Judge Merrick B. Garland on Monday said the United States faces “a more dangerous period” from domestic extremists than it faced at the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and praised the early stages of the investigation into the “white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol” on Jan. 6 as appropriately aggressive.
“I can assure you that this would be my first priority and my first briefing when I return to the department if I am confirmed,” Judge Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing to be attorney general.
Judge Garland, 68, who led the Justice Department’s investigation into the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, also vowed to uphold the independence of a Justice Department that had suffered deep politicization under the Trump administration.
“I do not plan to be interfered with by anyone,” Judge Garland said. Should he be confirmed, he said that he would uphold the principle that “the attorney general represents the public interest.”
Former President Donald J. Trump spent his term treating federal prosecutors as either enemies to be crushed or players to be used to attack his political opponents, and Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in his opening remarks that Judge Garland would need to “restore the faith of the American people and the rule of law and equal justice.”
Here is where Judge Garland stood on some other key issues of the hearing:
Hunter Biden, John Durham and Trump-era investigations
The ranking Republican, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, pressed Judge Garland on two politically charged investigations from the Trump era, asking whether he had discussed with Mr. Biden what he would do with a federal tax investigation into Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and whether he would let John Durham, a special counsel investigating the Trump-Russia inquiry, finish his work and then make any Durham report public.
Judge Garland said he had not discussed the Hunter Biden case with the president and expected that “decisions about investigations and prosecutions will be left to the Justice Department.” He demurred about the Durham investigation, saying that while he was committed to transparency, he had not yet been briefed about its status and findings.
“I don’t have any reason — from what I know now, which is really very little — to make any determination on that ground. I don’t have any reason to think that he should not remain in place,” he said of Mr. Durham. About the disclosure of any report, he added, “I would have to talk with Mr. Durham and understand the nature of what he has been doing and the nature of the report.”
When pressed further about the Hunter Biden case later in the hearing, Judge Garland added that he knew only what he had read about that case in the media, but had no reason to think that the Biden administration erred in deciding to let the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware overseeing the investigation, David C. Weiss, continue his work.
Immigration and family separation
Judge Garland also pledged that he would cooperate with the committee’s investigation into the actions of the Trump-era Justice Department on immigration and its “zero tolerance policy” that led to large numbers of parents being separated from their children.
“I think the policy was shameful,” Judge Garland said. “I can’t imagine anything worse than separating parents from their children. And we will provide all of the cooperation that we possibly can.”
Civil rights
Judge Garland said that he would reinvigorate the department’s civil rights division, which atrophied as the Trump administration curbed protections for transgender people and
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