{"id":2340687,"date":"2024-09-13T11:33:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T15:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/garland-says-doj-not-a-political-weapon-while-indicting-trump\/"},"modified":"2024-09-13T11:37:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T15:37:12","slug":"garland-says-doj-not-a-political-weapon-while-indicting-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/garland-says-doj-not-a-political-weapon-while-indicting-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Garland Says DOJ Not A &#8216;Political Weapon&#8217; While Indicting Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgarland-says-doj-not-a-political-weapon-while-indicting-trump%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2340687&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a recent speech, Attorney \u200bGeneral Merrick Garland emphasized \u2062the Department of Justice&#8217;s commitment to remaining apolitical and resisting political\u2064 interference in its criminal investigations. He did\u2064 not address the ongoing prosecution of former President Donald Trump, which\u2063 has drawn criticism from Trump&#8217;s camp, claiming that the DOJ is being\u2063 weaponized against him. Garland asserted that the department&#8217;s norms guarantee independence, stating, &#8220;we will\u2062 not allow this Department to be used as a political weapon,&#8221; while the Trump campaign accused \u2064Garland of\u200b conducting an unconstitutional &#8220;Witch Hunt.&#8221; \u200bTrump faces multiple indictments related to classified documents and alleged attempts to undermine the 2020 election results. A recent ruling suggested \u2062the unconstitutionality of the \u2062special counsel&#8217;s\u200b appointment to investigate Trump. Even with vigorous indictments, discussions about \u2062the apparent\u2063 differential treatment between Trump and President Biden regarding\u200c similar issues are ongoing. The Trump campaign insists that \u200cthe DOJ&#8217;s actions are \u2064politically motivated, striving to influence the upcoming\u200d presidential election against \u200cTrump. As the legal battles continue, many are\u200d questioning \u200cwhether the DOJ is adhering to its stated principles of impartiality.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Attorney General Merrick Garland claimed that the Department of Justice would not become a &ldquo;political weapon&rdquo; in a Thursday speech, failing to mention his department&rsquo;s prosecution of former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>In his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/speech\/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-delivers-address-workforce-independent-justice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">remarks<\/a> to the career staff at the department, Garland vowed to maintain the purportedly apolitical &ldquo;norms&rdquo; that he claims defines department activities, including the decision-making process for who to prosecute and when to bring charges.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; Garland said. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While attempting to drive the narrative that his department does not partake in political activities, and would never attempt to influence an election, Garland made no mention of the two federal cases the DOJ has brought against Trump.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump campaign responded to Garland&rsquo;s speech Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Comrade Kamala Harris has weaponized the DOJ to target her political opponent, President Trump, in an unconstitutional and unprecedented Witch Hunt. The disgraceful conduct of Attorney General Merrick Garland has done tremendous damage to a once great institution,&rdquo; Trump Campaign Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a press release. &ldquo;Using phony charges to interfere with the presidential election on behalf of the Democrat Party has to be stopped and those driving these Hoaxes have to be held accountable. Only President Trump can clean up the Harris-Biden disaster and Make America Great Again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump was indicted by the Biden DOJ twice last year. Led by Jack Smith, a special counsel who appears hellbent on prosecuting Trump before the election, federal efforts to go after Trump have included charges related to alleged mishandling of classified material and allegations about efforts to question the fairness of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Aileen Cannon <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652\/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.672.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dismissed<\/a> the charges in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-asks-supreme-court-to-reject-trump-request-in-fbi-classified-documents-case\/\" title=\"DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Reject Trump Request in FBI Classified Documents Case\">classified documents case<\/a>, ruling that Smith had been unconstitutionally appointed to pursue Trump. Smith has appealed the decision. Notably, the DOJ <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/08\/prosecutors-decline-to-charge-elderly-biden-over-poor-memory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declined<\/a> to charge President Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents, with Special Counsel Robert Hur characterizing Biden as an &ldquo;elderly man with a poor memory.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-939_e2pg.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decided<\/a> in the elections case that Trump had &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wake-up-with-the-washington-examiner-child-tax-credit-crunch-waiting-for-harris-to-knife-biden-and-why-smith-is-stalling-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Child tax credit crunch, waiting for Harris to knife Biden, and why Smith is stalling - Washington Examiner\">absolute immunity&#038;rdquo<\/a>; for &ldquo;actions within his conclusive and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rejects-trumps-motion-to-dismiss-jan-6-case-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Judge rejects Trump\u2019s motion to dismiss Jan. 6 case - Washington Examiner\">preclusive constitutional authority&#038;rdquo<\/a>; and &ldquo;at least presumptive immunity&rdquo; for all &ldquo;official acts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>After the Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision, Smith updated the indictment and is <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2024\/09\/06\/judge-chutkan-is-giving-jack-smith-one-last-chance-to-damage-trump-before-the-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expected to release<\/a> new evidence previously not seen by the public, just before the election.<\/p>\n<p>Smith&rsquo;s activity appears to be in direct contravention of Garland&rsquo;s speech, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/jm\/jm-9-27000-principles-federal-prosecution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Principles of Federal Prosecution<\/a> that he referenced on several occasions.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Federal prosecutors and agents may never make a decision regarding an investigation or prosecution &hellip; for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party,&rsquo;&rdquo; Garland stated. &ldquo;There is not one rule for friends and another for foes, one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless, one rule for the rich and another for the poor, one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans, or different rules depending on one&rsquo;s race or ethnicity.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>However, Garland&rsquo;s Justice Department has been caught up in multiple weaponization scandals, from <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/10\/28\/house-republicans-investigate-nsba-for-colluding-with-white-house-on-domestic-terrorist-letter-targeting-parents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">going after concerned parents<\/a> trying to protect their children from leftist ideology in the classroom, to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/19\/yes-bidens-department-of-justice-wants-to-imprison-peaceful-pro-lifers-for-praying\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">threatening<\/a> peaceful pro-life protesters. The DOJ also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/10\/25\/doj-should-investigate-its-own-russia-collusion-hoax-leaks-not-the-hill-staff-who-caught-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">helped perpetuate<\/a> the debunked Russia collusion hoax in 2016, and it is pushing <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/09\/06\/desperate-democrats-are-pushing-yet-another-version-of-the-russia-collusion-hoax\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a new version<\/a> of it this election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Garland has been on defense lately, and his speech comes after writing a June <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2024\/06\/11\/merrick-garland-justice-department-threats-fbi-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">op-ed<\/a> in The Washington Post claiming that the Justice Department is not politicized.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-court-rules-improperly-dated-mail-ballots-must-be-counted\/\" title=\"PA Court Rules Improperly Dated Mail Ballots Must Be Counted\">previously covered education<\/a> and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a speech on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland asserted that the Department of Justice would not be used as a &#8220;political weapon,&#8221; but he did not address his department&#8217;s prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Speaking to the department&#8217;s career staff, Garland promised to uphold what he describes as the apolitical &#8220;norms&#8221; that guide departmental operations, including decisions about prosecutions and when to file charges. He stated, \u201cOur norms are a commitment to fiercely protect this Department\u2019s independence from political interference in our criminal investigations. Our norms ensure that this Department will not be utilized as a political tool.\u201d He emphasized that law enforcement should never become an extension of politics.<\/p>\n<p>While trying to convey that his department remains nonpartisan and does not seek to influence elections, Garland did not mention the two federal cases brought against Trump by the DOJ. The Trump campaign responded later in the day, with Communications Director Steven Cheung accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of using the DOJ against her political opponent in an unconstitutional manner. Cheung criticized Garland\u2019s actions for damaging a once-respected institution and called for accountability regarding what he termed &#8220;phony charges&#8221; aimed at interfering with the presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Trump faced two indictments from Biden&#8217;s DOJ under special counsel Jack Smith, who is determined to prosecute him before the upcoming election on charges related to mishandling classified documents and questioning 2020 election integrity. A judge dismissed one case concerning classified documents after ruling Smith was unconstitutionally appointed; Smith has since appealed this decision. Notably, Biden was not charged for similar allegations regarding classified documents; Special Counsel Robert Hur described him as an \u201celderly man with a poor memory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an elections case that Trump had \u201cabsolute immunity\u201d for actions taken within his constitutional authority and at least \u201cpresumptive immunity\u201d for all official acts. Following this ruling, Smith updated Trump&#8217;s indictment and is expected to present new evidence shortly before the election.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s ongoing efforts seem contradictory to Garland\u2019s assertions during his speech about maintaining impartiality within federal prosecutions\u2014where decisions should never be influenced by electoral considerations or favoritism towards any candidate or party.<\/p>\n<p>Garland reiterated principles stating there should be no double standards based on personal connections or socio-economic status when it comes to legal proceedings; however, his Justice Department has faced scrutiny over various alleged abuses of power\u2014from targeting concerned parents opposing leftist ideologies in schools to threatening peaceful pro-life demonstrators\u2014and has been involved in promoting discredited narratives like Russian collusion during past elections.<\/p>\n<p>Garland has recently found himself defending these issues publicly following an op-ed published in June where he claimed that politicization within the Justice Department does not exist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2340688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/52195349422_45b9f66216_o-scaled-e1709574836273.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[7076,10151,40828,39601],"class_list":["post-2340687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-doj","tag-garland","tag-political-weapon","tag-trump-indictment"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/52195349422_45b9f66216_o-scaled-e1709574836273.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2340687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2340688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2340687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2340687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2340687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}