Attorney General Merrick Garland hits back at House Republicans | Wilnesh News

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday fired back at House Republicans’ threat to despise himcalling their efforts part of a wave of “unprecedented and baseless” attacks on the Justice Department.

“I will not be intimidated,” Garland said during his speech. opening remarks at the beginning of the hearing before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.

“The Department of Justice will not be intimidated,” he said. “We will continue to work without political influence. We will not back down from defending our democracy.”

He also pushed back against conspiracy theories surrounding Thursday’s historic criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump, including the false claim that the New York state jury’s guilty verdict was “somewhat controlled by the Department of Justice.”

“This conspiracy theory is an attack on the judicial process itself,” Garland said.

His unusually direct rebuke came as House Republicans prepared to vote on a Justice Department contempt bill. Refuse to share the tape President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hull, who investigated the president’s handling of classified documents.

Houle found that Biden “knowingly” withheld classified information after serving as vice president under Barack Obama. But the special prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges against Democratic incumbents.

The Judiciary Committee’s hearing Tuesday morning was billed as an examination of how the Justice Department became “politicized and weaponized” under Garland.

“Many Americans believe there is now a double standard in our judicial system,” Ohio Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said at the start of the hearing. “They believe it because it exists.”

But Garland countered in his opening testimony that “certain members” of the Judiciary and Oversight Committees are seeking contempt as a means to obtain sensitive law enforcement information — without any legitimate purpose and that could compromise the integrity of future investigations.

“This is just the latest in a long line of attacks on the work of the Department of Justice,” Garland said.

He pointed to recent threats by Congress to defund special counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing prosecution of Trump, as well as “baseless and extremely dangerous lies” about the FBI.

“We are seeing egregious threats of violence against career civil servants in the Department of Justice,” Garland said.

“These repeated attacks on the Department of Justice are unprecedented and baseless, but they do not and will not impact our decision-making,” he said.

“I think contempt is a serious problem,” he said. “But I will not compromise the ability of our prosecutors and agents to work effectively in future investigations.”

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.