From MSNBC:
Far from rushing the Trump cases, FBI and Justice Department officials chose to move cautiously and slowly over concerns about the implications of investigating a former and possibly future president, taking pains to insulate the probes from even the appearance of politics.
Details of the debates inside the Justice Department — and their impact on the Trump investigations, which both sputtered for different reasons — were revealed as part of a new book, “Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department” by MSNBC investigative correspondent Carol Leonnig and Washington Post reporter Aaron C. Davis. MSNBC obtained excerpts of the book before it was published.
Emphasis is mine.
NOTE: Yes, this is PAINFULLY OBVIOUS to many of us non-lawyers. But I think we need to read and hear about this shameful — and it’s shameful in my opinion — dereliction to the cause of justice. Merrick Garland, Chris Wray, and yes, even Smith with his mistake about prosecuting Trump over the stolen documents in Florida all contributed to the fascists return to power. There are too many who want to dismiss or forget about the Biden’s DOJ’s failures, but if we do somehow survive Trump, we as citizens need to push for major changes in how the justice system works and in our political systems.
Why rehash this Merlin? Easy. Because we ran into this same problem when it came to how Democrats in D.C. responded to Trump’s return. Democrats following outdated norms and fears about the “politics” of an issue or situation made it possible for Trump to move fast and start breaking the government.
Remember how Democratic voters hated how Schumer and Senate Democrats voted for the continuing resolution in March? I know I do. It’s why views on Democratic Party are in the shitter, and it took the Democrats in D.C. 10 months to figure out that they needed to fight Trump.
And it is painful reminder that the courts are not going to save us. Corrupt judges at both the lower levels like Aileen Cannon and the stacking of the SCOTUS with reactionaries ensures that Trump will prevail in the end in the courts. Democrats did not take this seriously under Biden until it was too late, or I should say that Biden’s refusal to even think about reforming the courts is what helped get us here.
Yes, I liked Biden. I supported many of his policies. But Biden was an institutionalist, and he clung to this antiquated philosophy even when those political or judicial institutions become corrupt.
And here is another excerpt that summarizes what happened:
Taken together, the decisions described by Leonnig and Davis show that Garland, Smith and others supervising the cases leading to the federal indictments against Trump were straining to give the former president every benefit afforded under DOJ norms and policies.
I suggest the rest of you all read the article.
