By appointing a special counsel to investigate Trump, AG Garland thinks he can bypass the internal DOJ rule prohibiting overt actions against a political candidate before an election. But his special counsel appointee Smith will have to update Garland regarding his findings and get approval from Garland for his budgets. Therefore, Garland will still be directly involved in the investigation. The political conflict of his office investigating his boss' presumptive 2024 opponent does not really go away