‘I will not be intimidated’: Attorney General Merrick Garland condemns attacks on Justice Department

CNN
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Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to blast “repeated attacks” and “conspiracy” claims by Republicans that the Justice Department is being weaponized against former President Donald Trump in his opening statement to Congress on Tuesday, according to prepared remarks obtained by CNN.

Garland’s forceful defense of the Justice Department and federal law enforcement is likely to set off hours of tense hearings before members of the House Judiciary Committee, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET.

In his clearest comments since his 2020 confirmation, Garland is expected to tell members of the House Judiciary Committee that the recent attacks on the Justice Department are “unprecedented and unfounded.”

“Some members of this committee and the Oversight committee are seeking contempt charges as a means to obtain confidential law enforcement information that could undermine the integrity of future investigations without any legitimate purpose,” Garland is expected to say, according to prepared remarks.

The Attorney General has been summoned before Congress for hearings on the work the Department of Justice has done under his direction, including combating violent crime and investigating potential threats to the United States from overseas conflicts.

But Garland, who is at the center of a Republican-led contempt lawsuit, is prepared to push back forcefully against his critics.

Republicans are seeking to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio tapes of meetings between the president and special counsel Robert Hur, who has investigated Garland’s handling of classified material but declined to indict him.

Garland is expected to say the contempt case is “running alongside false allegations brought by a local district attorney that the jury verdict in that state trial was somehow manipulated by the Department of Justice,” referring to the New York trial in which Trump was convicted of falsifying business records.

“This conspiracy theory is an attack on the very process of justice,” Garland is expected to say.

The attorney general is also expected to address other threats arising from Trump’s federal investigations, including “dangerous falsehoods” being spread about the FBI’s law enforcement activities and “threats to defund certain departmental investigations,” such as those of Special Counsel Jack Smith.

“This comes at a time when we have seen vicious threats of violence directed at career public servants at the Department of Justice,” Garland is expected to say, but the attacks “have not influenced, and will not influence, our decision-making.”

“I take contempt seriously, but I am not going to jeopardize the ability of prosecutors and investigators to do their jobs effectively in any future investigations,” Garland said in a statement.

“I will not be intimidated. The Department of Justice will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our job without political influence. And we will not shy away from protecting our democracy.”