Garland grows visibly irate at GOP criticism of Catholic targeting

Attorney General Merrick Garland became visibly enraged Wednesday, erupting at a House Republican who asked about a January FBI memo that suggested traditionalist Catholic groups could be infiltrated by domestic extremists who oppose abortion or other liberal policies.

“Do you agree that traditional Catholics are violent extremists?” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) asked during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

“I have no idea what ‘traditional’ means here,” Garland replied.

“Catholics that go to church,” responded Van Drew, a former Democrat who switched to the GOP in 2020 before reiterating his question: “Yes or no?”

At that point, Garland became more visibly emotional and animated than he had been at any point in the hearing.

“The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, so absurd,” he began.

“Mr. Attorney General,” Van Drew countered. “It was your FBI that did this. It was your FBI and we have the memos and emails [discussing] sending sending undercover agents into Catholic churches.”

“Both I and the director of the FBI have said that we were appalled by that memo,” Garland added. “Everything in that memo is appalling.”

“Catholics are not extremists, no,” added the AG, who also told Van Drew “I don’t know” if anyone was fired over the production of the memo by the bureau’s Richmond field office.

Garland, who is Jewish, noted earlier in the hearing that his family had “fled religious persecution in Eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century.”

His grandparents escaped pogroms in modern-day Ukraine and Poland, though two of his grandmother’s siblings were murdered in the Holocaust.

“This country took her in and under the protection of our laws, she was able to live without fear of persecution,” Garland said of his grandmother during his opening statement, later adding: “Repaying this country for the debt my family owes for our very lives has been the focus of my entire professional career.”

Throughout the contentious hearing, Republicans berated Garland, accusing his Justice Department of having two standards of justice for former President Donald Trump and first son Hunter Biden.

Garland departed from his typical mellow demeanor and became feisty at times, pushing back against the barrage of GOP attacks.

In particular focus were IRS whistleblower accusations of favoritism toward Hunter. Garland was adamant that now-special counsel David Weiss “would have had” the full means to go after the first son as he saw fit.

Garland also sidestepped specific questions about details of the case against Hunter, stressing that he intended not to interfere with it — though he admitted that other US attorneys could have opted not to co-operate with Weiss in bringing charges against the younger Biden outside of Delaware.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is seeking to have Weiss testify publicly before his panel next month.