Garland Pressed on DOJ’s Decision To Defend Trump in Defamation Lawsuit

Attorney General Merrick Garland is being pressed on the ⚖️Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to defend former President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed by a writer who accused him of raping her.

During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said the DOJ has “endorsed some highly controversial president’s Justice Department,” and noted that criticism of the decision.

He asked, “How is this coming about? Are these criticisms valid? Or what do you say about them?”

“The job of the Justice Department in making decisions of law is not to back any administration, previous or present. Our job is to represent the American people. Our job, in doing so, is to ensure adherence to the rule of law,” Garland responded.

He continued to say that there should not be “one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans, that there not be one rule for friends and another for foes.”

“It is not always easy to apply that rule. Sometimes it means that we have to make a decision about the law that we would never have made, and that we strongly disagree with, as a matter of policy. But in every case, the job of the Justice Department is to make the best judgment it can as to what the law requires,” he added.

However, he noted that “matters of policy” are “completely different” and that the current DOJ has “reversed policies of the previous administration many times over the last three months.”