Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday dismissed criticism of his agency’s handling of court cases involving former President Trump, saying that instances where he sided with the previous administration’s legal arguments were part of his “adherence to the rule of law.”
At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Garland was asked to respond to criticism against the Justice Department’s (DOJ) efforts to fight the release of an internal legal memo from the Trump era and its defense of the former president in a defamation suit from a woman who accused him of rape.
The attorney general said his department is handling those cases without political considerations in mind.
“The job of the Justice Department in making decisions in law is not to back any administration, previous or present; our job is to represent the American people,” he said. “Our job in doing so is to ensure adherence to the rule of law, which is a fundamental requirement of a democracy.”
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