Several attorneys have also suggested to me in recent days that the public will gain insight into the work of the Trump investigation if (or possibly when) prosecutors start filing charges. charges directly related to him. But it is possible that in some areas the federal government will never charge anyone, perhaps because it considers the matter closed or because it has chosen to cede the investigation to a local prosecutor. . If that’s what happened, the public deserves to know to gauge both the Justice Department’s operations and the extent to which federal law enforcement officials have reviewed Mr. Trump’s conduct.
Furthermore, the department’s total concession here could create a vacuum that is easily filled by inaccuracies and politically motivated speculation. Regarding the Mueller investigation and impeachment proceedings, Mr. Trump has made deeply misleading comments on social media, in public appearances and in interviews, and allies and representatives echoed his dubious statements and saw him as a political martyr at the hands of crazed opponents. Statements are often flimsy or false transparencybut they have been effective in persuading a substantial swath of Americans to discount survey results.
In Monday, Trump’s Statement Regarding the search at Mar-a-Lago, which has caused much of the political firestorm, it is best to exercise extreme caution. For example, he claims that his home is “currently besieged, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” when in fact agents are conducting a search of his home. in an orderly manner, with the permission of the court. Mr Trump also complained about “proceeding misconduct”, “weaponization of the justice system” and “assaults by radical left-wing Democrats who desperately wants me to run for president in 2024,” but he did not explain that federal officials had apparently settled for months with his representatives over whether classified information was stored at Mar-a. -Lago or not, including through a face-to-face meeting there. Mr. Trump himself put in.
As Mr. Trump does not publicly disclose information that does not benefit him, and with the media exaggerating the impact of the Mar-a-Lago search, the public may struggle to separate the truth from the truth. fictitious or learn what information they can trust. Trump’s supporters have criticized the department’s allegedly unfounded and heavy-handed tactics, portraying him as the victim of a political witch hunt at the hands of the opposition party. And much of the liberal legal commentary on Mr. Trump you’ll find on cable news networks turns out to be false before.
Nothing the attorney general can say will appease Mr. Trump or his most ardent supporters, who are likely to criticize Mr. Garland for saying too little or too much, no matter what he does. what. But the right audience for Mr. Garland is not Mr. Trump or Republicans on Capitol Hill, but the American people, especially those who are still legal. Concerned about Trump’s behavior. If Mr. Garland spoke, he could first provide the public with insight into the subject matter and nature of the department’s work as it relates to Mr. Trump and his administration (not simply the inform the public that his conduct may be under investigation in some vague sense) and second, to enable the public to judge whether the current administration is fulfilling its obligation to ensure that serious misconduct at any level is thoroughly and fairly investigated.
Mr. Garland likes to talk about the rule of law, an important principle that, like he described it When accepting President Biden’s nomination for attorney general, make sure that “there is no one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans, one rule for friends, one rule another rule for the enemy, one for the powerful, and another for the powerless.” However, this principle makes little sense, unless the public has the information to judge for themselves whether the department is meeting its obligation to the people of the United States to evaluate responsibly, and if appropriate. case, prosecuting possible misconduct at the highest levels of our political system – up to and including someone who has been president and who may, someday soon become president again.
