Garland declines to provide GOP House panel communications between DOJ, NY DA Bragg's office

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to commit to sharing all communications between the U.S. Department of Justice and the offices of District Attorney of New York County Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, district attorney of Fulton County, Ga. and Letitia James, Attorney General of New York.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday after two Republican-led House committees voted to advance resolutions holding him in contempt, Garland called it a "conspiracy theory" that the Justice Department was involved in Trump's hush money case in New York, given that it's a state case.

The House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight Committee passed the contempt resolutions in May.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., called on Garland to release all communications between his department and Bragg's office.

"We do not control those offices. They make their own decisions," Garland responded.

Gaetz said releasing the communications would disprove the conspiracy theory Garland mentioned in his testimony. 

Garland repeated that offices like Bragg's are independent and declined to provide those documents to the committee. 

Tuesday's hearing, titled, "Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)," will "examine how the DOJ has become politicized and weaponized under" Garland's leadership.

Garland is expected to tell lawmakers he won't be intimidated by the effort to hold him in contempt of Congress.

"Certain members of this Committee and the Oversight Committee are seeking contempt as a means of obtaining – for no legitimate purpose – sensitive law enforcement information that could harm the integrity of future investigations," Garland testified. 

“I view contempt as a serious matter but I will not jeopardize the ability of our prosecutors and agents to do their jobs effectively in future investigations. I will not be intimidated. And the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy," he said.