General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm going to say it, and you can place yourself where you want on this [View all]bigtree
(86,016 posts)...and that he could have convicted Trump in the first year of his term.
The buzz from his detractors at that time was that the SC was not only brought in to slow the investigation down, and that it certainly would, but that he was brought in to give cover for Garland to reject charges.
Not only that, Garland's DOJ didn't wait to investigate Trump. You don't start investigations of former presidents who are your boss' political rival on a dime, but DOJ began looking into the Trump WH in the Fall of 2021, much earlier than when Jack Smith was hired.
So, Garland was not only prosecuting hundreds and hundreds of Capitol rioters, he was, at the SAME TIME investigating the Trump WH and laying the groundwork for what he decided later would be an independent investigator.
receipts:
___ Jack Smith (took) over a staff already nearly twice the size of Robert Muellers team of lawyers who worked on the Russia probe. A team of 20 prosecutors investigating January 6 and the effort to overturn the 2020 election (moved) to work under Smith, according to multiple people familiar with the team.
Smith also (took) on national security investigators already working the probe into the potential mishandling of federal records taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House.
Together, the twin investigations already established more evidence than what Mueller started with, including from a year-long financial probe thats largely flown under the radar.
Mueller was starting virtually from scratch, whereas Jack Smith is seemingly integrating on the fly into an active, fast-moving investigation, said Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and senior CNN legal analyst.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel-high-profile-moves-trump-criminal-investigations/index.html
____the other investigative team, looking at efforts to block the transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden after the 2020 election, had even a year ago been given the greenlight by the Justice Department to take a case all the way up to Trump, if the evidence leads them there, according to the sources. Work thats been led by the DC US Attorneys Office into political circles around Trump related to January 6 now will move under the special counsel.
Partly led by former Maryland-based federal prosecutor Thomas Windom, DOJ has added prosecutors to the January 6 team from all over the department in recent months. Windom and the rest are also expected to move over to the special counsels office. Some, like Mary Dohrmann, a prosecutor whos worked on several other Capitol riot cases already, appear to be reorienting, according to court records of open Capitol riot cases.
Another top prosecutor, JP Cooney, the former head of public corruption in the DC US Attorneys Office, is overseeing a significant financial probe that Smith will take on. The probe includes examining the possible misuse of political contributions, according to some of the sources. The DC US Attorneys Office, before the special counsels arrival, had examined potential financial crimes related to the January 6 riot, including possible money laundering and the support of rioters hotel stays and bus trips to Washington ahead of January 6.
In recent months, however, the financial investigation has sought information about Trumps post-election Save America PAC and other funding of people who assisted Trump, according to subpoenas viewed by CNN. The financial investigation picked up steam as DOJ investigators enlisted cooperators months after the 2021 riot, one of the sources said. (credit Garland)
In interviews with people in Trumps orbit over the past several months, some of the DOJ focus has been on the timeline leading up to January 6 and Trumps involvement and knowledge of potential events that day, according to a source familiar with the questioning.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel-high-profile-moves-trump-criminal-investigations/index.html
Before Jack Smith was appointed, Merrick Garland:
Seized John Eastman's phone
Seized Jeffrey Clark's phone
Seized Scott Perry's emails
Seized Eastman's emails
Seized Epshteyn's phone
Seized Mike Lindell's phone
Seized Mike Roman's phone
Seized Scott Perry's phone
Got Kash Patel's testimony
Appointed Windom
Appointed Cooney
Subpoenaed the fraudulent electors
Subpoenaed 7 state's election officials
Subpoenaed Sidney's PAC
Subpoenaed Rudy
Opened IG probe into Clark
Opened IG probe into DoJ response to 1/6
Negotiated subpoena for Meadows
Battled the 11th circuit for classified docs
Subpoenaed trump for classified docs
Subpoenaed trump for surveillance video
Executed a search warrant on trump
Convicted Bannon of contempt
Indicted Navarro for contempt
Subpoenaed the speakers from 1/6
Subpoenaed the organizers of 1/6
Secured seditious conspiracy convictions
Subpoenaed records for any member of congress involved in 1/6
Subpoenaed info on Jenna Ellis
Secured testimony from Mark Short
Secured testimony from Jacob Engel
Secured testimony from Philbin
Secured testimony from Cippollone
Subpoenaed info on trump's PACs
Won privilege battles for Short, Engel, and the Pats
Negotiated for Pence's subpoena
Seized the phone records of Meadows
Secured the 1/6 committee transcripts
Subpoenaed 7 secretaries of state
...show me ONE DOJ which has brought more charges against republicans than this one, and has opened more investigations into republicans than Merrick Garland's.
There isn't any one that comes even close.