Attorney General Merrick Garland called the growing attacks on the Justice Department “dangerous to our democracy” in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday morning.
In the room, Garland defended the Justice Department against recent threats made by allies of former President Donald Trump to defund the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump on charges of accumulating classified documents and blocking an investigation into the matter, as well as trying to overturn the 2020 election. Garland described a department facing conspiracy theories and threats of violence “like never before.”
“The continued baseless attacks on Justice Department employees are dangerous to people’s safety,” Garland writes. “…This must stop.”
Garland never mentions the former president by name. But he pointedly criticizes several false claims circulated by Trump and his circle in the wake of his criminal conviction in New York last month, including the allegation that the Justice Department manipulated “a case brought by a local district attorney and resolved through a verdict of a jury in a state.” rehearsal.”
The attorney general leaves little doubt that he is referring to Trump’s hush money trial in New York, where Trump targeted relatives of Judge Juan Merchan and, since his conviction, has pressured congressional Republicans to investigate the prosecutor’s office. Manhattan district, Alvin Bragg.
Garland, who has struggled to position himself and his department with a reputation for impartiality, also refuted conspiracies that the Justice Department is using his work to influence policy.
“These claims are often made by those who attempt to politicize the department’s work to influence the outcome of an election,” Garland continues.
The op-ed paints a portrait of a Justice Department chief increasingly willing to go on the offensive amid growing concerns about the safety of his employees. Condemns threats to “intimidate” the department’s public servants, including law enforcement officers.
Garland presents an identical argument to federal prosecutors in the classified Trump documents case, who recently warned that the former president’s claims about approving the use of deadly force increase the risk of danger to FBI agents involved in the search for Mar. -a-Lago or related to the prosecution. The Florida judge overseeing the pending criminal case denied a similar gag order request on procedural grounds.
Trump has a years-long history of singling out members of the Justice Department, dating back to Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two FBI employees who recently settled a federal lawsuit stemming from the leak of his anti-Trump texts to the media. .
In his most direct comments yet on the continuing fallout facing the department from the left and right, Garland said the “short-term political benefits” of such tactics represent a long-term risk to the country. He reiterated that the department does not select its targets “because of their last name, their political affiliation, the size of their bank account, where they are from or their appearance.”
For Garland, that has meant appointing three special counsels to investigate President Joe Biden, the man who nominated him, his son Hunter Biden and Trump. A jury is currently deliberating in Hunter Biden’s criminal case on federal weapons charges.
