open an investigation. now, attempted coups cannot be ignored. if merrick garland's justice department is going to restore respect for the rule of law no one not even a former president can be above it and the fear of appearing partisan cannot be allowed to supersede that fundamental precept. joining us now is joyce vance one of the authors of that opinion piece, a former federal prosecutor, and msnbc legal contributor. joyce, one of the points in there and a parenthetical is if they have not already begun such an investigation, would we know if the justice department has already begun such an investigation? >> we wouldn't necessarily know. if it was my case and i was a prosecutor, i would prefer that the public have no visibility into whether or not i was investigating. that's how doj is supposed to conduct its investigations.