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It’s not climate change making Trump sweat

Nor a heart attack making his chest feel tight

Rolling Stone reported late Sunday that former President Donald Trump views an early announcement of his candidacy for 2024 as a shield against investigation/prosecution.

Laurence Tribe Monday morning issued words of caution to his former pupil, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The constitutional scholar and Professor Emeritus at Harvard University warned Garland against letting the former president play him in any decision about investigating Donald Trump.

“Mr. Trump is counting on your concerns about not ‘appearing’ political when he makes clear his belief that you wouldn’t dare approve his indictment once he announces,” Tribe tweeted. “You MUST prove him wrong. Make him a TARGET now. No time to lose.”

Focus on Garland sharpened Monday evening when MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow revealed that nearly two months ago on May 25, Garland issued a memo to the Department of Justice headed “Election Year Sensitivities.”

Garland cautions employees that to safeguard “the Department’s reputation for fairness, neutrality, and non-partisanship,” they should be sensitive about making statements or announcements regarding investigations and prosecutions in an election season:

Simply put, partisan politics must play no role in the decisions of federal investigators or prosecutors regarding any investigations or criminal charges. Law enforcement officers and prosecutors may never select the timing of public statements (attributed or not), investigative steps, criminal charges, or any other action in any matter or case for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party. Such a purpose, or the appearance of such a purpose, is inconsistent with the Department’s mission and with the Principles of Federal Prosecution.

Garland then references as still in effect a February 5, 2020 memo from predecessor Bill Barr. “Additional Requirements for the Opening of Certain Sensitive Investigations” specified that “No investigation (including any preliminary investigation) may be opened or initiated by the [DOJ] or any of its law enforcement agencies … absent prior (i) written notification to and consultation with the Assistant Attorney(s) General and U.S. Attorney(s) with jurisdiction over the matter and (ii) written approval of the Attorney General, through the Deputy Attorney General.”

The Maddow story is sensationalized, Marcy Wheeler believes. Trump was considering announcing on July 4, and his actions are likely already the target of multiple investigations (or could be soon), including into his removing classified documents to Mar-a-Lago. High-profile investigations (such as into a former president) would likely always require approval of the AG. Wheeler on Monday posted a compendium of investigative steps the DOJ has taken of people a mere arm’s length from Trump.

While Rolling Stone‘s reporting may have driven Tribe’s poke at Garland not to be pressured by Trump’s announcement teases, Tribe himself predicted two weeks ago that Garland would indict the former president. The searches and seizures of John Eastman and others involved in the Jan. 6 planning provide “strong evidence that the Justice Department is not stopping with the foot soldiers. It’s going to the generals. And the biggest general of all, of course, is Donald Trump. The odds are he will be indicted.” [timestamp 0:30]

But one wonders (as Digby has) whether awareness of either the Barr memo or the May 25 Garland memo is influencing Trump’s teasing an early announcement of a 2024 candidacy. We know by now he will grasp at any and all straws to save himself from losing, and especially from punishment. Was Garland’s memo leaked to him? People in Trump’s “orbit” were teasing a Trump July Fourth announcement by the first week of June. It did not happen.

Trump clearly has Garland on the brain. But criminal prosecution by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis may be a more proximate threat. The recording of Trump, mafioso-style, pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” votes seems clear-cut enough to justify criminal indictment. Plus, Willis has warned several high-profile Georgia Republicans they could face charges over Trump’s fake electors scheme in her state. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is fighting a Georgia subpoena to answer questions about his calls to Georgia officials about 2020 election results.

How’s the heat in Florida, Donald?

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