# 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:** 6
**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 30, 2022, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/101 "2022-07-30T00:59:21Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I heard that Cassidy Hutchinson is talking to the DOJ. I doubt that she’s there providing information about random insurrectionists who carpooled in carrying sharpened flagpoles. - Yes. The idea that it’s necessary or even proper for DOJ to spend years trying to flip every one of the thousands who entered the Capitol—and let years go by without talking to Hutchinson and others who worked in the White House, because ‘we have to build a foundation first’—is counter-logical. The Jan 6 Committee hearings forced DOJ, through the power of public opinion, to move beyond what does appear to be a position of ‘it doesn’t matter if we don’t talk to WH personnel for three or four years.’ And yes: taking years **would** have mattered. ‘_Getting the Capitol-invasion thousands to flip on their militia-leaders, then getting those leaders to flip on people working for Stone, Flynn et al, then get those people working for Stone, Flynn et al to flip on Stone, Flynn et al_’ would have taken _many_ years. And meanwhile the potential testimony of Hutchinson and dozens more working in the Trump WH on 1/6 would have become less valuable, simply because of the passage of time. The position ‘_anyone suggesting Garland isn’t a brilliant tactician doing exactly what needs to be done at every moment, must be ignorant or stupid or malicious or all three_’ is indefensible. Common sense rules it out. ---
**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 30, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/102 "2022-07-30T01:25:28Z")
Yup. The apologists keep saying we just don’t understand. We do understand, Garland was too slow. When the crime is committed in public you don’t need to start at the bottom. And he continues to use weasel words in regard to prosecution of Trump, or anyone. Apparently he’s not sure that a conspiracy to overthrow the government which is acted upon and captured on camera is against the law. ---
**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 30, 2022, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/103 "2022-07-30T02:02:35Z")
No one is suggesting that the DOJ has to work their way up, fucking individual insurrectionist after insurrectionist. I don’t know what the DOJ has planned, but I’m not ready to cry that the sky has fallen. Good luck with that. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/104 "2022-07-30T04:28:44Z")
We get it you want Trump behind bars ASAP. I want Trump behind bars ASAP. Aspenglow wants Trump behind bars ASAP, and in all likelihood Garland wants Trump behind bars ASAP too. If this was a movie and Trump was some Mafioso it would make sense for the bright newly elected DA to ride into office and say “Now that I’m here Boss Trump’s days are numbered, I’m coming for you big guy and you’re gonna pay!” But Trump isn’t an ordinary perp, he’s the fucking head of the fucking opposition party. And if If Garland completes his swearing in ceremony with an announcement that the top priority of this administration is to get Donald J Trump dead to rights, he loses the war right there. It isn’t about investigating the crime its about getting rid of the opposition. He had Trump marked from the start and was just searching for a crime to pin on him. So for that reason it is vitally important that Garland starts the investigations somewhere away from Trump, then work your way inwards following lead after lead so that when you do eventually get to Trump you can show that he wasn’t specifically targeted, he was just where all of the evidence led. He know what the picture on the puzzle looks like he’s seen in on the front of the box, but he still needs to show that he put it together piece by piece. And he needs to do so quietly. This is also where the Congressional investigators have an advantage. They don’t have to appear to be non-partisan, everyone expects that of them. So if they come in and dig up a bunch of dirt specifically aimed at Trump and publicize it on national TV, it’s no problem. And now that the cat is out of the bag, the DOJ can play off it as just following up on leads that others brought to light. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2022, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/105 "2022-07-30T07:32:24Z")
I will say that I might be talking out of my ass, but I assume Garland realizes that if he’s going to charge Trump over his role in the January 6 riots, he knows that doing it after Trump is re-elected as President is too late. I’m sure he realizes he doesn’t _literally_ have an unlimited amount of time to do it. ---
**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 30, 2022, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/106 "2022-07-30T08:33:22Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > We get it you want Trump behind bars ASAP. I want Trump behind bars ASAP. Aspenglow wants Trump behind bars ASAP, and in all likelihood Garland wants Trump behind bars ASAP too. I don’t want anything ASAP, I want it done right, and Garland has had plenty of time. He’s obviously moving too slow. He has to stop considering Trump untouchable. The evidence will speak for itself but it has to be gathered. He’s given a year and half for the key players involved to make up excuses for their actions. They should have been put under oath long ago. Now we’ve found that text messages related to Jan. 6 were deleted by Trump appointees and this was known long ago, investigated by other Trump appointees who didn’t bother to gather evidence when it was offered to them. Where was Garland in all this? Why wasn’t he looking for those messages a year and a half ago? Trump and the filth that follow him will say that Trump was targeted with phony evidence no matter what. I repeat, no matter what. I repeat again, no matter what. There is no point in considering the Trump side reaction. The evidence has to be gathered, evaluated, and if it is sufficient he has to seek an indictment. There is nothing more to it and that’s where he’s been failing because he has spent way too much time without even interviewing any of the key figures yet. Tick tock Garland. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/107 "2022-07-30T15:31:00Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > …I assume Garland realizes that if he’s going to charge Trump over his role in the January 6 riots, he knows that doing it after Trump is re-elected as President is too late. > > I’m sure he realizes he doesn’t _literally_ have an unlimited amount of time to do it. Gee, ya think?? 🤔 Nah, prolly not. He needs someone to tell him this. Send him a link to the SDMB, why dontcha? > [@Atamasama](#): > > I will say that I might be talking out of my ass… I commend you on your humility and self-awareness. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/108 "2022-07-30T16:22:54Z")
I blame the FBI and that Federalist Society Trump crony Christopher Wray, way more than Garland. They’re supposed to catch them, it’s Garland’s job to cook them. Yet Wray has publicly stated that he just doesn’t see a connection between the January 6th riots and Trump’s election loss. As for the idea that this is a normal investigation, completely non-partisan and unrigged…….is it normal for the cops to publicly announce halfway through the investigation that there’s no evidence of a crime, even when said evidence is public record? > **[Exclusive: FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated -...](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/)** > > The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials. I think nothing’s going to happen to Trump or anyone connected with him, and I think that was decided before he left office, probably in exchange for him not pardoning the everyone. They agreed to let the rioters take the heat and protect their pals. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s what it smells like to me. ---
**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 30, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/109 "2022-07-30T21:49:32Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > People unfamiliar with the process of criminal investigation don’t understand You keep saying this. But I keep hearing people who are very familiar with the process making complaints about Garland. Schiff and Raskin have been complaining for a while now. You think they don’t understand how this works? I’ve seen Garland criticisms from former DoJ people. From law professors, including one who was one of Garland’s teachers. Quite frankly, I have more trust in them than you. Go lecture Adam Schiff please. He’s apparently as stupid as we are. > [@Atamasama](#): > > Why not? If you want to get dirt on Bob, but you don’t have the evidence, but Alice who worked for Bob is clearly guilty of a crime, why not charge Alice then reduce her sentence if she provides what you need to convict Bob? But do you need to start with the people who were several layers under Alice? Start with Alice. > [@bobot](#): > > I heard that Cassidy Hutchinson is talking to the DOJ. I doubt that she’s there providing information about random insurrectionists who carpooled in carrying sharpened flagpoles. Why wasn’t she there a year ago? Which of her underlings did they need to charge before calling her in? ---
**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:** [July 30, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/110 "2022-07-30T22:10:26Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > But do you need to start with the people who were several layers under Alice? Start with Alice. If you have to start with others, you have to. In my hypothetical, nobody was below Alice. There’s no way they procrastinated on the bigger names “just because”. That’s ridiculous. > [@Yookeroo](#): > > You keep saying this. But I keep hearing people who are very familiar with the process making complaints about Garland. Some cites would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/111 "2022-07-30T22:34:31Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Some cites would be nice. Not one legal expert interviewed on MSNBC has not had real worries for over a year now. No one mentioned “just because.” ---
**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:** [July 30, 2022, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/112 "2022-07-30T23:24:23Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Let’s just shit all over him based on our own ignorance of the criminal justice system and how it is supposed to work. On his timetable, all his work will be too late. I don’t care how much you think he’s doing a great job: nov 2022 is the fucking deadline for US democracy. Either Trump is behind bars by then or Garland is. ---
**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 30, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/113 "2022-07-30T23:53:21Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > > [@bobot](#): > > > > I heard that Cassidy Hutchinson is talking to the DOJ. I doubt that she’s there providing information about random insurrectionists who carpooled in carrying sharpened flagpoles. > > Why wasn’t she there a year ago? Which of her underlings did they need to charge before calling her in? ^ I inadvertently left out something like this in my reply to Bobot. Yes, the crucial fact we should be taking away from DOJ’s recent questioning of Hutchison is that it it recent. They publicly admitted they were blind-sided by her 1/6-hearing testimony. That this could occur means that not only did DOJ fail to talk to Hutchinson in a timely fashion, but they also failed to talk to other Trump-WH personnel in a timely fashion. > > [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I blame the FBI and that Federalist Society Trump crony Christopher Wray, way more than Garland. They’re supposed to catch them, it’s Garland’s job to cook them. > > Yet Wray has publicly stated that he just doesn’t see a connection between the January 6th riots and Trump’s election loss. > > As for the idea that this is a normal investigation, completely non-partisan and unrigged…….is it normal for the cops to publicly announce halfway through the investigation that there’s no evidence of a crime, even when said evidence is public record? > > [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/) > > I think nothing’s going to happen to Trump or anyone connected with him, and I think that was decided before he left office, probably in exchange for him not pardoning the everyone. They agreed to let the rioters take the heat and protect their pals. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s what it smells like to me. I largely agree, though I think it’s possible that DOJ will attempt to quiet criticism by going through the steps involved in indicting John Eastman. And possibly Jeffrey Clark, though that’s less likely since he was actually an official in Trump’s Administration. (Eastman was only ever a hired hand, and thus more likely to be seen as fair game by Garland.) By alternating snippets of information about Eastman’s progress through the process, with stern statements before cameras about DOJ working without fear or favor (etc.), a lot of time can be made to pass without any danger of having to indict GOP officials or office-holders. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/114 "2022-07-31T00:35:18Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > I don’t care how much you think he’s doing a great job: nov 2022 is the fucking deadline for US democracy. Either Trump is behind bars by then or Garland is. What prediction will you offer up if neither of them is behind bars by the end of, as you say, nov 2022? ---
**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 31, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/115 "2022-07-31T01:53:36Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yes, the crucial fact we should be taking away from DOJ’s recent questioning of Hutchison is that it it recent. The crucial fact is that it is happening. A secondary, nitpicky, armchair quarterbacky fact would be that it is recent. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/116 "2022-07-31T02:11:20Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > nov 2022 is the fucking deadline for US democracy. Either Trump is behind bars by then or Garland is. This is stupid, because neither will happen by November 2022. Even if Trump were to be indicted, it would take about a year to bring him to trial. And even if the GOP takes over Congress in November, they don’t take office until January, and even a Republican congress doesn’t change the fact that the Democrats control the Justice Department for at least another 2 years. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2022, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/117 "2022-07-31T06:45:29Z")
Sure, November is stupid as a end date of US democracy. I don’t really care about the date. I just want to emphasize that there is a clock ticking and if there haven’t been some clear consequences for the shenanigans of 1/6 they will just try again. The rabble they have rounded up so far is replaceable, they need to get to the politicians and time is running out. ---
**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 31, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/118 "2022-07-31T21:46:10Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Some cites would be nice. > **[A Former Mueller Prosecutor Takes Merrick Garland to Task](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/07/12/weissmann-garland-justice-trump-investigation-00045502)** > > Andrew Weissmann speaks out about the Jan. 6 committee hearings, how to prosecute a conspiracy, and the Justice Department’s investigation — or lack thereof — of Trump and his inner circle. > **[Adam Schiff says he 'vehemently disagrees' with AG Merrick Garland's...](https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-schiff-vehemently-disagrees-with-ag-garland-on-trump-2021-10)** > > "I think there's a real desire on the part of the attorney general, for the most part, not to look backward," Schiff told Yahoo News. > > **[Rep. Jamie Raskin says he's become 'impatient' with the pace of the Justice...](https://www.businessinsider.com/raskin-impatient-justice-department-january-6-investigation-trump-2022-7)** > > "We don't have a lot of time certainly in Congress to do our work because at the end of this Congress, we're over," Raskin said while on SiriusXM. > **[Laurence Tribe: If Garland doesn't prosecute Trump, the rule of law is "out...](https://www.salon.com/2021/08/30/laurence-tribe-if-garland-doesnt-prosecute-trump-the-rule-of-law-is-out-the-window/)** > > Eminent constitutional law expert: If Biden and Garland won't go after Trump, country is in "desperate trouble" His former law professor, Laurence Tribe. wrote this a year ago: “As wrote in my Boston Globe op-ed, what I’m saying to Merrick Garland is: Wake up! You’ve got to do something to hold this man accountable.” To be fair, he followed it up with this: “it’s not easy to get a conviction of a president. What appears compelling to a layperson is going to be difficult in practice. It will also be difficult to put down the riots that the very announcement of an indictment may bring. There may be a great deal of worry about fomenting civil war to no good end, because we will not succeed in holding the president accountable.” But he’s clearly concerned that they weren’t investigating. And he thinks Trump need to be indicted now: > > [@Sherrerd](#): > > They publicly admitted they were blind-sided by her 1/6-hearing testimony. Right. Does this sound like a dept. deep into am investigation? Getting close to Trump? And the timing of actual reports of active investigation sure seem to correspond with the Jan. 6 public hearing. So, maybe enough with the smug “you don’t understand like **I** do!” bullshit. Intelligent, knowledgeable people are doubting they were investigating competently. Maybe they are, but other opinions can’t be hand waved away with “you don’t get it”. ---
**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 31, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/119 "2022-07-31T23:19:15Z")
Thank you for posting all those. I get that people want to believe ‘the system is working’ and that all will be well. And certainly it’s true that there are some online–not really on the Dope, but online elsewhere–who post impatient, impossible wishes about the fates of Trump and his enablers. But people here really are NOT posting ‘Trump must be imprisoned NOW!’ or even ‘Merrick Garland must be fired NOW!’ And defenses of whatever it is that Garland is doing that depend on a pretense that all DOJ critics are foolish children are _ **not** _ effective defenses. Someday the entire story will come out. Okay, that may be overly optimistic: someday _more_ of the story will come out. It may well be that Garland’s options have been curtailed all along by either open or covert opposition from Chris Wray and much of his FBI, for example (a situation to which Ann\_Hedonia alluded). For all we know, Wray has told Garland in so many words ‘_we’ll go along with the occasional public display of law-enforcement action, such as seizing John Eastman’s phone, but our position is that anything and everything Trump and his staff did was an exercise of their First Amendment rights–and nothing more. And if you try to violate that position, you will find yourself labeled in the press as a partisan political hack_.’ If something like that **is** part of the dynamic at DOJ, obviously I hope a whistleblower will come forward to disclose it. In the meantime we have to watch and wait—but _not_ keep silent if enough time goes by and it appears that some Americans are being given the “above the law” pass. ---
**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 31, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/120 "2022-07-31T23:22:15Z")
Prepare yourself to find out that in America, New York real estate con man Donald Trump is above the law. I don’t want it to be that way, but prepare for it. Expect it. If it works out otherwise, that’s a victory for the good guys. But don’t expect that. For your own sanity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190.md?page=7)