Judge Merrick Garland pledged on Monday to pursue a robust investigation into the leaders of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot if he is confirmed as head of the Department of Justice, calling it his No. 1 priority.
Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the first day of his confirmation hearings, President Joe Biden’s attorney general nominee told lawmakers that he would “pursue these leads wherever they take us.”
“We begin with the people on the ground and we work our way up to those who were involved and further involved,” Garland said in an exchange with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. The senator has pushed for probes of tax-exempt conservative groups involved in organizing the rally that preceded the riot.
Overseeing the probe into the attack on Congress is expected to be one of Garland’s central occupations if he is confirmed. The investigation, which has resulted in more than 200 charges, is among the largest in Justice Department history, officials have said.
Garland told Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Judiciary Committee chairman, that overseeing the investigation will be his first matter of business.
“I don’t know yet what additional resources would be required by the department. I can assure you that this would be my first priority and my first briefing,” Garland said.
The centrist federal appeals court judge was received with relatively little drama by senators of both parties, suggesting that his nomination is likely to be confirmed on a bipartisan basis.
Conservative Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., each suggested that Garland is likely to have their support.
Leaders of the Justice Department have indicated that the inquiry into the storming of the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump remains in its early stages.
The investigation, which at the start included relatively low-level charges such as being on federal property unlawfully, has since expanded to include allegations of conspiracy.
On Friday, federal authorities charged six alleged members of the militant Oath Keepers organization. Alleged members of the far-right Proud Boys group, which touts its support of Trump, have also been hit with conspiracy charges.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges that he incited the riot, but was acquitted by the Senate earlier this month in a 57-43 vote that fell short of the two-thirds majority required to convict. Garland, who has served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than two decades, has made a point of emphasizing his independence from politics.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin, who is overseeing the Capitol riot investigation, said in January that the DOJ wouldn’t rule out criminal charges for Trump in connection with the riot, but there has been no indication that the ex-president is being targeted in that way. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said that the matter was up to the Justice Department when asked about it at a briefing last week.
The judge said during the hearing that he would “make sure that we look more broadly” at those who perpetrated the attack, as well as similar groups that may not have been involved.
“Look at where this is coming from, look at what other groups there may be that could cause this same problem in the future,” Garland said.
He also said, “I would not have taken this job if I thought that politics would have any influence over prosecutions and investigations.”
Garland became something of a household name after former President Barack Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. But Garland repeatedly cited another experience in explaining how he would lead the department: His work investigating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
“From 1995 to 1997, I supervised the prosecution of the perpetrators of the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, who sought to spark a revolution that would topple the federal government,” Garland said in his opening statement.
“If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government,” he added.
Garland’s aborted Supreme Court nomination did come up. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, referenced the episode.
“Yes, it is true that I did not give Judge Garland a hearing,” Grassley said. “I also did not mischaracterize his record. I did not attack his character. I did not go through his high school yearbook. I did not make his wife leave the hearing in tears.” Grassley was referring to the contentious confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who had been accused of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh denied the claims.
Throughout the hearing, which continued on Monday afternoon, Garland made it clear that he would hold Biden to his commitment not to meddle in Justice Department prosecutions or investigations.
Early in the hearing, Grassley pressed Garland on whether he had discussed an ongoing federal investigation into the tax affairs of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Garland said he had not.
“I do not plan to be interfered with by anyone,” Garland said.
The 68-year-old judge ultimately gave neither Democrats nor Republicans much in the way of political ammunition.
At one point, Garland declined to provide much insight about his views on the death penalty, citing his current status as a judge. He did not elaborate on his views of the investigation being led by special counsel John Durham into the origins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Russia probe.
Speaking with Graham, Garland acknowledged that he had not read all 478 pages of a DOJ watchdog report on the FBI’s decision to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying he had just read the summary. Cornyn asked Garland to read the full document, and the judge agreed to do so.
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