Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Max Former Sen. DOUG JONES, once the leading contender to be JOE BIDEN’S attorney general and a longtime ally of the president, thinks MERRICK GARLAND has a “very, very tough” decision to make. Should DONALD TRUMP be charged with a crime for what occurred on Jan. 6? “I think that there is compelling evidence that crimes against the United States were committed by the former president and any number of very close and top associates,” Jones told West Wing Playbook in an interview after this afternoon’s congressional hearing. “I'll distinguish between compelling evidence in this fashion versus admissible evidence in a criminal trial — that's what [the Department of Justice] has got to determine.” While the DOJ has repeatedly emphasized it will take its time with its own investigation into the Jan. 6 riot, Democratic pressure and frustration has steadily increased over the probe’s pace. Following Tuesday’s hearings, a number of House Democrats urged Garland to immediately bring charges against Trump for his role in stoking Jan. 6 rioters. “Today shows clear evidence from a brave insider who heard & saw a seditious conspiracy that included a compliant Mark Meadows & an unhinged Donald J. Trump. Merrick Garland Do Your Job!” Rep. HANK JOHNSON (D-Ga.) tweeted. The New York Times reported earlier this year that Biden privately told confidantes that he believed Trump was a threat to democracy and should be prosecuted — though the president has not expressed this view to Garland directly. Jones’s legal perspective has long been valued by Biden, whom he has known for decades and was the Alabama co-chair of his 1988 presidential campaign. Even after Biden ultimately picked Garland to head the Justice Department, the president tapped Jones to lead the confirmation process for his Supreme Court nominee this spring. A former U.S. attorney, Jones said defense lawyers could use a number of legal tactics to drag out such a case in a courtroom for years. “And certainly it is possible that it could take until after the 2024 election,” he said. “People need to understand that it is a completely different forum and a completely different set of rules, especially evidentiary rules.” The DOJ is currently engaged in a slow-moving, but seemingly intensifying investigation of efforts within the Trump administration to overturn the results of the 2020 election — and whether to bring criminal charges against top figures involved. The Times reported on Tuesday that Garland’s increasingly impatient top deputy has spurred federal investigators to push the House committee investigating Jan. 6 to turn over transcripts of witness interviews. Jones described the stakes as existential and said he doesn’t envy the attorney general’s coming choice. “That's going to be the tug,” he said. “No one should be above the law. However, there are so many more dynamics that I think come into play when trying to indict a former president of the United States for activities that took place in office.” TEXT US — Are you ARAZ POURMORAD, the director of presidential scheduling in the West Wing? We want to hear from you! And we’ll keep you anonymous if you’d like. Or if you think we missed something in today’s edition, let us know and we may include it tomorrow. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com or you can text/Signal/Wickr Alex at 8183240098. | 
