Until last month, Anthony Coley was Director of Public Affairs at the Justice Department

and a Senior Advisor to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Coley was in the middle of some of the most extraordinary episodes at DOJ over the last

two years.

The appointment of two special councils investigating one current and one former president, responding

to the drama around the investigation of the president's son, taking incoming from

right-wing pundits saying Garland was protecting President Biden and left-wing pundits saying

the Attorney General was protecting former President Trump, and occasionally grappling

with perhaps the most difficult dilemma that any government official faces.

What do you do when you disagree with the boss?

The law is the law, and the law is not what we want it to be, the law is the law.

I'm Ryan Liza, and this is Playbook Deep Dive.

Anthony Coley had a long history in Washington before he went to work for Merrick Garland.

He made a name for himself on the Hill and in the Obama administration.

I work for Harry Potter Jr., I work for Tech Kennedy, I was his last comms director.

I work for his Zell Miller twice.

In December 2020, when Coley was asked to take the DOJ job, he knew it would be a challenge.

Joe Biden had promised to de-politicize the department after the turbulence of the Trump

years.

Merrick Garland was a political lightning rod who had been punished by Republicans when he

was nominated to the Supreme Court by Barack Obama, but was seen as a hero to the left

for suffering through that old deal.

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