WASHINGTON — Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, is pledging he’ll take the lead in prosecuting participants in the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government,” Garland said in an opening statement prepared for his confirmation hearing on Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Garland also signaled he’ll make decisions independently from Biden. “The President nominates the Attorney General to be the lawyer — not for any individual, but for the people of the United States,” he said in the testimony.
Biden has said he’ll let his attorney general make the tough calls on touchy matters — including pending investigations of his son, Hunter Biden, and inquiries touching on former President Donald Trump.
“One of the most serious pieces of damage done by the last administration was the politicizing of the Justice Department,” Biden said at a CNN town hall in Milwaukee on Feb. 16. “Their prosecutorial decisions will be left to the Justice Department, not me.”
Garland also said in the testimony that the department’s civil rights mission is “urgent because we do not yet have equal justice.”
“Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system; and bear the brunt of the harm caused by pandemic, pollution, and climate change,” he said.
Garland, 68, has been a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia since 1997. He previously served as a Justice Department official.
Just getting a hearing for the Cabinet post will be vindication for Garland almost five years after Senate Republicans blocked consideration of his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama. This time, Garland has bipartisan support and is expected to be confirmed.
