Republicans Beg AG Garland To Interfere In Special Counsel Investigation, Because They Are Bad At Law

It makes perfect sense if you think that theattorney general should function as the president's bag man.

“Today, I’m calling on the attorney general to stand before the American people and explain why this was necessary in his words," Mike Pence told a crowd in Miami this weekend. "Attorney General Merrick Garland, stop hiding behind the special counsel and stand before the American people and explain why this was necessary before the sun sets today."

Yes, okay, it's been 37 years since Mike Pence graduated from law school. But he understands perfectly well that the special counsel statute exists to keep politically sensitive investigations outside the chain of command of political appointees. It's kind of the whole point of taking it away from the US Attorney in DC!

Under 28 USC § 600.1:

The Attorney General, or in cases in which the Attorney General is recused, the Acting Attorney General, will appoint a Special Counsel when he or she determines that criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted and—

(a) That investigation or prosecution of that person or matter by a United States Attorney's Office or litigating Division of the Department of Justice would present a conflict of interest for the Department or other extraordinary circumstances; and

(b) That under the circumstances, it would be in the public interest to appoint an outside Special Counsel to assume responsibility for the matter.

The special counsel statute is a successor to the prior independent counsel law, which was amended after Ken Starr grossly abused his position for partisan purpose. The entire purpose here is to insulate politically sensitive investigations from partisan interference. So it makes no goddamn sense when Pence demands that Garland bigfoot this investigation and rein Jack Smith in.

The law states unambiguously that "the Special Counsel shall exercise, within the scope of his or her jurisdiction, the full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States Attorney," "shall not be subject to the day-to-day supervision of any official of the Department," and "shall determine whether and to what extent to inform or consult with the Attorney General or others within the Department about the conduct of his or her duties and responsibilities."

The Attorney General "will give great weight to the views of the Special Counsel," but if the special counsel advocates for a course of action "so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental practices that it should not be pursued," the AG has to tell Congress about it.

That's why Garland appointed Jack Smith special counsel approximately five minutes after Trump declared his intention to run again in 2024 — because it was a bad look for Garland and all the political appointees to investigate the president's electoral rival. Just as it was a bad look for the president to investigate himself , or his son , or a former vice president who is laboring under a fantasy delusion that the people who wanted to hang him will ever in a million years vote to send him to the White House.

Yes, we understand that's not how Attorney General Bill Barr handled Special Counsel John Durham. Barr and Durham routinely discussed the progress of the investigation into the "Russia Hoax, in scotch-soaked dinners and trips to Britain and Italy where they tried to get foreign intelligence agencies to 'fess up to feeding the Obama Justice Department lies to frame poor, innocent Donald Trump. But that's not how it's supposed to work in a functioning democracy.

And neither is this.

But that does explain why Trump's lawyers flounced into the Justice Department two weeks ago demanding to speak to the manager to complain that the clerk in the documents and January 6 grand jury department was providing bad customer service and should be fired on the spot.

So, no, AG Garland did not call a press conference and explain himself to the American people "before the sun sets today." But Jack Smith did. And he released the indictment before tomorrow's initial appearance, and it was very, very bad. 

How bad?

“Former Trump AG Bill Barr on Trump's federal indictment: "If even half of it is true, then he's toast. I mean, it's a very detailed indictment, and it's very, very damning. This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here -- a victim of a witch hunt -- is ridiculous."”

— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1686492463 

Bad enough that it knocked Bill Barr off the Trump Train, at least for a minute. We're sure he'll still vote for him next year anyway.

In summary and in conclusion, no, that's not how special counsels work, you dumb hacks. Because this is not a banana republic ... YET.

Catch Liz Dye on Opening Arguments podcast.

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