by Katelynn Richardson
Florida Republican Matt Gaetz criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday for calling claims that Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) considered former President Donald Trump’s conviction a “conspiracy theory,” but declined to say whether he would turn over the department’s correspondence with prosecutors.
During his opening statement at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Garland sharply criticized “baseless” attacks on the work of the Justice Department, specifically citing “false claims” about the Justice Department’s involvement in the Trump Manhattan case, which ended last week with a jury verdict jury. convict Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. Gaetz pressed Garland on whether the Justice Department would turn over communications with Bragg’s office, as well as with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James, noting that Garland by not answering the question strengthened the case for collusion.
“You told us that it is a dangerous conspiracy theory to claim that the Department of Justice is communicating these state and local accusations against Trump,” he said. “Can you explain everything to us now, can the Department of Justice provide the committee with all the documents, all the correspondence between the department and the office of Alvin Bragg, Fani Willa and Letitia James?
“We do not control these offices,” Garland said.
Former Deputy Attorney General Matthew Colangelo joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in December 2022, when Bragg was still investigating Trump. He also previously worked on the Trump Foundation investigation and what became the Trump civil fraud case while working in the New York District Attorney’s Office.
Colangelo too received According to data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), in 2018 thousands of people were paid by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for “political consulting”.
Gaetz responded that he only asked whether the Justice Department had contacted those offices.
“You come in here and present your attack that it’s a conspiracy theory that there was a coordinated legal action against Trump, and then when we say, ‘Okay, just give us the documents, give us the correspondence, and then if that conspiracy”. the theory will be obvious,” Gaetz Garland said. “But when you say, well, we’ll accept your request and then we’ll sort of take it through the Justice Department adjustment process rather than you, actually advancing a very dangerous conspiracy theory that worries you.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan required documents related to the Department of Justice’s cooperation with Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan office, including the hiring of Colangelo, in April.
TO WATCH:
Gaetz also asked whether, as a judge, Garland had ever made political contributions. Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s trial in Manhattan, given $15 to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
Merchan’s daughter also runs a political consulting firm that serves Democratic clients, including California Rep. Adam Schiff. Trump’s lawyers wanted for Merchan to withdraw from the case, but he refused.
“Shouldn’t we be indebted to someone, such as a jury of peers and an impartial judge, rather than pulling a judge from the donor records of a political opponent?” Gaetz asked.
“While I fully realize that you are not asking a hypothetical, you are asking me to comment on a jury verdict in another jurisdiction that should be respected,” Garland said. “I won’t comment on it.”
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Katelynn Richardson is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Attorney General Merrick Garland” photo by Daily conversationalist.
