Marc Elias asked if he’d be next attorney general 👀

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, there was. a comment aimed toward you that got. quite a bit of attention online. It was. a question that I think more and more. people are asking right now if we're in. a position where it actually comes to. fruition. And the question, I'm going to. put it right here on the screen, just. throwing this out there, Mark Elias for. next Dem AG. So, uh I got to ask here, would you accept the position in the. event that a Democrat won the presidency. in 2029 and offered it up to you? I mean, look, first of all, I'll say.

that if if a Democrat won the the White. House and offered to make me AG, Republicans would lose their. minds. I mean, just absolutely lose. their minds. I mean, look, I I think the. next Democratic uh president needs to. appoint an attorney general that is. going to be a fighter and is not going. to look backwards, but is going to look. forward. It needs to be someone who is. not going to try to restore norms or try. to go back to, you know, nostalgia and, you know, say that we need to have. reconciliation and and, you know, and.

lawfare and all of that. You know, Democrats never engaged in lawfare. I. mean, this has been a one-sided abuse of. the criminal justice process, a. one-sided one-sided abuse of the. Department of Justice. And so, we. definitely need someone who is going to. bring a different sense of energy and a. different sense of of approach to this. You know, I don't know whether I would. be the right person or not. I would. certainly be an amusing person to put in. that role. And if I were in that role, I. would fight like hell to make sure that. this uh that the Trump administration is.

held accountable and that we protect the. right to vote. And and I want to I want. to go a little bit further in this. thought experiment. What would some of. those priorities look like? I know that. you had, you know, said generally that. we want to, you know, make sure that. that that people who deserve to be held. accountable are actually held. accountable and not kind of abide by. this Merrick Garland mentality where we. want to, you know, avoid the optics of. politicization, in effect, politicizing. the office just in deference to. Republicans. But what would what would. kind of a specific platform look like?

Sure. Like, I'll give you an example. So, you know, the January 6th. prosecutions, which were very successful. until the pardon at the lower level. The. theory of them was you start with the. people at the bottom, and then you build up, right? I mean, that's like a quintessential. prosecutorial tool. You start with the. foot soldiers in a, you know, in a in a. in a mob, and then they turn on the, you. know, the the intermediate mobsters, and. then they they go up to the big boss.

The problem is that the foot soldiers on. January 6th were never going to ladder. up to Donald Trump and his inner circle. Like, that just isn't how it works. So, like, the fact is the next Department of. Justice, you know, where whoever's. running it, with whatever. administration, the next Department of. Justice needs to just set aside what. they think the optics may look like, what the what the politics call for, and. just look at the widespread criminality.

at the people at the top. Like, it's. great if they work their way down, but. they should not start at the bottom and. then 4 years later, on the eve of a. presidential election, run out of time. You know, and so, I'm not prejudging. whether any particular cabinet official. is guilty of a crime. That's obviously, you know, there's a process for figuring. that out. But but the the next. administration cannot come in and just. think that, well, bygones are bygones, we want to set a new tone. The way to.

set a new tone for for for for democracy. in this country is to aggressively. prosecute the people who committed. crimes during this 4-year period. And. that is everything from what we saw in. the streets of Minneapolis. It is what. we've seen with the efforts to overturn. free and fair elections. It is what we. have seen in the disregarding of of of. court orders. It's what we saw with the. lawless turning tearing down of the. federal government with DOJ, right? I. mean, from top to bottom, there has to. be a review and accountability for what.

happened during these 4 years. The fact. that that that institutions were were. were torn. apart and and plundered and career. civil servants were pushed out and. replaced by partisan hacks who are doing. the bidding of this administration. The. fact that we saw corruption and graft. and insider trading or insider. profiteering. All of that needs to be. looked at, and none of it can be held. back against against this notion that, well, if we do that, then we will lose.

the confidence of Who the hell are you. going to lose the confidence of? People. already don't have confidence that the. rule of law applies to everyone. And. that is probably the most important. thing. You know, watching all of this stuff. happen, there's a concern that I have that like, where do you where do you begin? And you. could use the entire next administration. just going through all of the the. corrupt instances, corrupt dealings from. this administration. I mean, we see them. almost on a daily basis. We see them in.

the inability or unwillingness to hold. these DHS, these ICE agents accountable. for killing Renee Good and Alex Preddy. We see it in this almost daily. occurrence of insider trading where just. before there's an announcement that. impacts the the stock market, you've got. people buying up buying up and shoring. up their positions. It happens so much that it feels like. you can use the entirety of of the next. Democratic president's term just going. through on a daily basis all of the the.

the corrupt behavior that took place in. this term. And so, how do you I mean, is. that okay? Like, is that is if you have. a hun you know, 100 corrupt instances. that took place during Trump 2.0, does that mean that you go in in the. next Democratic administration and look. through all 100 instance corrupt. instances of Trump 2.0? Yes. I mean, that's exactly what you have to do. Because this administration is ignoring. rule of law, and they are trying to turn. our democracy into an autocratic system. And so, you know, it's not an ideal set.

of circumstances, and, you know, it. would be better if we had not ever had. Donald Trump as a president. But the. only way we're going to course correct. into a future in which which politicians. believe that the rule of law applies. That presidents understand that they. have certain obligations when they take. the oath of office. That they abide by. the the laws that are passed. That they. see that they are faithfully executed. The only way that's going to happen is. if there is accountability. And that. doesn't mean it's done unfairly. It. doesn't mean it's done for with a.

partisan animus. Far from it. Like, there should be no. partisanship in that. And the way to. prevent that is not to bend over. backwards and therefore give a pass to. Republicans. It's rather to be very. transparent and upfront about it. I. mean, in some ways, Brian, this is the. same conversation you and I have had. about the legacy media. And the reason. why, you know, your channel is so. successful and why I'm so proud to be. part of this series with you. It's the. reason why I started Democracy Docket. Is we don't hide who we are. We don't.

pretend that somehow we woke up. yesterday and never had an independent. political thought. Right? Which is what. mainstream legacy media wants you to. believe. They want you to think that. like their reporters and their. executives, you know, have no politics. They're just, you know, they're just. calling like they see them. And that. just isn't true. And so, it is better to. be transparent. It is better to say, look, the Department of Justice is in. fact reviewing the actions of the Trump. administration cuz it was an. unprecedented criminal enterprise. It.

was unlike any administration you've. ever had before. And be transparent that. that's what you're doing. Don't try to. act like you're doing something. different than that. And then you will. you will be able to garner the trust of. the American people because you're not. lying to them out of the box. That that. somehow, you know, you are treating the. Trump administration as if it is a. normal administration. Or as my example. with the legacy media, you know, you are. not acting as if there are really two. sides when in fact everybody knows. there's not two sides. So, when you say. there are, you lose the confidence of.

your readers. And so, I just think like. as a as a whole, our society, whether. it's Department of Justice, whether. it's, you know, the the Department of. Homeland Security, whether it's the. media institutions, whether it's. colleges universities or law firms, like, everybody just needs to just. acknowledge what is actually going on. and the threats that we are facing and. act like that is the and act. accordingly. Yeah. Well, look, that. mentality right there, that that is on. full display on Democracy Docket every. single day. It's why I read it every.

single day when it's in my inbox. It's. why I go to Democracy Docket's website. to find all of my news, all of my legal. news, all of my voting rights news, all. of my pro-democracy news. Highly. recommend for everybody who's watching. right now. If you're not yet subscribed. to Democracy Docket, please make sure to. go ahead and subscribe. Especially if. you're one of what I'm sure is nearly. 100% of the people who watch this and. are cheering on the prospect of Mark. being the next attorney general. A good. way to elevate his voice, make sure to. stay on top of everything that he does, regardless of what next steps in his. career are. That will be found in.

Democracy Docket. So, that link is right. here on the screen and also in the post. description of this video. Well, I don't. think I'm going to be the next attorney. general. I think there are lots of. people who could meet the moment that I. described and could be fighters and can. do this. And to me, it is less which of. those individuals it is than the fact. that that's the mindset they bring to. this. I mean, I am happy to be doing the. work I am doing. I litigate every day. for for the people of the United States. through representing groups of voters. and individuals. I don't need to do this. from the perch of a government position.

But I do think, and I firmly believe, that if the next attorney general does. not take to heart that the era of of. Merrick Garland and and and sort of a. Department of Justice that that acts. like it is an absolute scandal if. someone from the White House calls. That. it is an absolute, you know, you know, front-page story if if a former. President Bill Clinton runs into, you. know, the attorney general on a tarmac. and says hello. Like, Democrats have. just been too precious about this. And.

that doesn't mean you go down the. corrupt road of Donald Trump. It doesn't. mean that the Attorney General becomes. the person literally the person criminal. defense lawyer of the President of the. United States. But it does mean that you. cannot be paralyzed. You cannot be. paralyzed by by the fact that the the. right wing is going to attack you. because they're going to attack you. anyway. Yep, absolutely. I mean, there was a. there was a pretty famous line that Pete. Buttigieg actually gave, which is. Republicans are going to call you a. socialist regardless of what you do. And.

so, you might as well just put policies. forward that are going to help the most. people. without trying to kind of front-run. to front-run avoiding criticism. Um, you. know, this is something we've spoken about in. the past, but can you speak on this idea. of how. how private practice and and and public. prosecutors kind of fit in here. Obviously, you know, you you are in. private practice. Your law firm Elias. Law Group is responsible for.

God knows how many lawsuits, nearly 100. that you filed that that are that are, you know, currently pending. >> Active today. Active today. Um, including, you know, over 30 lawsuits. that are the only thing preventing the. federal government from getting the. voter rolls and voter data, which. includes social security numbers. So, massively important. important cases. But can you talk about. how you think about the importance of of. these public institutions versus private. practice as, you know, as. we move forward in our in our political.

system. Yeah, I mean, historically the challenge. has been that the government wants to. bring cases that they know they're going. to win. And it's been up to lawyers like me and, you know, a lot of other really great. lawyers, civil rights organizations, you. know, I mean, you could go you could go. back in time and some of the greatest. lawyers in American history have been in. private practice and willing to bring. hard cases. I mean, I would never. compare myself to a lot of them. But you. look at, you know, Thurgood Marshall. bringing the the the Brown vs. Board of.

Education as an example. You know, just. an absolute, you know, hugely important. case. The the lawyers represented the. the Freedom Riders and the and Martin. Luther King Jr. and the people in the. civil rights took big, big swings and. and and and won those cases. So, there's. always been this sense that in the. private bar that we can bring um, more. aggressive theories and we can stand up. for claims and causes that may not have. the same um, uh, you know, presidential.

roots. But again, I just think that era. has got to pass. Like, I just think that. if the Department of Justice is not. bringing pro-voting cases, pro-democracy. cases and losing a bunch, then they're. not bringing enough. I mean, the fact is. that that that they should be bringing. dozens and dozens and dozens of. pro-voting cases on as aggressive. theories as possible. And by the way, you know, I always point this out, this. is not just me saying this. This is what. the Congressional Black Caucus said to. to Joe Biden and Merrick Garland in in.

in his administration. They they begged, you know, bring every possible case you. can because the stakes of uh of of. allowing Republican voter suppression, whether it's through state legislation. or otherwise, are just too grave. And. and too often times the government. lawyers, they they fear losing more than. they see the benefit of winning. And I. just think that is fundamentally the. mindset has to change. Again, there are. a lot of people who I could recommend to. be Attorney General. And I promise next.

time someone tweets that it should be. me, I will point out some of those. names. Well, look, I I know that you had. just said that you wouldn't compare. yourself to to these attorneys who've. litigated these massive cases, these. giants of the profession. But um, but I. would. And I know everybody watching. right now would as well. And in fact, you know, it was it was in large part. thanks to your litigation that Donald. Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020. election weren't successful. So, um, I. would just remind everybody who's. watching right now, a small step that we. all have the opportunity to take right.

now to elevate Mark's voice and show. some small bit of appreciation for the. monumentally important work that he does. is to sign up for his newsletter for. Democracy Docket. I'm going to put that. link right here on the screen and also. in the post description of this video. If you're not yet signed up, please do. yourself a favor, please do him a favor. and sign up. Help him elevate his voice. in the ecosystem and show some support. for the work that he's doing in the. courts, ground zero where it matters. most. So, that link is right here on the. screen and also in the post description. of this video. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. I'm Marc Elias. This is Democracy Watch.