FINALLY!!

....justice is coming?

In a January 5, 2022 address to employees as the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol approached, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, as part of what seemed to be essentially a “state of the DOJ address”:

The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead.

Because January 6th was an unprecedented attack on the seat of our democracy, we understand that there is broad public interest in our investigation. We understand that there are questions about how long the investigation will take, and about what exactly we are doing.

Our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we would give with respect to any ongoing investigation: as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done — consistent with the facts and the law.

As of that time — a year after those stunning events — only the foot soldiers, those dupes who followed the Big Lie and wreaked the violence — seemed to be facing any consequences while the big fish who hatched the sprawling, multi-faceted coup attempt — were free and still spewing lies and fomenting division.

So it was encouraging to hear, and stoked hopes that consequences for Trump, Eastman, Meadows, Giuliani, Flynn, Powell, Bannon et al might be right around the corner; but months went by with nothing from the DOJ. That was more and more irritating and confounding as the January 6 Committee, with far fewer resources and power to pressure witnesses, was revealing SO MUCH.

What was Merrick Garland doing?!!

When Garland was appointed as Attorney General I was scripting a story that would drip with irony. Deserving Supreme Court nominee, denied a hearing by a Republican Senate, rides in as AG and prosecutes the Insurrectionist-in-Chief that they corruptly — and with incredible, despicable cowardice — protected from consequences not once, but twice.

News reports as late as this summer confirmed fears that the DOJ and FBI had been too cautious, treating Trump and his cronies with kid gloves. Some might say this timidity was understandable given the subsequent Republican attacks on our institutions and threats to defund the FBI and DOJ and fire anyone involved in investigating Trump.

Not me. That corrupt and cynical reaction from congressional Republicans — and even many GOP Presidential hopefuls — is exactly why all involved in this shameful episode needed to be squashed like a bug. Made an example of.

Well, FINALLY it looks like justice will be done. Special Counsel Jack Smith — whose resume shows prosecutions of violent and gang crimes, white collar and financial fraud and public corruption, and most recently work at the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands investigating and prosecuting war crimes — lowered the boom yesterday.

It has quickly become apparent that Smith is not one to let the grass grow under his feet (he’s a triathlete, after all), as he simultaneously led the investigations into Trump’s purloining of government documents and his attempts to stay in power after losing an election.

Now his team’s work — and that of the incredibly effective Jan. 6 Committee — is coming to fruition. Their indictment says that Trump lied repeatedly about the election, knew he was lying, and presided over a plot that included attempts to get several governors and state legislative leaders to lie about the veracity of the results. Failing that, he and his unnamed co-conspirators hatched a plan to recruit fake electors in seven swing states to cast alternate votes for Trump and send them to Congress, where his Republican minions would use the dueling electoral college votes to delay their ceremonial vote-counting role and send the contested electoral ballots back to the states, where they were pressuring Republican state legislatures to nullify their states’ voters and instead certify the fake electors.

And Pence as the presiding officer was going to be the lynchpin, expected to play along with this lie. While he refused, he’s no hero, but just another victim of associating with Trump. A lapdog who jumped down at the last minute.

As summarized in today’s New York Times, the indictment:

accuses Mr. Trump of three conspiracies: one to defraud the United States; a second to obstruct an official government proceeding, the certification of the Electoral College vote; and a third to deprive people of a civil right, the right to have their votes counted. Mr. Trump was also charged with a fourth count of obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding.

“Each of these conspiracies — which built on the widespread mistrust the defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud — targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election,” the indictment said.

So far the six “unnamed co-conspirators” have not been publicly charged. For justice to be complete, that needs to happen. And there were a lot more than six who had a hand in this, or at least knew it was going on, and said nothing.

* * * * * * *

“Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” This is what Trump told the Acting Attorney General and Assistant Acting Attorney General when they told him — for the fortieth time (?) — that there had been no trace of misdeeds that would swing the election and that they would not sign the letter that an obscure DOJ attorney named Jeffrey Clark had drafted to send to the Governor of GA and other governors and state legislatures claiming that the DOJ suspected corruption in their elections, hoping that they would overturn the will of their states’ voters.

Who were those “Republican congressmen”? On December 21, 2020 Reps. Mo Brooks (Al), Brian Babin (TX), Andy Biggs (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Louie Gohmert (TX), Paul Gosar (AZ), Andy Harris (MD), Jody Hice (GA), Scott Perry (PA), and Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) who met with Trump (and Pence, Giuliani, and Mark Meadows) to discuss their plans to overturn and steal the election.

And Freedom Caucus chair Scott Perry was the player who connected Jeffrey Clark with Trump.

According to Jan. 6 Committee member Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), the meeting was part of an effort to "disseminate his false claims and to encourage members of the public to fight the outcome on January 6."

…And according to Jack Smith’s indictment Trump knew — hell, they all had to know — it was a lie. Justice won’t be complete until it comes for all of these guys, too…and for Cruz and Hawley and Graham.

Read the indictment here.

And stay tuned.