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At his Senate hearing on Monday, Attorney General candidate Merrick Garland will pledge to prosecute the “white supremacists and others” who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, in support of Donald Trump’s attempt to reverse his electoral defeat .
The pledge was contained in Garland’s opening testimony for the session before the Senate Judiciary Committee, released Saturday night.
“If confirmed,” Garland said, “I will oversee 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 from power to a newly elected government. ”
Five people, including a police officer, have died as a direct result of the attack on Capitol Hill, before which Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell” against the presidential election result. Trump lost to Joe Biden by 306-232 in the Electoral College and by more than 7 million votes in the popular vote.
More than 250 participants in the Capitol riot have been charged. As NPR reported, “the defendants are predominantly white and male, although there have been exceptions.
“Federal prosecutors say a former member of the Latin Kings gang joined the crowd, as did two police officers from Virginia. A man dressed in a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt participated, as did a Messianic rabbi. Far-right militia members dressed in tactical gear revolted alongside a county commissioner, a New York sanitation worker and a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
In his testimony, Garland referred to his role from 1995 to 1997 in overseeing the prosecution of those responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, a white supremacist atrocity in which 168 people including 19 children were killed.
Trump was impeached a second time for inciting insurgency, but was acquitted after just seven Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate to vote for a conviction, 10 short of the necessary majority.
“The time has come,” Garland said, “to reaffirm that the role of the Attorney General is to serve the rule of law and ensure equal justice before the law.”
The 68-year-old federal appeals judge was denied even a hearing in 2016 when Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell blocked him as Barack Obama’s third choice on the Supreme Court.
Biden’s selection of Garland for attorney general seen as a gesture of conciliation in a Democratic-controlled capital, but only by narrow margins, Senate split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris during the decisive vote.
In his testimony, Garland said he would be independent from Biden, being sure to “strictly regulate communication with the White House” and to work as “the advocate … of the people of the United States.”
Trump pressured his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to make his offer, then saw his second, William Barr, largely do so, interfering in the investigation into Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow.
If confirmed, Garland will face sensitive decisions on issues such as Trump, now exposed to criminal and civil investigations, and Hunter Biden, the son of the new president whose tax cases are in question as there remains a target for much of the right.
Some on the left have expressed concern that Garland may be too moderate politically.
Black Lives Matter founder LaTosha Brown, for example, told The Guardian: “I’m afraid he doesn’t have a solid civil rights history… even when Obama named him, one of the critics was that ‘he was making a compromise with what he was thinking. was a “clean” candidate to pass.
In his testimony, Garland said the Justice Department’s civil rights work needed to be improved.
“Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment and the criminal justice system,” he said, “and bear the brunt of the burden. damage caused by pandemic, pollution and climate change. ”
Garland should be confirmed.
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