US Attorney-General tells Republicans: 'I am not Congress' prosecutor'
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US Attorney-General Merrick Garland pushed back against lawmakers who have criticised the Department of Justice for its handling of the indictments of former president Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - US Attorney-General Merrick Garland told a Republican-controlled US House of Representatives committee on Wednesday that he runs a nonpolitical department that does not do the bidding of the president or lawmakers.
In his testimony, Mr Garland pushed back against lawmakers who have criticised the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its handling of the indictments of Republican former president Donald Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
“Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” Mr Garland told the House Judiciary Committee.
“I am not the president’s lawyer. I will add I am not Congress’ prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.”
Wednesday marked Mr Garland’s first testimony before Congress since two historic firsts: the department’s criminal charges against a former US president, and against a sitting president’s adult child.
It also comes a week after the Republican-led House launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden,
The White House has dismissed that probe as politically motivated and unsubstantiated, and the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, Mr Jerrold Nadler, on Wednesday accused Republicans of wasting “countless taxpayer dollars” on investigations into Mr Biden “to find evidence for an absurd impeachment.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Mr Garland last autumn, has twice secured indictments of Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified records alleged efforts to overturn the results
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination,
Trump has repeatedly verbally attacked Mr Smith, potential witnesses, and US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the election subversion case, saying that the prosecutions he faces are politically motivated.
Republicans have also been critical of the department’s handling of a five-year-long tax investigation into Hunter Biden, 53.
The younger Biden was set in July to plead guilty to two misdemeanour tax counts and agree to enroll in a programme to avert a gun charge as part of a deal with the then-US Attorney for Delaware, Mr David Weiss.
The deal collapsed after a federal judge questioned its terms. Shortly before that, an IRS whistleblower who worked on the criminal tax probe also claimed that the Justice Department stymied Mr Weiss from pursuing more serious tax charges by failing to appoint him sooner as special counsel so that he could pursue the cases in either Washington, DC, or Central California.
Amid mounting Republican criticism, Mr Garland appointed Mr Weiss as special counsel
Mr Weiss’ office this month charged Hunter Biden with three counts related to purchase and possession of a firearm
Republicans on Wednesday grilled Mr Garland about the Hunter Biden case.
“Has anyone from the White House provided direction at any time to you personally or to any senior officials at the DOJ regarding how the Hunter Biden investigated was to be carried out?“ Republican congressman Mike Johnson asked.
“No,” Mr Garland said.
The Attorney-General also defended how the investigation was carried out under Mr Weiss, saying he never “intruded” into Mr Weiss’ work and telling Congress that Mr Weiss always had “full authority to conduct his investigation” as he saw fit and only sought special counsel status recently.
In addition, Mr Garland defended the department against accusations that the Biden case represents an example of a two-tiered system of justice, telling lawmakers the department “treats everyone alike, regardless of party, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of wealth.” REUTERS
