# 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:** 27
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/521 "2023-06-11T00:37:03Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Well, optimists do a lot of damage in the world. I’ve never met a smart one and the sooner we can educate the dumbasses, the better. I disagree. Example: my dad, who is an optimist. He’s also a romantic cynic like most newspapermen worthy of the name, yet he remains, somehow, optimistic. I can’t imagine anyone meeting my dad and failing to notice his wide-ranging intelligence. Not being an optimistic myself, I understand your feeling completely, and more often than not believe that anyone who doesn’t understand how terrible things are and that the trajectory is downward faster and faster is an infuriating idiot, but then there’s my dad. And I can easily think of others, the opposite of stupid, all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/522 "2023-06-11T00:42:08Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yet over 96,000 citations for “Trump” and “rocket docket” are available to you to show you that the Southern District of Florida DOES have a reputation for speedy movement of criminal cases, too. I’ll concede the point, since I agree that criminal cases are usually expedited through the federal system (I’ve actually had one criminal case - and a few civil ones - in the Southern District of Florida. My one criminal case, like most of them, was a plea, and yeah, it probably only took about 5 months or so). In all federal cases, Judges issue a trial date right away (state courts are usually different - a trial date typically comes after months of evidence review and negotiations), and when you ask for an extension of time, if it’s granted they’ll give you a new trial date with the extension. The end of the case is usually always set for some predetermined date - these things don’t get to just go on and on. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/523 "2023-06-11T00:47:55Z")
Good information, thanks. We’ll have to see if Trump’s team attempts the ol’ delay-delay-delay tactic with hundreds (thousands?) of filings of various motions–and if so, if Cannon, assuming she doesn’t recuse herself, plays the same ‘delays are necessary, let’s start with a Special Master’ game she did before. But the great news is that even the conservative judges of the 11th Circuit have already ruled against her–and might well do so again should she try to institute delays. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/524 "2023-06-11T11:46:41Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I disagree. Example: my dad, who is an optimist. He’s also a romantic cynic like most newspapermen worthy of the name, yet he remains, somehow, optimistic. I can’t imagine anyone meeting my dad and failing to notice his wide-ranging intelligence. I would make a distinction between the hopeful and optimists. The hopeful says, “we can fix this.” The optimist says, “someone will fix it.” Optimists don’t realize how much work we are doing to drag their asses along and then they say, “see? It all worked out.” They’re children on Xmas morning seeing all the presents under the tree and screaming about Santa and not noticing their exhausted parents on the sofa. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/525 "2023-06-11T15:58:47Z")
An optimist will try to fix something and believes that they’ll succeed. A pessimist might still try to fix something because they don’t know what else to do, but they don’t think it will work. The whole “optimist=happy lazy idiot” definition sounds like something you made up that the rest of the world doesn’t share. It sounds like you’re assuming all optimism is **blind** optimism. (Which does somewhat match your definition.) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/526 "2023-06-11T17:06:26Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > The whole “optimist=happy lazy idiot” definition sounds like something you made up that the rest of the world doesn’t share. It sounds like you’re assuming all optimism is **blind** optimism. This. Blithe fools are a subset of optimism, but do not represent the whole breadth. Although, the truism “optimists are happy, pessimists are right” has been borne out by studies. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2023, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/527 "2023-06-12T00:48:59Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I would make a distinction between the hopeful and optimists. > > The hopeful says, “we can fix this.” > > The optimist says, “someone will fix it.” Optimists don’t realize how much work we are doing to drag their asses along and then they say, “see? It all worked out.” They’re children on Xmas morning seeing all the presents under the tree and screaming about Santa and not noticing their exhausted parents on the sofa. Seems like a fair definition of both. A lot of the ‘Garland can do no wrong’ sentiment of the past 2+ years has come, I believe, from a wish to just make the whole ugly situation go away. A belief that Garland, from day one of his tenure as AG, has been planning meticulously to bring Trump et al to justice can be very comforting in that regard. (Others holding that _Garland is on Top of It_ sentiment, I’ll concede, may have genuine feelings of reverence for Garland, rather than just wanting to ‘leave it to’ him.) But what we’ve seen so far: namely Trump (and Meadows and Johnson and Scott Perry and the rest) walking around, happy and free for all this time, has been dispiriting to _all_: the hopeful, the optimistic, _and_ the pessimistic. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/528 "2023-06-12T06:27:15Z")
It just occurred to me that when this thread first started, the classified documents weren’t a thing yet. The FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago was a few weeks after the OP was posted. At the time of the OP, there were other crimes we were hoping Trump would be held accountable for. The phone call looking for votes in Georgia, for example. Inciting the January 6th insurrection, for another. The complaint of the OP was that Garland was never going to pursue any of that. Has there been any progress made on those fronts? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/529 "2023-06-12T06:37:58Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The complaint of the OP was that Garland was never going to pursue any of that. Has there been any progress made on those fronts? It depends on what you mean by “progress”. Jack Smith was investigating both the Georgia call and the J6 insurrection (which involved both the false elector scheme and the riot). The Georgia thing might play out in state court (and speculation is that an indictment on that is months away). Not sure about the other thing. But it’s not like there hasn’t been any pursuit. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/530 "2023-06-12T12:01:45Z")
But not by Garland, it sounds like. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/531 "2023-06-12T17:26:36Z")
But Garland assigned Smith to look into it. Does it only count if Garland personally tracks down every lead, and puts the child-sized hand cuffs on the orangess himself? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/532 "2023-06-12T17:43:41Z")
The Georgia thing is a state matter. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/533 "2023-06-12T18:04:58Z")
It might in the end get handled on the state end, but from Atamasama’s post > [@Atamasama](#): > > Jack Smith was investigating both the Georgia call and the J6 insurrection (which involved both the false elector scheme and the riot). So it hasn’t been ruled off limits by Garland. I personally think that it is highly unlikely that Trump will be prosecuted for the J6 violence, not because he is being protected by Garland, but just because, unless there is some additional evidence I don’t know about that directly connects Trump to the proud boys, it will be difficult to prove his connection beyond a reasonable doubt. Heck I hate Trump with every fiber of my being, and even I am not absolutely positive that he intended for his followers to break in to the capitol, and not just a bombastic call for protest. Preponderance of the evidence, sure, but not beyond a reasonable doubt. The false elector scam is a much better line of attack. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/534 "2023-06-12T18:42:43Z")
Here is an article about Georgia: > **[Trump probe subpoena served on Georgia secretary of state](https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-politics-georgia-atlanta-subpoenas-07a6acf3de8ecaf50c60b32a1e653981)** > > Nevada’s most populous county and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have received subpoenas related to special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of former President Donald Trump. > Smith was [appointed last month](https://apnews.com/article/politics-donald-trump-merrick-garland-government-and-550c01de053c08db4d53ca57f315feb6) to oversee not only the Justice Department’s Mar-a-Lago investigation but also aspects of Trump’s scramble to stay in power — including his efforts in Georgia and Nevada — and the [violent attack on the U.S. Capitol](https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege) on Jan. 6, 2021. I forgot that he was also investigating Nevada regarding the election shenanigans Trump tried to pull. As you can see from the above, Garland has Jack going after everything Trump-related. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/535 "2023-06-19T21:18:30Z")
> **[FBI resisted opening probe into Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for more than a year](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/)** > > In the DOJ’s investigation of Jan. 6, key Justice officials also quashed an early plan for a task force focused on people in Trump’s orbit. Can we stop defending him now? Garland should resign. Fuck him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/536 "2023-06-19T21:37:29Z")
I thought for a long time it was his (Garland’s) plan to run out the clock (Trump dead or President). Recent developments have shown me to be wrong. I think the DoJ deserves a modicum of credit for actually bringing charges. (Albeit late) Maybe this was how long it took to clean house in Barr/Rosen’s department. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/537 "2023-06-19T21:40:30Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Can we stop defending him now? Garland should resign. Fuck him. From your own cite: > Whether a decision about Trump’s culpability for Jan. 6 could have come any earlier is unclear. The delays in examining that question began before Garland was even confirmed. Sherwin, senior Justice Department officials and Paul Abbate, the top deputy to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, quashed a plan by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office to directly investigate Trump associates for any links to the riot, deeming it premature, according to five individuals familiar with the decision. Instead, they insisted on a methodical approach — focusing first on rioters and going up the ladder. When we talked about the morons with their heads in the sand who have an irrational hate for Garland and deserve to eat crow when the indictments come out, you’re one of the people I had in mind. > [@The\_Librarian](#): > > Recent developments have shown me to be wrong. I think the DoJ deserves a modicum of credit for actually bringing charges. (Albeit late) You on the other hand, I have respect for. And as for griping about how long it has taken, I was griping too. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2023, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/538 "2023-06-19T21:48:36Z")
What do you object to, specifically, in that article? ---
**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:** [June 20, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/539 "2023-06-20T00:18:02Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > “Whether a decision about Trump’s culpability for Jan. 6 could have come any earlier is unclear. The delays in examining that question began before Garland was even confirmed. …” ^ from the WaPo article This portion of the article does not explain Garland’s inaction for over a year–it merely lists some DOJ officials who, like Garland, didn’t care to start investigating Trump in the wake of 1/6/21. _ **Garland was the boss.** _ Nothing could have stopped him from overruling the ‘let’s leave Trump and the planners alone’ crowd at DOJ—had he wanted to do so. He didn’t. Moreover, Garland was disingenuous, repeatedly, as in this pronouncement given at the one-year-anniversary mark: > [@](#): > > “In circumstances like those of January 6th, a full accounting does not suddenly materialize,” Garland said. Sure enough: full accountings don’t suddenly materialize _if you’ve declined to investigate._ The damning fact about Garland revealed by the Post research is that all those who said from the beginning that ‘Garland is on top of this’ and ‘those criticizing don’t realize how long investigations take’ and the like, were simply wrong. It wasn’t taking a long time because investigations require time (and yes, they do)—it was taking a long time _ **because Garland wasn’t doing anything** _ about Trump and his co-conspirators. (Aided and abetted by many at DOJ and the FBI, as the article reveals.) > [@](#): > > For many months after the attack, prosecutors did not interview White House aides or other key witnesses, according to authorities and attorneys for some of those who have since been contacted by the special counsel. In that time, communications were put at risk of being lost or deleted and memories left to fade. … > [@](#): > > … when it came to the Jan. 6 investigation, agents noticed that Wray did not travel the five blocks from FBI headquarters to the bureau’s Washington field office running the investigation for more than 21 months after the attack. In that time, people familiar with the investigation said, he had never received a detailed briefing on the topic directly from the assistant director in charge of the office, Steven D’Antuono. > [@](#): > > [Deputy Attorney General Lisa] Monaco warned her aides that the department could not begin probing political actors linked to Trump based on assumptions, according to two individuals familiar with the discussions. > “A decision was made early on to focus DOJ resources on the riot,” said one former Justice Department official familiar with the debates. “The notion of opening up on Trump and high-level political operatives was seen as fraught with peril. When Lisa and Garland came on board, they were fully onboard with that approach.” > > Some prosecutors even had the impression that Trump had become a taboo topic at Main Justice. Colleagues responsible for preparing briefing materials and updates for Garland and Monaco were warned to focus on foot soldiers and to avoid mentioning Trump or his close allies. > [@](#): > > a growing chorus of former public officials, lawmakers and others criticized Garland for what they saw as a lack of progress on the events that ignited the attack and the roles of Trump and his allies. In one of several examples, three former military generals [warned in The Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/17/eaton-taguba-anderson-generals-military/?itid=lk_inline_manual_138) that the country had to prepare for the next insurrection after not a single leader who incited the violence had been held to account, and they pressed the Justice Department to “show more urgency.” > [@](#): > > National Archives officials were dumbstruck; the Justice Department was suddenly interested in the fake electors evidence it had declined to pursue a year earlier. > > One person directly familiar with the department’s new interest in the case said it felt as though the department was reacting to the House committee’s work as well as heightened media coverage and commentary. “Only after they were embarrassed did they start looking,” the person said. > [@](#): > > In several cases, before the special counsel’s office got in touch, witnesses in the fake electors scheme hadn’t heard from the FBI in almost a year and thought the case was dead. Similarly, firsthand witnesses to Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — in which Trump asked him to “find” enough votes to win that state — were not interviewed by the Justice Department until this year, after Smith’s team contacted them. > It’s a damning portrait of, at best, timidity. (On both Garland’s and Wray’s parts.) There’s no way of knowing how profoundly the case against the insurrection-planners has been harmed by this delay–at the least, it gives them a defense (of witness testimony being unreliable due to the passage of time, among other things). All we can do is hope for the best. All quotations from the article. Gift link: > **[FBI resisted opening probe into Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for more than a year](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjE4NzQzNzA4IiwicmVhc29uIjoiZ2lmdCIsIm5iZiI6MTY4NzE0NzIwMCwiaXNzIjoic3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ucyIsImV4cCI6MTY4ODQ0MzE5OSwiaWF0IjoxNjg3MTQ3MjAwLCJqdGkiOiJhNDgxN2ZmYS1hM2ViLTQ5ZjEtOGRjNy01ODA3ODhkNDk4MzUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vaW52ZXN0aWdhdGlvbnMvMjAyMy8wNi8xOS9mYmktcmVzaXN0ZWQtb3BlbmluZy1wcm9iZS1pbnRvLXRydW1wcy1yb2xlLWphbi02LW1vcmUtdGhhbi15ZWFyLyJ9.FCDGcMW8Cbk2VTWb2kEGC-323S2zV1DDjnt_qrp-4Us&itid=gfta)** > > In the DOJ’s investigation of Jan. 6, key Justice officials also quashed an early plan for a task force focused on people in Trump’s orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/540 "2023-06-20T00:20:28Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > It’s a damning portrait of, at best, timidity. (On both Garland’s and Wray’s parts.) There’s no way of knowing how profoundly the case against the insurrection-planners has been harmed by this delay–at the least, it gives them a defense (of witness testimony being unreliable due to the passage of time, among other things). > > All we can do is hope for the best. I think they were both guilty of criticism. I’m glad Garland eventually decided to put a real bulldog on the case, and we’re seeing results. That should have happened earlier in my opinion. Saying Garland needs to be fired is just plain stupid, though, unless you’re a Trump supporter. (Well, no, it would still be stupid, just for different reasons.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190.md?page=26) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190.md?page=28)