Garland slams attacks on the Justice Department, telling lawmakers: ‘I will not be intimidated’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland forcefully rebuked what he described as unprecedented attacks on the Justice Department Tuesday, telling Republicans who have sought to hold him in contempt that he will “not be intimidated.”

During a hearing before the the House Judiciary Committee, Garland condemned the “conspiracy theory” pushed by Donald Trump’s allies that the department was behind Trump’s state court prosecution in New York in which the former Republican president was convicted of 34 felony charges.

Garland called the unsupported claim “an attack on the judicial process itself.”

And Garland pushed back against “baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods” being peddled about the FBI as well as threats to defund the special counsel prosecutions of former President Trump.

His appearance came as Republicans have moved to hold him in contempt for the Biden administration’s refusal to hand over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, which focused on the president’s handling of classified documents.

A transcript of Biden’s interview has been made public, but the president asserted executive privilege over the audio last month to block its release. The White House has said Republican lawmakers only want the audio so they can chop it up and use it for political purposes.

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