about the attorney general s surprised, unannounced visit to western ukraine. tell us about it. what have we learned? reporter: this is part of a visit the attorney general is trying to show some support for the efforts to prosecute, to investigate russian war crimes during this war in ukraine. he was there as part of this united for justice conference. you saw i think we have video of the president of ukraine along with the prosecutor general of ukraine, a number of other countries sent their representatives to this conference this is garland s second time in ukraine. the last time, last june, he went just to the border between poland and ukraine where they announced this formation of a team designed to look into and investigate russian war crimes. well-known prosecutor he spent
job. is granholm doing her job? is garland doing his job with regard to hunter biden? there are all kinds of people who don t seem to be doing their job. the management structure of this white house as somebody interested in business management, is horrendous. they aren t doing their jobs. harris: when you talk about that money, though, and where money has gone. you were talking about some of the climate change and other policies, this is something that you can t have happen because you affect countries around the world, too. look at the status that we have. i know that some on the left don t like to brag about the exception allism of american but we aren t looking very capable with the faa yesterday but we should and can. the transportation department s 2023 budget has more than $26 billion. let s follow the money. it goes toward diversity, equity and inclusion with $15 billion for the faa to promote
what we heard going into the congress. there will be aggressive oversight of the weaponization of the department of justice. that is just one committee. that is the view at the republican side of the aisle. many feel that the doj has been weaponized and they will investigate and this will all get fleshed out. if you are garland today you are saying this is not another great fact pattern for me to go to the hill and explained. one thing we can all agree on is garland s future is looking different than it appeared five years ago when he was poised to be on the supreme court. justice garland would be having a much more scholarly life surrounded by clerks in the law than the political hothouse he will find himself in for the next few years. they are under the microscope as well but i do take your point. karen give your last words. we have every indication that garland will follow the law to the letter of the law.
centra central tenet to the rule of law is that we do not do our investigations in public. we have to get this right. no person is above the law in this country. i can t say it any more clearly than that. there is nothing in the principles of prosecution, in any other factors which prevent us from investigating anyone. anyone who s criminally responsible for an attempt to undo a democratic election. so, how should we view this? is garland moving too slow or something different? in a new piece, my next guest makes a case in defense of the justice department. benjamin wittes joins me now. benjamin, welcome. i m glad you re here. you ve seen and heard all the criticism. too slow. people probably are adding on to the mueller probe, i would say, in their lack of patience of what s going on. do you think that they are
other things. there s no special prosecutor or special counsel. is garland the right man, the right ag for this pretty historic moment? it depends on your view of what the justice department should do. i don t see merrick garland trying donald trump for other crimes, for financial crimes. you know, the mueller investigation, mueller famously no made decision on obstruction of justice. so i ll just be honest, i don t see that happening. i think this is the most important issue of merrick garland s tenure. he is an institutionalist. he believes that the justice department should prosecute people equally based on the facts. that might not apply in this political atmosphere. i talked to again to one of his aides and they said, you won t see merrick garland becoming a performtive attorney general. he doesn t give many speeches or go out there and talk much to the public. and the question is, does that work in this political era.