Garland vows DOJ will not be used as a 'political weapon,' in face of Trump criticisms

Less than two months out from a contentious presidential election, Attorney General Merrick Garland delivered a speech Thursday calling out “dangerous and outrageous” attacks on the Justice Department and its employees as U.S. Attorneys gathered in Washington, D.C. and defending the department’s impartiality. 

He also promised that the department will not be used as a “political weapon,” claiming the department’s norms protect against political interference and partisanship. 

“Our norms are a promise that we will fiercely protect the independence of this Department from political interference in our criminal investigations. Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this Department to be used as a political weapon,” he said.

“And our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics,” he added to a round of applause from the attendees.

Garland also set out to defend U.S. Attorneys and the entire department workforce and the work that they do in the face of criticisms from GOP nominee Donald Trump and Republican critics.

“The way you do that work makes clear that the public servants of the Department of Justice do not bend to politics. And that they will not break under pressure,” Garland said in the remarks delivered to his entire department. 

Garland called out what he describes as “conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence.”

“It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this Department simply for doing their jobs. 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,” he said. “You deserve better.”

Garland’s address comes just days after former President Trump again criticized the Biden-Harris Administration for allegedly weaponizing the Justice Department against him during the presidential debate. 

“It’s called weaponization. Never happened in this country. They weaponized the Justice Department,” Trump said at the Sept. 10 debate in Philadelphia, PA. 

“Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent, and I'm winning most of them, and I will win the rest on appeal,” Trump also said. 

Trump specifically pointed to a decision by federal judge Eileen Cannon’s decision to dismiss the charges against the former president had improperly retained classified documents. The charges were brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Southern District of Florida. Smith has been a target for Trump’s criticism and is also bringing a case against the former president in Washington, D.C. for his actions on Jan. 6.