Attorney General Merrick Garland “has long said that the Justice Department is up to the task of investigating former President Donald Trump, whose final weeks in office included his supporters attacking the Capitol as he refused to acknowledge his election loss,” the New York Times reports.
“That assertion was part of Mr. Garland’s desire to show that the department could operate above partisanship, acting as neither the weapon nor the enemy of any president or party. The real and perceived political land mines that accompany an investigation into Mr. Trump could be navigated, Mr. Garland suggested, by strictly following the rule of law.”
“But Mr. Garland’s hopes are being tested by Mr. Trump’s apparent plan to announce that he will run again for the White House, a step that would transform him from a former president into an electoral opponent of President Biden at a time of extreme political polarization — an environment leading the Justice Department to weigh whether to appoint a special counsel to handle open criminal inquiries related to Mr. Trump.”
