US attorney general to tell House Republicans: 'I am not Congress's
prosecutor'
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[September 20, 2023]
By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland plans to
tell a Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives committee on
Wednesday that he runs a nonpolitical department that does not do the
bidding of the president or lawmakers.
Excerpts of his prepared remarks seen ahead of Wednesday's hearing
showed that Garland is ready to push back against lawmakers who have
criticized the Justice Department for its handling of the indictments of
Republican Donald Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden's son, Hunter
Biden.
"Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or
from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate," Garland
is planning to tell a House Judiciary Committee hearing due to begin at
10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). "I am not the president’s lawyer. I will also
add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works
for the American people."
This will be Garland's first testimony before Congress since two
historic firsts: the department's criminal charges against a former U.S.
president, Trump, and against a sitting president's adult child.
It also comes a week after the Republican-led House launched an
impeachment inquiry into the elder Biden, related to Hunter Biden's
foreign business dealings. The White House has dismissed that probe as
politically motivated and unsubstantiated.
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Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Garland last autumn, has twice
secured indictments of Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified
records and for his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020
presidential election.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, has pleaded
not guilty to those charges and two other criminal indictments he faces
in New York and Georgia.
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![](../images/092023PIX/news_w98.jpg)
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announces the appointment of
Special Counsel David Weiss in the ongoing investigation of Hunter
Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, during a brief statement at
the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., August 11, 2023.
REUTERS/Bonnie Cash/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
Trump has repeatedly verbally attacked Smith, potential witnesses
and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the
election subversion case, saying that the prosecutions he faces are
politically motivated.
Republicans have also been critical of the department's handling of
a five-year-long tax investigation into Hunter Biden, 53.
The younger Biden was set in July to plead guilty to two misdemeanor
tax counts and agree to enroll in a program to avert a gun charge as
part of a deal with then-Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss.
The deal collapsed after a federal judge questioned its terms. Amid
mounting Republican criticism, Garland appointed Weiss as special
counsel so that he could continue to investigate and possibly pursue
tax charges in other federal districts.
Weiss' office this month charged Hunter Biden with three counts
related to purchase and possession of a firearm while he was using
illegal drugs. Hunter Biden intends to plead not guilty.
Garland on Wednesday plans to defend the department's career
prosecutors who at times have faced threats for doing their jobs.
"Singling out individual career public servants who are just doing
their jobs is dangerous," Garland plans to say. "We will not be
intimidated."
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone
and Matthew Lewis)
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