Garland stresses independence: DOJ doesn’t ‘take orders from the president, from Congress’

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday took aim at a GOP that has taken to routinely bashing the Justice Department, defending the independence of his agency in his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee since the Republican takeover of the lower chamber.

Garland alluded to the increasing friction between the Justice Department (DOJ) and Republicans who have requested information on numerous ongoing investigations, including those into former President Trump and Hunter Biden.

“Our job is not to do what is politically convenient. Our job is not to take orders from the President, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” he said in an excerpt of prepared remarks shared ahead of the hearing.

“As the president himself has said, and I reaffirm here today: I am not the president’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor.” 

The remarks are some of Garland’s strongest yet in addressing a series of bruising remarks leveled at his department. In another part of his opening statement, he says the DOJ “will not be intimated” amid rising threats to employees and outside pressure.

“We will not be intimidated. We will do our jobs free from outside interference. And we will not back down from defending our democracy,” he says in the remarks.

The Judiciary Committee is one of three panels engaged in an impeachment inquiry of President Biden and is also home to a subcommittee dedicated to probing the “weaponization” of the federal government. That subpanel is often focused on the DOJ.

Numerous House Judiciary members have also echoed Trump, saying the Justice Department is promoting a “two-tiered system of Justice” by prosecuting the former president.

As a major part of the impeachment inquiry, Jordan has kicked off a thorough review of the Biden investigation, asking the Justice Department on Monday to turn over a significant volume of information in the ongoing case.

Without referring to any specific cases, Garland pushed back on claims that the DOJ’s work has been politicized, saying the Justice Department is committed to equal application of the law.

“Our job is to uphold the rule of law. That means that we apply the same laws to everyone,” he said in the remarks.

“There is not one set of laws for the powerful and another for the powerless; one for the rich, another for the poor; one for Democrats, another for Republicans; or different rules, depending upon one’s race or ethnicity or religion,” he says.

As part of its oversight of the Justice Department, Jordan has requested interviews with a number of DOJ personnel, including those working on the Biden case.  

“All of us at the Justice Department recognize that with this work comes public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate oversight. These are appropriate and important given the gravity of the matters before the Department,” Garland said. 

“But singling out individual career public servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous — particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of public servants and their families.”