Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who is facing a contempt vote in Congress, will blast House Republicans on Tuesday and, according to prepared remarks, will accuse critics of trying to undermine the rule of law, spreading “conspiracy theories” and spreading falsehoods.
The normally mild-mannered Mr. Garland is expected to refute false accusations that the Justice Department was in any way behind the prosecution and subsequent conviction of former President Donald J. Trump on state crimes.
“That conspiracy theory is an attack on the judicial process itself,” he said in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
The committee and the House Oversight Committee recommended last month that Garland be held in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of special counsel Robert K. Hur's interviews with President Biden last year. Hur ultimately found Biden not guilty of criminal possession of classified material, though he cited problems with Biden's memory and handling of classified documents. By contrast, prosecutors accused Trump of stashing government records at his Mar-a-Lago resort, endangering national security secrets.
“Certain members of this committee and the Oversight committee are seeking contempt charges as a means to obtain, without any legitimate purpose, confidential law enforcement information that could undermine the integrity of any future investigations,” Garland is expected to say, arguing that the recordings could be doctored and used to promote pro-Trump political ads.
“I will not be intimidated,” his prepared remarks continued, “and the Department of Justice will not be intimidated.”
Last month, President Biden asserted executive privilege to deny House Republicans access to the recordings, denouncing their effort as a political ploy with disastrous implications for federal law enforcement.
This was two months after the records were made public.
The measure was intended to protect the Justice Department and Garland from prosecution if House Republicans voted to hold him in contempt. A vote in the House has not yet been scheduled.
Garland said at the time that the Republican nomination was the latest in a “series of unprecedented and frankly baseless attacks” on the Justice Department and the rule of law.
Garland is expected to tell Republican lawmakers on Tuesday that the efforts encourage “vicious” threats against “individual career investigators” and prosecutors.
“These attacks have not influenced our decision-making and will not influence it in the future,” he is expected to say.
