OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Attorney General Merrick Garland drew a great deal of Republican ire this week after he personally green-lighted the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
And now, some of them are looking for accountability from the AG.
Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted on Twitter that she has filed articles of impeachment against Garland for what she believes was a purely political partisan decision to go after the former president.
Read my articles of impeachment against Merrick Garland.#ImpeachGarland pic.twitter.com/mfmr0WuGV5
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 12, 2022
“Impeaching Merrick Brian Garland, Attorney General of the United States, for endangering, compromising, and undermining the justice system of the United States by facilitating the persecution of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s political rival, Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States,” the articles begin.
“In his conduct as Attorney General of the United States, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of the Attorney General of the United States, and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend, the Constitution of the United States, Merrick Brian Garland continues to materially endanger the justice system of the United States and empower President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to persecute his political adversaries at will,” they continued.
The articles note Garland’s “personal approval to seek a search warrant for the raid on the home of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, constitutes a blatant attempt to persecute a political opponent.”
“Attorney General Garland has failed to uphold his oath and has instead overseen a denigration of the principles of our democratic republic by politicizing the Department of Justice,” Greene noted, “and utilizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Federal police force to punish or intimidate anyone who questions or opposes the current regime. Attorney General Garland has taken measures to silence the voice of millions of citizens of the United States by persecuting the former duly elected and lawful President of the United States, and potential Presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump.”
The articles further explain: “The Supreme Court upheld in Department of the Navy v. Egan that the President, as Commander in Chief, has the power to control the classification and declassification of documents pertaining to national security. Attorney General Garland, in persecuting former President Donald J. Trump over documents he legally declassified, has engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties as a civil officer of the United States.”
In speaking to reporters prior to filing the impeachment articles, Greene said, “What they’ve been doing to President Trump is political persecution.”
“Merrick Garland has abused his position of power as the attorney general to politically persecute Joe Biden’s enemies,” she continued.
“And the whole purpose of this is to prevent President Trump from ever being able to hold office,” she said. “So, I’m on my way in the capitol right now. And I’m introducing Articles of Impeachment on Merrick Garland, because we cannot tolerate this in America, where our great institutions are wielded and abused in such a way to defeat people’s political enemies. That’s not what this is for. And it should never exist.”
On Friday a federal judge ordered that the warrant used to search Trump’s home be unsealed and news organizations are reporting on what crimes he is being investigated for.
The FBI is investigating the former president for possible violations of the Espionage Act as well as removal or destruction of records and obstruction of an investigation which can result in fines or even imprisonment, Politico reported.
The documents, which are expected to be unsealed later Friday after the Justice Department sought their public disclosure amid relentless attacks by Trump and his GOP allies, underscore the extraordinary national security threat that federal investigators believed the missing documents presented. The concern grew so acute that Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the unprecedented search of Trump’s estate last week.
Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich said that what the FBI did was “not just unprecedented, but unnecessary — and now they are leaking lies and innuendos to try to explain away the weaponization of government against their dominant political opponent. This is outrageous.”
