WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take action against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. But he doesn’t think he’ll be put in that position.

“I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that regard,” he said on CBS “60 Minutes.” “And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen.”

The Justice Department is at the center of not only indictments against Trump that include an effort to overturn the 2020 election and wrongly keeping classified documents, but also cases involving Biden’s son Hunter, the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol and investigations into classified documents found in the president’s home and office. Garland has appointed three separate special counsels.

Garland has spoken only sparingly about the cases and reiterated Sunday he would not get into specifics, but dismissed claims by Trump and his supporters that the cases were timed to ruin his chances to be president in 2024.

“Well, that’s absolutely not true. Justice Department prosecutors are nonpartisan. They don’t allow partisan considerations to play any role in their determinations,” Garland said.

Garland said the president has never tried to meddle in the investigations, and he dismissed criticism from Republicans that he was going easy on the president’s son, Hunter, who was recently indicted on a gun charge after a plea deal in his tax case fell apart. Hunter Biden is due in a Delaware court this week.

“We do not have one rule for Republicans and another rule for Democrats. We don’t have one rule for foes and another for friends,” he said. ”We have only one rule; and that one rule is that we follow the facts and the law, and we reach the decisions required by the Constitution, and we protect civil liberties.”

Garland choked up when talking about his concerns over violence, particularly as judges and prosecutors assigned to the Trump cases got death threats.

“People can argue with each other as much as they want and as vociferously as they want. But the one thing they may not do is use violence and threats of violence to alter the outcome,” he said. “American people must protect each other. They must ensure that they treat each other with civility and kindness, listen to opposing views, argue as vociferously as they want, but refrain from violence and threats of violence. That’s the only way this democracy will survive.”

  • @Fredselfish
    link
    -111 year ago

    Basically this fucker is a traitor and shouldn’t of ever gotten the job. Fuck resigning he should be fired and replaced with someone who will do the right thing. Not what protects the Republican party.

    • @morphballganon
      link
      231 year ago

      … did you read it? He’s saying he’ll treat cases with impartiality. He rather resign than be part of a political attack.

      • spaceghotiOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -31 year ago

        Prosecuting Trump when there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence to support prosecution is not a political attack. He’s been dragging his heels because he’s claiming it’s too political, but at some point the material evidence needs to outweigh that.

        Garland should resign today and give Biden the chance to appoint someone who will actually do the fucking job.

        • ThrowawayOnLemmy
          link
          181 year ago

          Trump’s been indicted multiple times already. His days in court are marked in the calendar. Are you implying he doesn’t deserve his day in court?

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            61 year ago

            REALLY late, and only once a special counsel was appointed because Garland was too scared to just follow the law himself.

        • @morphballganon
          link
          81 year ago

          He’s been dragging his heels

          What experience do you have with this type of case? What familiarity do you have with how long they usually take?

            • gacorley
              link
              fedilink
              11 year ago

              That article just seems to be looking for reasons to be mad. Investigations take time. And the repeated mentions of “The T word” are silly. Treason (which the article you linked never actually states, weirdly, when that has to be the word) is explicitly defined in the US Constitution. Other convictions would be just as devastating to Trump and show what he did without having to have a Supreme Court case about whether he was technically levying war.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                41 year ago

                There already was an investigation. Mueller’s report said he did crimes, but that you probably can’t prosecute a sitting president. Then he stopped being a sitting president and Garland just sat on it doing nothing.

                • @Fredselfish
                  link
                  31 year ago

                  Exactly and look how long it’s taken almost 4 fucking years and still committing crimes. Many times Garland as flat out refused to act. He scared and he also as a bias toward Republicans because he is one. How he got to be the Attorney General I never understand. He is spineless.

    • @paddirn
      link
      English
      211 year ago

      I’m not sure that’s what he’s implying, that nothing will happen to Trump or that he’s protecting him. What he’s saying, I think, is that he’s not doing anything to Trump by request of Biden or that the cases against Trump are political witch hunts. He’s trying to say he’s being impartial about the whole thing, not that Trump is off the hook, but the wording is kind of weird. I had to reread it bc I was like, “Wait, what?”

      • Karak
        link
        fedilink
        71 year ago

        Agreed, the headline makes it sound like he’s trying to protect Trump, the article (as far as I am making sense of it) is saying he will take him to court, but not because Biden asked him to.

    • ThrowawayOnLemmy
      link
      81 year ago

      Little too quick to judge there bud, we don’t want our AG’s to bend at other people’s will. We prefer justice to be impartial. That is not a party exclusive thing.

      • @Fredselfish
        link
        01 year ago

        But he not impatientl he is a Republican and refuses to hold Republican including Trump accountable.

    • @PeleSpirit
      link
      English
      4
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      deleted by creator