# F Merrick Garland. (He won't be going after anyone) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2022, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190 "2022-07-19T06:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/21 "2022-07-20T00:02:23Z")
I’m not nearly as alarmed as some are over the “Bill Barr” memorandum Garland issued to his personnel. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If Barr wanted to maintain strict control over if/when a potentially political prosecution (alliteration for free) might occur, why shouldn’t Garland? If I were Garland and I was worried that Trump might still have some prosecutors under his control working in the DOJ who could manipulate the filing of charges time-wise to benefit Republicans in the mid-terms or otherwise, I might want to maintain strict control over when those indictments were handed down, too. All the memo means is that Garland wants to retain final say over if/when such charges are laid. I wouldn’t be so quick to assume it means he won’t lay them at all. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/22 "2022-07-20T02:04:57Z")
And again, both tweets sound speculative. “Let’s pray Justice does not…” “if the DOJ fails to prosecute…” If you want to use these as indicators that other people are interpreting events in a certain way, that’s fine. But I _still_ don’t see this big fait accompli that requires a Pit thread at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/23 "2022-07-20T02:05:32Z")
This report may soothe some concerns, too: > **[Running for President Won't Save Trump from Jan. 6 Investigation, Justice...](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jan6-donald-trump-justice-department-investigation-merrick-garland-1385490/)** > > Trump has been telling associates that his reasons for running in 2024 include a desire to stop investigations launched against him. Winning the White House would stop the investigation — but a DoJ… This was stated by Lisa Monaco, Garland’s hand-picked second in command, earlier today. ETA: The original reporting came from Bloomberg, if Rolling Stone isn’t ironclad enough for some. Personally, I have found them quite reliable, but some may feel otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/24 "2022-07-20T02:16:28Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > (A DOJ investigating Trump would surely have long since have done extensive interviews with those individuals, and many others–others who have been silent about being called by the DOJ --implying that they have _not_ been called. The DOJ may not talk about those they call in, but Trumpites so summoned are unlikely to have been uniformly silent about having been called.) It’s clear the DOJ is lagging behind congress and state level investigations. There hasn’t been any reason for a delay, everything has turned out to be exactly what it looked like, a conspiracy to interfere with the electoral process. Garland has politicized this issue by treating it as a special case with special rules. There’s no reason to change the process for treatment of an ex-president. And if there are Trumpists in the DOJ it’s Garland’s fault for not identifying and isolating them. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/25 "2022-07-20T21:09:51Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > But there are worrying signs that this may be his intention, including expressions of surprise at the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson and Pat Cipollone. (A DOJ investigating Trump would surely have long since have done extensive interviews with those individuals, and many others–others who have been silent about being called by the DOJ --implying that they have _not_ been called. The DOJ may not talk about those they call in, but Trumpites so summoned are unlikely to have been uniformly silent about having been called.) Right, a competent DOJ would be ahead of the committee. A competent DOJ would’ve prosecuted Trump on his obstruction of justice, Meuller did the hard work there, the case was ready to go. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/26 "2022-07-20T23:08:14Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Right, a competent DOJ would be ahead of the committee. A competent DOJ would’ve prosecuted Trump on his obstruction of justice, Meuller did the hard work there, the case was ready to go. - Indeed, and would not let some elements of the case get away due to the running out of the relevant statutes of limitations. > > [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s clear the DOJ is lagging behind congress and state level investigations. There hasn’t been any reason for a delay, everything has turned out to be exactly what it looked like, a conspiracy to interfere with the electoral process. Garland has politicized this issue by treating it as a special case with special rules. There’s no reason to change the process for treatment of an ex-president. And if there are Trumpists in the DOJ it’s Garland’s fault for not identifying and isolating them. I agree. As always, I will be thrilled to be proven wrong about what I am guessing to be Garland’s reluctance to indict Trump. But today’s statement by Garland did not assuage my concerns: > [@](#): > > We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism There’s a lot of talk to the effect that ‘_Trump IS a person, therefore Garland guarantees he will be held accountable!_’ That would be nice. But the key term here is not, as so many assume “person”— but instead, “criminally responsible.” For example, a two-year-old human _is_ a person. But under our laws, no two-year-old can be held criminally responsible (for anything). Garland has, today, given himself yet another out: if he has privately determined (say) that a former President cannot be held criminally responsible for actions taken in order to keep himself in office, then his statement today was 100% truthful—and yet does _not_ mean that there’s any chance of the DOJ indicting Trump. > **[AG Garland reiterates 'no person' -- not even Trump -- is above the law over...](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/ag-garland-reiterates-person-trump-law-jan/story?id=87140695)** > > Attorney General Merrick Garland reiterated that "no person" is above the law when it comes to last year's Capitol riot amid faces pressure to charge Donald Trump ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/27 "2022-07-21T00:32:41Z")
I may live to regret this, but I am cutting Garland some slack and wishing him well with this: “This is the most wide ranging investigation, and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into. And we have done so because this effort to upend a legitimate election, transferring power from one administration to another cuts at the fundamental of American democracy,” Garland said. “We have to get this right.” Garland insisted, as he has in the past, that no one is above the law. “We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election,” he said. “And we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.” I may be too generous here, god knows Trump has gotten away with everything he’s ever done, but Garland says “…the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.” OK, don’t fuck this up. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/28 "2022-07-21T00:40:36Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I may live to regret this, but I am cutting Garland some slack and wishing him well with this: You aren’t alone. And I don’t think you’ll regret it. For the DOJ, Garland is all but screaming from the mountaintops that Trump will be prosecuted. He’s saying it without saying it, because DOJ custom and practice forbids him to. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/29 "2022-07-21T00:43:31Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I may live to regret this, but I am cutting Garland some slack and wishing him well with this This is the right approach. Don’t let the BlueAnon crazies get you down. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/30 "2022-07-21T00:46:55Z")
And another thing about Garland. Democrats are pissed to the extreme, rightfully so, about what McConnell did regarding Garland’s supreme court nomination. But what about Garland himself and his reaction? Even the one he doesn’t show publicly. The President has nominated you for a prestigious position, and one motherfucking politician took it away. How does Garland really feel about that? Only he knows, but I know how I’d feel. So don’t fuck this up. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/31 "2022-07-21T02:07:07Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > The President has nominated you for a prestigious position, and one motherfucking politician took it away. Not just a prestigious position, but one he would have had for the _rest of his life_. If I were him, I’d be _pissed_. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/32 "2022-07-21T23:06:55Z")
I still find several elements of the May 2022 memo to be freakishly odd. As mentioned above, there was no need for Merrick Garland to cite William Barr’s policy as his authority for a new reminder to DOJ personnel that the Department is NOT to interfere in elections. Since such non-interference has been explicit DOJ policy for decades, why not cite any or all of the expressions of that policy that predate Ultra-Partisan Barr? Even more strange is that Merrick Garland’s policy as laid out in that memo is that the decision-maker on whether or not to investigate a politically-connected individual is a POLITICAL APPOINTEE. (Namely, himself.) If keeping the DOJ above partisan politics is Garland’s “job one,” then why this? Why not make the decision-maker for sensitive potential investigations a committee of career DOJ people, or a Special Counsel, or _anything_ other than a political appointee? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/33 "2022-07-22T03:29:49Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Not just a prestigious position, but one he would have had for the _rest of his life_. He already had a job for the rest of his life (Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit). He had that job for 24 years and gave it up to be Attorney General. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/34 "2022-07-26T01:40:47Z")
Well, here’s at least a little something, anyway: > **[Top Pence Aides Testify to Grand Jury in Jan. 6 Investigation (Published 2022)](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/us/politics/marc-short-pence-jan-6.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DKDmwfiPkORJCH_0bRZKF4IN46xT_eX99GKqNqXPF0xeIaPUVrDlfuooeBnN5NBRQJnr-JfzF82YPRD_d_-CX2b2K9JaAvnrPg5RjeYX3pC_PYzXElIAd6qJs0d0Wr3ycKlKiUQOchiIJuzLx2UMABMDQFbCeNuPbjDQwve4nVK0GBtXRlHr1RSjrRntWD6rwfcwo0CFrOTnN342tU-8oLcZpMf_65d0h8DZK41bYBCWVoL5OrDokxQ-XWl7Zrub3MrH-c2S8rGbtkRYft5zcu6bMN2z4&smid=url-share)** > > Marc Short, who was chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, and Greg Jacob, a lawyer for Mr. Pence, were subpoenaed in the Justice Department’s expanding criminal inquiry. > Two top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence testified last week to a federal grand jury in Washington investigating the events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the highest-ranking officials of the Trump administration so far known to have cooperated with the Justice Department’s widening inquiry into the events leading up to the assault. > The appearances before the grand jury of the men — Marc Short, who was Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, and Greg Jacob, who was his counsel — were the latest indication that the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the events surrounding and preceding the riot is intensifying after weeks of [growing questions](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/us/politics/jan-6-justice-department-garland.html) about the urgency the department has put on examining former President Donald J. Trump’s potential criminal liability. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/35 "2022-07-27T00:31:50Z")
> **[Justice Dept. investigating Trump’s actions in Jan. 6 criminal probe](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/26/trump-justice-investigation-january-6/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)** > > People familiar with the probe said investigators are examining the former president’s conversations with lawyers and advisers and have seized phone records of top aides. The DoJ is criminally investigating Trump, according to the Washington Post. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/36 "2022-07-27T01:25:33Z")
The interview where Garland tactfully steps around the question is frustrating to watch. Paraphrased, liberties added by me for emphasis: Host: So you know that Donald Trump is a criminal and you are going to go after him like any other criminal right? Garland: I know that criminals exist but I can’t discuss any specific ones. Host: But again, Donald Trump is a criminal and you won’t be doing your job if you let him go just because he was President and/or will run again. Garland: I can’t talk about specifics and I am going to leave enough wiggle room in my statements for you to interpret things however you please while I sit here with my thumb appearing to be up my ass. Is it actually up there? Has it been up there this whole time? Is Donald Trump going to get another free pass because he’s committing crimes under the banner of political persecution which lets him get away with basically anything? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see! I would hate to be the next person in line behind Garland waiting for the bathroom based on his apparent inability to shit or get off the pot. The more time you let pass, the closer to a 100% chance Trump has of getting away with it by actively obstructing justice the same way he did all the other times. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/37 "2022-07-27T03:04:11Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > The more time you let pass, the closer to a 100% chance Trump has of getting away with it by actively obstructing justice the same way he did all the other times. I’m going to just disagree with this, as a matter of opinion. What is critical, to my mind, is not just prosecuting, but convicting, and making it stick. That takes a lot of thorough and objective preparation, of the kind that the House committee is doing. The DOJ can piggy back on that, take up the slack if the House changes hands, and keep up the momentum. The DOJ needs to be objective and impartial, and not come across as pre-judging the outcome, even though they are the prosecution (see further: the slap the Georgia prosecutor got for actively participating in a political campaign against one of the people she wants to investigate). Where this pays off is with the undecided and uncommitted, who need to see that this is not a political witch-hunt no matter how many times Trump claims that it is. This is my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/38 "2022-07-27T03:08:21Z")
I hope you don’t mind me adding: Co-signed. Perfectly said. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/39 "2022-07-27T03:12:16Z")
I just hope Garland realizes that if the R’s win the house and senate at the mid-terms, they will come after him with sharpened knives. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/40 "2022-07-27T03:13:08Z")
They can’t. They can fuck with the Committee, but Garland is out of reach. He’s DOJ, and Biden is still President. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190.md?page=3)