The twists and turns of President Biden’s classified documents scandal took a sharp turn on Thursday when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Robert Hur to investigate the chain of custody. But the unhinged and manic host of MSNBC’s Deadline: White House, Nicolle Wallace, had her knives out and looking to take a pound of flesh from the AG, suggesting the decision was unjust and without integrity. She even suggested his investigation style was responsible for the political unrest in Brazil.
“Special counsel regs are for criminal investigations that are extraordinary in nature,” she ranted to a panel of left-leaning former U.S. attorneys. “And there's something oxymoronic about Garland standing there and saying, ‘we can handle it with integrity,’ but we won't. Feels like a bit of a dodge.”
Hinting at nefarious motives, Wallace looked to Harry Litman and asked: “What is Garland protecting?”
Litman agreed “100 percent” with Wallace and claimed Garland’s decision was him “bowing to the political impaired which was getting louder and louder, and would continue to be.” He went on to proclaim, without evidence, that there was no reason to appoint Hur, especially when compared to former President Trump:
He could have stood up and said, “look, under the regulars, their first meet must be a criminal investigation warranted.”
And if there were one here and we have no reason to think it, Nicole, but presumably it would be this medium-level staffer to the vice president some eight years ago. That's not the sort of thing you need a special counsel for. You need a special counsel for -- if Biden has acted criminally. But the record seems quite clear from what we know, not only was there no intent, which is the standard we've heard again and again and again with Trump, there's not even knowledge.
“The inadvertence here isn't even on his part. So, I personally, don't see what the special counsel is supposed to look into,” he scoffed.
Shifting to MSNBC contributor Glenn Kirschner, Wallace whined that the appointment was unjustly quick when compared to Trump’s case and “a very unequal application of the appointment of a special counsel.” Kirschner did a weak job of playing Devil’s advocate as he prefaced his comments with, “it's tough for me to explain the inexplicable”:
I do believe that Merrick Garland is guided by his own sense of ethics and his own determination to preserve the institution for better or worse. And so, I think he bends over backwards. I think once it was announced he was running for president, the reality became the only announced opposition to Merrick Garland's boss for the presidency. Now, there is a conflict. Now it's unavoidable. The Department of Justice has a conflict.
“I agree we heard about this special counsel appointment for the Joe Biden's documents at light speed, so we're kind of mixing apples and oranges there on the timing front,” he argued.
In another example of just how deranged things have gotten on MSNBC during this saga, Wallace proceeded to blame Garland for the political unrest and riots in Brazil. She suggested America was “exporting insurrections” because “our rule of law, appears very sick” and Garland was “walking at a leisurely pace in probing those accountable for the deadly January 6 insurrection here.”
Nicolle Wallace’s unhinged antics were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Hulu and Liberty Mutual. Their contact information is liked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Deadline: White House
January 12, 2023
4:10:29 p.m. Eastern(…)
NICOLLE WALLACE: Special counsel regs are for criminal investigations that are extraordinary in nature. And there's something oxymoronic about Garland standing there and saying, “we can handle it with integrity,” but we won't. Feels like a bit of a dodge. What is Garland protecting?
HARRY LITMAN (Fmr. U.S. attorney): You know, protecting -- I think he’s bowing to the political impaired which was getting louder and louder, and would continue to be. But I think you are 100 percent right. He could have stood up and said, “look, under the regulars, their first meet must be a criminal investigation warranted.”
And if there were one here and we have no reason to think it, Nicole, but presumably it would be this medium-level staffer to the vice president some eight years ago. That's not the sort of thing you need a special counsel for. You need a special counsel for -- if Biden has acted criminally. But the record seems quite clear from what we know, not only was there no intent, which is the standard we've heard again and again and again with Trump, there's not even knowledge.
The inadvertence here isn't even on his part. So, I personally, don't see what the special counsel is supposed to look into.
(…)
4:14:40 p.m. Eastern
WALLACE: I mean, for Trump, it was eight back and forths with the national archives, three with the FBI, a court-approved search of Mar-a-Lago, and an ongoing belief that the crimes involved handling of classified documents were being committed at Mar-a-Lago, as well as crimes of obstruction of justice. It's my understanding based on the latest DOJ filings that there's a belief in the Justice Department that both are still happening today.
But even that didn't trigger the appointment of a special counsel. It was Trump that put that in motion when he announced his intention to run for president. In this case – it was about, what, three weeks of looking at the facts and then a special counsel is appointed. Can you explain what looks like a very unequal application of the appointment of a special counsel, Glenn?
GLENN KIRSCHNER (Fmr. U.S. attorney): So, it's tough for me to explain the inexplicable, but let me give it a shot, Nicole. I do believe that Merrick Garland is guided by his own sense of ethics and his own determination to preserve the institution for better or worse. And so, I think he bends over backwards. I think once it was announced he was running for president, the reality became the only announced opposition to Merrick Garland's boss for the presidency. Now, there is a conflict. Now it's unavoidable. The Department of Justice has a conflict.
I agree we heard about this special counsel appointment for the Joe Biden's documents at light speed, so we're kind of mixing apples and oranges there on the timing front.
(…)
4:18:14 p.m. Eastern
WALLACE: DOJ is a national security agency. I mean, it houses the nation's prosecutors. It also houses the national security division. And the world's national security crisis is that we are now exporting insurrections. What happened in Brazil is an extension of the language, the rhetoric, and the playbook carried out here, where our judicial system, our rule of law, appears very sick, if as Glenn just said, our attorney general is, quote, “walking at a leisurely pace” in probing those accountable for the deadly January 6 insurrection here.
(…)
