I'm sorry but I think Joes wrong on this....

[BigOleDummy]

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has privately told advisers that he doesn't want his presidency to be consumed by investigations of his predecessor, according to five people familiar with the discussions, despite pressure from some Democrats who want inquiries into President Donald Trump, his policies and members of his administration.

Biden has raised concerns that investigations would further divide a country he is trying to unite and risk making every day of his presidency about Trump, said the sources, who spoke on background to offer details of private conversations.

They said he has specifically told advisers that he is wary of federal tax investigations of Trump or of challenging any orders Trump may issue granting immunity to members of his staff before he leaves office. One adviser said Biden has made it clear that he "just wants to move on."

[link:https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/president-elect-biden-wary-trump-focused-investigations-sources-say-n1247959|

Short article, worth reading.

Anyway..... I think this is wrong. But then, I never agree 100% with ...well.... lol, just about anyone. Pay particular attention to the sentence "Biden has raised concerns that investigations would further divide a country he is trying to unite ..." Well, in my opinion trying to "unite" us is a lost cause. The republican leadership has shown absolutely NO inclination for unity. On the contrary they seem to respect nothing but raw power. Their "base" is lost to us period. WE as a Nation face a grave threat in the rwnj's. Do you really think Joe can talk the Proud Boys and their ilk into unity? How about even just the rank and file republican voters? THEY just elected Qanon supporters for christs sake! Indeed, we'll have 2 minimum of these people making our laws! Can YOU unite with people like that? Can YOU unite with Proud Boys? Can YOU unite with Boogaloo supporters? The time for rose colored glasses is gone. We're fighting for the very idea of Democracy now. We're fighting for the Constitution now. Do we have the courage? The ones who want to do away with democracy and the Constitution sure do.

[Me.]

1. Totally Wrong

THe long history of no consequences for criminal cons have led to the situation we have today. Why would they change of they have nothing to fear and allowed to keep inflicting damage on the American people.?

[Eyeball_Kid]

7. If Biden wants a Democratic House and Senate in 2022,

he'd better hold Trump and his grifters to account. Otherwise, the criminals will be back and they'll take the House and the Senate.

[BComplex]

28. Bingo! If he lets criminals slide because they're POLITICIANS, he's going to lose the base.

And not just the base: he'll lose the respect of the entire international community. We'll never get the senate back if we don't prosecute lawlessness.

He's creating a two-tier system: no justice against one class of people, justice for everyone else.

Nu-hu.

[Demsrule86]

41. I don't agree...turn it over to justice and the states. The House election shows clearly what

happens when we don't send help...we were blamed unfairly for not getting stimulus passed. People are sick of fighting. They elected Joe Biden to do something for them. If we spend two years attacking Trump and the pugs (not arguing that they don't deserve it)...we are going to lose. We need to fight everyday to help Americans who are in dire straights.

[UCmeNdc]

53. Biden has to do both at the same time. It is the challenge he must face.

[Demsrule86]

59. He can't do both...and has no business interfering with Justice anymore than Trump did.

Let Justice and states handle it. We need to help Americans.

[Celerity]

54. my fear is that he will lean (in deep private) on the DOJ to NOT go after any (or most) of them

I understand that he himself will not publicly lead the charge, but I truly fear NO charge from the DOJ, so it is all up to the States (especially NY). Also, the states cannot go after many of the biggest traitors, as they will lack standing in many cases.

[Celerity]

66. I fear you may be right. I was trying to have some hope, but I may have been overly optimistic.

Time will tell.

If we lose the House in 2022, and fail to take back the Senate in both 2020 and 2022, I have a another fear. Manchin may bolt to the Rethugs. He may look at it like his state is crazy ruby red (and at that point, he is up for re-election in only 2 years, in 2024), and wants to be in the majority (although Biden can veto any Rethug shit they pass if they have both chambers of Congress.) The main way to keep him is to win the two GA run-offs, as then Manchin is arguably the 2nd most powerful person in DC, as he is a kingmaker at 50-50.

[brush]

2. He should just leave it to the Justice Dept. I think he's going to have...

to be flexible on that as many the party aren't with him on that.

[wryter2000]

19. That's exactly what the article says

Leave it to the justice department and don't tell them what to do.

[russiamommy]

43. This!

We need to get back to the norm - political considerations stay out of criminal investigations. And all political appointees are recused from any such investigations.

This has always been the norm until the last four years.

[Evergreen Emerald]

3. I thought he was going to stay out of the Fed's business?

I think he specifically stated that the President has no business in dictating what the prosecutors do.

[lagomorph777]

32. You mean DOJ, not the Fed, right?

[Eyeball_Kid]

4. Can you say, "Disillusioned Obama voters stayed home during the 2010 mid-terms?"

And the consensus for why they stayed home was BECAUSE Obama and Pelosi decided to give WAR CRIMINALS a pass.

So, yeah, I'm opposed to leaving well enough alone.

All Biden has to do is appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate wrongdoing and dust off his hands. The IP will take care of the rest.

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. The IP law expired after Ken Starr- without a Dem senate, the law won't be revived

Even with a Dem senate, with Manchin and the filibuster, it’s doubtful the law could be revived.

DOJ would be left with the option to appoint a less autonomous Mueller-style Special Prosecutor, or investigate and prosecute each crime separately, quite a cumbersome and expensive process.

[Demsrule86]

42. Can I say that fuck those voters...thanks to them we had six years of nothing...so how did they

help anyone? Always vote even in midterms and always vote Democratic...god knows what we could have achieved if these folks had had Obama's back. I consider them party traitors.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. If Biden appoints a weak AG who won't prosecute Trump, he will have failed as president. Nt

[Celerity]

55. agree, and who would you support for AG?

I have no clear number one choice. I just want a fucking insanely motivated, ravenous (for justice and the rule of law) pit bull.

[Demsrule86]

57. Do you guys consider what is happening right now in this country. We all hate Trump and want

him to pay...but right now 760,000 people are laid off this month alone adding to the millions already out of work, people are losing their homes, going hungry and unemployment ends for 13 million people on December 26th; also, all the while a dangerous pandemic rages which has killed 1/4 million Americans...how do you suppose they will feel if we spend our time going after Trump rather than helping them when the are in desperate need? We ran to stop Trump and promised to help the American people. Biden promised to try for unity...hard slog that for sure. Biden can't get all involved in revenge towards Trump while Americans suffer or we will tossed out of office in 2022 and 2024. Let's attempt to do our job which is governing...not making sure Trump pays even though he should and I hope he does. let the AG handle this and the states. And for fucks sake leave Biden alone. He never said he would be involved in going after Trump in fact he said he would leave it to justice and of course the states. Let President-elect Biden at least get inaugurated before those who think they know better than anyone else (not saying you) tear him to pieces and yet again help the Republicans regain power. Biden needs to save the world right now and not some revenge fantasy .

[Fiendish Thingy]

63. A fully functioning justice system is an essential component of democracy

Otherwise we are just another banana republic, with leaders who are above the law.

[Demsrule86]

65. Well if you piss off people who need help and the GOP gets back in 2022 (house and keeps Senate)

and 2024 (adds the presidency)...what kind of a justice system will we have then? Only political junkies like us care about this...the economy was the number one issue when the election was held even beating Covid at the time of the elections. Send help in terms of the economy and Covid and let justice be handled by the states and by the AG...or reap the whirlwind. We must win elections...and our actions should always be considered with that in mind.

[Fiendish Thingy]

67. I completely disagree- if Dems take senate they should govern as if they lose both houses in 2022

Dems shouldn’t fight to gain power unless they intend to wield it swiftly and ruthlessly.

If they take the senate, they should ram through every item on Biden’s agenda, force Manchin and Sinema to take a stand, and if they vote against, primary them from the left.

If Dems don’t take the senate, the house can still investigate the crimes of the Trump era, only this time, subpeonas for documents will complied with, and witnesses can’t claim executive privilege.

Likewise, the DOJ should be unleashed to investigate and prosecute all Trump cabal crimes supported by evidence. The Dems have been elected to govern, and bringing criminals to Justice is part of competent government.

Justice can be done at the time as fighting COVID, fixing the economy, saving the environment, etc. These aren’t mutually exclusive goals, and avoiding them because some people might get mad and not vote for you is absurd. Accomplishing Biden’s agenda AND bringing the Trump cabal to justice would be good governance, benefit the majority of Americans, and increase Dem’s odds at election time.

[Demsrule86]

68. If we don't take the Senate and the House investigates...we will lose it in 2022.

Primarying Manchin-are you kidding? and Sinema! What you think would work won't work...we would lose both seats and Manchins seat would be replaced permanently by a GOP. I am sorry, but what you suggest won't work. I don't believe you are considering political reality. If we get the Senate, we get our cabinet a Covid relief bill,health care with a public option, minimum wage and Green new jobs....if we don't get the Senate, we work towards taking the Senate in 22 which is favorable to us...we don't anger voters by endless pointless investigations in the House. Let the AG and states handle this. I hate Trump but you are playing into Republican hands with what you suggest.

[Fiendish Thingy]

70. Your choice: anger republicans or anger young progressives, who turned out in record numbers

No investigations (either DOJ or congress) means the all the young voters who helped put Biden over the top will stay home in 2022.

My priority is justice and good governance NOW, not political caution over what might happen in 2022.

If Dems govern effectively and ruthlessly NOW, they won’t have to worry about 2022.

[Demsrule86]

58. I would also suggest that unless we get two senate seats in Georgia...the GOP will block a

tough AG...that is reality. Maybe we should concentrate on winning those seats and not destroying Biden before he is even inaugurated.

[LakeArenal]

6. Too early to judge anything as good or bad.

But I support Joe whatever.
If the Fed doesn’t , NY State will.

[DanieRains]

8. Only Investigate People Who Likely Committed Crimes

Like it is supposed to be.

Not just powerless penniless minorities like it has been.

Epstein had to rape 100 little girls before anything happened.

Time for REAL JUSTICE.

And Kamila could "oversee" that it is being done properly.

[USALiberal]

9. Leave it to the states!! Nt

[StarfishSaver]

11. READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE!!!

Biden wants his Justice Department to function independently from the White House, aides said, and Biden isn't going to tell federal law enforcement officials whom or what to investigate or not to investigate.

"His overarching view is that we need to move the country forward," an adviser said. "But the most important thing on this is that he will not interfere with his Justice Department and not politicize his Justice Department."

He didn't say his administration wouldn't prosecute Trump and his minions. He said he wouldn't allow his presidency to be consumed by investigations and that he would allow his DOJ to do what it needed to do without his interference.

That's EXACTLY what he needs to say and do.

Everybody needs to calm down ... and not go flying off the handle over a misleading headline on a story with a bunch of unnamed sources saying what they think Biden is thinking - especially when what he's supposedly thinking makes perfect sense.

[Bleacher Creature]

15. This!!!!

He's just saying that he wants the DOJ to be independent again. If it investigates Trump, it will do so as a law enforcement agency, and NOT as a political weapon.

People need to take a deep breath!

[StarfishSaver]

18. This is at least the third thread today about this bs

And I doubt that 95 percent of the people commenting even bothered to read the article they're carrying on about.

[wryter2000]

22. The headline does suck

And we've been down the "move on" road before. I can see why people are having a visceral reaction. I think Biden is playing this exactly right.

[StarfishSaver]

24. Don t people read the articles they're commenting on before commenting on them?

That seems kind of basic ...

[Act_of_Reparation]

27. When I started working in communications...

...we were told to assume your audience reads, at best, maybe 1/3 of what is written on any given website.

So yeah, maybe we should be writing better headlines.

[StarfishSaver]

39. Who is "we"?

As far as I know, no one on DU wrote that headline .

The fact that most people don't read 2/3 of what is written isn't an excuse for people here not to read what they're discussing. I would like to think that the people on this site aren't so willingly ignorant.

[Act_of_Reparation]

44. Okie dokie.

Keep waiting for people to be better versions of themselves. Let me know how that works out for you.

[StarfishSaver]

48. It's not about what works out for me.

If people here want to remain uninformed and ignorant - and proudly display themselves as such - that's on them. But unlike some others are willing to do, I'm not going to make excuses for them.

[Act_of_Reparation]

71. Are you not understanding what I'm saying, or just being willfully obtuse?

It's not about making excuses. It's about setting realistic expectations. People aren't going to change. Ever. End of debate.

[Thekaspervote]

23. This!! The title of the OP is very deceptive

[melman]

25. Maybe people have read and have a different take on it than you

It's possible.

[StarfishSaver]

40. No. They obviously didn't read it.

[spanone]

38. ⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧⇧

👍🏼

[George II]

31. Thank you. He also said (if it was portrayed correctly) that he doesn't wan his administration....

..."consumed" by investigations. He didn't say they wouldn't happen.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

33. Unfortunately, the lede got buried in the bad headline.

You are 100% though.

Joe is basically just saying he's trusting DOJ to do their thing and the cards will fall as they may. The fact that he won't be leading "Lock him up!" chants because he has other things to do--like say, I don't know, fighting a global pandemic--is completely immaterial here.

[Me.]

35. Glad To REad Your Comments

because I will admit thus is a big issue with me. UNtil they pay a price it will never end. And I believe PBO came to the conclusion that he let them get away with far too much.

[Cosmocat]

36. IF we had a fucking functioning democracy this is how it would work

POTUS should have no say in what the justice department does one way or another ...

[GoCubsGo]

52. Yep. This shit is getting really old.

Not to mention that Congress can and will also conduct investigations. No more withholding of information from them, like has been done previously, either. Go get 'em Rep. Schiff!!!

[Dem2]

60. This is what I thought he was doing

He can't be in any way associated with these investigations, he simply needs to stand out of the way and let them proceed. If he does this, he is free to pursue his agenda without any accusations of personal vendettas. I think it's the only way to proceed.

[essaynnc]

12. I agree that this is not the right path

We've tried that with the past couple of Republican crooks, and it just emboldens them to keep doing their shenanigans in the future, they never learn, but then again, why should they??? their crookedness worked, and there are absolutely no consequences whatsoever for their actions, so why do anything different???? There have been some overtly illegal actions taken in the past couple of years that need to be addressed.

Perhaps, to make it completely non-partisan, we need to pick a republican prosecutor and let him see where the rabbit hole goes? There are probably lots of other options that would make it NOT look like a retaliatory witch hunt. Keep in mind that the Bengazi hearings didn't do a lot to endear the democrats to the republican way of thinking......

[underpants]

13. I could've told you that.

Trump takes huge advantage as this sort of thing but there is a certain consideration given to certain people.

[Rice4VP]

14. I think he's right. People are hurting and need help

That’s why they voted for him and not Trump. Let Tish James and Cy Vance in NY deal with Trump

[elleng]

16. I don't want it to be 'consumed by investigations' either,

and I suspect an honest Department of Justice can investigate without being 'consumed.'

[wryter2000]

17. "He would leave decisions up to the Justice Department"

"Biden wants his Justice Department to function independently from the White House, aides said, and Biden isn't going to tell federal law enforcement officials whom or what to investigate or not to investigate." Emphasis or not investigate.

He's not going to tell the justice department "hands off." I don't care if he or his staff stay away from investigations. In fact, that's not the president's job. Assuming he appoints a good AG, I have no problem with this. Although, I am heartily sick of the idea of "moving on."

[Cosmocat]

37. Or in other words how our democracy worked for hundreds of years

with a brief period where Nixon meddled into it aside, up until the lunatic was foisted into the white house four years ago.

[mcar]

20. He said he would leave it to his independent Justice Department

I agree with that 100%.

[EarlG]

21. I think this is being a bit overblown

My reading of it is that Biden hopes that his presidency won't be consumed with divisive news about Donald Trump. First, that makes sense, and second, it's aspirational. He's not saying that's what's going to happen, just that he hopes it doesn't. I'm seeing words to describe Biden's feelings about investigations as "generally," "broadly," and "overarching." Not "he's specifically saying this."

Meanwhile, you've also got things like this in the article:

"Biden wants his Justice Department to function independently from the White House, aides said, and Biden isn't going to tell federal law enforcement officials whom or what to investigate or not to investigate.

"His overarching view is that we need to move the country forward," an adviser said. "But the most important thing on this is that he will not interfere with his Justice Department and not politicize his Justice Department."

Plus Biden has said that he wouldn't pardon Trump.

Altogether, this reads more to me as Biden saying he really hopes that investigations of Trump won't interfere with his priorities, but at the same time he's going to let the chips fall where they may.

[kairos12]

26. Absolutely wrong. No accountability. Chump will be back then.

[George II]

29. He didn't say he didn't want any investigations, he said he doesn't want his administration....

..."CONSUMED" by any investigations.

People are making a mountain out of a molehill. Plus, they were "private" comments, this is all third hand information that isn't necessarily true or wasn't what actually was said.

[PirateRo]

30. Agree.

The only way we move forward is after justice is served.

That certainly doesn’t mean the administration sits at a stand-still, they are adults, fully capable of handling multiple tasks at once.

But tRump MUST face prosecution and prison for what’s been done as do those Republican senators that voted complicity to keep that mo steer in office. If not, then the next time these fools rise to power, things will be much worse.

Joe is wrong. And he knows it.

I completely understand the unwillingness to change Republican diapers, but as they showed themselves complicit with a criminal administration, it leaves little choice.

[ecstatic]

34. I heard that quote, and I think he's just distancing himself from whatever the AG decides to do.

I fully expect the AG to seek justice. trump MUST be prosecuted. It's not an option. Either we're a country of laws or we're not.

[PufPuf23]

45. If a deep cleaning of Trump and the GOP does not occur, the Biden administration will

be deliberately and repeatedly sabotaged by Trump and / or the GOP.

For now give Biden the benefit of the doubt.

But if the sick and criminal opposition is not removed, Biden will be stymied at every angle then scapegoated if even for failures, many imaginary slurs.

The biggest obstacle are the criminals and their enablers and getting that out of the way is an early step to any improvement of our situation.

If Biden is not aggressive and successful, the midterms will be a disaster.

[flamingdem]

46. We need the Senate stat

[marlakay]

47. I read the article and it makes it seem

Very much like Joe wants a kumbaya moment and won't encourage in fact discourage punishing Trump in order to make republicans happy.

When I read stuff like this it makes me wonder about him, surely he believes in the rule of law? Surely he knows if you don't discipline a child they just do worse. Trump is a product of not punishing Bush.

They keep saying he will let his AG handle it, but republicans won't let him pick a decent AG, so then what?

Why can't democrat leaders see kissing up to republicans does no good? They lie, they tease us, they don't keep promises to us.

[Buckeyeblue]

49. What if he reappointed Mueller special prosecutor and told him to finish what he started?

[Demsrule86]

56. No, the AG and the states can do it...or not. Joe Biden needs to stay away from it.

[Buckeyeblue]

61. I guess I meant the AG could appoint a special prosecutor. I don't think Biden can just do it.

[Demsrule86]

62. No special prosecutors...it will be seen as coming from Biden.

Let the AG do their job but if we don't gain the Senate seats, I have little doubt no AG who would do that will be approved of by the GOP. I have more hope for the states.

[GoCubsGo]

50. No. He is correct.

Leave the investigating to DOJ, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, should the Dems gain control of that--where it belongs.

[Yeehah]

51. Joe's

Thank you.

[Demsrule86]

69. This is a pointless thread really....we need to be all in getting Georgia without which we will

gain very little with McConnell in charge.