Garland praises DOJ for impartiality amid ‘dangerous and outrageous’ attacks

Attorney General Merrick Garland plans to call out “dangerous and outrageous” attacks on the Justice Department and its workforce as the nation’s U.S. attorneys gather in Washington.

The address — to be delivered department-wide — commends the workforce’s “ironclad commitment to the principles of fairness and impartiality” as he describes unprecedented threats made against the Justice Department.

“The way you do that work makes clear that the public servants of the Department of Justice do not bend to politics. And that they will not break under pressure,” Garland said in excerpts of his remarks obtained by The Hill.

The speech is a continuation of a more confrontational stance from the mild-mannered Garland, who, in a June appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, came face-to-face with some of his sharpest critics. He accused them of playing a role in forwarding conspiracy theories and attacking rank-and-file employees, saying he and the department “will not be intimidated.”

Garland, in his address, plans to once again call out “conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence.”

“It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this Department simply for doing their jobs. And it is outrageous that you have to face these unfounded attacks because you are doing what is right and upholding the rule of law,” Garland will say.

“You deserve better.”

Garland’s address comes on the heels of a presidential debate in which former President Trump bemoaned the two federal cases he faces, saying, “It’s called weaponization. Never happened in this country. They weaponized the Justice Department.” 

The address takes pains to reflect on Justice Department norms prohibiting the type of conduct Trump has alleged.

“Our norms are a promise that we will fiercely protect the independence of this Department from political interference in our criminal investigations. Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this Department to be used as a political weapon,” he said.

“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.”

The principles Garland laid out are among those Trump has vowed to ignore should he be reelected.

Trump on Saturday threatened to legally target individuals whom he has accused of fraud related to his 2020 electoral defeat, making one of his clearest pledges to date to go after his opponents.

“WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Garland — who is fond of saying the Justice Department operates without “fear or favor” — also plans to stress apolitical decisionmaking at every stage of a case.

“The choices you make in every investigation, in every filing, in every trial, in everything you do to ensure the fair and impartial application of the law make this Department and our democracy worthy of the public we serve,” Garland’s remarks read.

“And for that, you deserve respect.”