Salon reports, Law group calls on Merrick Garland’s removal from DOJ for failure to hold Trump accountable:
A nonpartisan nonprofit is calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to resign over his apparent failure to “hold accountable former president Donald Trump and his co-conspirators for attempting to overthrow the government,” suggesting that the Biden appointee is “the wrong person for this job at this time.”
Full statement from Free Speech For People (FSFP):
Merrick Garland Must Resign
Over the past thirty years, Merrick Garland served with distinction as a federal prosecutor and then as an appellate judge. Unfortunately, as Attorney General for the past eight months, he has failed to take any meaningful action to hold accountable former president Donald Trump and his co-conspirators for attempting to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021 and a flurry of criminal acts in the months and years leading up to that date. Instead, he has adopted indefensible positions of the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) to protect Trump from accountability. Since Garland is unwilling to step up, it is time for him to step down.
In January, we urged incoming Attorney General Merrick Garland to establish an independent task force to centralize and coordinate criminal investigations of Trump and his associates. To preserve the rule of law, we explained, Garland should announce the task force’s formation, designate its leadership and mandate, and allow it to independently investigate. If Garland had created a framework for credible, impartial criminal investigations of a former president of the United States, DOJ would have affirmed that no one—not even a former president—is above the law. Yet while DOJ has charged the low-level insurrectionists who broke into the Capitol, it has not moved against the highly- placed leaders of the insurrection, including Trump himself.
DOJ’s inaction—Garland’s inaction—endangers the rule of law. Even before the 2020 election, Trump conspired with key aides to sabotage a free and fair election by extorting (or, viewed another way, bribing) the President of Ukraine to embarrass Joe Biden politically in exchange for military aid. (Although the Senate failed to convict him in an impeachment trial for this conduct, that has no impact on criminal proceedings.) And as the election approached, Trump bragged that he was deliberately sabotaging the Postal Service to limit voting-by-mail.
After his election defeat, Trump called Georgia’s Secretary of State and pressured him to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn the presidential election outcome in that state. (Two Members of Congress have already sent a criminal referral to the FBI regarding that phone call.) He also pressured another Georgia official to investigate counties where Biden received more votes. Since overturning Georgia’s election results alone wouldn’t yield a victory for Trump, it’s almost certain that he made or attempted similar conversations with elections officials in other states.
The culmination was Trump’s speech inciting an angry mob to march on the Capitol. His violent horde then stormed the Capitol, seizing the House and Senate chambers and forcing emergency evacuation of Congress—all in an effort, spurred by Trump, to stop the certification of election results while Trump watched on television with obvious satisfaction and ignored pleas to intervene to stop the insurrection. In fact, recent news indicates that, even before January 6, his team established a “command center” or “war room” to coordinate the events of that day, and that event planners were in close contact with Trump’s White House Chief of Staff. Their actions, no less than those of the individual rioters, may constitute conspiracy to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business, insurrection, seditious conspiracy, and advocating the overthrow of the government.
That is not all of Trump’s potential criminal liability. Trump’s offenses related to the 2016 election weren’t prosecuted during the Trump presidency because of DOJ policy. The Mueller Report and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee report cited extensive evidence that Trump obstructed justice. But Mueller explicitly noted that he didn’t consider filing—or even drawing conclusions about— charges against Trump due to DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president. That policy, however, stopped applying to Trump at 12:00 pm on January 20.
The same policy probably protected Trump from the federal criminal charges against his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid off Trump’s mistresses for their silence during the campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty to (and served prison time for) those crimes and admitted that he committed them at Trump’s direction. Trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator (“Individual- 1”), but, so far, has escaped accountability.
Indeed, Trump spent his entire time in office misusing the presidency for personal profit. As early as the transition, he engaged in a scheme of exchanging U.S. policy for approval of Trump Organization trademarks in China. Over the next four years, he demanded and received a mind-blowing array of personal financial benefits from domestic and foreign supplicants seeking to curry favor with the U.S. government.
Garland’s failures have not been limited to Trump. He has failed to investigate Members of Congress who appear to have helped plan the January 6 insurrection, including Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.), Rep. Madison Cawthorn (N.C.), Rep. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Rep. Louie Gohmert (Texas), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.).
Meanwhile, DOJ inexcusably sat on its hands since a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives voted on October 21 to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the January 6 committee. The last time that the House referred a contempt of Congress charge to DOJ, then-President Reagan’s prosecutors immediately brought the matter to a grand jury; it returned an indictment just nine days after the House vote.
Furthermore, Garland’s failures have not been limited to inaction. He has actively defended or continued many Trump-era DOJ policies, including the coverup of the key DOJ legal memo regarding Trump’s obstruction of justice, and defending Trump’s libel of a rape victim by claiming that he did so “within the scope of his office as President of the United States.”
For all these reasons, Garland is no longer fit to serve as Attorney General. His previous record of federal service should not blind us to the fact that he is simply the wrong person for this job at this time. Perhaps he can still contribute to the country in other ways. But as long as Trump and his co-conspirators walk free, American democracy is in danger. We need an Attorney General who understands that danger and is willing to take action to protect democracy and the rule of law.
Merrick Garland must resign.
Salon continues:
The group, Free Speech For People (FSFP) – started back in 2010 to combat the rise of “corporate personhood” in politics – outlined in a Thursday statement a smattering of ways in which the attorney general has allegedly abdicated his duties.
Back in January, the group urged Garland in an op-ed to assemble a specialized task force to independently investigate Trump’s role in inciting the Capitol riot, for which he was later impeached. But Garland, they said, never took heed of their advice.
“If Garland had created a framework for credible, impartial criminal investigations of a former president of the United States, DOJ would have affirmed that no one—not even a former president—is above the law,” the group wrote. “Yet while DOJ has charged the low-level insurrectionists who broke into the Capitol, it has not moved against the highly-placed leaders of the insurrection, including Trump himself.”
Much of Trump’s criminal improprieties took place in the leadup to the Capitol riot, when the former president stoked baseless outrage over a presidential election “stolen” by President Biden, the group added.
Back in January, roughly two months after his election loss, Trump made a private call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger asking the state official to effectively “find 11,780” votes in his favor. Furthermore, Trump and his allies put together an official plan – now known as the Eastman memo – outlining a step-by-step process by which they would illegally overturn the election by having former Vice President Mike Pence replace state electors with officials sympathetic to Trump’s conspiracies of voter fraud.
“Their actions, no less than those of the individual rioters, may constitute conspiracy to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business, insurrection, seditious conspiracy, and advocating the overthrow of the government,” FSFP argued.
Late late month, Rolling Stone reported that several members of congress – including Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. – actively conspired with multiple organizers of the Capitol riot, convening meetings with the organizers during the leadup to the insurrection. Despite sitting on clear evidence of criminality, Garland has so far “failed to investigate” any of these lawmakers, FSFP said.
“For all these reasons, Garland is no longer fit to serve as Attorney General,” the group wrote. “But as long as Trump and his co-conspirators walk free, American democracy is in danger. We need an Attorney General who understands that danger and is willing to take action to protect democracy and the rule of law.”
Jason Easley adds:
The Justice Department’s slow reaction to the referral of Steve Bannon for criminal prosecution is harming the 1/6 Committee’s investigation and giving a green light to coup plotters to refuse to cooperate.
Merrick Garland is by all accounts a good person, but there are concerns that he has been away from DOJ for too long, and the Justice Department that he remembers is not the same as the broken department in desperate need of reform and repair that he is running now.
Patience on the left is wearing thin with the Attorney General, and for every good move that he has made to protect voting rights, the elephant in the room is Trump and the DOJ’s lack of action in response to the 1/6 attack.
I have said before that I have come to believe, as does FSP, Merrick Garland “is simply the wrong person for this job at this time.” DOJ needs an aggressive prosecutor in charge who will take down the criminal enterprise of the Trump crime family and the GQP fascist threat to American democracy. Merrick Garland is not up to the task.
I guess keeping him off the US Supreme Court wasn’t a bad idea after all.
@RepKavanagh – Is Garland perfect? Nope.
But there’s a big difference between being imperfect and committing rape.
The fact that Cheeto and McConnell didn’t like him while liking someone else speaks well of his character.
Of course, that fact doesn’t say much about theirs.
So progressive criminal justice reform includes accusing people who were not even charged with a crime with a vicious felony?
So you pro-rape John? Your party seems to be.
Republican Todd Akin – “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Rick Santorum – “Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation.”
Republican Clayton Williams “Rape is kinda like the weather. If it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it.
Donald J T4ump – bragging about sexually assaulting women – “grab ’em by the pussy, when you’re a star they “let” you do it”.
What the hell is wrong with you?
I watched Brett Kavanagh cry like a little baby, have a temper tantrum, scream and yell, and brag about how much he likes to drink during a job interview on live TV.
His freakin’ job interview.
Yeah, we believe the women. And you should know that believing the women isn’t the same as just accusing someone of a violent felony, that’s not “progressive criminal justice reform”.
What the hell are you talking about? You’re just trying to twist something into an insult because you don’t seem to have anything better to do that to try to own the libs.
And you’re not very good at it.
Being against rape shouldn’t be a progressive thing, John, you should be against rape, too.
I think if I was a Republican, after the last few years, I’d avoid the subject, you incurious snarky little troll boy.
Intellectual eunuch.
YOU SAY: “Yeah, we believe the women. And you should know that believing the women isn’t the same as just accusing someone of a violent felony, that’s not “progressive criminal justice reform”.
CRAIG SAID: “But there’s a big difference between being imperfect and committing rape.” and that goes beyond accusing, so lay some of your irrational attacks on Craig.
There is a big difference between imperfect and rape, do you not agree?
I believe the women, I’m not making an accusation, I’m making a judgement.
Not all criminals are charged with crimes, you seem to be saying we can’t believe the women since no one was charged. Even you are smarter than that.
Brett Kavanaugh was a lying, crying, snot nosed screaming toddler having a tantrum because his past had caught up to him.
How do I know he lied?
Well, Johnny, let me ask you, have you ever had a devil’s triangle?
Have you boofed’ yet?
Have you ever boofed during a devil’s triangle?
No where is anyone saying anything about progressive criminal justice reform, you pulled that out of someplace tender, I assume from all the boofing.
And before you get angry with that last bit, let me remind you that this is the world your party has made, not me.
Reply to Sharpie’s 10:32 comment: Ask the “Good Representative” if he’s ever boofed with the Devil in the pale moonlight.
I see your pal Paul Gosar is tweeting cartoons of himself murdering AOC and Biden.
Nice party you got there, Johnny, defending rape and posting fun murder cartoons.