Attorney General Merrick Garland will face sharp questions during a Senate hearing Wednesday as Republicans turn a spotlight onto what they see as uneven justice and the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s family.
(Bloomberg) — Attorney General Merrick Garland will face sharp questions during a Senate hearing Wednesday as Republicans turn a spotlight onto what they see as uneven justice and the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s family.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing marks the first time Garland will testify publicly before the new Congress. A Republican familiar with plans for the hearing said members will ask about what they see as new lenient sentencing guidelines put out by Garland’s department late last year and an internal memo that they say describes traditionalist Catholics as potential threats of violence.
Committee member Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee slammed Garland in tweets ahead of the hearing, saying his department had set up a two-tiered system of justice, “one for Washington elites, and another for the rest of America.”
Garland also is likely to pressed for information on investigations into the Biden family, especially his son Hunter.
The Justice Department is girding for bruising clashes with Republicans, especially GOP lawmakers in the House who now control committees and have subpoena power.
Lawmakers have been asking for more information about investigations being led by separate special counsels into Trump and Biden’s handling of classified material.
Garland will defend the department and its investigators, saying they work to “uphold the rule of law that is the foundation of our system of government.”
“Every day, the 115,000 employees of the Justice Department work tirelessly to fulfill our mission: to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights,” Garland said in testimony prepared ahead of the hearing.
Last fall, Garland appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, to investigate Trump and his allies regarding the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election as well as the discovery of classified documents at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He later appointed another to look into Biden after classified material was found at his home and a private office.
“Every day, department employees counter complex threats to our national security. They fiercely protect the civil rights of our citizens,” Garland will say, according to the prepared remarks.
Garland will also be questioned about remarks by FBI Director Christopher Wray, in an interview broadcast Tuesday night on Fox News, that the coronavirus most likely originated from a “potential lab incident” in Wuhan, China.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan sent Garland a letter late Tuesday urging him to appoint another special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Jordan demanded all documents and communications by March 14 about possibly bringing charges against the younger Biden, who is already under investigation by a US attorney.
–With assistance from Billy House.
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