Garland on Trump charges: "No one has told me to indict"
From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz and Abby Baggini
Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was not instructed to charge Donald Trump with federal crimes, pushing back against comments made by the former president over the weekend.
Trump told NBC that the charges he’s facing as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents and election interference probes are “Biden political indictments,” and that Biden “said to the attorney general ‘indict him.’”
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California asked Garland to respond to the allegation, “Was [Trump] telling the truth or was he lying when he said the president told you to indict him?”
“No one has told me to indict,” Garland said, “and in this case the decision to indict was made by the special counsel.”
“So that statement the president made on Sunday was false,” Schiff asked.
Garland again repeated that “no one has told me who should be indicted in any matter like this, and the decision about indictment was made by Mr. Smith,” referring to special counsel Jack Smith.
4:30 p.m. ET, September 20, 2023
Democrat points to Jordan’s past noncompliance when Republican suggests Garland may be in contempt of Congress
From CNN's Zachary Cohen and Abby Baggini
Rep. Eric Swalwell questions Attorney General Merrick Garland as he testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on September 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie suggested that Attorney General Merrick Garland could be held in contempt of Congress for declining to answer questions about an ongoing investigation.
Pressed by Massie for information related to several active probes during a hearing Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, Garland told the Kentucky Republican that it is Justice Department policy not to comment about ongoing investigations.
“We are the committee that is responsible for your creation, for your existence of your department. You cannot continue to give us these answers. Aren't you, in fact, in contempt of Congress when you refuse to answer?” Massie said.
Garland told Massie, “the protection of pending investigations and ongoing investigations — as I briefly discussed in another dialogue a few moments ago — goes back to the separation of powers, which gives to the executive branch the sole authority to conduct prosecutions.”
Democrats on the panel scoffed at Massie’s suggestion that Garland could be held in contempt of Congress.
Speaking after Massie, Rep. Eric Swalwell pointed out that the committee’s GOP chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, never complied with his subpoena from the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
“Mr. Attorney General, my colleague just said that you should be held in contempt of Congress. And that is quite rich, because the guy who's leading the hearing room right now, Mr. Jordan, is about 500 days into evading his subpoena — about 500 days,” the Democrat from California said.
2:29 p.m. ET, September 20, 2023
Senior GOP House Judiciary committee lawmaker says Garland is in a no-win situation on Hunter Biden probe
From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Casey Riddle
Rep. Matt Gaetz, left, talks to Rep. Ken Buck, right, as Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on September 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images
Attorney General Merrick Garland would have been criticized no matter the actions he had taken on the investigation into Hunter Biden, Rep. Ken Buck argued during a hearing Wednesday, where the issue of the probe came up several times.
The Colorado Republican has expressed skepticism toward the GOP impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
During the hearing, Republicans have attacked Garland over the handling of the investigation as well as the appointment of US Attorney David Weiss — who negotiated a scuttled plea deal with Hunter Biden — to be special counsel last month.
Buck said that Garland would have been accused of obstructing the Hunter Biden investigation had he removed Weiss, who was appointed by Trump, when he became attorney general. He also would have been accused of interference had he removed Weiss for not moving fast enough or if he had appointed someone else as special counsel, Buck said.
“Three different opportunities where you could have acted, you would've been criticized either way whether you acted or did not act in that situation,” Buck said. “Far from slow-walking, really once the Trump administration decided that that was the person leading the investigation, your hands were tied."
"You didn't have the opportunity to make a decision on the leadership of that investigation," Buck added.
Some context: Buck’s comments are notable because of his senior position on the House Judiciary Committee, one of the three leading the House GOP impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. Last week, Buck penned an op-ed calling out his Republican colleagues for moving forward with an impeachment inquiry without the facts to back it up.
"Republicans in the House who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history," Buck wrote in The Washington Post.
1:45 p.m. ET, September 20, 2023
Garland says idea he would discriminate on religious grounds is "so absurd" given his family background
From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz and Casey Riddle
Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose family fled antisemitic persecution in Eastern Europe, pushed back Wednesday against allegations that the Justice Department, under his leadership, was improperly targeting Catholics because of their religious beliefs.
The accusation, raised by GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew, stems from an FBI field office memo issued earlier this year that seemed to suggest the FBI was targeting “radical traditionalist Catholics.”
The memo, which used a designation from the Southern Poverty Law Center to flag an eccentric Catholic group, was almost immediately pulled and quickly disavowed by FBI and DOJ leadership, including Garland himself.
Still, the memo has become a cause célèbreamong conservatives who allege the Justice Department is targeting their First Amendment rights.
In a testy exchange with Van Drew, Garland slammed the New Jersey Republican for raising the allegation, and asking whether he believed Catholics were extremists because of their religious affiliation.
This was the exchange:
“The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religious background is so outrageous, so absurd, that it’s hard for me to even answer your question,” Garland shouted, his voice audibly shaking. “It was your FBI that did this,” Van Drew shouted back. “It was your FBI that was sending… undercover agents into Catholic churches.” “Both I and the director of the FBI were appalled by that memo,” Garland said. Van Drew repeatedly interrupted, asking: “Are they extremists or not?” “Catholics are not extremists, no” Garland said, shaking his head.
1:07 p.m. ET, September 20, 2023
Garland: Women living in states where abortion is banned have constitutional right to travel for procedure
From CNN's Devan Cole and Casey Riddle
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that women living in states where abortion is banned have a constitutional right to travel to other states to get access to the procedure.
“My view about this right to travel is the same as Justice Kavanaugh's in his separate opinion,” he said during the House Judiciary Committee hearing, referring to the conservative justice’s concurring opinion in the majority decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“This is not a particularly difficult question,” Garland said. “The right to travel is a constitutional right, and it allows a woman in a state that bars abortion to travel and obtain an abortion in a state in which it’s permitted.”
Garland also highlighted the Justice Department’s efforts to expand access to abortion after last year���s Supreme Court decision, noting that the Biden administration has already scored an early victory in a lawsuit brought against an extremely restrictive abortion law in Idaho.
“We have filed a number of statements of interest in other places, and we're continuing to look at where it would be appropriate to intervene,” he added.
12:56 p.m. ET, September 20, 2023
The hearing is in a short break. Here are key moments from Garland's grilling so far
From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Hannah Rabinowitz
US Attorney General Merrick Garland stands for the Pledge of Allegiance prior to testifying before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the "Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice," on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
The House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Merrick Garland is in a short break. Throughout the hearing so far, Garland has forcefully rebuked congressional Republicans who have accused the Justice Department of political bias.
“I am not the president’s lawyer,” Garland said in his opening statement. “I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.”
He said that the Justice Department’s job is “to pursue justice, without fear or favor” and not to “do what is politically convenient” or “take orders from the President, from Congress, or from anyone else about who or what to criminally investigate.”
Garland delivered the statement as he faces vitriol from Republicans, who accuse him of failing to protect the department from politicization, and dissatisfaction from Democrats, who say the department has been too timid in going after former President Donald Trump.
Republicans on the panel have grilled Garland with questions about the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and his now-scuttled plea deal, as well as special counsel Jack Smith’s two indictments of Trump.
“The fix is in. Even with the face-saving indictment last week of Hunter Biden, everyone knows the fix is in,” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said in his opening statement.
Garland told lawmakers that the department welcomes “public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate oversight,” but “singling out individual career public servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous – particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of public servants and their families.”
“We will not be intimidated,” Garland said. “We will do our jobs free from outside interference. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.”
Garland also denied interfering in the Hunter Biden probe and said he was not instructed to charge Donald Trump with federal crimes, pushing back against comments made by the former president over the weekend.
Wednesday’s hearing has also offered a preview of the House Republican’s impeachment inquiry into the president – which will have its first hearing next week – and the partisan brawling that will accompany it.
The bulk of the allegations Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans are investigating in the impeachment inquiry relate to Hunter Biden’s business dealings, though Republicans have uncovered no evidence to date that the president personally received any money. The House Judiciary Committee has also been probing allegations from an IRS whistleblower that the Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden was politically tainted.
12:50 p.m. ET, September 20, 2023
Fact check: Jordan falsely claims Hunter Biden himself said "he wasn’t qualified" for Ukrainian board role
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan speaks as Attorney General Merrick Garland appears before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday in Washington, DC. J. Scott Applewhite/AP
House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan claimed that President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden has, himself, admitted that he was unqualified for his former role on the board of directors of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
“He wasn’t qualified to be on the board of Burisma. Not my words, his words,” Jordan claimed. “He said he got on the board because of his last name.”
Jordan made the claim in his opening remarks at a Wednesday hearing at which Jordan and other Republicans pressed Attorney General Merrick Garland about the Justice Department’s handling of investigations into former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
Facts First: It’s not true that Hunter Biden himself said he wasn’t qualified to sit on the Burisma board. In fact, Hunter Biden said in a 2019 interview with ABC News that “I was completely qualified to be on the board” and defended his qualifications in detail. He did acknowledge, as Jordan said, that he would “probably not” have been asked to be on the board if he was not a Biden — but he nonetheless explicitly rejected claims that he wasn’t qualified, calling them “misinformation.”
When the ABC interviewer asked what his qualifications for the role were, he said: “Well, I was vice chairman on the board of Amtrak for five years. I was the chairman of the board of the UN World Food Programme. I was a lawyer for Boies Schiller Flexner, one of the most prestigious law firms in the world. Bottom line is that I know that I was completely qualified to be on the board to head up the corporate governance and transparency committee on the board. And that’s all that I focused on. Basically, turning a Eastern European independent natural gas company into Western standards of corporate governance.”
When the ABC interviewer said, “You didn't have any extensive knowledge about natural gas or Ukraine itself, though,” Biden responded, “No, but I think I had as much knowledge as anybody else that was on the board — if not more.”
Asked if he would have been asked to be on the board if his last name wasn’t Biden, Biden said, “I don’t know. I don’t know. Probably not.” He added “there’s a lot of things” in his life that wouldn’t have happened if he had a different last name.
Hunter Biden was indicted on three gun charges last week, and is seeking to make his first appearance in court on the charges virtually. He told a federal judge on Tuesday that he plans to plead not guilty.
But Weiss told the judge Wednesday that Hunter Biden should show up in person in order to "promote the public's confidence" that he is not getting special treatment.
The special counsel also cited former President Donald Trump's four court appearances this year in New York, Miami, Washington, DC, and Atlanta to demonstrate that protectees of the US Secret Service are able to appear in court without problems.
"During the last few months, the United States Secret Service has coordinated with the United States Marshals Service and court personnel on multiple occasions and in multiple jurisdictions to provide protective services in connection with initial appearances and arraignments," prosecutors wrote.
12:47 p.m. ET, September 20, 2023
Fact check: Jim Jordan falsely claims Trump did "everything" DOJ asked before Mar-a-Lago was searched
From CNN’s Daniel Dale
Criticizing the FBI search of Donald Trump’s home in Florida in August 2022, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan falsely claimed in his opening statement at Wednesday’s hearing that the former president did everything the Justice Department had asked him to do prior to the search.
Among other acts of compliance, the Republican said, Trump immediately turned over 38 documents he discovered prior to the search, then complied with a Justice Department request to further secure the storage room where official documents were being stored.
“Everything they asked him to do, he did. And then what’s the Justice Department do? August 8, last year, they raid President Trump’s home,” Jordan said.
Facts First: Jordan’s claim is incorrect. When the Justice Department obtained a May 2022 grand jury subpoena demanding that Trump turn over all documents with classification markings, Trump did not do so. Instead, Trump’s indictment alleges, he turned over just 38 documents with classification markings in June 2022, far fewer than he had; the August 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago found 102 additional documents with classification markings. In addition, the indictment alleges that, upon producing the 38 documents, Trump intentionally had one of his lawyers sign a document that falsely certified that all the documents demanded by the subpoena had been produced.
The indictment, brought by special counsel Jack Smith,also alleges that Trump committed multiple other acts of obstruction to try to avoid complying with the May 2022 subpoena.
The indictment says that Trump directed an aide, Walt Nauta, to move boxes before Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran conducted a search for the documents in early June 2022 in response to the subpoena, “so that many boxes were not searched and many documents responsive to the May 11 Subpoena could not be found — and in fact were not found — by (Corcoran).” Smith also alleges that Trump suggested that Corcoran falsely represent to the government that Trump “did not have documents called for by the May 11 Subpoena” and that Corcoran “hide or destroy documents called for by the May 11 Subpoena.”
