(4 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
POOL
Washington, DC – 4 June 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Merrick Garland, Attorney General:
"Certain members of this committee and the Oversight Committee are seeking contempt as a means of obtaining for no legitimate purpose sensitive law enforcement information that could harm the integrity of future investigations."
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Merrick Garland, Attorney General: ++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED AT TOP++
"This effort is only the most recent in a long line of attacks on the Justice Department’s work. It comes alongside threats to defund particular department investigations, most recently, the special counsel’s prosecution of the former president. It comes alongside false claims that a jury verdict in a state trial by a brought by a local district attorney was somehow controlled by the Justice Department. That conspiracy theory is an attack on the judicial process itself."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Merrick Garland, Attorney General: ++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED AT TOP++
"It comes as baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods are being spread about the FBI’s law enforcement operations. These attacks have not, and they will not influence our decision-making. I will not be intimidated and the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending democracy. I look forward to your questions."
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Attorney General Merrick Garland forcefully rebuked what he described as unprecedented attacks on the Justice Department Tuesday, telling Republicans who have sought to hold him in contempt that he will “not be intimidated.”
During a hearing before the the House Judiciary Committee, Garland condemned the “conspiracy theory” pushed by Donald Trump’s allies that the department was behind Trump’s state court prosecution in New York in which the former Republican president was convicted of 34 felony charges.
Garland called the unsupported claim “an attack on the judicial process itself.”
And Garland pushed back against “baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods” being peddled about the FBI as well as threats to defund the special counsel prosecutions of former President Trump.
His appearance came as Republicans have moved to hold him in contempt for the Biden administration’s refusal to hand over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, which focused on the president’s handling of classified documents.
A transcript of Biden’s interview has been released, but the president asserted executive privilege over the audio last month to block its release. The White House has said Republican lawmakers only want the audio so they can chop it up and use it for political purposes.
The Justice Department has argued witnesses might be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews might become public. Garland told lawmakers he would not “jeopardize the ability of our prosecutors and agents to do their jobs effectively in future investigations."
“I will not be intimidated,” Garland said. "And the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.”
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