WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take action against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. But he doesn’t think he’ll be put in that position.
“I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that regard,” he said on CBS “60 Minutes.” “And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen.”
The Justice Department is at the center of not only indictments against Trump that include an effort to overturn the 2020 election and wrongly keeping classified documents, but also cases involving Biden’s son Hunter, the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol and investigations into classified documents found in the president’s home and office. Garland has appointed three separate special counsels.
Garland has spoken only sparingly about the cases and reiterated Sunday he would not get into specifics, but dismissed claims by Trump and his supporters that the cases were timed to ruin his chances to be president in 2024.
“Well, that’s absolutely not true. Justice Department prosecutors are nonpartisan. They don’t allow partisan considerations to play any role in their determinations,” Garland said.
Garland said the president has never tried to meddle in the investigations, and he dismissed criticism from Republicans that he was going easy on the president’s son, Hunter, who was recently indicted on a gun charge after a plea deal in his tax case fell apart. Hunter Biden is due in a Delaware court this week.
“We do not have one rule for Republicans and another rule for Democrats. We don’t have one rule for foes and another for friends,” he said. ”We have only one rule; and that one rule is that we follow the facts and the law, and we reach the decisions required by the Constitution, and we protect civil liberties.”
Garland choked up when talking about his concerns over violence, particularly as judges and prosecutors assigned to the Trump cases got death threats.
“People can argue with each other as much as they want and as vociferously as they want. But the one thing they may not do is use violence and threats of violence to alter the outcome,” he said. “American people must protect each other. They must ensure that they treat each other with civility and kindness, listen to opposing views, argue as vociferously as they want, but refrain from violence and threats of violence. That’s the only way this democracy will survive.”
He’s 100 percent correct that prosecutions should not be politically motivated or at the discretion of the president.
HOWEVER, what Garland has shown us is that his prosecutions are very heavily politically motivated, in that he opted not to go after Trump for fear of appearances. That was totally unacceptable.
Remember the Mueller report? Remember how it painstakingly detailed how Trump committed the crime of Obstruction of Justice in many ways, up to and including firing the Director of the FBI for the express purpose of halting the investigation into Trump’s dealings with Russia?
Do you recall that the underlying investigation that Trump stopped was to find out if the CONFIRMED Russian interference in our election and the CONFIRMED Trump campaign communications with Russians rose to the level of Conspiracy?
Remember how Trump’s DoJ wouldn’t prosecute Trump because of nonbinding Nixonera DoJ memos saying you can’t indict a sitting president?
REMEMBER HOW WE ALL THOUGHT THAT MEANT HE’D BE PROSECUTED THE DAY HE WAS NO LONGER PRESIDENT?!
Yeah, Garland CHOSE to ignore this… The greatest case of obstruction of justice of all time… And let the statute of limitations run out, so that now Trump can never be prosecuted for these crimes, which he committed in broad daylight, and which were caught on tape.
The problem with Garland isn’t that he would not prosecute Trump at Biden’s hypothetical request
The problem with Garland is that he is grossly incompetent for not prosecuting Trump on the bases of the OVERWHELMING evidence.
It’s 100 percent Garland’s fault that Trump, insurrectionist-inciting traitor, is walking free, and that the cases that were filed against him in federal court came so late that he may be a sitting president again before they conclude.
You nailed it
Garland was bidens biggest mistake: he is a spineless partisan ass.
Seems like a sitting AG knowingly acted against the best interest of the united States for personal motivations.
In my neck of the woods, we have a word for that, but for some reason beyond my comprehension , it eludes me.
Starts with a T, sounds vaguely like a father discussing vegetation with his male child…hmmm.
Oh well, guess we should just move on as a society and ignore blatant crimes…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take action against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
The Justice Department is at the center of not only indictments against Trump that include an effort to overturn the 2020 election and wrongly keeping classified documents, but also cases involving Biden’s son Hunter, the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol and investigations into classified documents found in the president’s home and office.
Garland has spoken only sparingly about the cases and reiterated Sunday he would not get into specifics, but dismissed claims by Trump and his supporters that the cases were timed to ruin his chances to be president in 2024.
They don’t allow partisan considerations to play any role in their determinations,” Garland said.
Garland said the president has never tried to meddle in the investigations, and he dismissed criticism from Republicans that he was going easy on the president’s son, Hunter, who was recently indicted on a gun charge after a plea deal in his tax case fell apart.
Garland choked up when talking about his concerns over violence, particularly as judges and prosecutors assigned to the Trump cases got death threats.
The original article contains 427 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 51%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Good. Resign then
If the man would rather resign than do his job, he shouldn’t have his job.
Not good. Biden should fire him, he’s not the man for the job.
This is exactly what’s wrong with picking the moderates, as soon as they’re forced out of their ethical comfort zone, they just quit. We saw happen across the broad when Trump took office.
If you’re just going to be a paper pusher, go be some deputy position. Whoever is in charge needs to have a vision of what the agency will become.
The only acceptable answer is “I will lead the DOJ to pursue all credibily evidence. POTUS has no say.” Resigning is for a loser, fight for justice.
Go read the article. He’s not saying he’ll refuse to prosecute Trump. He’s saying that he’s not prosecuting Trump just because Biden asked him to; That if Biden had asked him to do so, he would’ve resigned. He’s basically saying “I’m staying politically impartial. I’ll look at the facts of the case, not which party the defendant is on.”
Except that based on his history, he’s NOT politically impartial. Check out the top comment in this thread.
POTUS has no say.
This is exactly what he is saying.
And Biden firing the AG after said AG says he’ll refuse to take direct orders from the President would be an absolutely terrible look. That’s the kind of thing you’d expect from Trump (and indeed, the kind of thing that regularly happened under him).
I do not understand how you could think he’s unwilling to let the department prosecute Trump when Trump already has two federal indictments against him. Yeah, his job is to direct the department. It’s not to interfere in individual cases, whether for or against.
yeah yeah and if my granny had wheels she’d be a bike, jfc
Basically this fucker is a traitor and shouldn’t of ever gotten the job. Fuck resigning he should be fired and replaced with someone who will do the right thing. Not what protects the Republican party.
… did you read it? He’s saying he’ll treat cases with impartiality. He rather resign than be part of a political attack.
Prosecuting Trump when there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence to support prosecution is not a political attack. He’s been dragging his heels because he’s claiming it’s too political, but at some point the material evidence needs to outweigh that.
Garland should resign today and give Biden the chance to appoint someone who will actually do the fucking job.
Trump’s been indicted multiple times already. His days in court are marked in the calendar. Are you implying he doesn’t deserve his day in court?
REALLY late, and only once a special counsel was appointed because Garland was too scared to just follow the law himself.
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He’s been dragging his heels
What experience do you have with this type of case? What familiarity do you have with how long they usually take?
That article just seems to be looking for reasons to be mad. Investigations take time. And the repeated mentions of “The T word” are silly. Treason (which the article you linked never actually states, weirdly, when that has to be the word) is explicitly defined in the US Constitution. Other convictions would be just as devastating to Trump and show what he did without having to have a Supreme Court case about whether he was technically levying war.
There already was an investigation. Mueller’s report said he did crimes, but that you probably can’t prosecute a sitting president. Then he stopped being a sitting president and Garland just sat on it doing nothing.
Exactly and look how long it’s taken almost 4 fucking years and still committing crimes. Many times Garland as flat out refused to act. He scared and he also as a bias toward Republicans because he is one. How he got to be the Attorney General I never understand. He is spineless.
I’m not sure that’s what he’s implying, that nothing will happen to Trump or that he’s protecting him. What he’s saying, I think, is that he’s not doing anything to Trump by request of Biden or that the cases against Trump are political witch hunts. He’s trying to say he’s being impartial about the whole thing, not that Trump is off the hook, but the wording is kind of weird. I had to reread it bc I was like, “Wait, what?”
Agreed, the headline makes it sound like he’s trying to protect Trump, the article (as far as I am making sense of it) is saying he will take him to court, but not because Biden asked him to.
Little too quick to judge there bud, we don’t want our AG’s to bend at other people’s will. We prefer justice to be impartial. That is not a party exclusive thing.
But he not impatientl he is a Republican and refuses to hold Republican including Trump accountable.
So, bad reading comprehension or are you just a moron?
Could you be clearer on who you mean when you say he should be fired?
