WASHINGTON – Attorney General Merrick Garland is set to denounce the “dangerous” and “outrageous” charges Attacks on Justice Department prosecutors and the staff on Thursday and will try to convince them that they have their backs.
In a speech to staff scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET, Garland will say that over the past three and a half years, “attacks on career Justice Department lawyers, agents and other employees have increased.” according to excerpts released before his remarks.
“These attacks have come in the form of conspiracy theories, dangerous lies, repeated and blatant attempts to insult and intimidate career public servants, and actual threats of violence,” Garland said. “Tolerating them is dangerous and excessive.”
It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this department just because they are doing their jobs.” Garland will add. “And it’s very strange that you’re facing these baseless attacks because you’re doing the right thing and upholding the rule of law.”
The attorney general will also say that he and other department officials will “vehemently protect” the DOJ’s independence from “political interference in our criminal investigations,” will not allow the department to be used “as a political weapon,” and will not allow law enforcement agencies. to be treated “as a political apparatus”.
Garland will list steps the department has already taken to protect DOJ’s criminal and civil decisions, such as restoring policies governing communications between DOJ employees and Congress and the White House, according to the excerpts. Other measures include improving and clarifying guidelines for sensitive FBI investigations and promulgating new policies to guide “prosecutor discretion regarding charge, plea and sentencing.”
He will say of the attacks on prosecutors: “You deserve better. You deserve to be thanked for the noble and difficult work you do. You deserve to be recognized for the integrity and skill with which you do it.”
“And you give me my word that nothing will stop me from standing up for this Department and the extraordinary people who work here,” Garland will say.
Since leaving office in 2021, former President Donald Trump has consistently criticized the Justice Department for its investigations and indictments against him. There is Trump and his lawyers he claimed The DOJ is armed to target him largely working to prevent him from being elected president for another term.
NBC News reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on Garland’s remarks.
The former president called DOJ employees derogatory names, such as special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump in separate cases, as a “pervert.” He also threatened the prosecutors he said in a Truth Social post last year “IF YOU GET AWAY FROM ME, I’M GONNA COME TO YOU!” while pointing to charges of meddling in the 2020 federal election. As a result, judges have issued gag orders in various cases to prevent Trump from speaking about certain officials.
Smith has even been He was targeted in the swatting incidentLike the judges involved in Trump’s cases.
During the six-week hush money trial in New York earlier this year, Trump said in daily remarks outside the courtroom that Biden’s Justice Department was weaponized against him. But the case was not federal; Brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump was the result was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
In recent weeks, Trump has doubled down on earlier threats that he intended to use the DOJ to prosecute people she believes he was stalking her while she was off duty.
After a recent rally, Trump wrote on social media: “WHILE I AM, DISTURBANTS WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, WHICH INCLUDE LONG TERMS OF PRISON. Please note that this statutory disclosure applies to lawyers. Political Operatives, Donors, Illegals Voters and Corrupt Election Officials.”