The Special Counsel is Jack Smith. The NY Times has reported that he won't start his assignment for

[JohnSJ]

sometime according to the Justice Department, in order to recover from a recent bicycle accident.

"Mr. Smith will take on the role of special counsel after leaving his current position as a specialist prosecutor based in The Hague investigating war crimes. He will remain in the Netherlands for some time, according to the Justice Department, in order recover from a recent bicycle accident."


https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/us/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel-trump.html

So even before the SC starts his duties, there is already a delay….


"But on MSNBC's "The Beat," legal analyst Elie Mystal laid out a harsh warning for Garland: the appointment will do nothing to stop Trump's allies and associates from simply going after Smith and subjecting him to the same years of abuse and conspiracy theories they leveled at Russia special counsel Robert Mueller.

"Elie, when the standards involve public perception of fairness, the question becomes, is this helping the DOJ on that score?" asked anchor Ari Melber.

"If Merrick Garland thinks that kicking this to Jack Smith from The Hague is going to take down the partisan pressure on him and make the right wing feel like this is a fair process, he's an idiot," said Mystal flatly. "Wait until these people get into Jack Smith's laptop, wherever the hell that is. Wait until these people start going through Jack Smith's garbage can to find out his priors. Like, the idea that these people on the right who are in the cult of Trump are going to let this go because now we have Jack Smith, like, is he insane? It's going to be the same appearance of partisanship."

https://www.rawstory.com/garland-is-an-idiot-if-he-thinks-the-cult-of-trump-won-t-go-after-special-counsel-next-legal-analyst/

[SheilaAnn]

1. I saw Elie on this segment and he was on fire; angry and very animated. n/t

[JohnSJ]

3. I don't know much about Ellie's expertise in these matters, but I think he is right on this

[Cha]

10. Well, angry, on fire, and animated

can also be wrong.

[gratuitous]

25. I think I see the point Mystal is making

However, the right wing noise machine is going to make noise no matter how the prosecution of the former guy goes. Special Prosecutor? They'll yell and scream. No special prosecutor? They'll yell and scream. Proceed with the investigation in an orderly fashion without leaking every little detail to friendly reporters? They'll yell and scream. Proceed in a slipshod manner, ruining careers and lives with innuendo and insinuation? They'll . . . you guessed it, yell and scream.

We have to learn to ignore the partisan yelling and screaming. Or if not ignore it, assign it no value beyond partisan yelling and screaming. Force the yellers and the screamers to make a substantive criticism.

[Turbineguy]

2. Maybe he can get some of those war criminals to go after trump

Of course, war criminals have standards on who they do in.

[grumpyduck]

4. No matter what Garland does, the fuckers will try to screw it up.

So you're not telling us anything new, Elie. If you think you have any better ideas, we'd love to hear them.

Otherwise STFU.

[JohnSJ]

5. Why not let a grand jury decide instead of this special counsel decide if it merits a

grand jury

[wnylib]

20. There already is a grand jury

that has been reviewing evidence as it comes up and is presented to them in these ongoing investigations.

[msongs]

6. maybe the DOJ prefers to launch the lifeboats only after the ship is completely sunk nt

[Girard442]

7. I so wanted this to be The Onion.

[dem4decades]

8. Bicycle accident? I think i saw this story on Hallmark movies. He has amnesia and forgets what he

is investigating and nothing happens till the next election, then it's too late.

Why the fuck is Garland slowing down an investigation that has a time limit?

It's over Johnny, and by Johnny, I mean people wanting justice.

[lostnfound]

14. Rofl

Except that it’s not funny

[orleans]

16. lol -- nice rundown in the hallmark perspective.

other than that, i'm fluctuating between depression over this, anger at what i perceive to be garland's lack of a spine, and that over-all sense of hopelessness from the ghosts of holding republicans accountable past.

[Fiendish Thingy]

9. It's not like DOJ is gonna twiddle their thumbs waiting for Smith to heal

The MAL docs won’t be available to use as evidence until mid-December at the earliest, and the January 6 grand jury continues to interview witnesses.

[jimfields33]

11. The congress goes on recess December 15. New congress is January 2 or 3.

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Which has absolutely no impact on the courts or the DOJ. Nt

[iemanja]

17. A special prosecutor is outside of DOJ

That's the whole point of it. Smith needs to heal. Then once he is better, he has to set up an office and hire staff. That is all going to take time. Garland deliberately sent this outside of DOJ, so I don't see the point of your claiming DOJ won't be sitting on their hands. I'm sure they'll be busy, just with other cases. DOJ no longer controls the Trump case/s/s/s.

[dem4decades]

19. If a Special prosecutor is outside of DOJ why does the AG have to approve his indictments/report?

[Fiendish Thingy]

22. You're wrong.

Most of Smith’s staff will come from the existing investigations- they aren’t going to start from scratch. He will simply step in, and the investigations will then be placed under his authority. Most of the reports I’ve seen state he could be read into the MAL docs case in a single day.

[iemanja]

27. They may come from the existing invesgitation

But DOJ will not be proceeding with the investigation outside of Smith's.

[Fiendish Thingy]

31. The DOJ's investigations will become Smith's. Nt

[LexVegas]

12. Elie....

Link to tweet

?t=Bjv3UPSvj8MDOfhUixBh3w&s=19

[sarcasmo]

15. Appoint the guy who "will remain in the Netherlands for sometime." WTF?

[orleans]

18. +1 nt

[dem4decades]

21. He has his finger in the dike and if he leaves a flood of indictments will flow out in the US.

so he stays.

[onenote]

23. Right. During the pandemic when DOJ worked remotely, noone was investigated, indicted or prosecuted.

[bigtree]

24. too bad they don't have some sort of remote device in the Netherlands

...that he can communicate with the DOJ with.

Some sort of inter-computing device.

The histrionics are getting serious. Hope no one hurts themselves bending into a pretzel both complaining Smith isn't needed and complaining that he's not completely onboard yet.

This is comedy kabuki from DOJ critics. Very entertaining, but ultimately a farce.

[Hekate]

30. Seriously

[BannonsLiver]

28. He may be a federal prosecutor in his day job

But his real status as DU’s “Fall 2022 It Boy” will never be known to the outside world.

Mugatu knows, though.

[Hekate]

29. If there's anything we've learned since COVID, you can get a lot of business done remotely...

Unless he hit his head, business will get done. Also, wouldn't it be courteous to give some notice to his current employers in The Hague?