'I don’t agree with anything you just said': Garland repeatedly slams Gaetz’s 'false' claims

04 June 2024

Attorney General Merrick Garland, under intense attack for months by Republicans outraged over prosecutions of Donald Trump, was forced to defend himself and the Dept. of Justice during Tuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing where he testified for hours.

Conflating state and federal prosecutions, which are separate, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was quick to go after Garland and New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the criminal trial of Donald Trump.

Repeatedly refusing to comment on current cases, Garland drew a strong line when Gaetz tried to pose his questions as hypotheticals, pounding him with “conspiracy theories.”

Congressman Gaetz, who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee and had been under investigation by DOJ, demanded Garland hand over communications he claimed exist between DOJ and prosecutors in Georgia and New York who have indicted Donald Trump.

“The case in New York is brought by the Manhattan district attorney independently on his own volition, as [his] own determination of what was, what he believed was a violation of state law,” Garland told Gaetz, as ABC News reported. Gaetz “hit back arguing that by refusing to immediately hand over any such documents, the Justice Department is only fomenting more conspiracy theories.”

“During the back-and-forth, Garland repeated that the Justice Department had no involvement in Bragg’s investigation. In his opening remarks, Garland said that ‘conspiracy theory is an attack on the judicial process itself.'”

“I don’t need a history lesson,” Gaetz told Garland, as he alleged the only way to prove there is no conspiracy is to hand over all the documents he claimed exist.

In another line of questioning, this one apparently designed to impugn the credibility of Judge Merchan, Gaetz drummed up a string of supposed hypotheticals.

“I’m sorry, I don’t agree with anything you just said,” Garland declared, as he repeatedly told Gaetz he would not comment on any current cases.

When Gaetz tried to push another conspiracy theory, deeply rooted in Republican circles, that Garland “dispatched” a DOJ official to work on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Donald Trump, Garland angrily responded.

“That is false. I did not dispatch Matthew Colangelo. That’s false. False,” Garland declared. “I’m saying it’s false.”

“Do you know how he ended up there?” Gaetz asked, meaning in Bragg’s office.

“I assume he spoke, applied for a job there and got the job,” Garland replied.

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