As we reported earlier today, Attorney General Merrick Garland published an op-ed in the Washington Post called, "Unfounded attacks on the Justice Department must end." That sounds a little bit like a threat. We agree with him to a point, though; there are enough things about the Justice Department to attack without resorting to unfounded attacks.
Last week, an equally defensive Merrick testified in front of Congress, and Rep. Matt Gaetz asked what Merrick knew about the No. 3 man at the Justice Department resigning to make the "remarkable downstream career journey" to a line prosecutor in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office just as the prosecution of Donald Trump was about to begin. Garland insisted he knew nothing about it, and that Matthew Collangelo must have just "applied for a job there."
House Republicans demanded any correspondence between the Justice Department and Bragg's office, but after an "exhaustive" search, came up with nothing.
The DOJ informed House Republicans that an exhaustive search yielded no communications between the department and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. https://t.co/usARIHh0OP
— The Hill (@thehill) June 11, 2024
It's just another one of those GOP conspiracy theories that put hard-working Justice Department employees in danger.
"exhaustive" https://t.co/ZaZAdVdJ01 pic.twitter.com/0oR3EH0KCY
— Deebs (@DeebsFLA) June 11, 2024
This is such a crock of sh*t. Colangelo left DOJ on Friday, Dec 2, 2022. Colangelo started working in Bragg's office on Monday, Dec 5, 2022.
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) June 11, 2024
Obviously, Bragg and Colangelo were in communication while Colangelo was at DOJ. That they didn't use DOJ email should be equally obvious. https://t.co/fsE20dUW19 pic.twitter.com/BNvIVdwATN
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That really is a coincidence that Colangelo would take a massive salary cut to move from the Justice Department to the Manhattan District Attorney's office. He must have put in that application really quickly, and it must have been stellar to get hired three days later.
We investigated ourselves and found ourselves to be completely innocent.
— Keith 😬😬😬Burton (@bbeekk321) June 11, 2024
If only there were ways for people to communicate outside of work e-mail. But according to Fusion Kyle and the illiterates at Politico, Matthew Colangelo somehow left DOJ and joined Bragg’s office three days later without ever talking to anyone in Bragg’s office. Call it the… https://t.co/PtplmPTfIs
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 11, 2024
"Call it the Immaculate Corruption!"
Also, DOJ is lying. Kinda figured that went without saying, but you never know.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 11, 2024
Maybe they learned from Anthony "Tony" Fauci to use their personal email accounts and not their government accounts and phones. After all, Fauci's deputy David Mortens told EcoHealth Alliance Director Peter Daszak not to worry about FOIAs … he could always "send stuff to Tony on his private Gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that would cause trouble."
Colangelo led the NY AG’s civil inquiry on Trump before Biden brought him back into the DOJ. He also handled NY’s lawsuits against the Trump Administration on immigration and a number of other issues. Of course he was speaking with NY officials before switching jobs. He was just…
— FoiaFan🇮🇱 (@15poundstogo) June 11, 2024
"He was just smart enough not to do it in emails."
Why do you think Hillary Clinton set up a homebrew email server and never used her official government email account?
Where is the job posting, the resumes, and the interview notes? Who else applied? How was he chosen? What was the process?
— Rosa 🦅🇺🇸 (@AquaBreezesRosa) June 11, 2024
All of that can be FOIA
Maybe the DOJ's "exhaustive" search didn't extend to Colangelo's personal email account.
Hillary’s good friend “Ray Cooper,” the current governor of NC, was well known for never using his government email so there would be no paper trail on any of his communications when FOIA requests were made.
— Erik (@soderstrom) June 11, 2024
I can picture the scene; the No. 3 guy at DOJ resigns for no particular reason and takes a bus to the Big Apple to make his fortune. He wanders into Bragg’s DA office, hat in hand, and timidly asks if there are any job openings. “I’d be willing to start at the bottom, working…
— Cruadin (@cruadin) June 11, 2024
… working second string on any misdemeanor cases you’ve got simmering on the back burner,” he said, with suitable humility.
It’s totally believable.
Exactly. If there was no communication how did he even make the transition?
— Darren Anderson (@Omegadarren) June 11, 2024
He just showed up one Monday and they decided to pay him?
— PNWBirdhunter 🦆 🐕 🇺🇸 (@FanaticLurker) June 11, 2024
Are you stupid, or do you think we are? This is even MORE suspicious. It means they scrupulously avoided any email subject to FOIA.
That only makes it more suspicious. How was he hired? So he essentially just resigned at DOJ for no reason at all? That’s an interesting take. Put him under oath and ask him about it @SpeakerJohnson
— The Hancock (@HancockThe1011) June 11, 2024
They’ll never tell the truth they’ll make you dig for it, they’ll delay it, they’ll make you spend large amounts of money to expose it.
— Lorenzo (@larrydee1) June 11, 2024
I’m going to think about a job I want and then show up there Monday morning without speaking with anybody and see how it goes.
— Kory Jaiden (@JaidenKory) June 11, 2024
In a different city. With a massive pay cut. Or maybe not a pay cut.
The Manhattan DA invented a first ever executive-level position so they could bring Colangelo on at a salary similar to his DOJ position.
— Patriotify (@JoinPatriotify) June 11, 2024
And the DA released this bullshit press release on December 5, 2022:https://t.co/UStX1lkQjh
The angle that many are missing:
— Patriotify (@JoinPatriotify) June 11, 2024
His move almost certainly followed discussions among DOJ officials regarding the fact that they couldn’t possibly bring any election related charge against Trump in a federal court.
Colangelo moved to Manhattan DA office for that reason.
So the DOJ confirmed that Bragg and Coangelo are at least smart enough to NOT use official government email. Theres a revelation.
— Erin Brough (@mbrough330) June 11, 2024
We’ll that settles that. They think you’re stupid.
— Mike (@syntheticmpathy) June 11, 2024
The Department of Justice did an "exhaustive" search and could find any documents linking Colangelo to Bragg. They never communicated, and Garland didn't know anything about it until he was surprised by Colangelo's sudden resignation. It's just another one of the Republicans' many crazy conspiracy theories that damage the DOJ's credibility.
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