No wonder the Republicans fought so hard against Merrick Garland’s Attorney General confirmation
Senate Republicans used every procedural maneuver in the book to drag out most of President Biden’s cabinet nominations for as long as possible, even knowing that they’d be confirmed in the end. Given the obstructionist nature of the GOP these days, it wasn’t surprising. But the Republicans seemed to give something away when they worked hardest of all to delay Biden’s nomination of Merrick Garland for Attorney General. Now we’re starting to see why.
Garland has only been on the job for a short time, but he and his Department of Justice are now making major moves to reverse the damage of the Trump era, and to take down Trump’s corrupt co-conspirators. This week Garland reversed Trump’s effort to protect bad cops. Then last night Garland’s DOJ filed a multimillion dollar suit against Trump henchman Roger Stone, in what appears to be a first step in completely dismantling Stone’s life.
If Garland is being this aggressive with his initial moves, what’s next? The DOJ is sitting on comprehensive criminal cases against other Trump henchmen like Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon, and it seems a matter of time before Garland gives the green light to take them down. The DOJ also has a smorgasbord of felony charges it can bring against Donald Trump and his family if it wants to.
So it’s a big deal that Merrick Garland is already moving aggressively against Trump-era corruption and Trump-era criminals right out of the gate. Numerous House and Senate Republicans committed felonies of their own during the Trump era, so they’ve got to be sweating about being charged themselves. No wonder the Republicans tried to drag out Garland’s confirmation as long as they could; some of them were merely trying to delay their own downfalls.
