‘Even a Former President?’ Under Grilling AG Garland Vows Anyone ‘Criminally Responsible’ For Jan. 6 Will Be Prosecuted
Attorney General Merrick Garland promised to go after “anyone who is criminally responsible” for the events surrounding January 6 — when specifically asked if a “former president” could be charged.
Amid heightening chatter sparked by the January 6 hearings, those who would like to see former President Donald Trump charged have been on an emotional rollercoaster trying to read between the lines of Garland’s investigation. Most recently, hopes were somewhat dashed by the emergence of a May memo continuing a policy restricting investigations involving candidates for office.
Those hopes may have been revived a bit this week.
On Wednesday, Garland spoke with reporters as he met with ATF Director Steven Dettelbach and other Justice Department officials, and answered several questions about the investigation.
In response to one reporter, Garland spoke generally about the need for the department to treat investigations with impartiality, and on the Jan. 6 probe, made a point of saying they would pursue “every person who is criminally responsible” for the effort to overturn the election:
This is the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into. And we have done so because this represented, this effort to upend a legitimate election, transferring power from one administration to another, cuts at the fundamental of American democracy. We have to get this right. And for people who are concerned, as I think every American should be, about protecting democracy, we have to do two things. We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election. And we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.
He doubled down on that when another reporter singled out the former president:
REPORTER: Me, right up after. We are entering a zone here, where if there are charges brought against a former president related to January 6, DOJ could be accused of playing politics. How is the department? How are you wearing that? Also, do you think there is a constitutional question involved here about whether you charge the former president for actions allegedly taken during his term?
AG GARLAND: Okay, look. No person is above the law in this country. Nothing stops us.
REPORTER: Even a former president?
AG GARLAND: You know, I don’t know how to say that again. No person is above the law in this country. I can’t say it any more clearly than that. There is nothing in the principles of prosecution and any other factors which prevent us from investigating anyone, anyone who is criminally responsible for or for an attempt to undo a democratic election.
Garland has said versions of these things many times before, but the timing and context of the remarks has rocketed them to the top of the news cycle.
Watch above via C-SPAN.
