Exclusive: DOJ mulling potential special counsel if Trump runs in 2024

[riversedge]

Source: cnn



By Evan Perez, Katelyn Polantz and Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 9:35 AM EDT, Fri November 4, 2022


As Donald Trump inches closer to launching another presidential run after the midterm election, Justice Department officials have discussed whether a Trump candidacy would create the need for a special counsel to oversee two sprawling federal investigations related to the former president, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The Justice Department is also staffing up its investigations with experienced prosecutors so it’s ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the potential unprecedented move of indicting a former president. Top aides to Trump have been eyeing the third week of November as an ideal launch point for his campaign, with two sources telling CNN on Friday morning that the team has specifically discussed November 14.

In the weeks leading up to the election, the Justice Department has observed the traditional quiet period of not making any overt moves that may have political consequences. But behind the scenes, investigators have remained busy, using aggressive grand jury subpoenas and secret court battles to compel testimony from witnesses in both the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of national security documents kept at his Palm Beach home. ...................


........................


Garland’s big decision

The decision of whether to charge Trump or his associates will ultimately fall to Attorney General Merrick Garland, whom President Joe Biden picked for the job because his tenure as a judge provided some distance from partisan politics, after Senate Republicans blocked his Supreme Court nomination in 2016. ...................

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/03/politics/doj-trump-investigation-expansion-special-counsel/index.html

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I am feeling an array of feelings. upset, disappointed, angry, disgruntled.

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=VuDVRfXB-fL0nuMdYZMAsQ

[Irish_Dem]

1. Trump excels at gaming the system.

A ruthless sociopath who works every angle.

[Paladin]

10. It's all way too easy for trump. The DOJ needs to take decisive action, for a change. (nt)

[Irish_Dem]

11. Trump has an animal cunning but is not brilliant.

Even still, the DOJ is stymied even though Trump has been caught red handed committing
many serious crimes.

[Paladin]

14. Absolutely shameful, what trump continues to get away with. (nt)

[msfiddlestix]

38. Needed to. And now he we are. who woulda guessed it? Anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together.

Didn't need a phd, a masters, or even a high school diploma to have seen this coming.

[Fullduplexxx]

16. Well when the doj is complicit

[Magoo48]

27. In the sense that silence and doing nothing eventful is complicit. Yes DOJ is complicit.

They began backpedaling and playing defense from the get-go. How do they appear so busy yet act definitely on nothing? It is clear there is no will, no backbone, and no driving force be hind them.

I will gladly eat my words and admit my horrible misreading of this entire business if needs be.

[emulatorloo]

2. No, Don Winslow, I don't "see how this works," per your speculative tweet.

Facts are there is a grand jury for Jan 6th and another for Mar A Lago Stolen documents. Things are moving ahead. I don't know the meaning of the CNN story but am assuming there will be indictments when the grand juries are done w their work.

This part is good news:

“ The Justice Department is also staffing up its investigations with experienced prosecutors so it’s ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the potential unprecedented move of indicting a former president. ”

[JohnSJ]

8. +++

[Joinfortmill]

29. Thank you.

[NH Ethylene]

36. Agree. I think it's very possible there will be an indictment soon after the midterms.

Ideally it will happen before Trump announces his run.

[RKP5637]

3. The entire thing with this thug criminal Trump is beyond belief, and that someone

like Trump has so played the system that he might run for president again. Often, I see no future for the US, but I keep plugging away. If, somehow, someway, he became president again I seriously believe the US is history and will be a criminal syndicate. Sure, It would exist in some form ... much like working for a mob boss.

[certainot]

26. the only reason he got even close to the white house was RW radio and limbaugh keeping 1500

radio stations in line behind putins puppet.

but TFG killed limbaugh. while his chances weren't good it was possible he could have lasted a while longer if TFG hadn't gotten him to cancel and delay treatments so he could keep coming in to the big blowphone to steer the MSM, intimidate the DOJ and judges, and keep everyone in line

in the old days if GOP politicians or the staffs who handled them needed to know what the dominant spin/messaging was on any particular issue or event was they'd just listen to limbaugh or read his latest transcripts

now limbaugh is croaked and the giant messaging juggernaut is still very loud with the "INFLATION! CRIME! GAS PRICES! but the main blowhards don't have the 'gift' and don't have the same sources and intimidation power so it's allowing the republican loons to wander on their own, and they're getting a lot of shit on their shoes

there is no way the new lying assholes on the radio can save trump or get him back to the white house. and AI makes it inevitable that all that radio talk will be digitized and finally factored in and recognized as the only reason we've gone backwards the last 30 years, and as the main tool in putin's garage

[Joinfortmill]

30. Agree.

[RKP5637]

40. Excellent summary! n/t

[msfiddlestix]

39. But we ALL saw this coming from January 1st of 2021, and we all knew it brefore then.

It's like watching a toddler running out in the street time and time again, knowing that eventually ithe toddler was going to get hit by a motor vehicle, biut letting the child do it with no interference, intervention.

We have collectively been hammered into accepting that our system of governance is an entity that cannot constituionally be proactive in defense of a mentally disturbed criminal from occupying the head of state.

It's absolutely surreal.

[harumph]

44. That is a great point. Our institutions can't protect themselves

and by extension, they can't protect us.
I think it's because our D political representatives are in a very elite class -
necessarily so b/c it takes so much to run and win. Being in this elite class, while
their hearts are in the right place, they don't really have the existential fear
of many of us lower on the totem pole, b/c they're economically insulated from
the very worst outcomes. Maybe the Paul Pelosi thing will wake them up and they'll realize
they're not as secure as they would like to think. A nutcase with an agenda can kill
any one of us. They need to lose their timidity (if that is what it is) and tangibly go after Trump et al.
Not some window dressing bullshit for the proles.

[msfiddlestix]

45. Excellent points...

I feel like we need to create a completely different paradigm, but unfortunately I don't have a model to point to in terms of what that would look like, how to create it, or how it will function.

What I do know, is that what we have going is not sustainable. It certainly is dysfunctional at best.

Psychologically it's like shock treatment resulting in mind numbing status in perpetuity.

[EndlessWire]

4. Let them try for the Grand Search Warrant.

They can either do that, or they can't. I'd like that next. If they DON'T indict Trump for espionage, that will impact the country more than any other act. None of us will believe in the law ever again. DOJ, the Supreme Court, all down the toilet.

I think this "Special Prosecutor" doesn't mean that it will take years. It would be a distribution of DOJ work. Trump isn't the only case they work on. I think this is a good sign, a sign of seriousness, with one guy that will handle just this special case, with undivided attention. It's worse for Trump.

[Joinfortmill]

31. Totally agree.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

5. Why can't he just stroke out already?

Trump running in 2024 shouldn't be in the English language.

[Joinfortmill]

32. Amen to that

[mn9driver]

6. Mueller's investigation ran 22 months. Durham's is 24 months and counting.

Appointing a special counsel for Trump crimes now, implies he will not be indicted until perhaps after the 2024 election.

But only if he loses.

If he wins, it is game over for our little experiment in democracy. And if he is not indicted very soon, it is probably still game over.

[Justice matters.]

15. Well, Fani Willis is not looking for a special counsel...

She has the goods (or will have the goods pretty soon).

Once she'll indict...

[Joinfortmill]

33. Yes!

[Scrivener7]

17. Yup.

[pnwmom]

20. But does it really? Garland's DOJ has already been doing a lengthy investigation.

That didn't happen before Mueller's started.

[Funtatlaguy]

7. No more passing the buck.

[bluestarone]

9. O gotta say here, that THIS bullshit is getting very sickening!!

Really tired of this kind of BULLSHIT! Very depressing for me now.

[dchill]

12. Indict him.

[Justice matters.]

13. Not Robert Mueller please...

AND not ANY repuQ.

[Fullduplexxx]

18. Lol,.....

[PSPS]

19. LOL. Yet another new word for the list: "mulling"

[Dr. Jack]

21. Is Don Winslow a lawyer?

As far as I can tell he is not a legal expert, so why should we listen to that tweet? I've seen plenty of legal experts saying Trump is absolutely fucked and that this talk of a Special Counsel is a terrible sign for Trump and that charges could coming as soon as this month. I don't think this is part of some scheme by the DOJ to not have to charge Trump ever. It seems to be quite the opposite, that they are getting their ducks in a row.

[Joinfortmill]

34. Yes!

[lees1975]

22. Just indict the criminal and hold him until trial

there's plenty of grounds for that.

What are we waiting for. Stop pussyfooting around and arrrests and indict and get his ass in jail without bond .

[LudwigPastorius]

23. Garland, and his DOJ, are so concerned about the perception of a conflict of interest,...

they are going to fuck the entire country into a one-party Trump dictatorship if they don't act very soon.

[Drum]

24. Good god "DOJ Mulling..."

Eternal and futile, no?

[GreenWave]

25. And how many hundreds of thousands did he kill from his Covid histeria?

[Joinfortmill]

28. It's difficult to remove a Special Counsel...

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/596

'(1)Grounds for removal.—
An independent counsel appointed under this chapter may be removed from office, other than by impeachment and conviction, only by the personal action of the Attorney General and only for good cause, physical or mental disability (if not prohibited by law protecting persons from discrimination on the basis of such a disability),,[1] or any other condition that substantially impairs the performance of such independent counsel’s duties.'

[LudwigPastorius]

41. I'm pretty sure a Republican House would...

have no problem whatsoever impeaching a Garland-appointed Special Counsel.

[hamsterjill]

37. The old Tanya Tucker song comes to mind.

It’s a little too late to do the right thing now.

Trump won’t ever be charged.

[kansasobama]

42. Garland has been timid and the greatest punter of all times

Garland dragged foot till Liz Cheney lit a fire. He acted surprised when Jan 6 committee presented evidence. He is a timid man who does not have in it in him to save the nation. He is the only game in town. Just because there is an election, DJ does not have to hold off because it is a nice practice. Hello, he wants to drag foot, or hold off as the seeds of autocracy are being sown in Arizona. Action, Garland! Can you believe he may indict Hunter Biden but will not indict Trump?

[emulatorloo]

46. Sure, tell that to Tim McVeigh.

I can tell you don't know anything about Garland’s history as a prosecutor.

THE INEVITABLE INDICTMENT OF DONALD TRUMP
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/10/merrick-garland-donald-trump-investigation-indictment/671683/

As I noted up thread there are two active grand juries hearing testimony and looking at evidence as we speak.

[ancianita]

43. Let's just please let go of the FUD defeatism here. The DOJ can mull over, but Garland will indict.

He and the DOJ wouldn't have done all they've done just to walk away from enforcing rule of law and hand it all over to do-nothing rethugs.

[emulatorloo]

47. FUD's the perfect term. Thanks for cutting through the BS

[Hope22]

48. This sounds like a great lead in

For a Monty Python skit.