Garland says he won't let the Justice Department be used as a political weapon
Attorney General Merrick Garland says he won't allow the Justice Department “to be used as a political weapon.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday he will not allow the Justice Department “to be used as a political weapon," as he denounced "conspiracy theories and “dangerous falsehoods" targeting federal law enforcement.
Speaking to U.S. attorneys gathered in Washington and other Justice Department members, Garland forcefully defended the department’s integrity and impartiality against claims of politicization by Republicans. Garland said norms protecting the department from political interference matter “now more than ever.”
“Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this Department to be used as a political weapon. And our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics," Garland said to applause in in the Great Hall at Justice Department headquarters.
Garland's comments come amid an onslaught of attacks from Republicans, who claim the Justice Department has been politically weaponized to go after former President Donald Trump. Trump was indicted in two separate criminal cases by special counsel Jack Smith, whom Garland brought in from outside the department to run the investigations.
