Via Mediaite:

Progressive attorney Elie Mystal of The Nation ripped Attorney Merrick Garland’s decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate Donald Trump.

“There is not a single argument that I have heard in defense of Merrick Garland’s self-serving, pearl-clutching conference that he gave this morning that points–that answers the critical question, if he was going to do this, if he believes this is in the public interest, then why didn’t he believe that was in the public interest 18 months ago when he easily could have done the exact same thing?” Mystal began.

He also panned the idea that Trump running for president is a “recent development.”

“People will say, ‘Oh, but Donald Trump wasn’t running for president 18 months ago.’” Mystal continued. “Wasn’t he, though? As far as I can tell, Trump still thinks he is the president, right? So, this idea that Trump was going to be a candidate for office is not a new development in the case.”

[That’s actually a pretty good question — even for me, and I detest special counsels. — Ed]