Attorney General Merrick Garland stressed that he is committed to investigating the events of Jan. 6 in comments marking his first anniversary leading the Justice Department on Thursday.
Glad to see he’s not as vague and clearly shows some determination regarding J6.
Garland said the DOJ won’t avoid cases that are “political or cases that are controversial or sensitive.”
Breaking the law is breaking the law. Everyone should be held to the same standard regardless of politics. I’m more concerned that Garland feels the need to mention this. Does it mean he has the goods or does it mean he’s getting ready to drop the ball?
Speaking only for myself, this is the aspect of Garland’s approach that makes me nervous; i.e., he appears to be working from “the ground up,” pursuing J6 insurrectionists with the aim of connecting them to folk higher up, but that is where things get dicey because Trump operates like mobsters with no direct link to the button men. It isn’t just that it’s taking long, it’s that seems more likely than not it will hit links that never become explicit enough to prosecute.
Having not thought through it, how about appointing a special prosecutor/counsel to look into the 1/6/2020 insurrection.
There you go, right there. And read that especially in the light of the Manhattan DA’s recent decision not to pursue charges despite two high profile resignations. A lot of the talking heads like Daniel Goldman have had to pivot around the “well, this would have been a hard case to prosecute blah, blah blah” after he and others were practically assuring everyone of that “mountain of evidence.”
Scumbag will be the nation’s most successful criminal in our history.
Vague?
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks on the First Anniversary of the Attack on the Capitol
Washington, DC - Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Tomorrow will mark the first anniversary of January 6th, 2021 — the day the United States Capitol was attacked while lawmakers met to affirm the results of a presidential election.
In the early afternoon of January 6th — as the United States Senate and House of Representatives were meeting to certify the vote count of the Electoral College — a large crowd gathered outside the Capitol building.
Shortly after 2 p.m., individuals in the crowd began to force entry into the Capitol, by smashing windows and assaulting U.S. Capitol police, who were stationed there to protect the members of Congress as they took part in one of the most solemn proceedings of our democracy. Others in the crowd encouraged and assisted those who attacked the police.
Over the course of several hours, outnumbered law enforcement officers sustained a barrage of repeated, violent attacks. About 80 Capitol Police and 60 D.C. Metropolitan Police were assaulted.
As our own court filings and thousands of public videos of the event attest,
- Perpetrators punched dozens of law enforcement officers, knocking some officers unconscious.
- Some perpetrators tackled and dragged law enforcement officers. Among the many examples of such violence: One officer was crushed in a door. Another was dragged down a set of stairs, face down, repeatedly tased and beaten, and suffered a heart attack.
- Some perpetrators attacked law enforcement officers with chemical agents that burned their eyes and skin.
- And some assaulted officers with pipes, poles, and other dangerous or deadly weapons.
- Perpetrators also targeted, assaulted, tackled and harassed journalists and destroyed their equipment.
…
In the aftermath of the attack, the Justice Department began its work on what has become one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history.
Only a small number of perpetrators were arrested in the tumult of January 6th itself. Every day since, we have worked to identify, investigate, and apprehend defendants from across the country. And we have done so at record speed and scale — in the midst of a pandemic during which some grand juries and courtrooms were not able to operate.
Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the FBI’s Washington Field Office, DOJ personnel across the department — in nearly all 56 field offices, in nearly all 94 United States Attorneys’ Offices, and in many Main Justice components — have worked countless hours to investigate the attack. Approximately 70 prosecutors from the District of Columbia and another 70 from other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and DOJ divisions have participated in this investigation.
So far, we have issued over 5,000 subpoenas and search warrants, seized approximately 2,000 devices, pored through over 20,000 hours of video footage, and searched through an estimated 15 terabytes of data.
We have received over 300,000 tips from ordinary citizens, who have been our indispensable partners in this effort. The FBI’s website continues to post photos of persons in connection with the events of January 6th, and we continue to seek the public’s assistance in identifying those individuals.
As of today, we have arrested and charged more than 725 defendants, in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia, for their roles in the January 6th attack.
…
The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last.
The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead.
Because January 6th was an unprecedented attack on the seat of our democracy, we understand that there is broad public interest in our investigation. We understand that there are questions about how long the investigation will take, and about what exactly we are doing.
Our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we would give with respect to any ongoing investigation: as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done — consistent with the facts and the law.
I understand that this may not be the answer some are looking for. But we will and we must speak through our work. Anything else jeopardizes the viability of our investigations and the civil liberties of our citizens.
“Garland said the DOJ won’t avoid cases that are “political or cases that are controversial or sensitive.”
Breaking the law is breaking the law. Everyone should be held to the same standard regardless of politics. I’m more concerned that Garland feels the need to mention this. Does it mean he has the goods or does it mean he’s getting ready to drop the ball?”
I think, or at least fervently hope that he means he knows how important holding Trump to account is and is acutely aware that having all his ducks neatly in a row with no imperfections is absolutely necessary, because when he strikes (and I am reasonably confident and hopeful that he will) it must be a telling blow to TFG, and his fellow swamp rats.
Talk about burying the lede:
Schiff noted that despite the DOJ “diligently pursuing” Capitol insurrectionists, the department has not taken a look into “multiple lines” of efforts to overturn the election results that “may have violated the law.”
Internet Eeyores: Why isn’t Garland investigating Trump? He’s letting him get away with it! He’s too weak and scared of going after Trump!
Garland: We’re going after everyone involved, including political cases.
Internet Eeyores: Why isn’t Garland investigating Trump? He’s letting him get away with it! He’s too weak and scared of going after Trump! This is a disaster!
I’ll believe it when I see it. The DOJ has had a year+ to do something and all I have seen are the Pawns from 1/6 getting light sentences.
Yep, that caught my eye. I don’t know if Schiff would know or not, I suspect he kinda does because they’re after the same pool of miscreants and no-one so far has asked to hold up the J6 enquiry because they are under criminal investigation (as far as I and they know).
Either Garland is being so stealthy even the people being investigated have no idea, or he’s not investigating.
I hope A but suspect B - and time is ticking.
As I tell everyone who will listen: We don’t have a clue what the DOJ is doing, besides what they’ve shown us in court filings, arrests, indictments and convictions.
Nobody expected the Oath Keeper indictments. Nobody saw them coming. Nobody even knew there was a grand jury empaneled.
Not the media. Not the experts. Not Adam Schiff. Not you or I.
Nobody saw the Proud Boys indictments coming either.
But came they did…
And knowing so little beforehand, we can only presume.
You can presume they will fail. Or you can presume they will succeed.
It’s your choice.
Fear or hope.
.
From Garland’s January 5th speech:
.
Our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we would give with respect to any ongoing investigation: as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done — consistent with the facts and the law.
I understand that this may not be the answer some are looking for. But we will and we must speak through our work. Anything else jeopardizes the viability of our investigations and the civil liberties of our citizens.
Everyone in this room and on these screens is familiar with the way we conduct investigations, and particularly complex investigations.
We build investigations by laying a foundation. We resolve more straightforward cases first because they provide the evidentiary foundation for more complex cases.
Investigating the more overt crimes generates linkages to less overt ones. Overt actors and the evidence they provide can lead us to others who may also have been involved. And that evidence can serve as the foundation for further investigative leads and techniques.
In circumstances like those of January 6th, a full accounting does not suddenly materialize. To ensure that all those criminally responsible are held accountable, we must collect the evidence.
We follow the physical evidence. We follow the digital evidence. We follow the money.
But most important, we follow the facts — not an agenda or an assumption. The facts tell us where to go next.
Notice that they are talking about the idiots that stormed the Capitol. But not a word about those in positions of power that organized and encouraged the attackers, not a word about the disinformation campaigns, nothing about the coup attempt by Jeffrey Clark. What about the Giulianis, Powells, Eastmans and the rest? Trump himself? These are the people that need to be punished if we want to preserve our democracy or they can always find more idiots in the same place they got the last.
He is doing it right, it seems to me. Go from the bottom up, when you get to the top most excuses and defenses have been exposed.
Not to mention plea deals and cooperation.
The Oathkeepers are not a threat to our democracy, the Jeffrey Clarks are.
You’d prefer they show their work?
To those people that they’re investigating?
You’re not a police detective, are you.
Show me evidence that the DOJ is not investigating the Jeffrey Clarks.
I’ll wait.
And eternally thankful to the FSM!
And I cannot prove that Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn’t exist either. You cannot prove a negative. But I will wait while you gather positive information that Jeffrey Clark is being prosecuted.