We're not using political hacks anymore. That's the people that do these deals. They're political hacks.

We want experts, our finest people. We don't want people that are B level, C level, D level. We have to get our absolute best.

Trump hired all the best people. Now many of those same people, his former attorney general, defense secretary, national security adviser, and others say he endangered national security.

Also tonight, you reporting seems to answer the question as to why it took so long for the Justice Department to begin an investigation into Trump's plot to overturn the 2020 election.

Plus, Republicans loyalty pledged they're basically asking all the presidential candidates to support Trump if he's nominated again and probably pardon him too.

I'm Jason Johnson and for Joy Reid and we begin tonight with Justice Delayed. Today of course is June 10th, marking the day in 1865 when enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas learned they were free two months after the end of the Civil War and more than two years after President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation took 150 years.

The Democrats that worked from local activists and the CBC for people to recognize that June 10th needed to happen and that it should be a federal holiday.

This is typical for a country that tends to speak take too much time to address its problems. We'll have more on that coming up.

But speaking of Justice Delayed, it is ironic but fitting that on this day, according to a damning new report from the Washington Post,

the attorney that in the face of a once in a lifetime danger to our democracy posed by Donald Trump, the attorney general and the director of the FBI also Delayed, allowing Trump's role in instigating the January 6 attack to go unscrupely for more than a year.

According to the Post, quote, awareness about appearing partisan, institutional caution and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him all contributed to the slow place.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and the deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco, charted a cautious course aimed at restoring public trust, you know, Republicans and the department, while some prosecutors below them chafed.

Feeling top officials were shying away from looking at evidence of potential crimes by Trump and those close to him.

But the report notes that the Delay in looking directly at Trump started in the period shortly after the attack on the Capitol.

Acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin, senior department officials Paula Bata, the top deputy to the FBI director Chris Ray, quashed a plan by prosecutors in the US Attorney's office to directly investigate Trump associates for any links to the terrorist attack.

Demi at premature, according to five people familiar with the decision.

Instead, they insisted on a methodical approach, focusing first on rioters and going up the ladder. The strategy was embraced by Garland, Monaco, and Ray.

According to the Post, the leaders at both agencies held onto that ladder-up approach to avoiding Trump.

Even as evidence emerged that Trump and his allies had scheme to overturn the election weeks before their henchmen laid siege to the Capitol.

That approach could be traced to Garland's desire to turn the page from missteps, bruising attacks and allegations of partisanship and investigations into Russian interference, and in the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton's emails.

By the report added, inside Justice, however, some have complained that the Attorney General's determination to steer clear of any claims of political motive has chilled efforts to investigate the former president.

You couldn't use the T-word, said one former Justice official, briefed, on prosecutor's discussions.

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