Turf battles are not unusual between district US attorneys. When they happen, they are resolved by the attorney general (usually, by the deputy attorney general — in the Biden DOJ, that’s Lisa Monaco). Garland wants you to believe he’s a powerless spectator. He’s not.

That brings us to the central deceit.

While Garland would have you believe Weiss would have been granted any necessary authority if only he’d asked, it was not Weiss’ job to ask. Rather, it was Garland’s duty to appoint a special counsel, regardless of whether a subordinate asked him to do so. …

There can be no greater conflict of interest than that posed by the president’s Justice Department’s having to investigate the president himself and/or a close family member of the president.

It is the textbook case for a special counsel.

[The whole series of explanations smells. Clearly, Weiss is talking out of both sides of his mouth, having been trapped in October 2022 by Garland and the two other US Attorneys. The fact that Garland and Weiss are trying to obfuscate the issues that Andy points out in this essay shows that the plea deal was a political concoction that now needs some plausible cover story, only they’re snared by the whistleblowers and their contemporaneous records of Weiss’ admission. Garland and Weiss lied to Congress, got caught, and now have to decide whether Hunter is worth the effort to risk the consequences of those lies. — Ed]