Analysis | GOP’s Biden-Manhattan conspiracy theory suffers a double blow

Garland continued in that vein during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, while taking on a second pervasive Trump-related conspiracy theory.

The scene — combined with recent comments from a former Trump lawyer — helped reinforce just how half-baked the theory is.

Garland made clear in his opening statement what he was there for, ticking off a series of conspiracy theories he pitched as not just false but, like the assassination theory, dangerous to the civil servants he leads. Among them: the idea that President Biden’s Justice Department was involved in the successful Manhattan criminal prosecution of Trump. (Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts last week.) Trump has long blamed Biden for this prosecution, without any evidence.

While listing the theories, Garland cited “false claims that a jury verdict in a state trial brought by a local district attorney was somehow controlled by the Justice Department.”

“I will not be intimidated, and the Justice Department will not be intimidated,” Garland said.

The theory centers on Matthew Colangelo, who before joining the Manhattan district attorney’s office was a top official at the Justice Department. Republicans have long suggested that this is too much of a coincidence. But it ignores the fact that Colangelo had previously worked alongside Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) in the New York attorney general’s office, and he had lots of experience working on Trump-related matters. In other words: He made plenty of sense for such a post.

Republicans got right to it, with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) giving Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) first crack at Garland. Gaetz posited that Garland “had no problem dispatching Matthew Colangelo” to Manhattan.

There is no actual reason to believe Garland did this, and he firmly denied it — under oath.

“That is false. I did not dispatch Matthew Colangelo,” Garland said, repeating: “That is false.”

Asked how Colangelo wound up working for the Manhattan district attorney, Garland said, “I assume he … applied for a job there and got the job.”

“I had nothing to do with it,” Garland said.

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) soon posited that it was “rather odd” that Colangelo had found his way to Manhattan. And Garland was arguably even stronger in his denial, expanding his denials to the entire Justice Department.

“The Justice Department had nothing to do with that person going,” Garland said.

He said later: “I have not had any communications with Mr. Colangelo” since Colangelo joined the Manhattan office.

Denials come in various shapes and sizes and are often carefully worded. But these cut to the core of the GOP’s theory.

Gaetz, like McClintock, pitched Colangelo’s work history as being odd, labeling it a “remarkable downstream career journey from the DOJ in Washington, D.C. — and then pops up in Alvin Bragg’s office to get Trump.” Again, this ignores plenty about Colangelo’s work history.

And that was about the best they could offer. Both Gaetz and McClintock challenged Garland to turn over any potential Justice Department correspondence with state and local prosecutors who have charged Trump. Garland said any such requests would be reviewed through the normal process. And Republicans brought it up sparingly from that point.

The scene played out just days after the unsubstantiated theory suffered a significant blow. That blow came courtesy of no less than former Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina, who until January was part of Trump’s defense team in the Manhattan case.

Tacopina called the theories tying Biden to the Manhattan case “ridiculous” and “silly.”

“Joe Biden or anyone from his Justice Department have absolutely zero to do with the Manhattan district attorney’s office,” Tacopina said on MSNBC. “They have no jurisdiction over him. They have no contacts with him. They have no control, certainly, over him. So to say that Joe Biden brought this case is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard. We know that’s not the case, and even Trump’s lawyers know that’s not the case.”

Tacopina added: “People who say that — it’s scary that they really don’t know the law or what they’re talking about. To suggest that Joe Biden would be behind the Manhattan district attorney’s prosecution is silly.”

This is someone who was intimately involved in Trump’s defense for months after he was indicted.

But despite it, every conspiracy theory must occasionally be fertilized. So Republicans set about doing that Tuesday — if a bit halfheartedly. Their reward: the firmest of denials.

By late in the hearing, Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) conceded that Garland “might not have had anything to do with” Colangelo going to Manhattan. But he argued that there was still a “perception” that the “Justice Department is intimately engaged with this.”

There is certainly a reason for that “perception,” to the extent it exists: Republicans supporting Trump have made sure to create one. It’s just not one supported by any actual evidence, as Tuesday’s hearing reinforced.