Senate Judiciary Democrats want Attorney General Merrick Garland to preserve records related to the Justice Department’s Trump investigations because they anticipate President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, Pam Bondi, plans to “weaponize” the Department against those involved in the probes.
Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, spearheaded a letter of all committee Democrats urging Mr. Garland to preserve all existing and future materials related to former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Mr. Trump and investigations conducted by Congress.
Senate Judiciary Republicans scoffed at accusations that the incoming administration would weaponize the Justice Department against their political opponents, countering that Democrats have used the Justice Department’s nearly infinite resources to investigate Mr. Trump and his allies since he first ran a successful campaign for the White House.
“Pam is exactly the right person to de-weaponize the [DOJ] and get that department back to enforcing the rule of law,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican.
“You look at what happened with the White House writing that infamous school board letter and setting up essentially false pretenses to the DOJ, and getting the FBI to activate their counterterrorism division against parents,” he said. “Merrick Garland should have been fired right then and there for that.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, called the Democrats’ letter over the top
“My friend, Senator Durbin, is a little bit hyperbolic,” he said.
Democrats want Mr. Garland to take the action in the wake of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s move to temporarily block Mr. Smith’s report related to the Trump classified documents case he led, the special counsel’s resignation and subsequent litigation.
The letter urges Mr. Garland to take “measures necessary to protect the lawful transfer of power.”
“As President-elect Trump has repeatedly made clear, he intends to swiftly shut down any investigations related to his alleged misconduct and involvement in 2020 election subversion efforts and his mishandling of classified documents,” they wrote.
They said that Ms. Bondi “promised to weaponize the Department of Justice against those who were involved in these investigations, threatening: ‘When Republicans take back the White House… [t]he Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted—the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated.’”
The letter comes just days before Ms. Bondi is expected to testify before the committee on Wednesday and Thursday in her confirmation hearing.
Republican leadership, as of now, expects Ms. Bondi’s confirmation to go smoothly, and that the GOP majority on the committee and on the Senate floor will carry her nomination through successfully.
In addition to Mr. Durbin, Democrats who signed the letter are Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Chris Coons of Delaware, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Alex Padilla of California, Peter Welch of Vermont and Adam Schiff of California.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.