I think they get frustrated, rightly frustrated when they see people saying that they`re not doing enough, especially when they see former Department officials who have been in the department and know that oftentimes the department`s work is invisible to the public. Look, I think there`s been a great deal of frustration at the senior levels of the department. Have some people underestimated all that the Department of Justice has been doing and Merrick Garland as the AG specifically? RUHLE: He sure did, Matt, it was not an accident what Merrick Garland said. He seems to have confirmed that today along with this tremendous reporting from the Washington Post. He talked about being willing to prosecute people no matter who they were, and whether or not they were present on January 6 of 2021.Īnd that suggested to me that he would be willing to look at people, not just the folks who have around the Capitol, but the folks reaching up to Trump and his inner circle. But you and I had this conversation around January 5th of this year, when Merrick Garland gave a speech that spoke very loudly to people who had that decoder ring. And it`s part of what Merrick Garland, I think has been trying to convey to the country in his very restrained, DOJ speak, you`re right that we sometimes need a decoder ring. ATTORNEY: Well, it`s a big deal, Stephanie. Joyce, I hope you wore your Merrick Garland decoder ring tonight, I want you to put it in perspective, how big a deal is what we just learned? RUHLE: I think we`re just not used to an administration that doesn`t leak so much. And so this is a new sort of discovery about the investigation at the Department of Justice. ![]() And this has been a very opaque process, as you know, very little has come out about the DOJ investigation relative to the House Select Committee`s investigation that`s been playing out in these televised hearings. It`s not something that we`ve known about publicly. So he is or rather his actions are being scrutinized by prosecutors as part of this criminal probe that is newly reported tonight in the Washington Post. This has become clear through recent testimony or rather recent questioning of people before a grand jury where prosecutors have asked hours of questions about what was Trump saying what was Trump directing, trying to understand Trump`s motives and his actions. PHIL RUCKER, THE WASHINGTON POST DEPUTY NATIONAL EDITOR: Well, Steph, it means that federal prosecutors as they pursue their criminal case into January 6 than the election, the fake electors scheme are scrutinizing investigating former President Trump`s actions, his words, his communications with his lawyers, and with allies and others in his inner circle. What does that mean? Does that mean Trump is under investigation? Your paper is reporting we have not yet confirmed Trump`s actions are now under investigation. We`ve got a fourth panelist, our friend Matt Miller is back, former chief spokesperson for the Department of Justice. Ryan Reilly joins us, justice reporter for NBC News, and we`ve got so much news tonight. She`s also a law professor at the University of Alabama. Attorney Joyce Vance, who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. With that, let`s get smarter with the help of our leadoff panel tonight, Phil Rucker, Pulitzer Prize winning deputy national editor of the Washington Post, former U.S.
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