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Politico: Gaetz report renews debate about how he escaped federal charges

By Josh Gerstein, Betsy Woodruff, and Kyle Cheney - 12/23/24

Some former DOJ officials cautioned that the feds’ decision not to bring a criminal case does not amount to the “exoneration” Gaetz has repeatedly claimed.

“Generally speaking, the Justice Department’s decision to not charge an individual doesn’t mean that he or she didn’t commit wrongdoing,” former DOJ spokesperson Anthony Coley said. “Criminal prosecution is a high bar that relies on a variety of factors — evidence, witnesses, etc. Bottom line: No charges does not equal full exoneration.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

NY Times: Pardoning Hunter Complicates the Legacy That Biden Envisioned

12/2/24

Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department official in the Biden administration, said “the pardon itself is appropriate” given the danger to Hunter Biden. Mr. Trump has announced that he will nominate Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who has assailed Hunter Biden, to run the Justice Department, and Kash Patel, a former aide who has promised to “come after” the president-elect’s adversaries, to run the F.B.I.

“Trump is putting people in place to weaponize the Justice Department and what father wouldn’t protect his own only surviving son from unjustified political harassment?” Mr. Coley said.

Still, he added, Mr. Biden’s assertion that politics drove the prosecution of Hunter Biden by the Biden Justice Department echoes Mr. Trump’s own grievances and is not supported by facts. “I can’t imagine that with distance of time, history will view that language any more favorably than many view it today,” Mr. Coley said.

Read more at NYTimes.com >>

Politico Playbook: Trump begins the tariff tango

By Eugene Daniels and Rachel Bade - 11/26/24

The big question now is whether or not Smith will take his remaining time on the job to finish reports on the two cases for submission to AG MERRICK GARLAND that could potentially be released publicly. We’ll note that Smith took pains in his filings yesterday to say that he stood by the merits of the indictments he secured.

Those in and around Garland’s DOJ certainly hope he does. “Jack Smith should release his final report with as many details as possible,” former top DOJ spokesperson ANTHONY COLEY told us last night. “That’s important for historical purposes; to correct the false narrative that the DOJ wasn’t aggressively investigating Trump early on; and to further correct Trump’s lies that the prosecution was politically motivated.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

The Hill: End of Trump's prosecutions renew scrutiny of DOJ's pace

By Rebecca Beitsch - 11/27/24

The high court initially declined to take the case earlier in the process, determining months later that former presidents retain broad immunity for core official actions they take while in the White House. The ruling leaves unanswered numerous questions over what presidential crimes can ever be prosecuted.

It was a key victory for Trump, both on the merits and on the timeline — the various appeals and review ate up about seven months.

“This lingering criticism of DOJ ignores public facts and, more importantly, the elephant in the room: that the conservative majority on the Supreme Court was always going to have Trump’s back, no matter what DOJ did. This Court seemed hellbent on protecting Trump at whatever cost and that’s what they did,” Anthony Coley, former head of DOJ public affairs, told The Hill in a statement.

“To help correct the record, my hope now is that Special Counsel Smith, as part of his final report, will include a detailed timeline of DOJ efforts to try to hold Trump accountable from the beginning of the administration.”

Read more at the TheHill.com >>

Politico Playbook: How the pardon happened

By Eugene Daniels and Rachel Bade - 12/2/24

The more interesting reaction, frankly, has come from Democrats — who are split as to whether Biden was justified in sparing his son from potential Trump retribution or whether he committed a regrettable act of hypocrisy that further undermines governing norms and lowers the bar for condemning Trump’s own behavior.

In the former camp, count former AG ERIC HOLDER, who claimed last night that no federal prosecutor “would have charged this case given the underlying facts,” and former DOJ official ANTHONY COLEY, who texted us this last night: “Biden was right to do it. Trump is putting in place the pieces to weaponize the DOJ — why would Biden leave his only surviving son exposed in that way?”

In the latter camp, you so far have Colorado Gov. JARED POLIS, who called it a “bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” and Rep. GREG STANTON (D-Ariz.), who said “Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

Washington Post: What the Justice Department in a Harris administration could look like

Perry Stein and Tyler Pager - 11/1/24

The people close to Harris and the transition efforts, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said she wants an attorney general who would take a public role in explaining and forcefully defending the Justice Department’s policies and legal decisions.

“Every leader has the right to make out her or his own team or their batting order,” said Anthony Coley, the former top spokesman under Garland.

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

The Hill: Democrats say Harris holds several campaign advantages over Trump

Amie Parnes - 10/24/24

Trump’s apparent flaws are also giving Democrats a reason to feel better about their current standing.

“The Trump team is bifurcated: On the one hand, his staff is running a disciplined, if deceptive operation,” said Democratic strategist Anthony Coley, who worked in the Biden administration. “On the other hand, Trump undermines it with his repeated off-message and off-color commentary just as many undecided voters are starting to pay attention.”

“That’s why Harris continues to urge people to watch his rallies,” added Coley, who argued Trump is “not closing strong.”

Read More at TheHill.com >>

Reuters: Harris campaign shifts strategy as anxiety rises over Trump gains

Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose - 10/17/24

“Kamala Harris is the underdog, like she’s been saying all along,” said Democratic strategist Anthony Coley. “Many folks thought that language was just political posturing … But it was true when she first said it in July and true now three weeks out.”

Read More at Reuters.com >>

The Hill: Democrats Start to Hit the Panic Button, Amie Parnes

Amie Parnes - 10/09/24

Democratic strategist Anthony Coley, who served in the Biden administration, acknowledged the trepidation, pointing to the stagnant poll numbers in the weeks following the Democratic National Convention, when Democrats were making comparisons between Harris’s campaign and former President Obama’s run in 2008.

“Now that the sugar high is gone people have realized what Kamala Harris has said from the start, which is that she is the underdog,” Coley said. “This is going to be a fight. … These numbers are just so stubborn.”

Read More at TheHill.com >>

Politico: What Vance and Walz need to do to win the debate, according to the political pros

Lisa Kashinsky, Irie Sentner and Myah Ward - 10/01/24

POLITICO reached out to some of the smartest strategists and power players in politics to ask them what the expectations are for Walz and Vance in their CBS News-moderated matchup in New York City — and what constitutes a win for each nominee. Here are their responses, edited for length and clarity:

Anthony Coley:

The one role that both of these candidates have is to convey that they can be president. That is the job of the vice presidential candidate. Can this person be trusted to lead the country if it comes to that? On the one hand, both of these candidates need to show a command of the substance. They also need to exude strength and relatability. Who do you want to have a beer with? And if more people say that they want to have a beer with Tim Walz than JD Vance — and they feel he had a strong command of the substance — I think that will be a win for him.

My concern with Walz is that he gets in the weeds in defense of past statements, and doesn’t pivot out of it and go on offense. I think he is a strong debater, he is naturally relatable to folks, so my hope here is that he can bob and weave when the attacks come and doesn’t get bogged down in the weeds.

Read More at Politico.com >>

Politico: How the Trump-Harris debate tonight could shake up the 2024 race, according to political pros

Lisa Kashinsky and Myah Ward - 09/10/24

“Vice President Harris goes into this debate the same way as she started the campaign, and that’s as an underdog. I think her primary goal is to introduce herself to people who are just beginning to pay attention to the race. Who is she? What are her values? I also think she needs to be her authentic self while showing strength, being agile, while going on offense when the opportunity arises. Reminding people of the stakes of the election, of the chaos that Trump brings, of the uncertainty created by a second Trump presidency with even fewer checks to curb his worst instincts.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

The Hill: New poll delivers warning signals to Harris

Amie Parnes - 09/09/24

“She’s right to call herself an underdog,” said Anthony Coley, a Democratic strategist who served in the Biden administration until last year…..I’m glad this poll came out. It’s a gift to Democrats … and it’s a wake-up call in many ways.”

Read More at TheHill.com >>

The Hill: Harris walks tightrope when it comes to taxes

Amie Parnes and Tobias Burns - 09/07/24

Democratic strategist Anthony Coley said the new proposal underscored that Harris is not the progressive some Republicans have sought to portray her as. While Coley said he has heard some mixed reviews from some in his party, he said it’s a signal to the business community that “she gets it.”

“With this announcement, she is sending a signal to the business community that she is not the bogeyman that the right paints her out to be, and that is more important in some ways than the policy,” Coley said.

Read More at TheHill.com >>

Politico: Hunter Biden’s plea avoids a trial, and further pain for his father

Adam Cancryn and Jonathan Lemire - 09/05/24

“This plea is not just a smart legal move,” said Anthony Coley, a former Biden Justice Department official, who pointed to elements of Hunter’s own memoir that he said had bolstered the government’s tax evasion case. “If the judge accepts it, it would spare the younger Biden from a spectacle in the court of public opinion.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

WAPO: New Trump indictment tries to salvage case after Supreme Court ruling

Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein - 08/27/24

Anthony Coley, a former spokesman for Attorney General Merrick Garland, said the superseding indictment makes mostly “minor tweaks to comply with a dubious Supreme Court ruling.” Coley said the prosecution story remains essentially unchanged: that “Trump ignored the facts and worked around the law to overturn the will of voters. This superseding indictment tells the full story within the parameters that the ultra-conservative majority of the Supreme Court have laid out.”

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

Reuters: Kamala Harris' inner circle girds for battle

Nandita Bose, Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason - 08/07/24

Trump has called Harris “crazy,” “nuts”, “dumb as a rock” and questioned her identity by suggesting she had previously downplayed her Black heritage. Some Republicans in Congress disparage her as a diversity hire. Right-wing activists and trolls have smeared her online with racist and sexist barbs.

The inner circle is “battle tested in a way that is going to be helpful over the next 99 days,” Coley said.

“It’s going to be fast, it’s going to be furious, it’s going to be deep. And you have to have people who know how to respond quickly and smartly to these types of attacks.”

Read More at Reuters.com >>

WAPO: Justice Dept. plans to pursue Trump cases past Election Day, even if he wins

Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein - 07/02/24

If Donald Trump is elected president, the finish line for federal prosecutors is Inauguration Day, not Election Day, people familiar with the discussions said.

“The Justice Department isn’t governed by the election calendar. Its prosecution of Trump is based on the law, the facts, and the Justice Manual — the department’s bible that lays out the post-Watergate norms that have prevented it from being weaponized,” said Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department spokesman for Attorney General Merrick Garland who left the agency last year. “Until those norms change, or they’re ordered otherwise, I’d expect this Justice Department to be full speed ahead. And they should be.”

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

WAPO: CNN debate moderators didn’t fact-check. Not everyone is happy about it.

Jeremy Barr - 06/27/24

Throughout the broadcast, the network came under criticism on social media for not correcting false statements — particularly those made by Trump.


“The absence of real-time fact checking is the biggest failure of this debate,” wrote Anthony Coley, a contributor for NBC News and MSNBC, on X.



Chalian had left open the possibility of fact-checking “if there is some egregious mistruth put forward,” but the moderators chose not to.

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

Politico: Cheshire cat Brandon

Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols and Ben Johansen - 05/31/24

“While this is not a moment for Democrats to gloat, Donald Trump is now a convicted felon, and folks should call him that at every turn. The president should lean into this moment by focusing on his efforts to improve the lives and future of everyday Americans,” ANTHONY COLEY, a former Department of Justice spokesperson, told West Wing Playbook.

“‘Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow,’ Bill Clinton once advised. That’s a powerful contrast when his opponent is surrounded by chaos and focused on his own campaign of vengeance and retribution.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

Politico: Biden has no plan to touch the Alito controversy, even with a 10-foot pole

Adam Cancryn - 05/24/24

“The central pushback should come from the legislative branch, and not the executive branch,” said Anthony Coley, a former senior official in the Biden Justice Department, arguing that Congress has wide-ranging investigatory
authority. “That’s the right place where we should be seeing aggressive oversight, and right now they are not meeting the moment.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

WAPO: On the week Trump’s Fla. trial was scheduled to start, uncertainty and a pretrial hearing

David Ovalle and Perry Stein - 5/22/24

“We are all in a wait-and-see game,” said Anthony Coley, former top spokesman at the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland. “It’s still quite possible the D.C. case starts. We’re all waiting on the Supreme Court to decide.” Coley and other legal analysts have accused Cannon of unnecessarily slowing down the Florida case.

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

TheGrio: Did Biden’s Morehouse graduation speech break tension with Black voters?

Gerren Keith Gaynor - 5/20/24

Biden shared his rise to politics and his personal journey with grief, being inspired by King to become a public defender and eventually being elected to the Senate before losing his wife and young daughter in a deadly car crash in 1972.

“Authenticity always resonates with voters and with everyday people,” said Anthony Coley, a legal and political analyst and former Biden-Harris administration official. “My hope is that the deeper we get into the campaign season, the people around him will create opportunities for that real person – the Joe they know – to break through in real ways.”

Read More at TheGrio.com >>

Newsweek: Joe Biden's Morehouse College Appearance Splits Opinion

Khaleda Rahman - 5/20/24

The president received a standing ovation from college administrators and alumni in the audience when he was introduced, but most of the graduating class remained seated. At least seven graduates and one faculty member sat
with their backs turned during Biden’s address, while another draped himself in a Palestinian flag, the Associated Press reported.

Anthony Coley, an alumnus of Morehouse who led the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs from 2021 to 2023, wrote on X, that Biden “met the moment” with “authentic remarks.””He kept the focus on the grads, while weaving in his personal narrative and how his Administration is improving
people’s lives,” he added.

Coley said that on Gaza, Biden “spelled out his vision clearly—one that aligns with what young people want, even if they haven’t necessarily heard it directly from him before.”

Read More at Newsweek.com >>

TNR: Trump Risks New Gag Order Violation With Fresh “Sleazeballs” Tirade

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling - 5/8/24

“Trump & his allies will always find something, anything to delay their day in Court,” wrote former Justice Department official Anthony Coley. “Bottom line: This November, the people will decide if Trump will ever face accountability for trying to overturn the will of voters.”

Read More at NewRepublic.com >>

Salon: "The fight is fixed": Legal expert calls out Judge Cannon as "MAGA activist in a black robe"

Charles R. Davis - 5/13/24

“When people say the fight is fixed, this is the type of stuff they are talking about,” former Justice Department spokesperson Anthony Coley said on MSNBC. “You have a woman here who intentionally appears to be dragging her feet,” he observed, arguing Cannon is less an objective judge and more someone who appears to be “a MAGA activist in a black robe.”

Read More at Salon.com >>

NYT: Judge in Trump Criminal Case Braces for Glare of Unprecedented Trial

Ben Protess, Jesse McKinley, Kate Christobek and William K. Rashbaum - 4/8/24

“In the court of law, Judge Merchan was well within his rights and ethical guidelines to have made these small donations four years ago,” said Anthony Coley, a former head of public affairs at the Justice Department under Mr. Biden who is now an NBC News legal analyst. “But in the court of public opinion, appearances still matter.”

Read More at NYTimes.com >>

WAPO: White House-Justice Dept. tensions high as Hur prepares to testify on Hill

Perry Stein and Tyler Pager - 3/11/24

For years, Democrats have railed against Trump for attempting to intervene and politicize federal law enforcement decisions, arguing that he has undermined the impartial system of justice in the country by attacking judges and prosecutors. They do not want to be accused of similar conduct.

Anthony Coley, a former Garland spokesman, argued that Democrats should focus their ire on Hur and will only hurt their own political future by complaining about a Biden appointee like Garland. “It is undermining the president’s reelection,” said Coley, who has criticized the references to Biden’s memory in the special counsel report. “The criticism should start with Robert Hur.”

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

TheGrio: Fani Willis ‘did what she needed to do’ during defiant testimony in misconduct hearing

Gerren Keith Gaynor - 2/16/24

“The issue before the court is one of self-dealing; did she hire her boyfriend to work on this case and then benefit financially from that arrangement?” explained Anthony Coley, a legal analyst. “What she did was disassemble that argument brick by brick.”

Coley, who previously served as public affairs director at the U.S. Department of Justice, said Willis “did not come to play” and came off as credible during her testimony.

“When you look at the totality of evidence that was presented in her striking testimony, it’s pretty clear that her prosecution of this case has nothing at all to do with her personal relationship with Mr. Wade,” he argued.

Read more at TheGrio.com >>

WAPO: How Justice Dept. special counsel policies let Hur critique Biden’s memory

Perry Stein - 2/10/24

As a special counsel, Hur’s “legal outcome is indeed fair and appropriate,” said Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department employee who was the agency’s top spokesman when Garland appointed Hur last January. “But the editorializing — the excessive, unnecessary commentary about an uncharged individual — does not reflect DOJ’s best traditions.”

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

NYT: Release of Hur Report Underlines Perils of the Special Counsel’s Job

Glenn Thrush - 2/9/24

Anthony Coley, Mr. Garland’s spokesman when Mr. Hur was appointed, said the focus on Mr. Biden’s memory crossed a line.

“He was supposed to be an umpire calling balls and strikes,” said Mr. Coley, who interacted with Mr. Hur at the department. “But the editorializing — the excessive, unnecessary commentary about an uncharged individual — felt like political potshots.”

Read More at NYTimes.com >>

Axios: Biden's Team Bracing for Special Counsel's Report on Classified Docs

Alex Thompson - 2/4/24

Anthony Coley, a former senior adviser to Garland, caught the Biden team’s attention recently when he wrote that Biden and those in his orbit had no one to blame but themselves for Garland’s appointment of a special counsel.

Coley said Biden’s team wasn’t initially transparent about the documents and put Garland in a no-win situation.

“Against the backdrop of former President Trump’s indictment on charges of willful and deliberate retention of classified documents, the Biden team’s drip, drip, drip of information made the discoveries seem even worse,” Coley wrote.

Read more at Axios.com >>

TheGrio: Trump Legal Battle Escalates as Willis Decries ‘race card’ Amid Claims of ‘improper’ Relationship

Gerren Keith Gaynor - 1/16/24

“What we know for sure is that these allegations are a distraction from the real issue: Her case against Trump and his co-codefendants, which remains rock solid,” says Anthony Coley, a legal analyst.

Read more at TheGrio.com >>

The Messenger: NYPD ‘Wellness Check’ Before Feds Raided Mayor Eric Adams’ Fundraiser Called Into Question

Ben Feuerherd - 11/5/23

Former Justice Department officials have challenged the New York City Police Department’s claim that the FBI sought a “wellness check” at the home of Mayor Eric Adams’ chief fundraiser hours before a federal raid there….
Anthony Coley, the former chief spokesman for the Department of Justice, also said, in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, that he had never come across the circumstances during his employment there.

“Never heard of this in my two years running public affairs at DOJ,” Coley wrote in the post.

“There’s more to this…” he added.

Read More at TheMessenger.com >>

The Messenger: As Challenges Mount, Trump’s Legal Moves Take Aggressive Turn

Darren Samuelsohn, Marc Caputo, and Steve Reilly - 10/5/2023

“Who knows what Donald Trump is thinking, but he’s in significant legal jeopardy and I suspect he’s come to realize that,” added Anthony Coley, a former Biden-era Justice Department spokesman. “Trump is facing a new season of accountability and his best efforts to distract the country, play the victim, and politicize the moment cannot change that.”

The gag order Trump got hit with in New York shouldn’t be a surprise, Coley added. “There’s a certain level of criticism that people in the public eye, even judges, will tolerate,” he said. “But you can not go after an official’s staff with lies and innuendo – that is a red line that should not be crossed.”

As for Trump’s presence in New York, Coley noted the former president was already found liable for fraud and has seen his New York business licenses revoked. “So what we saw this week was Trump trying to rally his base and get some political benefit from these legal issues,” he said.

Read More at TheMessenger.com >>

Deadline: Opening Day Of Donald Trump Civil Fraud Trial Gives Glimpse Of How Networks May Cover Camera-Less Criminal Proceedings

Ted Johnson - 10/2/2023

Yet when it comes to Trump’s first criminal proceeding, in the election conspiracy case set to start on March 4, camera access might be even more restricted than it was in the New York fraud case. Some House and Senate lawmakers, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), are urging the federal Judicial Conference to allow cameras, while a former Justice Department spokesman, Anthony Coley, argued on Politico that as things stand, “many will hear about [the trial] secondhand through siloed media ecosystems and from sources whose fidelity to the facts are tenuous at best.” The conference met in September and loosened some restrictions on civil and bankruptcy cases but not criminal proceedings.

Read More at Deadline.com >>

Bloomberg Law: New Senior DOJ Vacancies Force Quick Biden Decisions in Senate

Ben Penn - 9/21/2023

Anthony Coley, who was the public affairs director under Garland until earlier this year, said he sees the impediments of having multiple new acting chiefs. But he pointed to the respect accorded to Civil Division longterm interim leader Brian Boynton as a reason he’s not overly concerned.

“It certainly does serve some level of benefit,” Coley said of the desire to find Senate-approved picks, but 2.5 years into an administration, there’s already a “rhythm.”

“In some cases,” Coley added, “it might make sense to just keep the acting leadership in place.”

Read More at BloombergLaw.com >>

WSJ: Ties Between Joe Biden and Merrick Garland Deteriorate From Distant to Frigid

Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gutman - 9/16/2023

“He’s doing what the president asked him to do, and that is restore justice to DOJ, and follow the facts and follow the law and keep the politics out of decision-making,” said Anthony Coley, Garland’s former spokesman, who said Garland has never been a frequent presence at the White House.

Read More at WSJ.com >>

NYT: For President Biden, a Political Liability That May Not Go Away Soon

Peter Baker - 8/11/2023

“Friday’s announcement feels more like a technicality allowing Weiss to bring charges outside of Delaware now that the talks between sides have broken down,” said Anthony Coley, who until recently served as the Justice Department’s director of public affairs under Mr. Garland. “It will have limited practical impact.”

Read More at NYTimes.com >>

AP: Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges

Lindsay Whitehurst - 6/18/2023

Smith’s appointment as special counsel after Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign was another effort to uphold Justice Department norms and the principle that the agency follows the facts and the law, not politics, said Anthony Coley, who previously served as Garland’s chief spokesman at the department.

“For the attorney general, the rule of law is not just some lawyer’s turn of phrase. For him, the rule of law is foundational element of our democracy,” he said.

Read More at APNews.com >>

Politico Playbook: The United States v. Donald Trump

Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Rachael Bade - 06/09/2023

Anthony Coley, the former head of public affairs at the DOJ, told Playbook last night that he hoped his “former colleagues at the Justice Department have or will soon petition the court to unseal the charges. Not unsealing the charges before Tuesday will give Trump the space to fill the gap with misinformation. It is absolutely imperative for the DOJ to get the records unsealed within the next 24 hours.”

See also: NYT and Deadline

Read More at Politico.com >>

The Messenger: Donald Trump Has Company When It Comes to Former Leaders Facing Charges

Nikhil Kumar - 06/09/23

“It’s unprecedented for us,” said Anthony Coley, former spokesperson at the Department of Justice, “but it’s not unprecedented that leaders are being held to account after they leave office having been accused of wrongdoing.”

Read More at TheMessenger.com >>

WAPO: Trump lawyers seek meeting with AG Garland over special counsel actions

Devlin Barrett - 5/23/2023

Anthony Coley, a former spokesman for the attorney general, said the proposed meeting was unlikely. Justice Department regulations, Coley tweeted, “are explicitly clear on tthe process here. Jack Smith is running this investigation, not Garland.”

Smith, Coley noted, “is not subject to the day to day oversight of any person” at the Justice Department, including Garland.

See also: CBSCNNNewsNationNYTEsquireSalonVanity Fair

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

Politico Playbook: Durham Calls Bull

Eugene Daniel, Rachael Bade, and Ryan Lizza - 5/16/2023

Garland’s handling of the Durham report provides something of a precedent for how he may handle the forthcoming investigation by special counsel JACK SMITH.

Anthony Coley, DOJ’s former head of public affairs, put it to us this way: “Unless Jack does something that is inconsistent with the norms and practices of the Dept — highly unlikely given Jack’s reputation — AG Garland will respect Jack’s decision, whatever it is, and allow it to stand.”

Read More at Politico.com >>

WAPO: How Garland’s release of Trump-Russia probe report differed from Barr’s

Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein - 5/16/2023

Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department spokesman for Garland, said the attorney general “played it by the book — minimum redactions, quick release of the total report — and left the public to draw its own conclusion. That’s how it should be done.”

Garland faced a challenge of “landing Barr’s plane — this politically motivated investigation that was meant to appease a sitting president — and to do so in a way that didn’t further politicize the department,” Coley said.

Read More at WashingtonPost.com >>

Axios: Inside Hunter Biden's clash with the White House

Alex Thompson - 5/5/23

“For this fund to work, it must be extraordinarily transparent and even restrictive by prohibiting foreign citizens and registered lobbyists from contributing,” Anthony Coley, the former top spokesman for the Justice Department who was senior adviser to Attorney General Merrick Garland, told Axios. “Without these type of guardrails, the fund will be a legitimate headache for the White House.”

Read More at Axios.com >>

HUFFPOST: Former Biden Chief Of Staff Says DOJ Needs To Be 'Aggressive' On Voting Rights, Abortion

Kevin Robillard - 5/1/23

Anthony Coley, a former top spokesperson for Garland, fired back at Klain on Twitter, calling his comments “a cheap shot inconsistent w/the facts” and noting that the Justice Department successfully sued Idaho to block part of the state’s near-total ban on abortion.

Read More at HuffPost.com >>

AP: DEA chief faces probe into ‘swampy’ hires, no-bid contracts

Joshua Goodman and Jim Mustian - 4/20/23

Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department spokesman who has known Milgram for 15 years, said the investigation may stem from employees who aren’t happy with such organizational change and are seeking ways to “push back or undermine it, even if the underlying allegations aren’t true.”

“But that’s what inspectors general are for,” he said, “to call balls and strikes.”

Read More at APNews.com >>

Podcast: Many Americans Support The Trump Indictment, AND Believe It Is Political

Michael Smerconish - The Smerconish Podcast - 4/3/2023

Michael offers thoughts on new polling that has come out in the wake of the indictment of former President Donald Trump, and gets smart analysis from Anthony Coley, Former Director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice and Former Senior Advisor to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Listen to the podcast on Simplecast >>

Politico: Manhattan Trump Grand Jury Set to Break for a Month

Erica Orden, 3/29/2023

Aside from any legal ramifications, the delay could influence public opinion. “Trump’s actions and rhetoric over the last 10 days are his standard playbook — move first to shape the narrative and public perception,” said Anthony Coley, a former spokesman for the Justice Department. “It’s a particularly useful tactic in legal communications because prosecutors are bound by grand jury secrecy rules.”

Read more at Politico.com >>

NYT: Trump Inquiries Present a Stress Test for Justice in a Polarized Nation

Glenn Thrush, 3/23/2023

“Everything gets merged together, so people sometimes lose the nuance that these are separate investigations conducted by different entities,” said Anthony D. Coley, who served as Mr. Garland’s spokesman until earlier this year.”

Mr. Coley said those concerns were not likely to influence Mr. Smith, who has sought to portray himself inside the department as unswayed by external factors. Mr. Garland has said much the same in his terse public discussions of the probe.

Read more at NYTimes.com >>

TheGrio: All Eyes on Black Prosecutors Probing Trump (and their Safety) Amid Looming Indictment

Gerren Keith Gaynor, 3/21/2023

“There is a deep and abiding sense in Black America that there are two systems of justice: one for the rich and the powerful, and another one for everyone else. That’s why I think so many African Americans are following these Trump cases so closely — [because] accountability finally appears to be at hand.”

Coley said that while Trump uses “race, racist language and racist overtones to divide people,” the focus for Bragg and the other prosecutors probing the former president should be about the rule of law.

Read more at theGrio.com >>

MSNBC: Could a Trump Indictment Help Him Politically?

Jen Psaki, 3/18/2023

Until January, Anthony Coley was one of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s closest advisers. If anyone knows what makes Garland tick and how he considers decisions, it is Coley.

He has started to slowly emerge back on air, including in a recent interview with MSNBC host Ari Melber.

So as we parse every eyebrow raise or hand gesture by the attorney general, I’ll be paying close attention to what Anthony says … and you probably should too.

Read more at MSNBC.com >>

Podcast: Exclusive Interview with AG Merrick Garland's Former Senior Advisor

Jeff Pegues - America: Changed Forever - 3/3/2023

On this week’s episode of “America: Changed Forever”, host Jeff Pegues sits down for an exclusive interview with Anthony Coley, former Senior Advisor to the Attorney General, about the Attorney General Merrick Garland’s recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Listen to the podcast on Spotify >>