Republican senators ridiculed by MSNBC hosts for complaining about Garland doing exactly what they asked
Two MSNBC hosts couldn't help but laugh at Republicans for anger over Attorney General Merrick Garland agreeing to their demands.
This week, Garland agreed to GOP lawmakers who demanded that U.S. Attorney David Weiss be granted the same powers of a special counsel to investigate President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
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Both Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) signed a Sept. 2022 letter to Garland calling on Weiss to be appointed to the post. So, Garland agreed, leading to GOP outrage.
"Well, this appointment is camouflaged," Cruz told Fox host Maria Bartiromo. It is a cover-up. I think it's a disgrace. But listen, David Weiss was the U.S. Attorney hand pick to lead this investigation, who spent the last five years covering it up. He is a wildly inappropriate person to be a special counsel."
Johnson tweeted about Weiss: "He has got to be close to the worst pick."
"It will not "restore confidence at all" in the Justice Department," Johnson told Fox.
“Given that the investigation involves the President’s son, we believe it is important to provide U.S. Attorney Weiss with special counsel authorities and protections to allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence,” the letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was among those who signed the letter as well, but has since removed it from his website. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) has not removed the letter from his site, however.
At the time, however, a spokeswoman for Cornyn told CNBC in an email that if Garland complied with the letter’s request, Weiss would “get the protections and authorities of special counsel, as [Trump’s Attorney General William] Barr did with U.S. Attorney John Durham.”
Along with Lankford, Cornyn, Cruz and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the letter was signed by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Thune (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Steve Daines (R-MT), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), James Inhofe (R-OK), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), John Kennedy (R-LA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Shelley Moore-Capito (R-WV), Tim Scott (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Ben Sasse (R-NE).
"Make Weiss special counsel, they said," MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan mocked. "Now, they're saying, well, Garland did exactly what we wanted. And now we're mad at Garland for doing exactly what we wanted. Their bad faith, their hypocrisy is truly a sight to behold. And also, it's a reminder that you can't appease Republicans. Maybe Merrick Garland will stop trying."
Fellow host Ayman Mohyeldin joined in the ridicule with his own advice to Garland.
"Just to be clear, Mehdi, this was never about accountability. It was never about anti-corruption. It was never about improper behavior by the president or his family. If it were, for these Republicans would have perhaps started the investigation of how the [Donald] Trump kids made tens of millions of dollars to secure trademarks from China and billions from a Persian Gulf investment fund. I mean, we know it's not about any of that. We know it's about politics."
See their commentary in the video below or at the link here.
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