Washington
CNN
—
Legal professional Common Merrick Garland appeared defiant Tuesday as he spent hours fielding questions from lawmakers on a spread of subjects, often sparring with Republican Home members looking for to make use of his testimony to assault the Justice Division.
Over the course of a roughly five-hour-long listening to earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee, Garland defended the division’s work and function in a number of high-profile legal instances, together with these introduced towards former President Donald Trump and Hunter Biden.
Garland’s testimony comes as Republican lawmakers have argued that the Justice Division is being weaponized towards conservatives and only a few weeks after the GOP-led Home Judiciary Committee and Oversight Committee voted to advance contempt proceedings towards the lawyer basic for his refusal to show over audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with particular counsel Robert Hur.
“I view contempt as a severe matter,” Garland mentioned at one level on Tuesday. “However I can’t jeopardize the flexibility of our prosecutors and brokers to do their jobs successfully in future investigations.”
Listed here are 5 takeaways from Tuesday’s listening to:
Garland devoted a substantial a part of his opening remarks to creating clear that he was unmoved by the “unprecedented” assaults lobbed on his division in current months.
“These repeated assaults on the Justice Division are unprecedented, and they’re unfounded,” he advised lawmakers. “I can’t be intimidated, and the Justice Division is not going to be intimidated. We are going to proceed to do our jobs, free from political affect, and we is not going to again down from defending democracy.”
“Nothing will deter me from fulfilling my obligation to uphold the rule of regulation,” he mentioned. “Fulfilling that obligation consists of guaranteeing that the Justice Division respects Congress’ necessary function in our democracy.”
Garland mentioned that whereas the division is not going to present the audio recordings sought by the GOP lawmakers, it has “gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure that the committee will get responses to its legit requests for data,” together with offering transcripts of the interview with Biden.
The DOJ has argued that the particular privateness considerations associated to an audio recording of an interview are distinct from these of a written transcript, and the way the discharge of such an audio file may dissuade cooperation from future witnesses in legal investigations.
CNN has sued for entry to recordings of federal investigators’ interview with Biden within the now-closed probe over his dealing with of categorised paperwork.
Trump’s conviction final week within the New York hush cash case loomed massive throughout Tuesday’s listening to. Lawmakers repeatedly introduced it up, and Garland emphasised that DOJ is “fully impartial” from the Manhattan District Legal professional’s workplace.
Home Republicans have continued to say with out proof that Biden has used his DOJ to focus on Trump, together with by the New York case.
“The Manhattan District Legal professional has jurisdiction over instances involving New York state regulation, fully impartial of the Justice Division, which has jurisdiction over instances involving federal regulation,” Garland mentioned.
“We don’t management the Manhattan District Legal professional,” he continued. “The Manhattan District Legal professional doesn’t report back to us. The Manhattan District Legal professional makes its personal selections about instances that he needs to convey beneath his state regulation.”
A New York jury convicted Trump final week on 34 felony counts of falsifying enterprise information to cowl up a hush cash fee scheme he helped facilitate forward of the 2016 presidential election.
Throughout one significantly tense change on Tuesday, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan pressed Garland on his alternative of Jack Smith to function particular counsel within the Justice Division’s probes into Trump. These probes finally led Smith to convey two legal instances towards the previous president in Washington, DC, and Florida.
“I appointed any individual who is just not a political appointee. Any person who was impartial, nonpartisan with a file of profession expertise as a prosecutor. That appeared to me the proper resume,” Garland mentioned in the course of the testy forwards and backwards Jordan.
“Did he ask for the job?” the Ohio Republican requested at one level. “This isn’t a job – I don’t assume anyone asks for,” Garland replied with fun.
Later, Jordan requested Garland if he regretted choosing Smith.
“No, I don’t remorse choosing him,” Garland shot again.
Because the listening to unfolded on Capitol Hill, jurors in Hunter Biden’s gun trial in Delaware heard opening statements within the case. Showing to grab on the break up display screen second, some lawmakers used their time to convey up the president’s son and his authorized woes.
When GOP Rep. Ben Cline requested Garland if he spoke with the president’s son once they had been each in attendance at a state dinner on the White Home in Might, Garland mentioned, “I’ve by no means spoken to Hunter Biden in my life so far as I do know.”
Garland additionally denied varied accusations that Cline introduced ahead about DOJ’s dealing with of the case into the president’s son and maintained that he can’t talk about ongoing authorized instances.
When requested if he tried to hinder the legal investigation into Hunter Biden, Garland mentioned, “completely not.”
For his or her half, Democrats spent a lot of their time heaping reward on the Justice Division and defending its actions amid assaults on the DOJ from their Republican colleagues.
As Home Republicans repeatedly accused DOJ of improperly focusing on allies of Trump, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu listed off individuals round Trump who had been prosecuted beneath the earlier Republican administration.
These people included Trump’s former marketing campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former deputy marketing campaign chairman Rick Gates, former marketing campaign international coverage adviser George Papadopoulos, former lawyer Michael Cohen, former advisor Roger Stone, fundraiser Elliott Broidy – all of whom had been prosecuted beneath attorneys basic nominated by Trump himself.
“It isn’t the fault of the Division of Justice that Donald Trump has surrounded himself with criminals,” Lieu mentioned. “Trump introduced that upon himself.”
Lieu additionally famous that President Biden’s son Hunter is being prosecuted “in federal courtroom proper now” by Garland’s Justice Division.