Merrick Garland’s attorney general confirmation hearing: Day 1

The first day of Merrick Garland’s confirmation hearing for attorney general just wrapped. 

For more than six hours, Garland testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and faced questions about a multitude of topics, including the politically charged investigations that await him if he’s confirmed to lead the Justice Department.

Here’s a look at some key lines from today’s hearing: 

What comes next: Garland’s hearing will continue for a second day tomorrow, with outside witnesses testifying before the Judiciary Committee. Durbin told CNN on Monday that he expected Garland’s nomination would be approved by his panel next Monday, and he expects the full Senate will confirm Garland later that week. He said Republicans have agreed not to delay next Monday’s committee vote, which they can do for one week under the rules.

The ongoing investigation of the Capitol riot that left five people dead has been front and center during today’s confirmation hearing. 

Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland on Monday called the insurrection the “most heinous attack on the democratic processes” that he has ever seen and something he “never expected to see” in his lifetime.

In an exchange with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Garland laid out his plan for ensuring that the perpetrators of the attack are brought to justice.  

Democrats didn’t mention Trump by name when asking about the investigation into the January 6 riots, but they touched on the question of whether the Justice Department should examine Trump’s role, which led to his impeachment. Even Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, after voting to acquit Trump in the Senate trial, suggested that the criminal justice system is the right venue to consider those allegations instead.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, encouraged Garland to look “upstream,” asking whether it was a fair question for the investigation to “not rule out investigation of funders, organizers, ringleaders or aiders and abettors who were not present in the Capitol on January 6.”

“Fair question,” Garland responded. “We will pursue these leads wherever they take us.”

Federal prosecutors have charged at least 250 people in connection with the Capitol riot, according to a CNN analysis of court records and DOJ announcements. The riot was an attempt to stop the Senate from counting the electoral votes that confirmed President Biden’s win. The Senate tomorrow will hold its first public hearing on the security failures that led to the deadly Capitol riot.

CNN’s Paul Murphy contributed reporting to this post.

Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland said he has no regrets that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty, but has since changed his perspective on the death penalty.

Garland reiterated his stance on the death penalty during questions with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.

Garland responded to Cotton that he was not asked by President Biden or anyone from his campaign not to pursue capital punishment in cases against murderers and terrorists.

Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland suggested Monday he would allow the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google to continue. 

What he knows of the suit comes largely from reading press reports, Garland told Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, but he sees little reason to alter course. 

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) speaks during his opening statement during Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland's confirmation hearing.

The first day of Merrick Garland’s confirmation hearing is still ongoing, but Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin already indicated when he thinks the nominee will be confirmed.

Durbin told CNN that Garland’s nomination will be approved by his panel next Monday, and he expects the full Senate will confirm Garland next week.

The Democrat noted that Republicans have agreed not to delay next Monday’s committee vote, which they can do for one week under the rules.

Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland says his 24 years serving on the bench has trained him on not give in the political pressure. 

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley asked Garland if he would resist the calls and efforts by political groups to politicize the Justice Department for political targeting. 

“I don’t care who pressures me in any direction. The Department, if I am confirmed, will be under my protection for the purpose of preventing any kind of partisan or other improper motive in making any kind of investigation or prosecution. That’s my vow. That’s the only reason I’m willing to do this job,” Garland said.

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin signaled that he’s hopeful Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination for attorney general will likely receive bipartisan support.

President Biden’s attorney general nominee Merrick Garland shared his reason and motivation for wanting to confront hate and discrimination in the US justice system.

Garland pointed to his own family story and grandparents who found protection in the US after fleeing anti-Semitism and persecution. The nominee got emotional when he said that he would like to use the best of his own set of skills to pay back the country for that protection.

Earlier in the exchange with Booker, when asked whether he thought the US justice system treats people equally, Garland said “sadly, it is plain to me that it does not.”

“Senator, there is no question there is disparate treatment in our justice system. Mass incarceration is a very good example of this problem,” Garland said. 

The nominee noted that fighting racial injustice in the criminal justice system was one key reason he wanted to take on the role of attorney general “at this moment.”

Watch the moment here:

Attorney General nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, does not agree with defunding the police, but is in favor of giving more resources to police departments for reform. 

Garland says there is a need to put resources for mental health professionals to work with police departments to confront the mentally ill and those who are suicidal with life-saving tactics. 

“So that police officers don’t have to do a job that they’re not trained for and that from what I understand they do not want to do. Those resources need to go to mental health professionals and other professionals in the community so that the police can do the job they’ve trained for and so that confrontations, if possible, do not lead to deaths and violence,” Garland said.

Watch:

Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland is in favor of any legislation that will strengthen voting rights while enforcing existing tools that prevents voter suppression.

Garland said in response to a question from Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, that while he is not privy to the specifics of the legislation, he believes it is important to afford every American the opportunity to vote.

Merrick Garland is testifying now before the Judiciary Committee five years after he became the poster child for the Republican blockade of an open Supreme Court seat in the final year of former President Obama’s term when Senate Republicans denied even a hearing for Garland as Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

After Trump won the White House in 2016 and selected a new Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, Garland returned to his position as the chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. While he stepped down from that position a year ago, he remains on the appellate court and has served on the federal bench for more than two decades.

He’ll be leaving that appointment to take over a department often at the center of the political crises of the Trump administration.

While Republicans blocked Garland’s Supreme Court nomination, his selection at attorney general was lauded by both Democrats and Republicans on Monday, and he is expected to be easily confirmed.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the panel’s top Republican, used his opening statement to defend the 2016 decision he made as the committee’s chairman not to hold a hearing for Garland.

“I took a position on hearings and I stuck to it, and that’s it,” Grassley said. “I admire Judge Garland’s public service.”

Republicans have pressed Garland on whether he would allow the investigations into both Hunter Biden and the FBI’s handling of the 2016 Russia investigation to continue unimpeded.

Republicans also may push Garland to fully investigate Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, after reports last week that federal investigators were investigating his handling of some of the data surrounding Covid-19 deaths in long term care facilities in New York.

Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland says he is “very concerned” about death penalty cases and is hopeful that since President Biden is opposed to the practice, that they will halt again. 

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, said that in the last six months of the Trump administration there have been more federal executions than in the past 60 years, it “was nothing short of killing spree and it worries me.”

Leahy asked Garland if the 2003 moratorium — that restricted when the federal death penalty can be implemented — would be reinstated. 

Garland says within the nearly 20 years since the moratorium was put in place, he had several moments of pause regarding the death penalty and expects Biden to follow through with stopping federal executions.

“The data is clear that it has been enormously disparate impact on Black Americans and members of communities of color, and exonerations also that something like half of the exonerations had to do with Black men. So all of this has given me pause. And I expect that the President will be given direction in this area. If so, expected, not at all unlikely that we will return to the previous policy,” Garland said.

To date, there are 185 people, who were sentenced to death and later found to be wrongfully convicted, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. 

Merrick Garland, President Biden’s nominee for attorney general, said Monday that he strongly believes in the use of body cameras by law enforcement officers in the United States. 

In response to a question from Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, about whether he would support the deployment of more police body cameras for police officers, Garland said he would welcome more resources from Congress, calling body cameras important tools for accountability. 

During his answer, Garland made reference to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, noting that the public knows about the valiant acts of so many officers largely because of images captured on video.

“The fact that we were able to see exactly what was happening to the officers and the way in which they were carrying about their duties in the best way they could, is only possible to be captured because of the body cameras,” Garland said.

Watch:

Some Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled openness to Merrick Garland’s nomination to be attorney general in the first break of his confirmation hearing on Monday.

Sen. John Cornyn said he’s “impressed” with Garland’s experience, temperament and commitment to equal justice. 

“One of the commitments I’ve asked him to make is no politics at the Department of Justice … and he made that commitment,” the Texas Republican said. 

Asked about Garland’s response to a question about former FBI Director James Comey’s news conference on Hillary Clinton, Cornyn said, the nominee “wasn’t comfortable answering that question, but made it clear that’s inappropriate for a prosecutor to do.”

Cornyn added that he is glad that Garland “is for restoring the reputation of the department, I think that’s very important for public confidence and something that I think we need sorely.”

Asked about any concerns with the nomination, Cornyn argued that Garland “has a lot to learn about what’s going on in the world,” pointing to how he said he hadn’t been to the US-Mexico border.

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana called Garland a “very bright person” and said he has some “pretty direct” questions to ask of the nominee.

When asked about the pointed questions Garland has already received from Senate Judiciary Republicans, Kennedy said Garland “has a reputation of being a person of integrity, and I believe that until he proves otherwise,” adding he believes a “reasonable person” can’t read DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on the FBI’s Russia probe or look at Comey’s “antics” around the 2016 election without being concerned about politicization.

Asked about Biden nominees Neera Tanden for head of the Office of Management and Budget and Xavier Becerra for health and human services secretary, Kennedy answered “I don’t know yet how I’m going to vote on those.” 

Tanden’s confirmation is on the brink of collapse after two key Republicans, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, announced Monday that they will vote against her nomination, citing her past social media behavior.

Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland on Monday said the Justice Department’s pardon attorney plays a large role to “protect the president from improper influence” when it comes to granting pardons to applicants. 

During the Trump administration, “88% of the pardons that he granted had some sort of personal or political connection to the former president,” Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said during the confirmation hearing on Monday. 

Some more context: By the end of Trump’s presidency, he issued 237 commutations and pardons that included rappers and a political strategist. Dozens of those who were granted clemency or commutation did not go through the proper channels through the Justice Department’s pardon attorney. There are over 14,000 pending clemency requests.

“What do you think we need to do to restore integrity to the pardon process? Obviously, it’s an important power of the president, what do you think you could do from the attorney general’s position?” Klobuchar asked.

 Garland responded by saying, “Well, senator, you’re right.”

The Senate confirmation hearing for President Biden’s attorney general nominee Merrick Garland has resumed after a short break.

The senators will now continue to question Garland. Garland is expected to face more questions about politically charged investigations and the prosecution of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

In his testimony so far, Garland vowed to prosecute the “heinous” crimes committed in the attack on the Capitol and to redouble the Justice Department’s efforts to provide equal justice amid heated policy debates over race and the criminal justice system.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island, asked Merrick Garland if he’d be willing “to look upstream” from the Jan. 6 rioters and investigate the “funders, organizers, leaders or aiders and abetters” of the Capitol attack.

Garland said that while the investigation has begun with “the people on the ground,” as attorney general he will pursue any and all leads.

Here’s how Garland laid out the investigation:

Answering a question from California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Garland also said he plans to get a briefing “on the progress of this investigation” and give the career prosecutors “who are working on this matter 24/7, all the resources they could possibly require to do this.”

To date, more than 230 men and women have been charged in connection to the attack that left five people dead, and several others, including law enforcement officers, injured. The riot was an attempt to stop the Senate from counting the electoral votes that confirmed President Biden’s win.

Watch:

At his Senate confirmation hearing, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland told GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley that he had not discussed the federal investigation into Hunter Biden with President Biden.

Some background: Federal investigators in Delaware have been examining multiple financial issues involving the younger Biden, including whether he violated tax and money laundering laws in business dealings in foreign countries, principally China, two people briefed on the probe told CNN in December.

The President has made a point of distancing himself from the decision-making at the Justice Department, and as questions about his son swirled earlier this winter, he pledged to install independent leaders at the agency.

These questions were expected at today’s hearing as GOP senators had already signaled that they would try to draw out Garland on how he’ll handle his full plate of political problems.

CNN’s Evan Perez and Pamela Brown contributed reporting to this post.

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Attorney general nominee, Merrick Garland, called the controversial Trump-era policy that led to the separation of thousands of families “shameful” during his confirmation hearing Monday. 

“I think that the policy was shameful. I can’t imagine anything worse than tearing parents from their children. And we will provide all the cooperation that we possibly can,” Garland said in a line of questioning from Senate Judiciary Chair and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.

The Justice Department played a critical role in the policy, known as “zero tolerance.” A recent government watchdog report found that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions knew early on migrant families would be separated when the Trump administration implemented the “zero tolerance” policy and still proceeded to push for the policy. 

Former President Trump ended the policy in June 2018 after mounting criticism, but last month, the Justice Department moved to rescind it altogether.

In his opening remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing, President Biden’s Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland said he would supervise the prosecution of the White supremacists and others who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6.

He added that it is critical work that is part of the broad scope of the Department of Justice’s responsibilities

“The attorney general takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I am mindful of the tremendous responsibility that comes with this role,” Garland said.

More on today’s hearing: Garland is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, the first day of a two-day hearing where he’s expected to face pointed questions from senators about politically charged investigations and the prosecution of the Jan. 6 riot.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb contributed reporting to this post.

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