President Joe Biden pressured Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to prosecute former President Donald Trump, a resurfaced New York Times report says.
The report, which reemerged Thursday on X, appears to be attracting attention because of the recent legal attacks against Trump:
- Colorado – Prohibiting Trump from Colorado’s 2024 primary ballot
- New York – “Stormy Daniels” (state)
- Miami – “Documents” (federal)
- Washington, D.C. – “January 6” (federal)
- Fulton County, Georgia (state)
Times reporters Katie Benner, Katie Rogers, and Michael S. Schmidt published an article on April 2, 2022, about Biden’s frustration with Garland about the lack of prosecution against Trump, according to two people familiar with Biden’s comments.
“The attorney general’s deliberative approach has come to frustrate Democratic allies of the White House and, at times, President Biden himself,” the Times reported. “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,” the report added.
Since the report was originally published, state and federal officials have indicted Trump four times. He faces 91 counts and 717.5 years in jail, Breitbart News reported.
Trump also faces challenges to remaining on state ballots in some blue states. On Tuesday the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in a four-to-three opinion that the United States Constitution’s “Insurrection Clause” blocks Trump from appearing on the state’s presidential ballot, preventing voters from deciding who should become the next president.
“Is Trump an insurrectionist, sir?” a reporter asked Biden Wednesday.
Biden mumbled, “I think … it’s self-evident.” He continued, “Whether the Fourteenth Amendment applies, we’ll let the Court make that decision.”
“But he certainly supported an insurrection,” Biden claimed without evidence. “No question about it. None. Zero.”
BIDEN: "Whether the 14th Amendment applies, we'll let the Court make that decision" pic.twitter.com/IB93ReYyOk
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 20, 2023
Follow Wendell Husebø on “X” @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
