House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) accused the Department of Justice of "unequal application of the law" during his opening remarks at a hearing Wednesday, setting the stage for a contentious afternoon as lawmakers confront Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Jordan said, "Americans believe that today in our country there is unequal application of the law, and they believe that because there is."

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The chairman, seated directly across from Garland as he spoke, first criticized the attorney general for appointing David Weiss as special counsel in the case against Hunter Biden and highlighted concerns with special counsel Jack Smith's two historic indictments of former President Donald Trump.

Jordan pointed to a now-failed plea deal between special counsel Weiss and Hunter Biden, noting that a federal judge who raised issues with the plea deal found the deal to be abnormally broad.

Garland appointed "the guy who let all that happen," Jordan observed.

Garland in his opening remarks made one of his first and most direct objections to Republicans' accusations, saying, "Our job is to help keep our country safe. ... There is not one set of laws for the powerful and one for the powerless."

"Our job is to pursue justice without fear or favor, our job is not to do what is politically convenient," Garland added.

Republicans immediately began their line of questioning at the hearing by broaching the topic of the Hunter Biden investigation, and Garland, as he and the department of done in the past, indicated that he could not reveal non-public information about an ongoing investigation.

In a testy reply, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) shot back that Garland was deflecting and "not answering our questions."

Jordan, a fervent Trump supporter, also defended the former president's handling of classified documents and noted that, according to an FBI agent's testimony, the search the FBI conducted of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence last year was a "complete departure from standard protocol."

The chairman previewed that Garland would face questions during the hearing, a standard oversight hearing that occurs roughly on an annual basis, about the Biden and Trump investigations, as well as questions about a school board memorandum Garland issues, a now-retracted FBI memorandum targeting certain groups of Catholics, and a controversial provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that is up for renewal this year.

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Ranking member Jerry Nadler (D-NY) countered in his opening remarks that "every" comment Jordan had just made had been challenged by various witnesses, and he accused Republicans of ignoring substantive issues like the "rise of domestic terrorism" and stopping hate and gun-related crimes.

"Today I implore the public to see through the sham," Nadler said, dismissing his GOP colleagues as "extreme MAGA Republicans."