This past Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that he is entirely willing to make an appearance in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) spotlighted this issue as part of a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee, citing that he is also a member of the judiciary that is chaired by Jim Jordan (R-OH) and has oversight of the Justice Department.
“My chairman, Mr. Jordan, has asked me to ask you about a letter he sent back in January, asking you to appear before his committee. He has not gotten a response to that letter,” stated Cline. The congressman then posed questions about if he could “get a commitment” from AG Garland to respond to Jordan at some point soon.
“Of course I’m going to appear before the House Judiciary Committee,” Garland claimed in response.
The attorney General went on to explain that he thinks “there are discussions about scheduling that have been going on” and stressed that he did not think there were any issues associated with those talks.
Cline once again noted that there had been no real formal response to the letter and sounded the call for commitment to show up, after which Garland stated, “I am willing. More than willing.”
Jordan fired off a letter to Garland in mid-January that contained several requests for information and documents, sporting dates all the way back to before the time that Republicans gained control of the House in this current session of Congress, that still sits unanswered.
There is a total number of issues that House Judiciary Republicans are currently investigating, such as immigration law, the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, and the treatment of journalists.
Back near the start of February, Jordan officially announced a series of subpoenas targeting a number of Biden admin officials such as Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, calling for the submitting of documents covering the alleged targeting of parents that attended school board meetings.
Officials of the Justice Department offered up a highly combative response, stating that these subpoenas were very “premature” because the agency “offered to engage with the Committee and provide information voluntarily.”
The House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government issued a new staff report this past month which disocvered, based on pages obtained via the subpoenas, that federal law enforcement groupds had “no legitimate basis” for the memo from Garland back in October 2021 which shared plans with the FBI, U.S. attorneys, and others to gather and scheme about dealing with threats to school officials around the country.
A number of Republicans brought up concerns that the Biden admin was inappropriately targeting parents that were talking at these school board meetings. Garland insisted that the memo was “aimed at violence and threats of violence” and not at all “aimed at parents protesting to their school boards.”
