Bringing charges and prosecuting a former president of the United States is a monumental challenge that has never been faced. If the former president is an alleged coup leader who has suggested the possibility of a new outbreak of violence if they touch a hair on him – that in addition to accusing the prosecutor of acting out of political revenge – the step of the imputation acquires heroic proportions. But, what if the impeachable former president is also a candidate for re-election as head of state?
The attorney general of the United States and secretary of justice, Merrick Garland, must not have his shirt down when he affirms that justice is equal for all regardless of the influence, power and money of each one, a phrase that he usually pronounces when he more or less explicitly refers to the investigations that Donald Trump is facing, whether in relation to the secret documents that he tried to hide from the authorities after extracting them from the White House to take them to his residence in Florida; be it for his central participation in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021; be it for his attempt to falsify the results of the presidential elections in Florida; or for defrauding taxes in his private business.
Garland's challenge, while difficult from the moment Trump's indictment was raised, may become more and more compromised as the former president rearranges his political position from the platform of a new candidacy for the presidency of the country; a candidacy that, by the way, he has taken care to disassociate from the results of this Tuesday's elections, and therefore from the success or failure of the Republicans in general and of the candidates he endorses in particular: he will make the announcement no matter what happens.
As if it were the marketing campaign designed to launch the latest version of some gadget that millions of consumers have been anxiously awaiting for months, the former president kicked off this latest phase of selling himself at his rally last Thursday in Sioux City. , Iowa: “I will very, very, very likely do it again,” he said. Two days later, in Florida, he continued to warm up the product and encourage staff to get in line by reiterating at another rally, in Miami, Florida, that "very, very, very soon" everyone would be "very happy."
Finally, in Monday's campaign closing speech in Vandalia, Ohio, the Republican leader ended the session with more specific details of the launch: "I'm going to make a big announcement on Tuesday, November 15 at Mar-a-Lago," his residence in Florida and the scene of the police operation in which the FBI seized the more than one hundred classified papers that he had not yet delivered to the National Archives – and had hidden – after his illicit transfer from the White House.
November 15 is the day after Trump is scheduled to testify before the House committee investigating the Capitol assault. The nine members of the body unanimously agreed to the summons after gathering "overwhelming evidence" that the former president "personally orchestrated" the attempt to annul his own defeat in the 2020 elections.
Garland will almost certainly already have as much or more overwhelming evidence than the congressional commission on Trump's criminal conduct on one or more issues. To turn that evidence into the basis of a prosecution, the prosecutor would have to tie the knot with a very powerful case that could prosper before a jury. The Department of Justice is already considering the option of appointing a special prosecutor who, as far as possible, would weaken the accusations of bias that Trump would launch if he were charged. Garland, Biden, the Democratic Party and perhaps the main institutions of the State would need a good armor to prevent Trump's attacks from injuring them... and the blood from reaching the river.
