November, 04 2021, 10:13am EDT
Nonpartisan Legal Advocacy Organization Calls For Attorney General Merrick Garland's Resignation
Free Speech For People cites the Attorney General’s failure to take meaningful action to hold former President Trump and his associates accountable for their involvement in the January 6th insurrection and other potential federal crimes.
WASHINGTON
Nonpartisan legal advocacy nonprofit Free Speech For People today published a statement urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to resign from his post after nine months of inaction to hold President Trump and his allies accountable for inciting the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, as well as other federal crimes they may have committed. These offenses include extorting the Ukrainian government for information to disparage President Biden; sabotaging the United States Postal Service to curtail voting by mail; and urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" to overturn the state's election results.
The statement, accompanied by a new petition drive, argues that Attorney General Garland has shielded President Trump and his associates from accountability by not only failing to take action against them for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and other potential federal crimes, but also by defending Trump-era Department of Justice policies designed to protect Trump from the repercussions of his conduct. This includes covering up the key DOJ legal memo regarding Trump's obstruction of justice, and defending Trump's libel of a rape victim by claiming that he did so "within the scope of his office as President of the United States."
In January, Free Speech For People launched a campaign urging Garland to create an independent task force within the Department of Justice to investigate "any potential federal criminal or civil violations that may have been committed by former President Trump, members of his administration, or his campaign, business, or other associates." The organization built a coalition of public interest organizations and more than 200,000 people across the country have voiced their support for this campaign.
"If Garland had created a framework for credible, impartial criminal investigations of a former president of the United States, the DOJ would have affirmed that no one--not even a former president--is above the law," Free Speech For People states. "Yet while DOJ has charged the low-level rioters who broke into the Capitol, it has not moved against the highly-placed leaders of the insurrection, including Trump himself."
The statement concludes, "As long as Trump and his co-conspirators walk free, American democracy is in danger. We need an Attorney General who understands that danger and is willing to take action to protect democracy and the rule of law. Merrick Garland must resign."
You can read the full statement here.
Free Speech For People is a national non-partisan non-profit organization founded on the day of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC that works to defend our democracy and our Constitution.
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