Attorney General Merrick Garland dodged and deflected for hours Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee — yet still had to admit to misleading-at-least past testimony.

His dodges included refusing to address multiple questions about the Biden-family-crimes investigation, citing special counsel David Weiss’ ongoing probe.

Garland prepped well in advance for that one by finally naming Weiss as the “independent” prosecutor on Hunter Biden just this August, when Weiss had charge of the case for years before then, and as US Attorney for Delaware still reports direct to the AG.  

Plus, Weiss has plainly bungled the case to date, letting the statute of limitations lapse on many of the most serious tax charges and offering the First Son a plea deal that got thrown out as soon as it came before a judge.

Garland couldn’t explain why Weiss has taken so long, nor why he let those charges lapse — though the AG did finally admit that Weiss long lacked the full authority to charge Hunter.

That was a complete contradiction of Garland’s past testimony to, among others, Sen. Charles Grassley — though of course the AG hedged even as he admitted it.

In fact, Weiss had been turned down by at least one other US attorney on charging Hunter before Grassley even asked Garland about it.

The AG refused to say whether he’d ever discussed the Hunter case with Weiss, and couldn’t “recollect” whether he’d talked to anyone at the FBI or Justice Department about it.

Another damning hedge: “No one that I know of” at Justice has discussed the case with the White House.

He also in passing dissed the IRS whistleblowers who’ve exposed Weiss’ failings (and the evident protect-Hunter approach of prosecutors working under Weiss), suggesting they hadn’t “appropriately” made their complaints and sniffing that their gripes about the “cumbersome” process of the Hunter probe is just “an opinion.”

Right: the opinion of guys with first-hand experience of the run-arounds, deceptions and delays.

To be fair, Garland kicked off his testimony with a clear signal that he’s first and foremost a political hack by echoing the central theme of the Joe Biden re-election campaign: “We will not back down from defending our democracy.”

You have to wonder if the AG “recollects” the famous line from Dr. Johnson: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”