Attorney General Merrick Garland called the growing attacks against the Justice Department “dangerous to our democracy” in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday morning.
In the play, Garland defended the DOJ against recent threats made by allies of former President Donald Trump to defund the work of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump on charges of hoarding classified documents and blocking an investigation into the matter, as well as trying to overturn the election 2020. Garland described a department facing conspiracy theories and threats of violence “like never before.”
“Continued and baseless attacks on Justice Department employees are dangerous to people’s safety,” Garland writes. “…This must stop.”
Garland never calls the former president by name. But he pointedly criticizes several false claims circulated by Trump and his circle following his criminal conviction in New York last month, including the allegation that the DOJ manipulated “a case brought by a local prosecutor and resolved by a jury verdict in a state ”. judgment.”
The attorney general leaves no doubt that he is referring to Trump’s secret trial in New York, where Trump targeted the family members of Judge Juan Merchan and, since his conviction, has pressured Congressional Republicans to investigate the district attorney from Manhattan, Alvin Bragg.
Garland, who has struggled to position himself and his department with a reputation for impartiality, also refuted conspiracies that the DOJ is using his work to influence policy.
“These claims are often made by those who attempt to politicize the department’s work to influence the outcome of an election,” continues Garland.
The article paints a portrait of a DOJ chief increasingly willing to lash out amid growing concerns about the safety of his employees. He condemns threats to “intimidate and intimidate” the department’s public servants – including law enforcement officers.
Garland makes an identical argument to federal prosecutors in the Trump classified documents case, who recently warned that the former president’s statements about approving the use of deadly force increase the risk of danger to FBI agents involved in the search for Mar- a-Lago or linked to the accusation. The Florida judge overseeing the pending criminal case denied a similar request for a gag order on procedural grounds.
Trump has a years-long history of highlighting DOJ insiders — dating back to Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two FBI officials who recently settled a federal lawsuit stemming from the leak of their anti-Trump texts to the media.
In his most pointed observations yet about the ongoing blowback the department faces 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 appointed him — his son, Hunter Biden, and Trump. A jury is currently deliberating in Hunter Biden’s criminal case on federal gun charges.
This story originally appeared on Politico.com read the full story
