Attorney General Merrick Garland is set to slam efforts to turn the Justice Department into a “political weapon” during a fiery speech Thursday morning to department staff and US attorneys from across the country, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks.
In a speech focused on protecting the longstanding norms of the Justice Department, Garland will decry the “escalation of attacks” against its career staff over the past several years through “conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence,” according to the excerpts.
“It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this Department simply for doing their jobs,” he’ll say. “And it is outrageous that you have to face these unfounded attacks because you are doing what is right and upholding the rule of law.”
The attorney general’s comments come as former President Donald Trump has claimed that the Justice Department has been weaponized against him amid his criminal prosecutions and suggested that he would politicize the department should he return to the Oval Office. Although neither the Republican nominee nor his allies are mentioned by name in the excerpts, Trump and his associates have publicly discussed plans to dismantle the department and its law enforcement components like the FBI, or to prosecute his political enemies.
The attorney general will discuss being tapped to lead the Justice Department in 2021 “after a particularly difficult period for the Department.” His goal at the time, Garland will say, was to reaffirm and strengthen the department’s promise to “fiercely protect the independence of this Department from political interference in our criminal investigations.”
The department took steps to achieve that goal, Garland will say, including reinstituting policies that regulate contacts that department personnel have with the White House and Congress, clarifying guidelines for sensitive FBI investigations and updating protections that reporters have from law enforcement investigations.
Garland will thank the prosecutors and Justice Department staff for refusing to “bend to politics” and “break under pressure,” his remarks show.
“You deserve better,” he’ll say.
