Driving the news: According to his prepared opening statement released Saturday night, Garland plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that if confirmed, he will fight discrimination and domestic terrorism.
- He will highlight his career as a district attorney – most notably, his oversight of the investigation into domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which killed 168 people.
- Regarding the siege of the Capitol, Garland will say he intends to “ oversee the persecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 – a gruesome attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government. “
- Regarding the independence of the attorney general, Garland will say, “The president appoints the attorney general as an attorney – not for an individual, but for the people of the United States.”
For the record: Garland, 68, was born in Chicago and is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, which has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1997.
- He was nominated by President Obama in 2016 to succeed the late Judge Antonin Scalia.
- But then Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Prevented this and insisted that the replacement be elected by the newly elected president later that year. Judge Neil Gorsuch was later confirmed under the Trump administration instead.
Of interest: The former Attorney General of the Trump administration, Bill Barr, was criticized during his tenure by the Democrats, who accused him of political interference in criminal matters on behalf of the former president – which he firmly rejected.
- At his last press conference as Attorney General in December, Barr took the rare step of publicly contradicting Trump on several hot-button issues, including Hunter Biden, voting machines and Russia behind federal agency hacking.
Read Garland’s full opening statement via DocumentCloud:
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.