivated.

[Ocelot II]

19. Well, yeah; they don't worry about facts. But at least the administration can credibly

and truthfully say they didn't have anything to do with it.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. That's not what Lawrence indicated on MSNBC

Basically Garland (and Lisa Monaco) have insulated themselves from Jack Smith's investigation where it did not need a "sign off" by them but could have gotten a "disapproval" to block it if necessary, but wasn't.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

18. No it was not approved.

Please edit.

[kentuck]

20. Perhaps edited?