At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) questioned AG Merrick Garland about commenting on ongoing court cases.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 It's back the gentleman from Colorado is recognized.
00:03 Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Attorney General.
00:08 It would be inappropriate for you to opine on the nature of pending and active prosecutions, correct?
00:17 Yes, there's a Justice Department policy against making those kind of comments.
00:23 It's a longstanding precedent.
00:26 Yes.
00:27 The reason why I bring that up, I have great respect for my colleague from New Jersey.
00:33 I understand he is not a lawyer by training and the world needs good dentists, so it's nothing against his career choices.
00:42 But I will just simply say I find it shameful to have to endure, and I can only imagine how you feel about it, Mr. Attorney General,
00:50 the lectures from some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle about equal justice under the law or adherence to the rule of law.
00:58 To a man who has spent virtually his entire career in pursuit of upholding the rule of law.
01:05 You talked a bit about your professional background.
01:08 You started at the Department of Justice as a line prosecutor.
01:12 I know you served as a special assistant prior to that, but the bulk of your early career at the Department of Justice was a line prosecutor.
01:19 Yes.
01:20 Drug trafficking, organized crime, violent crime cases.
01:25 Yes.
01:26 You then proceeded to become the principal associate deputy attorney general.
01:32 Yes, long title.
01:34 Long title, important job.
01:36 And in that capacity, you oversaw a series of very important criminal prosecutions, including the prosecutions connected to the Oklahoma City bombing.
01:45 Is that right?
01:46 Yes.
01:47 You were nominated and you were confirmed on a bipartisan basis here in Washington, D.C. to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
01:56 You rose to chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
02:02 I think that just meant I survived my colleagues.
02:05 That may be, Mr. Attorney General, but what I can say with confidence is that you have a more distinguished record with respect to the fidelity to the rule of law than any member sitting on the dais here today on either side of the aisle.
02:23 And I appreciate your integrity, your leadership of the department, and to be candid, your patience during the bulk of this hearing,
02:30 which, of course, has focused on virtually every issue unconnected to the bulk of the work that is done by our nation's premier law enforcement agency.
02:42 I've been in and out of this hearing.
02:45 I believe it's correct that you haven't gotten any questions about cybercrime, let's say, for example.
02:50 That's right.
02:52 Or foreign espionage.
02:55 I know during your opening statement you talked about the decisive action that the Department of Justice is taking in coordination with the DEA and the FBI against cartels.
03:03 Very few questions about that today from my colleagues, unfortunately, unless I'm wrong.
03:09 You're right.
03:11 A litany of work that's being done each and every day at the Department of Justice that has a real impact on people's lives in terms of keeping our communities safe, keeping Americans safe.
03:22 This was supposed to be, I thought, an oversight hearing for the Department of Justice.
03:27 And unfortunately, it has descended into a lot of rhetoric about conspiracy theories and the like.
03:36 I think it's a wasted opportunity to actually engage with you and
03:41 your department about the issues that the American people care deeply about.
03:45 And so I will spend the remaining amount of my time left talking about an issue that's deeply important to me and
03:52 I know an issue that's important to you, which is the scourge of gun violence.
03:56 And the department has taken a leadership role under your tenure in the last several years,
04:02 particularly as it relates to implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,
04:05 which is a bipartisan bill that this Congress passed thanks to President Biden's leadership.
04:10 I wonder if you might just opine a bit or expound a bit on your work as it relates to gun violence.
04:18 >> Well, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act has been extraordinarily helpful in our effort to combat gun violence.
04:25 It's led to substantial numbers of prohibited sales of guns to minors,
04:32 who the statutes prohibit possessing because of conduct that they have engaged in.
04:39 It's given us the authority to bring cases for straw purchasing that's led to crime guns and
04:45 to gun trafficking to criminals.
04:49 And in those ways has helped drive down the numbers with respect to gun violence.
04:53 We have set up a crime gun intelligence center so that our state and
04:58 local counterparts can trace guns that are found at crime scenes to determine
05:03 whether they were used by serial killers, by serial shooters,
05:08 to help us find out, run the DNA off of the casings.
05:13 So that we can find hits on those people and arrest them and prevent them from committing further crimes.
05:19 There's a host of things that the department has done.
05:22 But the principal kind of violence we're worried about in the country is gun violence.
05:27 That's what causes the enormous number of deaths we face every year.
05:32 Thank you, Mr. Attorney General, for your service to our country.
05:35 And I hope you'll relay the same to all the folks at the Department of Justice.
05:38 And I thank the Chairman for his indulgence.
05:40 I yield back.
05:40 >> Gentleman yields back.