Biden’s AG nominee says Capitol siege probe will be top priority
Merrick Garland appeared headed to easy confirmation
WASHINGTON — Merrick Garland appeared headed to easy confirmation as attorney general after a hearing Monday during which the soft-spoken federal appellate judge won praise from senators of both parties as he promised to aggressively investigate the U.S. Capitol attack, boost enforcement of civil rights laws and enact other major changes at the Justice Department, including a likely moratorium on federal executions.
Senators pressed Garland repeatedly to confirm he would take seriously the attack on the Capitol, and Garland promised that the investigation into the Jan. 6 siege would be his top priority. The Justice Department has charged more than 250 people for being part of a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol seeking to block the counting of Electoral College votes that cemented Joe Biden’s victory. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died in the assault.
The 68-year-old’s low-key demeanor was in sharp contrast to the brash approach at hearings by former Attorney General William Barr, who frequently sparred with lawmakers over Trump administration prerogatives and the scope of executive power. By contrast, President Joe Biden’s nominee quietly emphasized he would cooperate with congressional investigations and would not tolerate interference in federal probes by the White House. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly urged his attorneys general to launch criminal investigations of his political rivals and to go easy on his associates.
If confirmed, Garland will face the politically fraught tax probe of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and potential investigations of Trump and his associates.
“I am not the president’s lawyer,” Garland testified. “I am the United States’ lawyer, and I will do everything in my power, which I believe is considerable, to fend off any effort by anyone to make prosecutions or investigations partisan or political in any way.”
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the chairman of the committee, told reporters he expected his panel would vote on the nomination early next week, with a floor vote coming a few days later. The hearing is scheduled to continue Tuesday, with witnesses testifying about Garland’s character and legal career.
While Garland declined to discuss how he would handle specific criminal cases, he spoke frankly about the Trump administration’s policy of separating undocumented parents from their children, calling it a “shameful.” “I can’t imagine anything worse than separating caring parents from their children,” he said.
He also spoke openly about what he considered to be the death penalty’s flaws.
“I am very concerned about the large number of exonerations that have occurred through DNA evidence and otherwise, not only in death penalty convictions, but also in other convictions,” Garland said. “I think a terrible thing occurs when somebody is convicted of a crime that they did not commit. And the most terrible thing happens if someone is executed for a crime they did not commit.”
The death penalty, he added, has an “enormously disparate impact on Black Americans and members of communities of color.”
His comments came on the same day the Legislature in Virginia, a state that once led the nation in executions, voted to abolish the death penalty.
Garland told senators the Biden administration would likely prohibit executions of federal inmates, a sharp turn from the Justice Department under President Trump.