(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) During a press conference Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared to make a veiled threat that he was open to indicting former President Donald Trump, with or without a referral from House Democrats’ partisan Jan. 6 inquisition.
Garland, whose politicized Justice Department has been heavily criticized for imposing two standards of justice based on idealogical affiliation, responded to a question by indicating that he’d been following the primetime televised hearings with interest.
“I am watching and I will be watching all the hearings,” he said. “I can assure you that Jan. 6 prosecutors are watching as well.”
The DOJ has filed charges against more than 800 mostly peaceful protestors for exercising their First Amendment rights in the U.S. Capitol, even as it ignorce the serious threats of violence from left-wing extremists, one of whom recently attempted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Of course, having already tipped his hand on his desire to prosecute Trump, Garland sought to deflect follow-up calls for clarification about the dogwhistle remarks.
“The Justice department’s long-standing position is that we don’t comment on ongoing investigations,” he declared, adding that “our investigations generally proceed quietly and in secret.”
He then brazenly suggested that his refusal to elaborate on the unethical legal persecution of Trump allies was, in fact, an effort to protect the innocent.
“This is what protects the civil liberties of people who have not been charged,” Garland claimed. “We don’t impugn people until we charge them.”
Garland responded to another question by emphasizing that the DOJ would continue its dogged pursuit of political dissidents until everyone responsible had been charged.
“At this point this investigation is proceeding according to facts, and to the law,” he claimed, noting that any delays in filing charges were due to prosecutors lacking the necessary evidence for a case, rather than extrinsic factors.
“There’s nothing that’s coming into the way with our investigation,” he said. “We are proceeding with full urgency… to hold all perpetrators who were present for January 6th accountable.”
Garland’s comments followed specifically on the heels of a spat between Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the J6 Committee, and RINO Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, over whether the committee would seek to issue criminal referrals to the DOJ.
After Thompson hinted that its aim was simply to lay out the prosecutors’ case for Garland and his legion of lackey lawyers, Cheney—the only committee member whose participation may preclude her hopes for re-election—responded sharply that criminal referrals were still on the table.
“The January 6th Select Committee has not issued a conclusion regarding potential criminal referrals,” she said. “We will announce a decision on that at an appropriate time.”
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
