AG Garland unveils new special counsel investigation of Trump; reaction is overwhelming

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a new special counsel to investigate Donald J. Trump, a stunning politically charged move coming only days after the former president officially declared his candidacy for the White House in 2024, potentially taking the top challenger of his boss Joe Biden off the chessboard.

On Friday, in a development that few saw coming, Garland named Jack Smith as the second special counsel to conduct a sweeping probe into Trump after the costly witch hunt undertaken by Robert Mueller came up empty and the Justice Department is clearly hoping that the second time will be the charm.

(Video: C-Span)

In his press conference from the DOJ, Garland justified Smith’s appointment by recognizing Trump’s candidacy as well as Biden’s intention to run for reelection and tasked the former war crimes investigator for the International Criminal Court at The Hague with carrying out the two-pronged probe into the ex-POTUS over the documents seized in a daring FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago as well as the so-called “insurrection” on January 6, 2021.

“The Department of Justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” the attorney general said. “Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.”

“Such an appointment underscored the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland said. “It also allows prosecutors and agents to continue their work expeditiously and to make decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.”

“The special counsel will conduct parts of the first investigation I just mentioned,” he continued. “The investigation into whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or with the certification of Electoral College vote held on or about January 6. This does not include prosecutions that are currently pending in the District of Columbia or future investigations and prosecutions of individuals for offenses committed while they were physically present on the Capitol grounds on January 6, those investigations and prosecutions will remain under the authority of the U.S attorney for the District of Columbia.”

The announcement, a possible game-changer for 2024, drew a strong response on Twitter.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is set to be one of the leading voices of the new GOP House majority called for starving Garland’s special counsel of funding.

“Republicans will need to refuse to appropriate any funding to Merrick Garland’s Special Counsel and defund any part of the DOJ acting on behalf of the Democrat party as a taxpayer funded campaign arm for the Democrat’s 2024 presidential nominee,” the Georgia Republican tweeted.

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1593714864467288065?s=20&t=IqiIR7VG4mE7NeGZtWCW_w

Garland’s move, which could indefinitely postpone the indictment of Trump that the left has been clamoring for, isn’t going over well with some on Resistance Twitter.

Clay Travis, Outkick founder and co-host of the nationally syndicated Clay Travis  & Buck Sexton Show took delight in the despair of Trump haters who felt cheated.

“The left wing is savaging Merrick Garland for appointing an independent counsel to investigate Trump. This investigation will likely drag on for years and end with no significant penalty for Trump. Lucy just yanked the football away from Charlie Brown. Again,” Travis wrote in what may or may not be an accurate early prediction of where it’s all going.

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Chris Donaldson

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