Attorney General Merrick Garland is set to testify before Congress as a growing number of Republicans have vowed to hit back against the Biden administration after former President Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in a hush money case.
Garland will appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday as the top Justice Department official faces backlash for his refusal to provide access to audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur. The committee subpoenaed Garland for those tapes in February as part of an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
“The Department of Justice, under Attorney General Merrick Garland, is advancing a two-tiered system of justice and has been directly involved in the lawfare against its political opponents like President Trump,” Jordan told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Committee members will press Attorney General Garland on these abuses and his role in playing defense counsel for the President by withholding key evidence from Congress.”
Garland’s testimony also comes as lawmakers consider holding him in contempt for evading the subpoena, a move that would force an uncomfortable vote for many vulnerable Republicans running for reelection in Biden-won districts. It’s unclear when such a measure could be brought to the floor, as a time frame is still being worked out among GOP leaders.
Meanwhile, Republicans are threatening to hit back against the Biden administration in other ways after Trump was convicted of 34 charges last week by a Manhattan jury, something they largely accuse Democrats of orchestrating in order to harm Trump’s presidential campaign.
Shortly after Trump’s verdict was announced, Jordan sent requests to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutor Matthew Colangelo to appear before Congress later in June for a public hearing to discuss the case. Jordan has been investigating the two attorneys over the last several months over allegations the pair had revived the criminal case against Trump to sink his reelection bid.
Jordan has also made funding requests for the 2025 fiscal year to include cuts for “politicized prosecutions from state and local prosecutors engaged in lawfare,” specifically naming Bragg, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who each have opened cases against Trump.
The Judiciary Committee chairman also requested to cut funding for “abusive federal law enforcement agencies,” including special counsel Jack Smith, who is heading Trump’s Jan. 6 election interference and classified documents criminal cases.
Other GOP lawmakers have also called for the defunding of Smith’s office, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has previously introduced legislation to cut off funding to his investigation into Trump.
Johnson has suggested he would be open to restricting federal funds, telling Fox News on Sunday that Smith is “abusing his authority.” It’s not entirely clear how Johnson would move forward, but the speaker noted the House has “mechanisms to try to get control of that. We’ll be doing that within the confines of our jurisdiction.”
Greene has repeatedly called on Johnson to defund Smith’s office, even using it as leverage earlier this year as she threatened to force a motion to vacate and remove him from the speakership position.
“The speaker of the House is one of the most powerful people in the country. We control the budget, we control the power of the purse,” Greene said on Tuesday. “If Speaker Johnson actually supports President Trump like he claims, he should stop special counsel Jack Smith and we should be using the power of the purse to hold New York accountable for the sham convictions against President Trump.”
Even if the House managed to pass government funding legislation that included cuts to the Justice Department and Smith’s office, the proposals are unlikely to survive in the Democratic-led Senate, risking a government shutdown later this fall. When pressed on that risk, Greene contended that “it doesn’t matter.”
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“I mean, it literally does not matter, and that’s how people feel,” she said. “We aren’t a serious country anymore. We are literally a banana republic. So what does it matter funding the government? The American people don’t give a s***.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
