The Justice Department has reversed course and said it no longer believes that Donald Trump should be entitled to immunity for his response to E. Jean Carroll’s accusation of sexual assault, allowing the civil lawsuit to move forward to trial in January.
They started defending him for this when Bill Barr was still AG. So when Garland came in he had to either backtrack on what DOJ already decided (bad for long term justice department credibility) or let the Bill Barr line of reasoning play out. They continued to apply the Barr excuses just with minimal effort.
Now that legal action is back on the table, Garland can say this is a different situation and step away from the actions set in place by Bill Barr. They can drop Trump and DOJ doesn’t have to damage its credibility by backtracking what Bill Barr started.
They started defending him for this when Bill Barr was still AG. So when Garland came in he had to either backtrack on what DOJ already decided (bad for long term justice department credibility) or let the Bill Barr line of reasoning play out. They continued to apply the Barr excuses just with minimal effort.
Now that legal action is back on the table, Garland can say this is a different situation and step away from the actions set in place by Bill Barr. They can drop Trump and DOJ doesn’t have to damage its credibility by backtracking what Bill Barr started.