‘Is He Insane?’ Elie Mystal Slams Merrick Garland’s ‘Self-Serving’ Appointment of Special Counsel to Investigate Trump
Progressive attorney Elie Mystal of The Nation ripped Attorney Merrick Garland’s decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate Donald Trump.
Garland announced Friday morning he’s handing off investigations into the former president’s role in the 2021 Capitol insurrection and the Mar-a-Lago documents case. The attorney general tapped Jack Smith, a former DOJ lawyer and lead prosecutor at the International Criminal Court.
Citing “recent developments” – i.e., Trump’s announcement this week that he is running for president in 2024 – the attorney general explained Smith will handle the investigations going forward. Garland said the move is in the public interest.” Ultimately, any decision to prosecute Trump or not will be his call.
Appearing on Friday’s The Beat with Ari Melber, Mystal argued the move was not necessary and will delay, if not eliminate the chances Trump is federally prosecuted.
“There is not a single argument that I have heard in defense of Merrick Garland’s self-serving, pearl-clutching conference that he gave this morning that points–that answers the critical question, if he was going to do this, if he believes this is in the public interest, then why didn’t he believe that was in the public interest 18 months ago when he easily could have done the exact same thing?” Mystal began.
He also panned the idea that Trump running for president is a “recent development.”
“People will say, ‘Oh, but Donald Trump wasn’t running for president 18 months ago.'” Mystal continued. “Wasn’t he, though? As far as I can tell, Trump still thinks he is the president, right? So, this idea that Trump was going to be a candidate for office is not a new development in the case.”
Melber played a montage of conservative pundits offering a variety of reactions to Garland’s announcement. The MSNBC host asked Mystal if Garland made the decision with some consideration of optics.
“Elie, when the standards involve public perception of fairness, then the question becomes, is this helping the DOJ on that score?” he asked.
“Well, that’s the other point here, Ari,” Mystal responded. “If Merrick Garland thinks that kicking this to Jack Smith from The Hague is going to take down the partisan pressure on him and make the right wing feel like this is a fair process, he’s an idiot.”
He went on to say conservatives will work to dig up Smith’s “priors” and do everything to cast him as a partisan who can’t be trusted.
“Wait until these people start going through Jack Smith’s garbage can to find out his priors,” Mystal went on. “The idea that these people on the right who are in the cult of Trump are going to let this go because now we have Jack Smith – like, is he insane? It’s going to be the same appearance of partisanship. All he’s done is delay when he has to make the call, because again, as you pointed out, it’s still his call. So, like, what is he doing here?”
Watch above via MSNBC.
