Attorney General Merrick Garland spent five full hours testifying before Congress on Tuesday as the Department of Justice leader alternated between receiving pointed questions from Republicans and praise from Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.
Garland, 71, was asked about everything from gun control to the potential for terrorist attacks stemming from record levels of illegal immigration, but most of the questions sent his way centered on court cases involving former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, and embattled first son Hunter Biden.
Here are three top takeaways from the hearing.
Garland repeatedly said he was not involved in a former prosecutor from his DOJ moving to the New York team that prosecuted Trump.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) asked directly about Matthew Colangelo, who was part of the team that successfully prosecuted Trump on 34 felony counts related to his hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Colangelo previously worked at the DOJ.
“You had no problem dispatching Matthew Colangelo,” Gaetz charged. “Who’s Matthew Colangelo?”
Garland responded, “That is false. I did not dispatch Matthew Colangelo.”
Gaetz then commented on the unlikelihood that Colangelo would move between the two agencies by coincidence.
“He made this remarkable downstream career journey from the DOJ in Washington, D.C., and then pops up in [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg’s office to get Trump,” Gaetz said.
“I assume he applied for a job there,” Garland responded.
Scrutiny of Colangelo has intensified following Trump’s conviction in New York City last week.
Bragg plucked Colangelo from his post at the DOJ to help with white-collar prosecutions in December 2022. Colangelo had little experience in that field, but he did have a wealth of knowledge about Trump.
But Garland strongly denied any involvement in the move, saying, “I had nothing to do” with it.
Republicans have threatened to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for his refusal to release audio from special counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden.
Hur’s report into Biden’s handling of classified documents caused a huge stir by concluding the president couldn’t be prosecuted because he’d present to a jury as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
While transcripts of the interviews that led to that conclusion have been released, GOPers are pushing hard for audio to be released to the public as well. Garland explained the reasons he is refusing to do that.
“The Supreme Court has said that in order to protect the separation of powers under the Constitution, the Congress has to have a legitimate legislative purpose for the things that it’s requesting,” Garland told Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) at the end of his testimony.
“I understand why you’d rather see the audio, hear the audio, than read the transcript,” he continued. “But I still do not understand a legislative purpose. I can’t see how listening to the audio will make any difference with respect to any legislation you have in mind.”
Republicans have not bought that explanation.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said there was “editing” of the transcript by the DOJ, necessitating audio release for transparency reasons.
“There was editing. Your own office admitted it, but you won’t admit it today,” Biggs said. “You’ve been nonresponsive, and that’s why we need the audio, and that’s why you’re here.”
Democrats such as Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) countered that attempts to get the audio are only for electoral purposes as a way to discredit and embarrass Biden.
“Special counsel Hur has said that this transcript was accurate — the written transcript was an accurate rendition of the audio transcript, except for some stutters [from Biden],” Lieu said. “It is despicable that my Republican colleagues want to go after him for his stuttering problem. They should apologize.”
No House floor vote has taken place yet on holding Garland in contempt over the transcripts.
Tuesday’s Garland testimony coincided with the second day of first son Hunter Biden’s Delaware trial, in which DOJ prosecutors are making the case to a jury that the younger Biden lied about his drug use to purchase a gun in 2018.
Garland was peppered with questions about what Republicans saw as disparate Justice Department treatment of the Trump and Biden cases, especially given that Garland reports to Hunter Biden’s father.
“Mr. Attorney General, the public has seen through the claims you’ve made today about fair and impartial pursuit of justice,” Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA). “They see that lady justice’s blindfold has slipped off, and they need look no further than the treatment by your department of former President Trump and current defendant Hunter Biden.”
Garland said he had never spoken to Hunter Biden before despite them both attending a State Dinner at the White House last May and denied accusations of special treatment or slow walking the case.
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Democrats again defended Garland, pointing to the prosecution of Hunter Biden itself as proof of the DOJ’s impartiality.
“I want to thank you, Attorney General Garland, and the Department of Justice for applying the law without fear or favoritism,” Lieu said. “As we sit here today, the Department of Justice is prosecuting Hunter Biden in a federal court right now. You can’t love your country only when the candidate you like wins, and you can’t love law and order except when the criminal felon is someone you like.”