DOJ: Garland Here for the Right Reasons?

Talking Feds

Harry Litman

Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Talking Feds returns to its roots, with the latest look at the goings-on and inner workings of the Department of Justice by 4 of the professionals that know it best. After a few months in which he repeatedly disappointed progressives, who wanted him to attack the abuses of the Trump DOJ head-on, AG Merrick Garland of late has made several decisions that seem to tack in the other direction. Was it just a matter of timing, or is Garland adjusting his approach as he finds full footing in the job? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Talking Feds is sponsored by our friends at Total Wine and More,
0:03.6	rewarding curious connoisseurs with a wondrous selection of wine, spirits, and beers.
0:15.7	Welcome to Talking Feds. A round table that brings together prominent former federal officials
0:20.5	and special guests for a dynamic discussion of the most important political and legal topics of the day.
0:26.7	I'm Harry Littman. We have a few recurring topics on Talking Feds where we return to the same
0:32.5	territory every few months. First among them, given the origins of the podcast as a prosecutor's
0:38.8	conversation, is the Department of Justice, where we try every quarter or so to size up what's
0:44.8	happening there with some of the professionals who serve there or know it best. And in the three
0:50.5	months since our last deep dive, the department has been repeatedly in the forefront of the news.
0:56.4	A spot that we know Attorney General Merrick Garland is not keen to be. Garland is navigating a
1:02.7	delicate balance. He wants on the one hand to restore the department to a position of a political
1:09.1	professional law enforcement, but on the other he has to deal with at least some of the fallout
1:14.9	from the political and legal abuses of the department under the Trump administration.
1:20.0	In recent months, it has seemed like a roller coaster of hairpin turns and plunges and
1:24.4	climbs. The Carol defamation case in which the department stuck to its position of defending Trump.
1:30.8	The Mo Brooks decision going the other way. The decision to appeal in order to release a DOJ
1:36.4	memorandum about the Mueller report. The executive privilege claim permitting scrutiny of DOJ
1:42.4	deliberations. All these and several others provoked the question. Is the department keeping
1:49.2	its head down and completely ignoring politics in the past? Or is it consciously looking to repair
1:56.2	at least some of the damage it inherited from the Trump years? Rather than tackle three or four
2:02.5	recent big decisions from the Garland DOJ, we're going to look more at the department that has been
2:08.3	taking shape generally since Garland took the reins in March. And to do it, we are fortunate to have
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Harry Litman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Harry Litman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.