OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A new report from The New York Times said that President Joe Biden wants to see former President Donald Trump prosecuted.
On Saturday, The Times reported some Democrats are pressuring the Department of Justice to take action against the former president and others who are close to him.
The attorney general’s deliberative approach has come to frustrate Democratic allies of the White House and, at times, President Biden himself. As recently as late last year, Mr. Biden confided to his inner circle that he believed former President Donald J. Trump was a threat to democracy and should be prosecuted, according to two people familiar with his comments. And while the president has never communicated his frustrations directly to Mr. Garland, he has said privately that he wanted Mr. Garland to act less like a ponderous judge and more like a prosecutor who is willing to take decisive action over the events of Jan. 6.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr. Garland said that he and the career prosecutors working on the case felt only the pressure “to do the right thing,” which meant that they “follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”
Still, Democrats’ increasingly urgent calls for the Justice Department to take more aggressive action highlight the tension between the frenetic demands of politics and the methodical pace of one of the biggest prosecutions in the department’s history.
Democrat Virginia Rep. Elaine Luria said in a speech last week that she wanted Garland to do more to go after those who were involved in the incident at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
She spoke about Trump aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino who members of the January 6 committee voted to hold in contempt for not complying the subpoenas.
“Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate, and we have a duty to the American people to investigate the violent attack on our capital that attempted to prevent the peaceful transition of power,” she said. “Mr. Scavino and Mr. Navarro have a duty to respond to the subpoenas of this committee. However, they’ve decided, apparently, that they are above the law.”
“Who are you covering for? We’ve been through this process before. What, Mr. Meadows, are you covering up? And who are you covering for? When given the opportunity to tell the truth about the attack on January 6th, both Mr. Scavino and Mr. Navarro continue to put loyalty to Donald Trump before the Constitution and the American people,” she said.
“The Department of Justice must act swiftly. I will echo what my colleagues have already said, but more bluntly. Attorney General Garland, do your job so that we can do ours,” she said.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said that President Biden believes that Garland “decisively restored” the integrity and independence of the Department of Justice.
“President Biden is immensely proud of the attorney general’s service in this administration and has no role in investigative priorities or decisions,” he said.
But in October Biden did talk about the prosecution of those involved with January 6.
“Mr. President, what’s your message to people who defy Congressional subpoenas on the January 6 committee?” a reporter said.
“I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally,” the president said.
“Should they be prosecuted by the Justice Department?” the reporter said.
“I do, yes,” the president said.
Last week, Garland snapped back at those who said he was not doing enough to prosecute those involved with the January 6 incident.
“The only pressure I feel, and the only pressure that our line prosecutors feel, is to do the right thing,” he said at a Justice Department press conference Friday.
“That means we follow the facts and the law, wherever they may lead,” he said.
