AG Garland refuses to say whether he believes asylum laws are being abused
Republican senators lined up to blast Attorney General Merrick Garland Wednesday over his controversial school board memo, the politicization of the Justice Department and the southern border crisis – with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) flatly telling America’s top law enforcement official at one point: “You should resign in disgrace.”
The lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee buffeted the AG over his Oct. 4 announcement that the FBI would lead the response to what Garland called “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
Republicans have alleged the DOJ is honing in on parents who speak out against the implementation of mask mandates and critical race theory in K-12 schools, among other controversial topics.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called the memo “over the top” and accused Garland of putting parents in the same category as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
“There’s nothing in the memo that-that in any way draws any comparison [to] anything like that, this memo is about violence and threats of violence,” Garland insisted.
“I have to tell you that that may be your opinion,” Blackburn pushed back. “And you know, many times perception is reality, and reading that memo myself, Tennesseans reading that memo, what they found in that memo, what they heard you said was if you show up and you question the school boards you will be deemed a domestic terrorist.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member on the committee, accused Garland and President Biden of having “politicized the Department [of Justice] in ways it shouldn’t be.”
“President Biden has politicized and inserted himself into the department policymaking, notably, directing the end of compulsory process for reporter records in criminal leak investigations, and most recently, inserting himself when he said the department should prosecute anyone who defies compulsory process from the January 6 committee,” Grassley said.
“In less than a year the Department has moved as far left as it can go,” Grassley added.
“You’ve created a Task Force, a Task Force that includes the Department’s Criminal Division and National Security Division, to be potentially weaponized against parents,” Grassley went on, adding “the last thing the Justice Department and FBI need is a very vague memo to unleash their power — especially when they’ve shown zero interest in holding their own accountable.”
Five days before Garland issued the memo, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent a letter to President Biden asking the federal government to get involved, comparing confrontations at school board meetings across the US to “domestic terrorism” and requesting the administration “examine appropriate enforceable actions” under a raft of legislation — including the post-9/11 Patriot Act.
The NSBA board of directors on Friday said “we regret and apologize for the letter” that was co-signed by association CEO Chip Slaven and President Viola Garcia.
“To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue,” the board wrote. “However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.”
In his opening remarks, Grassley told Garland that parents are “worried about diversity and harmful curricula based upon critical race theory. They’re speaking their minds about mask mandates. This is the very core of constitutionally protected speech — and free speech is deadly to the tyranny of government, and is the lifeblood of our constitutional republic.”
“I suggest that you quickly change your course because you’re losing credibility with the American people and with this senator in particular,” he added.
Grassley later asked Garland to retract the Oct. 4 memo in the wake of the NSBA board’s repudiation of the organization’s initial letter.
“Senator, the memo — which I refer to as one page — that responds to concerns about violence, threats of violence, other criminal conduct,” Garland responded. “That’s all it’s about and all it asks is for federal law enforcement to consult with, meet with local law enforcement to assess the circumstances, strategize about what may or may not be necessary to provide federal assistance if it is necessary.”
“Presumably, you wrote the memo because of the letter” Grassley pressed. “The letter is disavowed now, so you’re going to keep your memo going anyway, right? Is that what you’re telling me?”
Garland did not directly answer Grassley’s question but noted that while the board apologized for the language, they can still voice concern about the safety of school board officials and school staff.
“The language in the letter that they disavow is language was never included in my memo and never would have been. I did not adopt every concern that they had in their letter. I adopted only the concern about violence and threats of violence and that hasn’t changed,” Garland said.
Grassley then shifted gears, asking the attorney general if he considered “the chilling impact your memorandum would have on parents exercising their constitutional rights.”
After Garland initially deflected the question, Grassley repeated it three additional times with no luck getting a response.
“General, you’re a very intelligent, accomplished lawyer and judge,” Grassley finally said. “You can answer the question, [did you] consider the chilling effect that this sort of threat of federal prosecution would have on parents exercising their constitutional rights to be involved in their children’s education.”
“I don’t believe it’s reasonable to read this memorandum as chilling anyone’s rights,” Garland finally said. “It’s about threats of violence, and it expressly recognizes this constitutional right, who can make arguments about your children’s education.”
“Let the record reflect the Attorney General refused to answer the question,” Grassley said as his time for questioning ended.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) also called on Garland to retract the memo.
“You didn’t receive an anonymous letter. White House political staff co-wrote it with this organization, which is why the organization has rejected it,” Sasse said. “You know these facts now to be true, and yet you still won’t disavow your memo. Why?
“You didn’t receive some objective, neutral letter because all these people were being threatened,” Sasse continued. “You are responding to a political campaign to politicize the Department of Justice.”
The attorney general was also pressed on allegations of a sexual assault cover-up by school board members in Loudoun County, Va., a case he told House lawmakers last week he was unfamiliar with. The arrest of the father of one of the alleged victims at a school board meeting after he attempted to confront officials was cited by the NSBA in its initial letter as an example of potential “domestic terrorism.”
“Have you become familiar with the publicly reported details of that case?” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked.
“Yes, I have read about the case. Yes,” Garland said.
“If you were unfamiliar with the supposed instances of threats of violence and intimidation that the National School Boards Association cited in the letter, then how did you determine the intervention by the FBI and the DOJ was necessary — that that was the right approach?” Lee continued in his questioning.
“The right approach in the letter is to meet with local law enforcement,” Garland said. “That’s what we’ve asked for is to meet to assess the situation to see what their needs are. Strategize and open lines of communication. Now, I’m hopeful that many areas of local law enforcement will be well able to handle this on their own. But this is what the Justice Department does every day. We consult with our local and state partners and see whether assistance is necessary.”
After Cotton asked whether Garland would apologize to the father, the senator raged: “This year, this testimony, your directive, your performance is shameful.”
“Thank God you’re not on the Supreme Court. You should resign in disgrace, judge,” added Cotton, referring to the failed attempt by then-President Barack Obama to put Garland on the high court in 2016 to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
Cotton’s call for Garland to step down was joined by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who said Garland had “weaponized the FBI and the Department of Justice” against parents “because they want to be involved in their children’s education.”
“It’s wrong, it is unprecedented to my knowledge in the history of this country, and I call on you to resign,” Hawley told Garland.
Garland also faced questions about his son-in-law Xan Tanner and the education company he co-founded, Panorama Education. Some Republicans have accused the attorney general of conflict of interest, claiming Panorama helps devise critical race theory curricula and will benefit from the controversial memo. Garland has repeatedly denied those claims.
On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also pressed the AG on whether he sought an ethics opinion due to his son-in-law’s business interests, to which Garland responded that the memo had nothing to do with critical race theory.
“Are you refusing to answer if you found an ethics telling you –” Cruz began.
“There’s no possible — ” Garland attempted to respond.
“So you’re saying no, just answer it directly,” Cruz interrupted. “You know how to answer a question directly. Did you seek an ethics opinion?”
“I’m telling you that if I thought there was any reasonable — if there was a conflict of interest, I would do that,” Garland said.
As Cruz’s time for questioning expired, he said, “Let the record reflect the Attorney General refuses to answer whether he sought, sought an ethics opinion and apparently ethics are not a terribly high priority of the — by the Justice Department.”
Garland was also pressed on the issue of immigration after border authorities announced last week that 1.7 million attempted border crossings have taken place over the previous 12 months.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Garland if he was aware of reports that more than 2,000 migrants are currently making their way to the US from Central America in a “caravan.”
“What would you tell these people?” Graham asked after Garland acknowledged he was aware of the reports.
“I would tell them not to come,” said the AG, who added that he did “not recall” being told by Border Patrol officers during a recent trip to the region that they are being overwhelmed by the massive influx of illegal immigrants.
