case, would subject them overly to criticism about being overly political, and they wanted to keep their eyes focused on the more recent, more violent crimes and things that were really, again, go to the heart of our democracy. this is where i would say, again, as we just discussed, the way this is framed, this is just the beginning of going at the heart of our democracy, and as you just indicated, this time period where these payments took place in that august of 2016 until the election, that was a crucial time period. that's when -- in fact, this is in the statement of facts, that's when the hollywood video came out with some really pretty outrageous statements that former president trump was caught on tape saying about women. i remember at the time thinking this was surely the end. and it wasn't the end. but if you pile on top of that the stormy daniels allegations, the karen mcdougal allegations,
let me follow up with this, you know, the justice department, under donald trump, jeff sessions appointed a special counsel, robert mueller, to get to the bottom of whether russian coordination with the trump campaign impacted the 2016 election it seems that it is at least not a novel notion to get to the bottom of threats to democracy would you like to see whether or not this justice department looked at it from that perspective before they decided to pass on snit >> that's a real toughy, because the general policy is you don't want to comment when you say no. i take your point, there is an exception to the policy when it's very important, public issue. so i can certainly see that now. but what's on the other side is the comey debacle. you know, and that he is now
prices he's paid, and again, that's how you ultimately make progress you do it bit by bit by bit and the whole thing crumbles like a jenga game >> i want to ask you, i'm aware of the fact that we have two very different world views from mary and harry mary pointed out that alvin bragg's framing is elmental to democracy. merrick garland may have decided this was too trivial or may have been too busy. maybe may were too busy. how does that feel, and just
reverenced a larger swath has disdain, and i guess a big swath is indifferent. but the world over saw america's last commander in chief charged with 34 felonies today >> i would point to the framing that alvin bragg used, the district attorney. i think it was very smart on his part in the first two paragraphs of the statement of facts, which frankly are much more interesting, the indictment itself he paints this as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 election and if we start back in 2016 with a scheme to influence election, and then we think about where we have come since 2016, including the 2020 election, the ongoing scheme to override the will of the people, even in if 2020 election, i think this is just the beginning of the painting of a picture over a series of years of donald trump's, you know, attempts to undermine democracy, attempts to
or attempts to pay them off, that could have been all the more damaging. this effort to influence elections started before 2016. it continued to 2020 it's continuing today. and it's going to continue into the 2024 lelection we have to be vigilant and talk about those efforts. and hopefully he will be held accountable. not just for this but so many other things that are being investigated right now >> mary, i don't mean to defend or explain away doj's actions, but you are probably the most senior former department official we have been given access to. your framing and pointing us accurately to alvin bragg's framing begs the question, is it not an equal obligation that the united states department of justice, in service to our democracy, follow up on this case, or at least shine a light on why they declined to prosecute it if that was merrick garland's decision when he took over in march of 2021.