Garland Defends DOJ Against Attacks: ‘This Must Stop’

Attorney General Merrick Garland called the increasing attacks on the Justice Department “dangerous to our democracy” in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday morning.

In the piece, Garland defended the DOJ against recent threats from allies of former President Donald Trump to undermine the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump on charges of amassing classified documents, blocking an investigation into the matter and trying to overturn the 2020 election to make. Garland described a department dealing with conspiracy theories and threats of violence “like never before.”

“Continued unwarranted attacks on Department of Justice employees are dangerous to people’s safety,” Garland wrote. “… This has to stop.”

Garland never mentions the former president by name. But he pointedly criticizes several false claims spread by Trump and his entourage in the wake of his criminal conviction in New York last month, including the claim that the DOJ “manipulated a case brought by a local prosecutor and was resolved by jury verdict in a state case.” process.”

The attorney general leaves little doubt that he is referring to Trump’s hush money trial in New York, in which Trump targeted Judge Juan Merchan’s family members and has prompted Republicans in Congress to investigate since his conviction to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Garland, who has fought to position himself and his department on a reputation for impartiality, also refuted conspiracies that the DOJ is using his work to influence politics.

“Such claims are often made by those who themselves seek to politicize the department’s work to influence the outcome of elections,” Garland continued.

The op-ed paints a portrait of a DOJ chief increasingly willing to go on the offensive amid growing concerns about the safety of his employees. He condemned threats to “bully and intimidate” department officials, including law enforcement officers.

Garland makes an identical argument to federal prosecutors in Trump’s case over classified documents, who recently warned that the former president’s claims of an authorization to use deadly force increase the risk of endangerment for FBI agents involved in the search for Mar-a-Lago or being connected to the prosecution. The Florida judge overseeing the ongoing criminal case denied a similar silence order request on procedural grounds.

Trump has a longstanding history of singling out members of the DOJ — dating back to Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two FBI employees who recently settled a federal lawsuit stemming from the leaking of their anti-Trump writings to the news media.

In his most direct comments yet on the continued backlash the department is facing from the left and right, Garland said the “short-term political benefits” of such tactics pose 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 come from or what they look like.”

For Garland, that 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 federal weapons charges in Hunter Biden’s criminal case.