pundits wonder why trump’s cases took so long to go to court. The Reason: AG Garland May Be trump’s best friend.
Worse, Garland’s delays gave the presidency to Trump
“The law is an ass” is a famous quote from a play (Revenge for Honour) published by the English dramatist George Chapman in 1654. Charles Dickens also used the phrase in Oliver Twist (1838).
The phrase means that the law has a logic contrary to common sense.
This is something most Americans recognize, and it is on full display in the very publicized and covered legal problems of the chronically accused and convicted ex-president Donald Trump.
Thanks to the long cultural history of American cops and lawyers shows on TV, Americans are also familiar with arrests and court proceedings. They know that arrested and charged people are supposed to receive a speedy trial, and guilty people go to jail. But that is on TV.
When it comes to rich, white-collar criminals and politicians, other rules apply. We have seen it in the Trump cases and other white-collar crime prosecutions and sentencings for years. This gap is glaring; incredibly, most minorities are not protesting outside courthouses nationwide daily.
Therefore, it is no surprise that a recent CNN poll by SSRS found that most Americans (48%) want to see a verdict on the election subversion charges against former President Trump before this year’s presidential election; these charges stem from the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. This violent attack on the Capitol resulted in one of the most extensive federal investigations in history.
If the trial and any conviction do not happen before the election, the poll found that Trump would give himself a get-out-of-jail free from any federal crimes or, even worse, refuse to concede if he loses in the November 2024 election.
This is a big deal because, as CNN reported, “Trump currently faces four separate criminal indictments, including federal charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The trial date in that case, originally set for March 4, was postponed Friday after the survey was conducted.”
Trump’s infamous goal is to manipulate and delay his arraignment schedule, which is the fulcrum of his effort to postpone his trials and appearances until after the next presidential election.
However, AG Garland worked into Trump’s playbook by waiting 21 months to appoint a prosecutor. Why the delay? Was it ineptitude? A timid prosecutor? Respect for the Justice Department institution over enforcing the law? The personality quirks of a timid man? Not at all.
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
So, since time is of the essence here, we have to ask why US Attorney General Merrick Garland waited 21 months before appointing Special Counsel Jack Smith to begin his investigation and case preparation against Trump for numerous federal charges.
Will Garland’s 21-month delay in starting the insurrection investigation give Trump the presidency?
This is an existential timetable that can fundamentally change the entire political structure of the US.
It is a mystery why Attorney General Merrick Garland waited almost one year before he appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to begin prosecuting Trump for Attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith was the former prosecutor and chief prosecutor for The Hague’s special court.
Smith was appointed on Nov. 18, 2022, about 21 months after the insurrection. In Garland’s defense, the Justice Department was prosecuting the people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but that is not a valid excuse.
The U.S. Justice Department is a vast organization employing some 115,000 people, including 10,000 lawyers. Its organizational chart includes the FBI, DEA, Civil Rights and Anti-Trust divisions, and the U.S. Marshall’s Service.
Given the severity of the insurrection and the fact that Trump announced his intention to run again in the 2024 election on November 15, 2022, three days later, Smith was appointed.
Garland knew the vast scope of the case and its complications. His advisors also learned that Trump would continue his legendary legal strategy to “delay, delay, delay.” So, getting a quick start on the historic insurrection case and knowing it would probably end up in the US Supreme Court were all flashing red lights to indicate that speed was essential.
But Garland waited, and the big question is why?
Garland was a judge and public prosecutor his whole career. In typical cases, speed is dictated by the glacial pace of the legal system, and the federal system is even slower. But, history presented Garland with a new challenge: to accelerate a case that would determine the fate of the US democracy.
What would have happened if Garland had begun Trump’s case months earlier? Would some of these cases already be in court? Would Trump have run out of delaying tactics?
This is a question that some intrepid historians and investigative reporters should answer.
But until they provide an answer, we will never know. Garland’s biographers would have to conclude that this delay could have determined the election if Trump won. I bet there was no reason to wait eight months to appoint Smith.
Trump’s win now means all of the investigations will be dropped thanks to Garland’s incompetence or complicity with Trump. Historians will look at Garland’s inaction as a significant reason why the US democracy was shattered.
This will also decide how Garland is viewed in the history books. Garland must explain why he decided on these crucial delays. At best, he will be viewed as a prognosticating, inert jurist who enabled a fascist president to win.
