Irresponsible Attacks by Republicans Endangering the Lives of Law Enforcement

After Trump posted his inflammatory press release about the August 8 search warrant, many Republicans lined up to blindly smear Attorney General Merrick Garland, the DOJ, the FBI, and anyone connected with law enforcement -- before knowing any of the facts. This included a tweet from Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy threatening the AG, DOJ and FBI.

It may be no coincidence that almost immediately after Trump’s press release there was an armed confrontation at an FBI field office (Cincinnati) by a man with a nail gun along with an AR-15 style weapon.

After a traffic chase involving the Highway Patrol, local law enforcement, and the FBI, the standoff ended in a farm field in Ohio, with that man’s death.

Subsequent information revealed that the man had participated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and posted claims on social media for others to take up arms for this warrant.

For the supposed “party of law and order”, the attacks by Republicans on Merrick Garland, the DOJ and the FBI (still headed by Trump appointee Christopher Wray, a Republican and member of the Federalist Society) are causing extreme danger for all law enforcement officials.

(This is confusing -- didn't Republicans come out strongly FOR law enforcement during BLM protests in 2020? Of course, Republicans weren't totally backing law enforcement during the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Aren't they being selective?)

On Thursday, August 11, AG Merrick Garland made a rare appearance on national television to counter disinformation about the warrant. He made sure everyone understood he personally had approved the warrant, that such documents had been sought for some time, and that the lack of production by other less intrusive means made the warrant necessary.

Plus Garland highly praised the FBI with these words:

“Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor. Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing.

“Let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants.

“Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism, and other threats to their safety, while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them.”

At his news conference, Garland revealed that DOJ had filed a motion to make the warrant public, and provided that Trump would have the chance to object to the motion.

After no objection from Trump’s attorneys by the Court’s deadline, the Court released the warrant and inventory of government documents recovered to the public on August 12. (See Spotlight article.) Public copies of the warrant had redacted names of FBI agents for their personal protection.

Several hours before releasing the Warrant to the public, a copy was obtained by Breitbart (i.e., Steve Bannon). That copy had not redacted the names of the FBI agents who conducted the search, so it appears Breitbart’s copy had to come directly from Trump who had a complete, unredacted copy. Unfortunately, now Trump supporters are able to dox the FBI agents.

Even after it was revealed that there was suspected to be possible nuclear weapon information among the Top Secret classified documents Trump had withheld, Republicans were still attacking law enforcement, although a few were saying such documents “could be problematic”.

You think?