Sunday, February 11, 2024

News chunk & bits: Dem discontent with Garland?; The Mar-a-Lago stolen docs case update; Etc.

In May of 2021, I concluded that Merrick Garland was grossly incompetent and needed to be replaced immediately. That wonderful post is entitledFederal law enforcement continues to fail: Fire Merrick Garland. I was criticized for being too impatient. My concern then, and still is today, is that Garland was moving far too slowly in investigating and indicting Trump. By delaying so long to even get started, Garland seriously failed us and the rule of law. Now, in February 2024, some other folks are finally starting to come to the same conclusion about Garland and for the same reason. Politico writes:
White House frustration with Garland grows

The president believes the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents went beyond his remit. And part of the blame is being placed on the AG.

Biden and his closest advisers believe Hur went well beyond his purview and was gratuitous and misleading in his descriptions, according to those two people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely. And they put part of the blame on Garland, who they say should have demanded edits to Hur’s report, including around the descriptions of Biden’s faltering memory.

Frustration within the White House at Garland has been growing steadily.

Last year, Biden privately denounced how long the probe into his son was taking, telling aides and outside allies that he believed the stress could send Hunter Biden spiraling back into addiction, according to the same two people.

“What Democrats do is they bend over backwards not to look partisan, and then they end up hiring people that are partisan but in the other direction,” said a Biden donor, granted anonymity to speak freely about the top law enforcement official in the country. “There’s no question in my mind that the villain here is Merrick Garland.”

But even as the frictions between the White House and DOJ remain relatively contained, outside Democrats are now openly airing their disapproval with Garland’s conduct, and their fears that his selection as attorney general may end up being fatal for Biden.

“Garland is far and away Biden’s worst appointee by an order of magnitude,” Robert Kuttner, co-founder of the liberal American Prospect. “And we all pay the price. If Biden goes down the drain because Garland has mishandled the investigation of Trump and gave Republicans a weapon … then the country pays the price. It’s not just that Biden gets punished for the stupidity of appointing Garland.”
Despite the “growing discontent” among some Dems, Biden has no intention of replacing Garland now. Maybe if Biden is re-elected, he will replace Garland then. Although it is probably too late to have a meaningful impact, Garland should still be fired immediately, assuming it doesn’t make the legal mess even worse.
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Various sources are reporting that special prosecutor Jack Smith is losing patience with pro-Trump Trump judge Aileen Cannon in the Mar-a-Lago stolen documents case in a Florida federal court. Cannon has been sabotaging the prosecution and slow walking everything to protect Trump as long as possible. One of Cannon’s idiotic cannon blasts could easily wind up getting some innocent witnesses murdered. Law & Crime writes about the threat to witnesses she wants to create by doxxing them:
Special counsel Jack Smith has called out U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, saying her recent order to unseal redacted discovery records in former President Donald Trump‘s impending classified documents trial would needlessly expose witnesses and potentially trigger intimidation and threats — including to her.

In a 22-page motion for reconsideration and stay, Smith laced into the judge as he attempts to fight off public exposure to a swath of unredacted documents before what is a tentatively set May 20 trial date.

“That discovery material, if publicly docketed in unredacted form as the Court has ordered, would disclose the identities of numerous potential witnesses, along with the substance of the statements they made to the FBI or the grand jury, exposing them to significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment, as has already happened to witnesses, law enforcement agents, judicial officers, and Department of Justice employees whose identities have been disclosed in cases in which defendant Trump is involved,” Smith wrote.
If a deranged Trump supporter with a gun winds up murdering a witness, that blood will be on Cannon. She is a corrupt, morally rotted judge who really ought to be impeached before she gets someone killed.

On the delay front, Smith lashed out at another bad faith attempt by Trump to further slow the already snail’s pace trial, by filing new motions that assert Trump is immune from prosecution, even though the crimes he is on trial for in Florida occurred after he left office. Law & Crime writes
In a new motion, special counsel Jack Smith shredded Donald Trump’s latest attempt to indefinitely delay the classified documents case in Florida before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, urging the court to resist the former president’s efforts to “stop at nothing” to delay facing a jury.

“Their objective is plain — to delay trial as long as possible. And the tactics they deploy are relentless and misleading — they will stop at nothing to stall the adjudication of the charges against them by a fair and impartial jury of citizens. The Court should promptly reject the defendants’ motion,” Smith wrote in the 9-page brief filed in Florida late Thursday.

A tentative May 20 trial date has been set but it increasingly looks like that won’t get off the ground as Cannon has agreed to extend deadlines for other pretrial issues.

Most offensive to the special counsel is Trump’s attempt to dismiss the 40-some charges he faces for alleged illegal retention of sensitive and classified documents by attempting to advance an argument of “presidential immunity.”

The conduct charged took place after Trump left office, Smith wrote.

“The only purpose for such a frivolous motion in this case would be to artificially create a new avenue for potential delay, this time by attempting to manufacture an opportunity for a frivolous interlocutory appeal. It is another transparent effort to stall the trial,” the motion states.
Here, Trump delays by claiming immunity for crimes he committed after he left office. At this rate, Trump probably will succeed in delaying completion of this trial until after the Nov. election. If he is re-elected, this case will be dropped. Then, Trump will once again face no punishment for his crimes. Not only that, he will be the US president with freedom to commit a slew of new and much nastier crimes. 
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Christian nationalism update -- normalizing thoughts of civil war: Newsweek reports:
Evangelical preacher Andrew Wommack said that a "civil war" would be "worth it" if it meant getting former President Donald Trump back into the White House

"I've actually had people say that if Trump was to be elected if we got a conservative Congress, that they fear that we would have another civil war," Wommack said during a Wednesday episode of his Truth & Liberty show. "And you know what? I don't want a civil war, I don't know anybody that does, but would it be worth it? To turn this nation back? I believe it would."   
Wommack's remarks came in response to a call from a viewer who asked if it would be possible to have a "grace revolution" that would create a nation that would "use the Bible as the Constitution." In response, Wommack said there was nothing wrong with the U.S. Constitution, but rather the "problem" is that no one is following it.
"At no time did Mr. Wommack call for, or even suggest that, civil war is a goal or an expectation. Mr. Wommack also emphasized that our Constitution is not in need of changing, indeed it is vital that we adhere to its principles."
Here, Wommack does not call for civil war, but cleverly inserts the thought that if Trump is elected and congress is Republican, opponents will probably rebel and engage in a violent civil war. He also says no one is following the Constitution, hence reinforcing the need to defend "conservatism" by mass violence.

Is it just me, or do people notice (1) the raw authoritarianism, radical Christian theocracy, inherent in Christian nationalism, (2) the slanders and sheer cynical, self-righteous manipulation of truth, or (3) to avoid violating the Johnson Amendment, the almost, but not quite, explicit message for Christians to vote for Trump? This is first rate propaganda. Tens of millions of Americans actually believe it and are getting mentally prepped for violent action if DJT loses the 2024 election.










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