The Department of Justice has come under fire in the past several weeks over the fact that Attorney General Merrick Garland hasn't moved on so many of the details uncovered by the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6.
Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance explained that because the DOJ acted so poorly during Donald Trump's administration, the American people seem to want some assurances that what is happening is just and true.
Ex-prosecutor Glenn Kirschner explained to Stephanie Miller that the last thing people need is for the DOJ to swoop in from the very beginning and all of Trump's people to "lawyer up" and there be years of lawsuits over subpoenas and documents. When the Jan. 6 committee does the request, however, it's not seen as such a serious issue, because Congress can't prosecute anyone for anything. It's nothing more than an investigatory body.
He used Steve Bannon as the example, saying that if the Justice Department had dropped a subpoena on Bannon at the beginning of the probe, "and we wouldn't have gotten a shred of evidence about his own conduct, or more importantly, about Donald Trump's conduct. But what do we now have? The J6 committee took the lead. He said, 'I got your subpoena right here. I'm not complying.' So, what did he do? He created evidence that he was willing to cover up Donald Trump's by ignoring — by refusing to comply with a lawfully issued congressional subpoena and as a result, he's indicted by two counts of contempt of Congress."
All of that evidence can also be introduced at any future trial for Bannon involving the criminal conspiracy. He's also "showing his consciousness of guilt," said Kirschner.
None of that would have happened if the DOJ had done all of the work outside of the Jan. 6 committee.
See the comments from both legal eagles below:
Joyce Vance on DOJ probewww.youtube.com
