it s 4:00 in the east. a stunning comprehensive brand new piece of reporting that really amounts to a first drafrt 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 dogged doj for many many months why did it take so long for d.o.j. to investigate? the first formal step into probing the campaign to overturn the 2020 election. the criminal inquiry now into the fate of electors did not take place until april 2022 more than a area after the insurrection and well after the january 6th select committee had begun to uncover a complex multipronged plot and democracy with donald trump in the driver s seat. the washington post is reporting in the immediate aftermath of the january 6th insurrection, acting u.s. attorney michael sherwin, senior justice department officials and paul abbate quashed a plan in the u.s. attorney s office to directly investigate trump associates for any links to
investigate the actions of trump and those around him all contributed to the slow pace garland and the deputy attorney general lisa monaco charted a cautious course aimed at restoring public trust in the department while some prosecutors below them chafed, feeling top officials were shying away from looking at evidence of potential crimes by trump and those close to him leaders at d.o.j. reportedly shot down plan after plan to look into all aspects of the coup lot the trump adviser roger stone s ties to extremists or into the documents trump used to pressure pence into stopping the certification of president joe biden s election win it got to the point where according to the washington post, brand new reporting, quote, some prosecutors even have the impression that trump had become a taboo topic at main justice. colleagues responsible for preparing briefing materials and updates for garland and monaco were warned to focus on foot soldiers and to avoid mentioning trump or his close al