Democratic strategist James Carville described Attorney General Merrick Garland as “horribly naive” for how long it took him to prosecute President-elect Donald Trump.
Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith in November 2022, days after Trump announced he would run for the presidency again, with the special counsel first indicting him in June 2023. Responding to a listener question on “Politics War Room” about how poorly history would perceive Garland “for failing to adequately investigate and indict Trump soon enough,” Carville argued the attorney general was overly “respectful of tradition” and “institutions.”
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“I think that Merrick Garland is gonna go down as a man so respectful of tradition and so respectful of institutions that he was really — kind of strange to say this about a guy that was an appellate court judge, experienced and highly trained attorney — he was naive,” Carville said. “He was trying to play by one set of rules and everybody’s playing by another set of rules. And I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I think at the end of the day he’s just a horribly naive man that had no idea what he was up against.”
Smith’s initial indictment of Trump was the first federal indictment of a former U.S. president in American history. The special counsel also indicted Trump for election interference in August 2023, and subsequently filed a superseding indictment after the Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents possess immunity from prosecution for “official acts.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly considering how to wind down its cases against Trump as he prepares to commence his second presidential term in January. DOJ policy prohibits the criminal prosecution of sitting presidents.
Trump asserted in October that he would fire Smith “within two seconds” of taking office.
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