While folks continue to attack Garland

[malaise]

The current AG has been covering up the fact that her President has been lying about not knowing that he is on the Epstein list multiple times. She too is a liar. This is worse than Watergate.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Yes. Garland has no power now. Bondi is ruining lives NOW. Focus, folks. . . . nt

[Escurumbele]

38. The fact is, we would not be in this mess if Garland had done his real job, which was to uphold the law

and not delay it as he did.

Garland is part guilty of USA's current situation, and that cannot be forgotten, cannot be forgiven, the damage is too much. Had he done his job as he was supposed to, trump would NOT be president today, and the thugs that cater to all his whims would have be warned, and maybe some of them would be gone by now.

Sorry but, I don't subscribe to that message.

Yes, Bondi is worst, we knew that, but that is not exculpatory to Garland, at all, many here fought for Garland thinking he would do the right thing, many believed in him, he fooled a lot of people, that is a disgrace.

[ancianita]

42. The fact REALLY is that this is not true.

Nor was former AG Garland guilty of not prosecuting and trying to meet the "speedy trial" standard as it applied to Trump's criminal cases.

For a year I've told DU detractors this, and I'll say it here again: AG Merrick Garland was not waiting.

Before ANY DOJ indictments and court filings can be made, a thorough investigation and collection of evidence must take place -- none of which DU'ers saw while it was happening.

Because the FBI is DOJ, Garland's FBI began arrests ON Jan 6 2021 -- two months before his confirmation -- and Garland DOJ convictions continued until the week after the 2024 election.

During the months of FBI arrest actions, Garland was prosecuting new AND outstanding cases,
all while trying to rebuild the Barr DOJ personnel, trying to place Senate confirmed assistant AG’s, deputies, and 8 Division heads. ANY delays in Senate confirmations in Garland’s first year were caused by Republicans, not Garland.

1. Again. Before Garland’s investigation and prosecutions work could begin...

Garland himself wasn't confirmed with Republican votes until TWO months after Biden's 2021 inauguration;
Republicans STILL made Garland wait months for his division heads' confirmations;
Republicans did not confirm Kenneth Polite to head the DOJ's Criminal Division until July 2021 -- SIX MONTHS after Biden's inauguration;
Because they knew the Criminal Division would handle both federal cases under Garland.

2. Here's the Garland DOJ evidence gathering timeline -- BEFORE Jack Smith made any indictments.

By January 6 2022 (10 months after his confirmation): 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 actions above contributed to Special Counsel investigations.
In other words, Garland handed off all the documents case evidence 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 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 -- 6 months before Jack Smith walked in the door
— 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 "certify" that there were no more;
Trump stole 11,000 government docs, 300 classified docs — the Garland DOJ's FBI found more than Trump's lawyers certified as recovered.

July 22 2022: G
arland's Grand jury testimony by Marc Short, Mike Pence’s 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 these stolen defense-classified 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 didn’t want to interfere with rioters calling for hanging Mike Pence)
AND with 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, DT’s campaign mgr; part of team to prevent certification
— Sean Dollman, DT’s 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 Biden’s
-- 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.

Jack Smith took charge of over 20 Garland prosecutors and integrated his work into what was described as a 'fast moving investigation' which had already gathered more evidence than Special Counsel Mueller ever had.

By that very day, Nov 18 2022, Garland's DOJ had convicted more than 323 Jan 6 insurrectionists.

All of the above documents case evidence AND DC grand jury evidence gathered -- all that is what AG Merrick Garland and his DOJ did before his appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Garland himself could not possibly know how long it would take SC Jack Smith's team to file indictments.

But the first documents case indictment was filed June 8 2023, based completely on work previously done by Garland's Criminal Division/FBI investigators and Garland's grand juries.

ANY delays by the courts -- entertaining defense motions, hearings, more motions -- are not the fault of either AG Garland or his Special Counsel, Jack Smth.

For DU'ers triggered by the mention of Garland,
-- this timeline of his work will forever remain the facts of Garland's Jan 6 investigations and evidence collections during his first 20 months in office...
-- this timeline posted at least 10 times over the last year also establishes DU Garland haters' willful ignorance and therefore stupidity, most especially in hindsight, of the facts of AG Garland's work, and AG Garland's wisdom in choosing Jack Smith from the Hague as Special Counsel to carry on his work.

Continue to scapegoat and blame Merrick Garland, and you will continue to be wrong. WRONG.

[MadameButterfly]

53. House Democrats were complaining

that they were ahead of DOJ on the investigations when the DOJ had more resources. Things took off visibly, with great speed as soon as Jack Smith was appointed. Garland prioritized a bottom up rather than a top down approach to Jan.6. He was cautious where Jack Smith was not, where I believe Doug Jones would not have been.

Of course Republicans were the main people slowing things down.
Yes, Garland gets credit for appointing Jack Smith.

I did not become frustrated in hindsight. I was frustrated in real time but kept hoping Garland was doing brilliant stuff behind the scenes that I would learn about eventually. Let's not call people hater's for their honest critique of the job he did. I just don't think he was the best guy for the job when democracy was at stake.. With a normal SCOTUS it wouldn't have mattered. But this is the cast we were dealing with.

[ancianita]

55. "Things took off visibly, with great speed as soon as Jack Smith was appointed." Things took off invisibly, too.

But in hindsight it's easier to still NOT give an "honest critique" based on stubborn denial of the facts of his work; because even in hindsight-blindsight to it's still easier to blame only Garland for our situation today than to blame the courts or Republicans.
Plenty of other DU'ers have done their best to explain the facts to folks and if they don't want to admit their ignorance, that's on them. So yes, I'm in the "let's call people haters" camp.

With a normal SCOTUS it wouldn't have mattered. But this is the cast we were dealing with.

My take on this is:
With a normal SCOTUS it wouldn't have mattered. But this is the cast we [and Garland] were dealing with.

If you now wish to second guess Biden about who'd have been "the best guy for the job" when at the time, democracy was still working, please suggest names.

[MadameButterfly]

68. I'm not blaming only Garland

There were many pieces to this. Obviously the Republicans are the villains here, and SCOTUS.
Garland was not a villain. He just didn't do a good enough job.

Happy to second guess Biden, which I have done since the day Garland was appointed:
Doug Jones was on Biden's short list, maybe his second choice. Maybe his first choice, but he would have been more controversial than Garland. i think (just my guess) that Biden, like Obama, was holding out a peace branch to Republicans who had claimed to respect Garland. In Obama's case, he hoped to get a vote on a Supreme Court justice. Biden was trying to work across the aisle as he had much of his career.
But times had changed and we needed the guy who bankrupted the Klan. Republicans would have been apoplectic, but its not as if they gave either president credit for their effort at compromise.

[ancianita]

73. Fine. I strongly disagree. You can also take these informed opinions of judicial/legal experts over a year ago.

There's more to running the biggest law firm on the planet than the successful bankrupter of the Klan.
Neither Biden nor his AG had a single thing to do with the speed of these federal cases against Trump.
On another show (I saw on MSNBC but can't find on YouTube) both Andrew Weissman and Lisa Rubin said that, given the current federal judicial structure and "due process" pace, no AG or Special Counsel could have won either of the two Special Counsel cases and gotten a fast sentencing schedule before the Nov election of 2024.

[MadameButterfly]

93. given when they got started

which was too late.

As I said, with a normal SCOTUS the Garland cautious approach may have still succeeded.

[brush]

56. So much bullshit. If Merrick the eek has taken charge of investgatng trump's J6...

insurrection himself upon first takng office instead of foot draggng for tow years to appoint Jack Smith as special counsel. If so, trump could've been tried and convicted of the attempted coup he exhorted all magats around the nation to come to DC and attend. "It'll be wild'' trump himself said.

We all saw it on TV. We all saw trump watch it on TV for three and a half hours hoping it would succeed, even while many in his admn and family were urging him to stop the attack on the Capitol Building.

So stop the bullshit. It was derelection of his duty and the his oath to protect and defend the Constitution and the nation...OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.

Stop the bullshit in defendng Merrick the Meek who let trump run out the clock without being charged for his attempted coup...and now here we are with a felon, sex predator and insurrectionist as president...AGAIN.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

50. Leave it to the historians. Picking those bones now doesn't help us deal with Blondi and tRump and Miller and .... . .nt

[MadameButterfly]

69. Hey, we are experiencing a trauma and we shouldn't ask how we got here?

We can deal with those other guys too. Walk and chew gum.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

66. Really?

Where would trump be right now? In prison? Do you REALLY believe that, after all the illegal unethical bullshit he and his cult have gotten away with over the decades?

Show the timeline for the grand jury selection, the indictment, the trial jury selection, the trial, the conviction, the sentencing and the incarceration. Include every defense delay tactic and add a few dozen more.

But what if the grand jury had decided NOT to indict him?

Just pretending he would have gone to trial before the election, what if he had been acquitted?

You and others are just so sure of what would have happened, but what if it didn't happen the way you imagine it? There are literally dozens of scenarios that wouldn't have involved Merrick Garland, who some people apparently have bestowed magical ultimate power.

[MadameButterfly]

71. Bolsonaro is on trial in Brazil

This shouldn't have been so complicated. We have tapes and videos.

[Hitler Hater]

74. Garland's Slothfulness

Garland's slothfulness has led us into full fascism, no getting around it. Others may try to excuse his dismal failure. I won't!

[sheshe2]

82. Ummm kay.

He alone led us into full fascism by being 'slothful'?

[marble falls]

94. Specifically, for example.

[GoCubsGo]

2. Thank you!

And, why is Mitch McConnell being let off the hook here, too? Had he not squashed either impeachment in the Senate, this would all be moot. And, chances are, that demented motherfucker would be in prison by now.

[malaise]

3. Good point

Rec

[emulatorloo]

26. Not to mention the Supreme Court, who declared Trump the King of the USA

Above the law, above prosecution for ‘official acts’ like insurrection.

[Abstractartist]

36. There was an opportunity, but the SC was not enlarged when calls went out.

[emulatorloo]

37. There were not enough votes in Congress to expand the SC.

As you know, expanding the court requires a bill passed by Congress.

[yliza]

67. Yeah we can thank Manchin and Sinema for that

They derailed a lot of things the Biden administration wanted to do, including voting rights legislation, which was and is still sorely needed. Texas would be a purple state if not outright blue if that law had passed.

[MadameButterfly]

72. I wonder if McConnell regrets

not encouragning his people to vote guilty when he had the chance.
Did he really think the criminal justice system would take care of Trump, and McConnell didn't want the blame?
It's not as if they liked each other.

[Orrex]

4. We should refrain from attacking her until her "torn cornea" "heals."

[Trueblue Texan]

14. Wish we had a ROFLMAO button! nt

[littlemissmartypants]

29. Not praying for her to achieve wokeness through total blindness?

Dammit! This government stuff is getting confusing.

[RussBLib]

70. did she get into some kind of cat fight?

...somebody scratch her eyes out? for lying?

https://russblib.blogspot.com

[Buddyzbuddy]

87. Good one Orrex.

[BigMin28]

5. There is much

blame to go around. So many could have done so much from both sides. Yet here we are. Then there is the American media. I curse them all .

[bdamomma]

8. Forget the media.

They are spineless, and just looking out for themselves.

[LymphocyteLover]

20. The media is a huge part of our problem by both sidesing GOP extremism for decades

and basically pushing dump into office in 2024.

We do rely on them for news and they need to do better.

[littlemissmartypants]

31. Media, the WWW, AI...

Blame it on the rain...

Self evaluation is important. Strategy is born from it. Nobody wins playing the blame game. If only it was that easy.

❤️

[LymphocyteLover]

58. Haha!

[littlemissmartypants]

62. ❤️

[bdamomma]

63. They haven't

done better by bending the knee. Their allegiance is not to us, but to their corporations.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. This is a political schism

Democrats in 2021 had confidence that the political center would emerge and rule of law would hold. Their response to GOP claims that J6 was "touristy" was tepid. Law was the responsibility of DOJ. Politics was the bastion of politicians.

Worse than Watergate? Yes. Congress is gone, courts are neutered by SCOTUS, Epstein is the only emerging boundary.

I need re-read Ludlum's "The Apocalypse Watch".

[littlemissmartypants]

34. Did you read The Holcroft Covenant?

[bucolic_frolic]

35. yes

and the movie.

[bdamomma]

7. Garland is gone

and Bondi is presently the felon's AG covering up and being loyal to him at all costs.

Way worse than Watergate.

[gab13by13]

9. Merrick Garland was probably

the best AG any Democratic President could have hoped for. I bet that President Biden thanks his lucky stars every night that he chose Merrick, especially because of the Hur report.

[Hornedfrog2000]

19. Bwahahahhahahahahahhshfkajjs

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH HAHAHHAHAHAHFHRJSJCJKEKDKXM LMAOA AHAHHAHA

[LymphocyteLover]

23. I assume you are being sarcastic but Garland was not nearly as much of a problem as SCOTUS

who held up all prosecutions of the orange shit with their insane immunity ruling.

Jack Smith was doing a good job with his prosecutions. Garland tried to placate the GOP by taking a very measured and proper approach and clearly that did not pay off.

[Bettie]

25. I see what you did there!

I'd laugh, but it's too freaking sad.

[Irish_Dem]

10. She is also telling a crime suspect the details of the investigation.

Doesn't sound legal or proper to me.

[malaise]

11. Correct

Rec

[NJCher]

24. It's not proper

But the saving grace is there is already so much out there that any lies could put them in a bramble patch about 10 miles wide and 20 feet high.

Their other big problem with a lie to cover him is that there is a ton of court admitted evidence from her trial that’s been released and is online. I’ve spent hours and hours looking at it. I mean, think about it: she committed the crimes with him. She was right in there as a threesome, having sex with these kids. That’s why she’s in the slammer for 20 years.

In essence, it’s a duplicate trial.

[Javaman]

12. Watergate was a horrible bag job by two bit morons who thought they were clever

this is the mafia looking at Watergate and saying, "no don't just hold my beer, here are the keys to my Caddy and my lake house".

[FakeNoose]

84. For Watergate, it wasn't the crime ... it was the cover-up that involved a President

For the many years of Epstein/Maxwell/Chump ... it was the crimes... all the crimes ... that by coincidence just happened to involve a President.

[Javaman]

85. Only because it never went to impeachment.

I can bet you Nixon told them to do that.

But we will never know because of the mysterious disappearance of 16 minutes of tape

[Trueblue Texan]

13. I don't even like to see a comparison of Watergate and this administration.

Truly, these current thugs surpassed Watergate in the first term, perhaps even prior to the first term. I also hate the use of the term "unprecedented " because almost everything these crooks do has been unprecedented from the beginning of both his terms. It's been used so much, it's lost any impact, any meaning that describes the extreme lawlessness we are experiencing under this regime. We need more descriptive words...maybe egregious or radically criminal, or unspeakably evil, etc.

[Joinfortmill]

15. Thank you.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

16. What a lot of us are saying is that if Merrick Garland had acted more forcefully and with...

...more urgency as was warranted by what we had just seen in Turnip 1.0 and J6 then there would never have been an AG Bondi in the first place to do things worse than Watergate.

Yes, she is awful. What they are doing is awful. McConnell is also to blame as are all Republicans that didn't back impeachment and disqualification. That is all true. But when our side had the moment to act we were timid.

It never should have gotten this far.

[emulatorloo]

41. Sounds like yr not aware of the investigation timeline. Here's a good summary:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20508429

For a year I've told DU detractors this, and I'll say it here again: AG Merrick Garland wasn't waiting.

Before ANY DOJ indictments can be made, a thorough investigation and collection of evidence must take place -- none of which DU'ers saw while it was happening.

Because the FBI is DOJ, Garland's FBI began arrests ON Jan 6 2021 -- two months before his confirmation -- and Garland DOJ convictions continued until the week after the 2024 election.

During the months of FBI arrest actions, Garland was prosecuting new AND outstanding cases,
all while trying to rebuild the Barr DOJ personnel, trying to place Senate confirmed assistant AG’s, deputies, and 8 Division heads. ANY delays in Senate confirmations in Garland’s first year were caused by Republicans, not Garland.

1. Again. Before Garland’s investigation and prosecutions work could begin...

Garland himself wasn't confirmed with Republican votes until TWO months after Biden's 2021 inauguration;
Republicans STILL made Garland wait months for his division heads' confirmations;
Republicans did not confirm Kenneth Polite to head the DOJ's Criminal Division until July 2021 -- SIX MONTHS after Biden's inauguration;
Because they knew the Criminal Division would handle both federal cases under Garland.

2. Here's the Garland DOJ evidence gathering timeline -- BEFORE Jack Smith made any indictments.

By January 6 2022 (10 months after his confirmation): 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 actions above contributed to Special Counsel investigations.
In other words, Garland handed off all the documents case evidence 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 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 -- 6 months before Jack Smith walked in the door
— 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 "certify" that there were no more;
Trump stole 11,000 government docs, 300 classified docs — the Garland DOJ's FBI found more than Trump's lawyers certified as recovered.

July 22 2022: G
arland's Grand jury testimony by Marc Short, Mike Pence’s 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 these stolen defense-classified 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 didn’t want to interfere with rioters calling for hanging Mike Pence)
AND with 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, DT’s campaign mgr; part of team to prevent certification
— Sean Dollman, DT’s 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 Biden’s
-- 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. Jack Smith took charge of over 20 Garland prosecutors and integrated his work into what was described as a 'fast moving investigation' which had already gathered more evidence than Mueller had.

By that very day, Nov 18 2022, Garland's DOJ had convicted more than 323 Jan 6 insurrectionists.

All of the above documents case evidence AND DC grand jury evidence gathered is what AG Merrick Garland and his DOJ did before Jack Smith.

Garland himself could not possibly know how long it would take SC Jack Smith's team to file indictments.

But the first documents case indictment was filed June 8 2023, based mostly on work previously done by Garland's Criminal Division/FBI investigators and grand juries.

For DU'ers triggered by the mention of Garland, this timeline of his work will forever remain the facts of Garland's Jan 6 investigations and evidence collections during his first 20 months in office... along with those DU’ers' willful ignorance of the fact of Garland's wisdom in choosing Jack Smith from the Hague as Special Counsel.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

43. I'm fully aware of the timeline.

[emulatorloo]

44. Wonderful!

[ancianita]

47. Then feel free to be fact free and wrong.

[LexVegas]

17. Fuck Bondi. Fuck Garland. There...easy. nt

[NoMoreRepugs]

18. Learn from the past - don't complain and whine about it. Pretty sure it can't be changed.

[Escurumbele]

39. The damage Garland left behind cannot be changed, but that does not mean we should forget, on the contrary,

it should be a reminder to make sure it doesn't happen again, that a weak person, or a corrupt person will not take the AG post because the consequences are dire.

Someone said above that had Garland done his job there would not be any Bondi either, he/she is right, and everyone needs to think about that because there would be no "president trump" either.

[NoMoreRepugs]

89. Exactly, "learn" from the past.

[Akakoji]

21. Nothing to do with Bondi's execrable behavior

Garland had dozens and dozens of opportunities to enforce the rule of law and he very timidly declined. We would not be in this mess today had he. Bondi would probably be in jail as well.

[Bettie]

22. Bondi is terrible, she's the worst combination of

sycophant, corrupt, and being bad at her job.

Garland could have been good at his job, he simply chose not to do it when it might impact or anger his friends at various right wing organizations.

[Bluestocking]

27. AOC for next AC

She won’t mess around

[ancianita]

48. The DOJ role of Attorney General has traditionally been filled by attorneys due to its legal responsibilities.

AOC got her degree from Boston University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in international relations and economics.
AOC is neither a lawyer, nor has any judicial experience. So no, she can't do the job.

[markpkessinger]

78. I like AOC, but seriously? She isn't even a lawyer! n/t

[gab13by13]

28. It took Garland 4 days

to search numerous properties of President Biden looking for classified documents.

It took Garland 11 months to search Mar-a-Lago for classified documents.

[malaise]

30. No doubt but right now this bunch are on the back foot

Pepper them

[yourout]

32. Yes the current AG is a POS and has great power but...

If Garland had did his job she would have nowhere near the power she has now.

[bigtree]

33. amen

...rec'd!

[Happy Hoosier]

40. The fact that the current AG is Trump's lapdog...

... doesn;t change the fact that Garland's foot-dragging cost us so very much.

[ancianita]

49. Yes, she is. And no,

it's not a fact that Garland was guilty of "foot-dragging." What cost us is Republicans, federal judges' who allowed "due process" delays over the Constitution's "speedy trial" clause, and especially, the MAGA SCOTUS' delays.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20508887

[BannonsLiver]

45. It has to be one or the other?

I don’t think so.


Something about western complicity.


That is all.

🙄

[malaise]

52. Valid point

and complicity comes from all sides and not just in the US or the West.
Right now focus on this pedo posse of perpetual projection. He lied, she lied and the Speaker lied.

[ancianita]

46. "A plague on both their houses" talk is simple minded bothsider bullshit. See my 3rd post in the thread (#42)

If folks want to be among those who flog Merrick Garland over Trump and then defend such floggings,
-- while not seeing over time the hundreds of billions in business and black market corruption that the Garland DOJ clawed back through its civil/criminal, and domestic/international prosecutions, or
-- while not seeing that the due process delays the Jack Smith team endured from the appellate and especially SCOTUS judiciary, or
-- while refusing to see that 90% of the FL documents case is exactly what Garland himself handed over to Smith upon his appointment 3 days after Trump announced he'd run again for prez,
then I stand by my criticisms of anti-Garland DU'ers.

History will see Garland in a much fairer perspective than his detractors here.

Once folks do see what the current weaponized DOJ does to ignore the kleptocracy of the WH, and when it sees the unjust peace we suffer under Trump …
If they still refuse to long for the factual scope and magnitude of justice the Garland DOJ gave this country, -- especially given the factual hindsight provided by many who know how much Garland actually did -- they will continue to be wrong.

[OLDMDDEM]

51. I hope they all go to hell.

[JanMichael]

54. No need to worry about Garland. Back at Arnold & Porter.

He can be as mousy as he wants now with no criticism.

[Faux pas]

57. That still doesn't

negate garland's failure and chicken shittyness.

[senseandsensibility]

59. I misread your post as "white folks continue to attack Garland"

and I thought what fresh hell is this? So glad I was wrong about that, at least. But seriously, the way I look at it we don't have an AG. She has the power, but none of the independence and that is very dangerous.

[malaise]

61. That would be fresh hell

[H2O Man]

60. Recommended.

People should be aware that people trying to distract are often not our friends. I do understand why some good people resent that things did not unfold differently. But here we are, Now, and should stick with that reality.

More, I think it is important to remember Malcolm X's wisdom when he noted that not every man who throws worms into the water is a friend of the fish. There are worm-throwers on the internet. They sometimes come out from under the very rocks where they find such worms.

[swong19104]

64. It would be monstrously funny

If Garland would pipe in, perhaps in about two months from now, that he has the original Epstein client list with actual Epstein handwritten comments on the margins.

[RoeVWade]

65. People connected to Epstein are highly motivated. Not just the law, but wives, family, friends, entire life reputation

It may be a hard fight until more and more dominoes fall, if things are anywhere close to what they could be.

[Gore1FL]

75. I expect Bondi to protect Trump. With her, it isn't so surprising. nt

[Hassler]

76. Thank you for steering toward the real problem we might actually do something about

[Pacifist Patriot]

77. This makes Watergate look like slipping a Hershey bar into your pocket at a 7-11.

To be clear, I am not condoning shop lifting. Just in case that needs saying.

[PatrickforB]

79. Well, I will venture to say that we can definitely attack Garland AND Bondi at the same time.

Because Garland did not do us much good.

Bondi is worse, granted, a demonic presence, but Garland...well he's a limp noodle, pretty much.

[JustAnotherGen]

80. Seriously with Garland?

Move on. Pam Braun is pure evil.

[Karasu]

81. Your statement is true, as are many people have made about Garland. It's not either/or. That said, though, you are

absolutely right that Garland is now completely irrelevant to the situation at hand. Does he deserve much of the blame for this state of affairs? Absolutely he does, as does the court system for allowing Trump to even run after committing a fucking insurrection, in blatant violation of the law. But while history can and should condemn him for his actions (or rather, inaction), there is no longer any sense in constantly revisiting that subject when we're being faced with such immediate and dire circumstances every single fucking day. Thanks to Palantir, we are about to turn into a full-on surveillance state while at the same time criminalizing the poor. Fact-based health and science have now been all but eradicated. The list goes on and on and on.

My sole concern every day now is whether or not this country can endure for so much as another year, because it's going to take far too long to recover from all this, and I know I personally would much rather contribute to a society that actually still gives a flying shit about its people and their quality of life rather than trying to kill off as many as possible to pinch pennies. Tarring and feathering Garland--however much he deserves it (and he certainly does deserve it)--isn't going to change that.

[Skittles]

83. I can multi-task

THEY BOTH SUCK

[Karasu]

88. +10000

[iemanja]

86. .

Regarding Garland:

We wouldn’t have Bondi or Trump if Garland would have done his job.

[Buddyzbuddy]

90. From a laymans perspective

I think Garland might have made a good Supreme Court Justice. He exhibited a calm methodical approach to reach decisions. And for most AG's that still would be a good way to process the job in addition to respecting the Nation's laws, DOJ longstanding policies and going out of his way to be nonpartisan.

In simple terms, he brought a dull knife to a gunfight. He absolutely strategized the right way by working from the bottom up with sights on taking down bigger fish with evidence of conspiracies.

Unfortunately, he was slow to recognize a need for a more expedient and dramatic strategy. I'm guessing he was expecting more cooperation from the former President. For example, asking for files back that nobody in their right mind would feel entitled to keep as their right. And then when that individual didn't cooperate, act expeditiously to rectify that situation without regard to their former position.

In other words we needed a bull dog with attitude, like Jack Smith. A day late and a dollar short.

The current Felon in the Whitehouse had 2 main strategies. 1) run out the clock, delay,delay,delay. 2) win back the Whitehouse. He won on both of those strategies.

Garland is the guy we can focus our blame on but frankly there is a lot of blame to go around. Our legislative body has failed us with inept laws that are purposely ambiguous or without teeth in regards to punishment or clarity which is open to the courts interpretation allowing a con man to manipulate our laws and courts to his advantage. That's our fault not his. He's learned to work our system. It doesn't make him any less of a scumbag but our side for the most part wants to fight using rules and he uses dirty fighting lawyers that are willing to get disbarred for him.

Bottom line, wrong AG for this job and time. Nothing to do but move on and pick better people for the time period to make the laws and enforce them. Let's go 2026.

[msfiddlestix]

91. Covering up lies is obviously her primary duty and mandate which is executed with every breath she takes.

But of course it should not be considered as shocking, though of course it is indeed, shocking nonetheless. The details may not have been predicted, but it was all very, very much predictable way, way before now, early on during Garlands tenure. He was in a position to cut off the legs of that psychopathic monsters champagne and fascist agenda but dragged his heels and slow walked the fight over the cliff into the abyss, cuzz why.?
I effing don't know. Was garland being threatened? Maybe, but we are not likly to ever know why he wasn't inclined to protect our democracy using the tools at his disposal

[slightlv]

92. Yes, it is worse than Watergate.

But we have become so brainwashed, so inured of anything criminal these people do, that only the worst sex scandals can get thru our animal brains.

Damn it! I'm tickled pink to see this happen to him now. I hope it buries him in 6 feet of earth. BUT what does it say about this country that we DIDN'T get this way they started an insurrection and coup on our government? SMDH