Special counsel shows Democrats want to string along Trump
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Donald Trump's life is about to get very unpleasant.
There are a number of interesting aspects of Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland's appointment of veteran prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to take over the Trump investigations - and we have to say "investigations," plural, because there are several (as I've detailed here).
For starters, there is the illusion of independence. By the appointment, Garland is trying to convince the public that the Biden administration has disconnected itself from probes of President Biden's most notable political rival. We're to believe that it is Smith, not Garland and the Justice Department, who are driving the train.
Democrats calculate that former President Donald Trump cannot win a national election but could win the GOP nomination.The Washington Post via Getty Images
It's not true. As a matter of constitutional law, criminal investigation and prosecution are exclusively executive functions, and Article II vests all executive power in the president. All prosecutors who wield federal investigative and charging authority, whether they are special counsels or ordinary assistant US attorneys, answer to the attorney general and, ultimately, the president.
Moreover, though federal regulations imbue a special counsel with the patina of detachment from DOJ's regular chain of command, they make clear that the Attorney General is still in charge. Smith will report to Garland. And Garland reports to President Biden.
Jack Smith was appointed as special counsel to take over the Trump investigations.Justice Department/Handout via REUTERS
In saying this, I am not accusing Biden of wrongdoing. I am just asserting remorseless facts - the kind that don't care about appearances. Being president means you can run but you can't hide. Biden has two choices: he can order that Trump not be investigated, or he can empower prosecutors to investigate Trump. Either choice carries potential political costs, but he can't escape the need to make the choice.
The most interesting aspect of the special counsel appointment is its highly unusual circumstances. Usually in this sort of political context, a special counsel is named because it would otherwise look like the incumbent administration (Democratic, in this case) was harassing a political opponent (here, a Republican) in order to prevent the latter from competing for public office. In this nearly unfathomable situation, though, Democrats want Trump to run.
Democrats calculate (correctly, in my view) that Trump cannot win a national election but could win the GOP nomination. I think it will become increasingly obvious, as Trump's troubles mount, that he won't be the eventual Republican nominee. Nevertheless, his status as a former president and his bull-in-a-china-shop presence in the campaign primaries stand to damage other GOP candidates, who otherwise stand a good chance of beating Biden in November 2024.
Jack Smith will report to AG Merrick Garland.REUTERS
Trump will claim the special counsel has been named because Biden knows that Trump is the favorite and needs to try to knock him out of the race. Don't believe it. The truth is that Biden figures Trump, who is deeply unpopular outside his narrowing political base, may be the only Republican of stature that Biden can beat.
As long as he is a viable GOP candidate, Democrats want Trump in the contest. But they want him wounded by increasing scandal, and then prosecuted the moment he is no longer politically viable. It is now Smith's job to do the wounding and prosecuting.
Last point: the special counsel - the latest iteration of what was known as a "special prosecutor" during Watergate and an "independent counsel" in the Bill Clinton era - is perhaps the most pernicious of government institutions . . . and that's saying something.
President Biden must weigh the potential political costs of deciding to investigate or not investigate the former president.Getty Images
Unlike all other prosecutors, a special counsel does not have to make reasonable judgments about how much of his office's resources can be devoted to any one case at the expense of others. A special counsel has one job: investigate a single target (or set of targets). Virtually bottomless resources dedicated to the pursuit of just one case. To justify the expense of their investigations, special prosecutors are motivated to find something - anything - to indict.
Historically, that means special counsels take a long time and perform what is aptly called a probe - an extraordinarily intrusive inquiry, scouring every nook and cranny of the target's life. And that happens even when the target is looking at just one investigation. Again, Trump is facing several: the January 6 case, the Mar-a-Lago documents case, and recently emerging investigations of whether the former president tried to sic the IRS on political opponents, and whether the federal securities laws were violated by the proposed merger by which he hopes to capitalize his new media venture - Trump Media, the host of Trump Social, a wannabe Twitter that Trump has made his main communications platform.
And for all we know, there are likely to be new investigations. Trump is behaving erratically and has a history of conduct that borders on obstruction (see, e.g., the retention of highly classified intelligence at Mar-a-Lago and subsequent efforts to conceal the breadth of it). This is just the beginning.
Smith's probe is going to take months if not more, and put Donald Trump through several ringers. Democrats wouldn't want it any other way.
Andrew C. McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor.
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This is sad for two reasons:
1) It seems like they are actually fooling people. This is the most blatantly corrupt DOJ there ever was. Worse than either Holder or Bobby Kennedy. The Hunter Biden case cries out for an independent investigation and here is Garland trying to weaken Trump with another investigation.
2) Republicans are going to have to toss Donald Trump to the wolves because he has become a political liability. He is determined to run again yet we know that he can't win. It wasn't because he was a bad President. He was a very good President. It is simply because our very biased & dishonest media villified him 24/7 for 6 years and we now have a multitude of voters who will come out for no other reason than to vote against him.
You are really fooling yourself.
Trump's own AG said on an interview on Friday the Justice Department has a legitimate basis for indicting Trump over the classified documents taken to Mar-a-Lago.
Whatever... We already know the Know Nothings taking control of the House in January already plan to run a microscope up Uncle Joe's ass to find out when he had his last colonoscopy.
Personally Congress is looking more and more like a grade school play yard and the Freedumb Caucus are the gang of bullies shaking everyone else down for their lunch money. Good luck in 2024 with this crop of idiots.
Then why hasn't Garland produced an indictment???
Whatever... We already know the Know Nothings taking control of the House in January already plan to run a microscope up Uncle Joe's ass to find out when he had his last colonoscopy.
We know that's meaningless.
This AG needs to be impeached.
I'm not part of the investigation team. Are you? I've been reading on various sources saying this will be a case of where the new Special Council comes in mid-investigation with the people that are currently working the case.
HAHAHHAHAHAHA! You are so blindly partisan. Maybe Large Marge will get the gavel and attempt all the far right populist fever dreams... That will be the biggest gift to democrats going into 2024.
That is all about Trump taking classified documents, right? Remember when there was a leak that nuclear secrets were among those documents?
Have you heard about this:
So here we have the rarest of all cases where a former President is investigated by the DOJ over documents. If Barr thinks there is anything even remotely qualified to constitute an indictment, it would be a slam dunk in front of a DC Trump-hating jury. There can only be one reason that Garland wouldn't prosecute Trump if he could : They want to run against him in 2024.
I'll wait for the investigation to finish. Leaks are somewhere between less interesting than laid out facts and more fun to gossip about than who's on The Masked Singer. I'll largely leave leaks to partisan talking heads who make money off of making people pissed off.
Then the investigative team better bring their A game, right?
Crazy how that was quietly cleared up with almost no press coverage after the election.
Not a valid source.
Nope, the only purpose of the investigation is too keep Trump in a negative light and constantly in the news.
The Washington Post is an allowed source.
ot a valid source.
The Washington Post is pretty conspiracy minded, I'll give you that.
Then post from the Washington Post and not the crap source you posted.
He didn't post the Washington Post as a source. He used a crap source.
Maybe... Maybe not. I'm not losing sleep over it either way. IF he's guilty I hope they nail him, if he's not guilty the Dems lose face, again. Either way I win.
Baaaa!!!!! Says the sheep as it is lead off to slaughter. Baaaa!!!!!! Even louder. Thinking that if it only follows the rest of the sheep and Baaas loud enough it will avoid it's fate. While their Establishment Democrat handlers can't believe how stupid they are.
You don't think Barr is still an Establishment Republican? The Establishment wants Trump gone; Barr is willingly falling into line. Barr still thinks he has a future somewhere within the Establishment. We will see if the Establishment thinks so as well; or if they are just using him.
Far more evidence against Biden than there ever was against Trump; but Democrats and their media sycophants have ignore and downplayed it- so their lemmings are all more than willing to race off the nearest cliff. Unfortunately it is a Democrat DA in charge of the case; and they are really slow walking it.
What has the House been for the last four years under Democrat control?
Democrats already proved that demonizing your opponents works. If the current uber Fascist liberal fuck up Democrats that ran this country into a ditch in two short years can not get shillacked in the House; hold enough seats in the Senate; and won some new Governorships- then the voters will vote for the lesser of two evils. Republicans just need to drill it into everyone's heads over the next two years just who the Fascist fucks that want to destroy Democracy really are.
The problem is that many people who don't subscribe to the Post can't read it. The story by the Post gets carried by sources that can be read.
Thus you got what is a common knowledge story.
I don't blame you. Either they falsely convict him of something or they hope he gets the GOP nomination so they can win again. Either way you would win.
However, Republicans now get it. They will nominate Ron DeSantis.
What do you win?
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Had they had anything, he'd be convicted.
Watch out for that cliff...
Yes. Populism is a shitty way to run a government, but there are easier way to get rid of Trump than naming a special council.
Really? Where is all this evidence? Did you get it from Q?
Looks kind of like a clown car from my point of view.
Oh...come on! This has been a tried and true tactic since the first election in the Roman Senate. It certainly isn't limited to Democrats. Tell me what is the current Republican plan other than they aren't Dems?
That's a pretty tall bar with a lot of moving parts. I'm relatively certain they would have to have an air tight case to make anything stick. They don't call him Teflon Don for nothing.
Can we look forward to more Unconstitutional laws in FL like the Don't Say Gay Law?
Do you remember what a few of the DC jurors who let Sussman walk said? They said there are more important things going on.
Can we look forward to more Unconstitutional laws in FL like the Don't Say Gay Law?
You can look forward to the teaching of CRT being illegal!
“You can look forward to the teaching of CRT being illegal!
But aren’t there ‘more important things going on’?
Oh yes, There is the inflation that Biden's wild spending caused. There is Biden's war on gas & oil. There is Biden's open border and there is the democrats war on police!
There was and is no "don't say Gay" law, that was all liberal and media hype.
The word "Gay" never appears in the law.
The law is about giving parents the right to decide what is appropriate for others to teach their children when it comes to matters such as sex.
Yet people insist on posting misleading comments.
Yeah, liberals swallowed the swill and never bothered to read the law.
Just like they did with those awful "Jim Crow on Steroids" mythical voter suppression laws!
The proof is when you ask any of them to quote the part of the laws that do what they claim they do, all you get is deflection, projection, denial or silence. What you never get is an honest answer.
Do you have a link to this? everything I have found is the pathetic losers who have challenged this law has had their asses handed to them.
Judge again tosses challenge to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
Judge again tosses challenge to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill | PBS NewsHour
And it was the parents standing up to the school boards that brought it on. Also it is also why Garland issued the memo calling the parents "terrorists".
How did we ever let them infect the schools with this poison?
I think from now on people will take an interest in local school board campaigns. We need to know who these people are.
People are actually paying attention to what is being taught in schools. More and more I'm seeing videos of school boards trying to silence parents and it backfiring.
More and more states are following suit with their own version of Florida's law. And the only ones opposing them are the left.
... typical. nice work!
Not the "Do not say gay", but still related from Friday -
Others are still working there way into the courts.
It's not and no matter how much it triggers the white grievance crowd it won't be.
The majority of them aren't.
We're not the ones keeping whatshisname in a negative light and constantly in the news - that's him and his supporters/enablers.
He's guilty as sin.
You win nothing.
Falsely convict him of something
Trump is the only candidate in US history who attempted to steal a US election:
Trump is a sick joke. Everyone who can think rationally knows that the 2020 election was not rigged and that Trump's refusal to acknowledge defeat and continued pushing of his Big Lie is the behavior of an emotional narcissist, pathological liar con-man.
Trump would lose in a general election because he should never be trusted with a position of power ... much less the presidency.
Why do you defend Trump by trying to excuse his outrageous behavior by pretending this is all a dishonest portrayal by the media?
If you want to do good for the GoP then stop defending Trump and instead work to get a different GoP nominee. If you and others continue to excuse all of Trump's disqualifying qualities you will keep him within striking distance of the primary plurality and he will be the GoP nominee.
T H I N K
Keep defending Trump and he will secure the plurality and become the GoP nominee.
He will then lose the general election and you will have accomplished what you fear most — putting a D back in the oval office.
T H I N K
I don't want the POS strung along. I want him to be prosecuted for his crimes. I want him stuffed in a concrete hole at club fed until they have to drag his decomposing carcass out of it and then he can take his rightfully earned place in US history as a criminal, traitor, and wannabe despot that failed and was made to pay the price for it, along with everyone around him that facilitated his actions and did nothing to stop him.
Lots of liberals seem to be saying that.
You know what liberals don't say with any frequency?
They never once seem to call on Joe Biden's JD to actually DO IT.
They just yak incessantly about Trump as if he lives in their otherwise empty heads 24/7/365.
BINGO!
“…in their otherwise empty heads…”
As opposed to those talking, texting heads only so eager to…pick your poison, as it all poisonous.
I am sure you had a point somewhere in there.
Democrats obviously want him to be the Republicans nominee and will do everything possible to ensure it happens. Much like 2016. The IC is just a means to continue to damage him by leaks (he has nuclear secrets at a Mar a Lago!) without finishing him off. If he's indicted, it means they don't think he can win the nomination.
That's right, that means "game over." They'll have nothing to run against. It was so easy when all they had to do was say "Trump" and 80 million brainwashed zombies would fill out their ballots and send them in.
No matter how hard the Democrats try to spin this, as the saying goes it is still a case of "Revenge is a dish best served cold."
After two failed impeachments and the failed Mueller investigation, Democrats still have no shame.
Appointing Jack Smith as special counsel means that Garland's DOJ doesn't have enough to support an indictment and successful prosecution. Appointing a special counsel actually repudiates the House Jan. 6th investigations, too. Special counsels also provide cover for politically motivated investigations, as Robert Mueller demonstrated.
Believe it or not, the appointment of a special counsel is a clear indicator that Trump won't be prosecuted.
What it means is that Garland has no desire to be a politician. If he was to indict Trump without a special counsel Garland would be a defacto politician for years to come.
That's mostly correct. Special counsels are appointed to specifically address and overcome political bias. The appointment suggests Garland's DOJ has already been playing politician.
IMO Garland is trying to use a special counsel to circumvent further investigation of a politicized DOJ and FBI.
It's a scare tactic. Plain and simple. With a special counsel, they can attempt to scare voters into voting Democrat.
If there were real reason for a Special Counsel, then it would have been done BEFORE Trump's announcement. Garland is playing partisan politics.
Is this the 1,238th time Democrats have declared they really, really, REALLY have Trump nailed, or is it the 1,239th?
It is hard to keep up with over the years.
I thought it was closer to 1500 announcements. Not that this one is going to go anywhere.
It is hard to keep track of with the near-weekly pronouncements.
Do they think rational humans are fooled by their shenanigans?
FFS, prosecute Trump once and for all instead of stringing this shit out for 6 years.
That, or STFU about him.
There may be hope that a special counsel can influence voters but I disagree that it's a scare tactic. Special counsels don't make public statements about progress of their investigations. The only thing the public will see are court filings. Promises of prosecution by the press may serve as political red meat but the special counsel won't be a significant factor until court filings and/or indictments are forthcoming. And it's quite likely any court filings will be a disappointment.
Appointing a special counsel actually takes the investigations out of play. Garland's DOJ may be able to leak damaging information but a special counsel cannot without igniting a firestorm.
They just leak information that turns out to be false.
Six Years? The Mar-a-Lardo search was in June 2022. The "Special Master" is still assessing what is and isn't in evidence!
January 6th 2021 was not two years ago.
Yes, dumb liberals have been proclaiming that they really have Trump "this" time for years now. Do try to keep up.
Another Trump term would be a disaster for this country. This however isn't the way to go about stopping it, it must be done at the ballot box. If somehow Democrats can keep him of the ballot, Ron Desantis will become the next president. Be carful what you wish for.