AG Garland Gives Defiant Speech to DOJ Staff — Amid Claims of Bias from Trump and Allies: We Won’t ‘Be Used as a Political Weapon!’

Attorney General Merrick Garland gave a defiant speech to DOJ staff where vowed that the department would not “be used a political weapon.”

During his Thursday speech at the DOJ headquarters, Garland pushed back against “dangerous falsehoods” as well as “threat of actual violence” made against the department’s workforce.

Amid multiple criminal indictments against former President Donald Trump, Republicans have claimed the federal prosecutions against the GOP nominee are marred by “lawfare” and bias. Garland denounced these claims, adding that “our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics.”

Garland’s remarks received a standing ovation from DOJ staff gathered in Washington.

We follow the facts and apply the law in a way that respects the Constitution and protects civil liberties. Over the past three and a half years, I have spoken to you often about the importance of these norms. I know that to many outside of this department, they may seem abstract or even inconsequential. They are anything but. And they must not be taken for granted. For us, adhering to these policies, principles and norms in everything we do is how we fulfill the promise that is foundational to our democracy — that all people will be protected equally under all the law, and that all people will be held accountable equally under the law.

Our norms are a promise that we will fiercely protect. The independence of this department from political interference in our criminal investigations. Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon. And our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.