General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]ancianita
(42,342 posts)were entirely out of the AG's control.
Television by itself is not probable cause for beginning an investigation.
Probable cause caused Congress, against whom the Jan 6 attack occurred, to immediately form investigations to hold Jan 6 hearings June 2022.
Meanwhile from Jan 6 2021 onward, the FBI under the AG investigated crimes committed against law enforcement and property from Jan 6 2021 to Jan 2025.
The AG did clean up the DOJ of Barr toadies starting the day he was finally confirmed two months after Biden's inauguration.
1. Overall,
The late-confirmed AG couldn't make the Senate confirm his Division heads.
He couldn't control the appellate and SCOTUS courts' timelines.
What the AG did do while FBI investigations, arrests and charges were brought against Jan 6 participants:
2. Four months after the AG was confirmed, six months after Biden's inauguration, Republicans finally confirm Kenneth Polite to head the DOJ's Criminal Division July 2021 -- four months after Biden nominated him for the DOJ Criminal division, two weeks before the AG's confirmation. After July the Criminal Division's work sped up.
January 6 2022: Garland states:
So far, we have
-- issued over 5,000 subpoenas and search warrants,
-- seized approximately 2,000 devices,
-- pored through over 20,000 hours of video footage, and
-- searched through an estimated 15 terabytes of data...
-- received over 300,000 tips from ordinary citizens, who have been our indispensable partners in this effort.
Garland handed off HIS documents case to Jack Smith.
Jan 2022
15 boxes found in the storage area
the FBI found more than 11,000 government records at Maralago of those
184 unique documents bearing classification markings, of those:
67 docs marked Confidential
92 docs marked Secret
25 docs marked Top Secret
markings reflected that docs were subject to sensitive compartments and dissemination controls
used to restrict access to material in the interest of national security, including
HCS(Humint Control system),
FISA(Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act),
ORCON (originator controlled),
NORORN (could be NOFORN, no foreign national), AND
SI(Special Intelligence)
May 10 2022
The first 100 documents marked as classified totaled over 700 pages [National Archives letter to Trump attorney, May 10, 2022]
May 11 2022: Garland convenes four DOJ Grand juries, one for Jan 6 convened until March 2024
Grand Jury subpoenas Trump for documents
June 3 2022
Trump lawyer hands over 40 boxes from Maralago storage room
38 docs marked Classified
June 3 2022: Garland's DOJ Grand jury subpoenas Trump for remaining docs in Maralago,
lawyers for Trump "certifying" that there were no more;
Trump stole 11,000 government docs, 300 classified docs lawyers earlier handed over even more
July 22 2022: Garland's Grand jury testimony by Marc Short, Mike Pences Chief of Staff, & Short's counsel Greg Jacob
August 8 2022
FBI warrant search of Maralago
103 marked Classified
18 marked Top Secret
The law violated: - 18 U.S.C. 793 Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information.
Penalty: Fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
More on the indictability of stolen documents:
https://www.justsecurity.org/83034/tracker-evidence-of-trumps-knowledge-and-involvement-in-retaining-mar-a-lago-documents/
Sept 2 2022: Garland's Grand jury subpoenaed testimony by Pat Cipollone,
a) one of the participants in WH meeting Dec 18 2020, that included Giuliani, Powell, Flynn, Patrick Byrne of Overstock,
b) Cipollone sat in on Jan 3 2021 DOJ official meeting with Trump, and
c) Cipollone was in direct contact with trump on Jan 6 during capitol insurrection, and did nothing when Meadows told him Trump didnt want to interfere with rioters calling for hanging Mike Pence)
and Patrick Philbin
Sept 15 2022: Garland's Grand Jury subpoenas Mark Meadows for testimony and documents
the month of Sept 2022: Garland's DOJ issued over 40 subpoenas to people close to Trump, some of whom are
Bill Stepien, DTs campaign mgr; part of team to prevent certification
Sean Dollman, DTs campaign CFO
Ben Williamson, Deputy of Mark Meadows,
Boris Epshteyn, Trump's lawyer -- phone demanded; part of team to prevent certification
Mike Lindell -- phone seized
William Russell, WH special asst to Trump, THEN special aide to Trump in Mar-a-lago
Oct 6 2022: Garland's Grand jury calls back Greg Jacob
Oct 13 2022: Garland's Grand Jury calls back Marc Short, Pence's chief of staff
Nov 4 2022: classified docs found in Bidens
-- Wilmington home (garage, library), (no docs in Rehoboth beach home) and
-- Penn Biden Center in DC (Richard Sauber is spec counsel to Pres Biden)
Nov 14 2022: Garland asks John Lausch (Trump appointed US Atty, Chicago) to review found Biden documents
3. Nov 18 2022 Garland appoints Jack Smith (3 days after Trump announces his candidacy for 2024), who inherits the records of the Garland DOJ's work.
By that very day, Nov 18 2022, Garland's DOJ had convicted more than 323 Jan 6 insurrectionists.
All of the above is what AG Merrick Garland and his DOJ did before Jack Smith.
We've been through these timelines many times on DU.
So what part of those things do you not understand, Think. Again.
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