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– I’m not the president’s attorney. I am an American lawyer.
That’s what Joe Biden-appointed Attorney General Judge Merrick Garland, 68, said during a hearing at the Senate Justice Committee on Monday. The question came from Republican Senator Ted Cruz, according to CNN:
– Am I correct in assuming that you do not consider your role as Minister of Justice to be that of Joe Biden’s “partner” (right hand, editor’s note)
Garland’s message to the Senate, and to the American people, was clear: The assault on Congress on January 6 will be a top priority if the Senate approves him for the cabinet position.
He writes, among others, NBC News.
During a hearing at which the Senate considered whether to approve Garland as Attorney General, Garland stated that he would lead a criminal trial against “supporters of white power (supporters of racist ideology, editor’s note) and others who broke into the building of the convention on January 6. »
Historical case led
Furthermore, he characterized the storm as “a heinous attack designed to destroy one of the cornerstones of our democracy: a peaceful transfer of power to a government elected by the people.”
He also warned that the country faced “a more dangerous period” in terms of domestic terrorism than in 1995, when terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols detonated a bomb containing several tons of explosives in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. .
TERROR: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after the 1995 Oklahoma bombing. The terrorist attack claimed 168 lives. Garland played a key role in the investigation. Photo: AP Photo / NTB
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Garland played a key role in the investigation of the terrorist act, at the time the largest in the country’s history, and later also in the trial against McVeigh and Nichols.
The trial ended with McVeigh, who repeatedly expressed his support for right-wing extremist and racist thinking, being sentenced to death. He was executed in an Indiana prison in 2001.
During the hearing, Garland also stated that he would value the independence of the United States Department of Justice.
Races after defeat
Was pressed
According to The New York Times, Garland was also pressured on several current issues, including the ongoing investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa asked Garland if he would complete the investigation.
– I have no reason, as far as I know, which is very small, to make a decision about it. I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t continue, he said of John Durham, who is leading the investigation, but stressed that he should become more closely acquainted with the case in the future.
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Asked by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, if Garland is also open to investigating “financial contributors, organizers, group leaders, and other supporters and advocates” who were not physically present during the takeover of Congress, Garland replied, according to CNN. :
– Understandable question. We will follow investigative leads wherever they lead us.
Garland also vowed to breathe new life into the Justice Ministry’s civil rights division and use the tools it provides to protect minorities from discrimination.
When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away in 2016, Garland was nominated for the office of then-President Barack Obama.
Republican Mitch McConnell, however, postponed the process by stopping hearings and voting. The nomination process hung up in the air until Trump took over the Oval Office, and the choice fell on Trump’s favorite, Neil Gorsuch.
