AG Garland Tells GOP-Led House Judiciary Committee Defunding FBI ‘Catastrophic’ for Security

Appearing before a House panel for the first time since Republicans took control of the chamber in January, US Attorney General Merrick Garland pushed back on several prominent GOP talking points, including efforts to get the top prosecutor impeached for “weaponizing” the Justice Department.

It is also Garland’s first appearance before Congress since former US President Donald Trump was indicted by two federal grand juries on a slew of charges related to his efforts in late 2020 and early 2021 to overturn the results of the November 2020 US presidential election, which Trump lost to now-US President Joe Biden.

During the hearing, Garland was asked by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) about Republican threats to “defund” the FBI in the wake of years of investigations into Trump, beginning with the “Crossfire Hurricane” Russiagate probe in 2016 up to the 2021 raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate to seize classified former White House documents.

"I just cannot imagine the consequences of defunding the FBI, but they would be catastrophic,” Garland said.

In addition to facing down allegations that the DOJ was behaving politically by prosecuting Trump, Garland also faced claims that it had refused to investigate or prosecute President Biden or his son, Hunter Biden, for alleged corrupt business practices. The Judiciary Committee is now part of a trio of committees leading investigations into the Bidens.

“Our job is not to do what is politically convenient. Our job is not to take orders from the President, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” Garland said in prepared remarks at the start of the hearing. “As the President himself has said, and I reaffirm here today: I am not the President’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor.”

SEE IT: Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland asked, "Have you had personal contact with anyone at FBI HQ about the Hunter Biden investigation?"

Answer: "Uh, I don't recollect the answer to that question." WATCH pic.twitter.com/pvO1H0Dbz0

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) September 20, 2023

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) asked Garland if he “had personal contact with anyone at FBI HQ about the Hunter Biden investigation?"

“I don't recollect the answer to that question,” Garland replied, fumbling, before adding that “the FBI works for the Justice Department … I don’t believe that I did. I promised the Senate when I came before it for confirmation that I would leave Mr. Weiss in place and that I would not interfere with his investigation. I have kept that promise.”

Earlier this year, Garland faced steep criticism following whistleblower allegations from inside the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that federal prosecutors had interfered with Delaware US Attorney David Weiss’ investigation into Hunter Biden - a probe that Weiss also allegedly delayed and subsequently buried after the November 2020 election.

Those accusations were revived on Wednesday by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Garland reminded him that Weiss had been appointed by Trump to head the Hunter Biden probe.

Hunter Biden has been indicted by Weiss on a number of other charges not related to his business practices, including illegal possession of a firearm and making false statements on a federal firearms form, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has opened a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden.