WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland will denounce “conspiracy theories” and “dangerous falsehoods” targeting the Justice Department during a speech Thursday to employees as he forcefully pushes back against Republican claims of politicization.
Garland will use a speech to U.S. attorneys gathered in Washington and other Justice Department members to vigorously defend the department’s integrity and impartiality and to condemn what he describes as “outrageous” attacks that put law enforcement in harm’s way.
“These attacks have come in the form of conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence,” Garland will say in his speech inside the Great Hall at Justice Department headquarters, according to prepared remarks provided to reporters.
“Through your continued work, you have made clear that the Justice Department will not be intimidated by these attacks. But it is dangerous — and outrageous — that you have to endure them.”
It’s the attorney general’s latest broadside against claims that his department has been politically weaponized under the Biden administration to go after former President Donald Trump, who was indicted by a special counsel appointed by Garland in two separate criminal cases.
Garland does not mention Trump or Republicans in the excerpts. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has repeatedly accused prosecutors of bringing politically motivated criminal cases against him. Republicans have also falsely claimed that New York criminal case, in which Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in May, was orchestrated by Biden and the Justice Department.
During testimony before a House committee in June, Garland told lawmakers that he “will not be intimidated” by the attacks on the department, which he said will continue to work “free from political influence.”
Garland came into office pledging to restore the department’s reputation for political independence after four tumultuous years under Trump. But Garland has faced an onslaught of criticism over his department’s handling of politically sensitive cases, including the prosecution of Democratic President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who pleaded guilty last week to federal tax charges in a case brought by a different special counsel.
In his speech, Garland will say that department employees have made clear through their work that they “do not bend to politics” and that they “will not break under pressure.”
“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 will say, according to his prepared remarks. “And for that, you deserve respect.”
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