Merrick Garland Must Prosecute Criminal Former Trump Admin Officials to Save Democracy

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Sarah Reese Jones
@PoliticusSarah
Me: “The only way to stop the next Trump administration is to prosecute the last one.”

Editorial: Merrick Garland Must Prosecute Criminal Former Trump Admin Officials to Save Democracy

https://politicususa.com/2021/07/19/opinion-merrick-garland-must-prosecute-criminal-former-trump-admin-officials-to-save-democracy.html… via @politicususa

Opinion: Merrick Garland Must Prosecute Criminal Former Trump Admin Officials to Save Democracy
The only way to stop the next Trump administration is to prosecute the last one.
politicususa.com
10:45 AM · Jul 19, 2021

https://www.politicususa.com/2021/07/19/opinion-merrick-garland-must-prosecute-criminal-former-trump-admin-officials-to-save-democracy.html

The only way to stop the next Trump administration is to prosecute the last one.

Democracy is hanging on by a thin thread as we battle the authoritarian death-cult impulses of the current Republican Party. The situation is dire, and requires warriors for justice rather than traditional institutionalists. Attorney General Merrick Garland is repeatedly stepping in to defend Trump from non-work related activities (like defaming an alleged sexual assault victim of his) and now his DOJ is declining to prosecute Trump administration member Wilbur Ross for lying to Congress.

What do our laws mean if they don’t apply to certain people? How is this restoring faith in the U.S. “judicial” system?

The Department of Commerce Inspector General’s report confirmed Congressional Democrats’ findings from their investigation that former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross misled Congress with false testimony regarding the origins and purpose of the Trump administration’s proposed citizenship question on the 2020 census.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, issued the following statement on Monday, “The independent Inspector General has confirmed what the Oversight Committee found in our extensive investigation: that Secretary Ross misled Congress and the American people about the true motivations behind the Trump Administration’s illegal efforts to add a citizenship question to the census. Lying to Congress is unacceptable, and the IG did the right thing by referring Secretary Ross’s conduct to the Justice Department.

*snip*

[Bettie]

1. Given recent decisions by the DOJ

it seems that he has no interest in prosecuting any of them.

So, we'll see how that goes for our nation.

My guess is not well, but the rich grifters will get away with all of their criminal activity and the next batch will be emboldened even farther.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. I am just making a guess here, but I suspect that Garland is being very careful...

about who he is going to prosecute. I don't think the Biden Admin want to be seen as persecuting the opposition.

High road and all that.

[lagomorph777]

5. High road, powder dry...

Democracy left high and dry, beached and dying.

[Thomas Hurt]

10. unfortunately, they may not see it as that big a threat, I don't agree, but I am not in DC.

[SledDriver]

9. Merrick Garland is the new Robert Mueller

It's the same things being said about Merrick Garland as with Robert Mueller -- "There are big things going on behind the scenes", "It takes time to build a case", "The delays are just proof of how thorough a case Garland is building".

[Demsrule86]

25. That is not true. I read these posts and I think...sure we all know Trump is a criminal...been

known for years, but he is a careful criminal and you have to be able to build a case that convicts him. And I would wager in every corner of the US including blue states, any jury would have at least one Trumper who will never convict him. Also, do we want to set the stage for every ex-president subject to prosecution? Trump is old...he will cease to be a problem in a few years. Now if you can prove that those around him behaved in criminal ways then by all means prosecute them. I do think we should stop second-guessing the Attorney General and give him a chance.

[smirkymonkey]

31. +1000

[gratuitous]

12. That very well could be

I still maintain that the first major blunder of the Obama administration was to look forward to the future, and not back to the past as their rationale for not holding the Bush administration accountable for lying the country into two occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, instituting a torture regime, creating the gulag at Guantanamo Bay, and various other crimes against humanity. That forbearance led, in my opinion, to the even worse administration of the former guy. In letting those folks off the hook, I shudder to think of what the next Republican administration is going to look like, and what atrocities it will normalize.

[happy feet]

16. Oh for fucks sakes. Blame it on Obama.

Jesus H. Christ on a cracker.

[gratuitous]

17. Oops, sorry

Who else shoulda/coulda held the Bush administration accountable for its multitude of crimes but the Obama administration? Name one person, entity, agency, or dancing hobgoblin that was more responsible?

[Sewa]

18. AG at the time Eric Holder

Does this help? 💀🤙

[gratuitous]

19. And AG Eric Holder was . . . ?

A member of the Obama administration, no? Or did Holder appoint himself?

[Sewa]

21. Are you saying that AG Holder couldn't

Act independently?

[Demsrule86]

26. We never would have had the ACA had we gone down the path you describe so I disagree.

Everyone always wants to go after TFG, now Trump is criminal no doubt. But as I see no chance of conviction, there really is no point. And we need to move on. We can't live in the past while ignoring the problems we face now. You want a complete blowout for the GOP in 22 then go down this path.

[uponit7771]

29. I thought the same so that's why all cases have to be open and shut on its face and no jury ...

... could not find a guilty verdict.

I nearly agree with this if the plan was to choke the current leadership of the GQP out of its trajectory of treason

[wcmagumba]

3. Unfortunately, I agree with a previous poster...seems that Garland and the current DOJ...

have little to no interest in prosecuting the criminals from the previous administration...for whatever reason this will continue the precipitous decline of true democracy in this country (imo).

[lagomorph777]

6. Accelerating the precipitous decline.

I wonder what Kompromat Trump has on Garland?

[Earth-shine]

8. Probably nothing. Garland just doesn't want to make waves.

He'd rather be seen by history as having been a serious institutionalist than be someone who actually made a difference.

[triron]

11. Garland is acting like Neville Chamberlain in the late 1930s. That did not turn out well.

[Earth-shine]

14. Garland talked a great game during and after his nomination.

I felt inspired by him speaking of his family history and belief in the law.

This man is not going to fight for anything except to keep the records sealed.

[BSdetect]

4. Time for actions is passing. Not looking like anything is happening re drumpf. Amazing

[CrispyQ]

7. Our MO is to look forward. The other side knows this & counts on it.

Our side isn't taking the authoritarian threat seriously enough, IMO.

[Beringia]

13. Elie Mystal tweet

Link to tweet

Elie Mystal
@ElieNYC
The Garland @TheJusticeDept has sent the very clear signal that it is too chickenshit to actually prosecute any white man with power.

All they're going to do is go after low level functionaries.

[leftstreet]

15. People said the same re Bush/Cheney and war crimes n/t

[jalan48]

20. Not sure he is up to the task of confronting Fascism. Maybe he hopes it will just go away.

[moondust]

22. Wilbur Ross

Wilbur Ross, the Trump administration’s new commerce secretary, presided over a deal with a Russian businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin while serving in his previous role as vice-chairman of the Bank of Cyprus.
~
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/wilbur-ross-russian-deal-bank-of-cyprus-donald-trump-commerce-secretary

~
Cyprus has a longstanding reputation as the place Russians go when they need to stash or launder large amounts of money with no questions asked.
~
https://www.justsecurity.org/39409/money-russia-cyprus-trump-teams-odd-business-dealings/

I doubt Wilbur has ever been seriously investigated for his "work" in Cyprus. I know the DOJ has its hands full but...

[George II]

23. AP and other media have corrected themselves. The decision to not prosecute Ross....

....was made by the TRUMP Administration's DOJ, not Merrick Garland or the Biden Administration, and before either took office this year.

Sad, but the once again the media has been sloppy and misreported this story just to get it out quick, not correctly.

Link to tweet

Here's the very quiet correction from one of the sources of the story in the politicususa article:

Correction: After publication of this story, the Justice Department and Commerce Department inspector general revealed additional information to indicate the declination to prosecute took place during the Trump administration. This story has been corrected to note this information.

https://www.govexec.com/management/2021/07/doj-will-not-prosecute-trump-officials-after-ig-referred-findings-false-testimony-census/183843/

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

24. K&R

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. Garland did not make this decision

Link to tweet

?s=20

[lagomorph777]

30. I think the opinion piece came out before the false AP story.

The principle is still true. Garland needs to prosecute Trump and his minions for a horrifying array of crimes, including the Jan 6th coup attempt.

Evidence so far is that he is protecting, rather than prosecuting Trump.

That is terrifying.