Hi everyone, it's Forequark in the east, a stunning, comprehensive brand new piece of reporting

that really amounts to a first draft of history for Merrick Garland's Justice Department.

A piece of reporting that answers questions we've been asking for years now, questions

that have dog DOJ for many, many months.

Why did it take so long for DOJ to investigate the Trump-directed coup plot?

Washing Posts reporting that the first formal step into probing the campaign to overturn

the 2020 election, a criminal inquiry now into the slates of fake electors, did not take

place until April of 2022, more than a year after the insurrection, and well after the January

6th Select Committee had begun to uncover a complex, multipronged plot and democracy

with Donald Trump and the driver's seat.

Washing Posts reporting that in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th insurrection,

impacting US Attorney Michael Sherwin, Senior Justice Department officials in Paul Abate,

the top deputy FBI Director Christopher Ray, quashed a plan by prosecutors in the US Attorney's

Office to directly investigate Trump associates for any links to the riot, deeming it premature.

That's according to five individuals familiar with that decision.

Instead, they insisted on a methodical approach focusing first on rioters and going up the ladder.

The strategy was embraced by AG Garland Deputy AG Lisa Monaco and Christopher Ray.

They remain committed to it even as evidence emerged of an organized, weeks-long effort

by Trump and his advisors before January 6th to pressure state leaders, justice officials,

and vice president Mike Pence to block the certification of Biden's victory.

The Washington Post sums up the reason for that approach this way, quote, awareness about

appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient

...