WASHINGTON \u2014 Republicans subjected Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to a four-hour grilling before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, a harbinger of the fights that loom ahead as the party targets the Justice Department in the months leading up to the 2024 election.<\/p>\n
One by one, Republican senators accused Mr. Garland \u2014 testifying before Congress for the first time since appointing special counsels to investigate former President Donald J. Trump and President Biden \u2014 of politicizing the department by aggressively investigating Republicans and conservative activists while shielding Democrats.<\/p>\n
They also rebuked Mr. Garland over a range of policy and law enforcement issues, including his response to the fentanyl and immigration crises as well as the court\u2019s decision in June to end the constitutional right to an abortion.<\/p>\n
But the most pointed exchange came in the final 20 minutes of the session, when most of the panel\u2019s Democrats had left the room. He was left to field a volley of questions from Republicans about his actions in the investigations involving Mr. Trump as well as the inquiries into Mr. Biden and his son Hunter.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have one tier of justice for people that are conservatives and another for those that are on the left,\u201d said Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee.<\/p>\n
Until then, lawmakers had mostly steered away from pressing about multiple investigations into top officials: an inquiry into Mr. Trump\u2019s retention of sensitive government documents, the high-stakes examination of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the investigation into Mr. Biden\u2019s handling of government records, or the long-running federal inquiry into his son Hunter on possible weapons and tax transgressions.<\/p>\n
In a round of follow-up questions, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who has questioned the legitimacy of Mr. Biden\u2019s victory, seized on how Mr. Garland has approached the Trump investigations.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour intention \u2014 and I believe it\u2019s a political intention \u2014 to indict President Trump, became infinitely harder when classified documents were discovered repeatedly at President Biden\u2019s multiple residences,\u201d Mr. Cruz said.<\/p>\n
He accused Mr. Garland of intentionally leaking details of the Trump investigations to embarrass the former president while keeping secret the investigation into Mr. Biden until after the 2022 midterm elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes that strike you as at all a double standard?\u201d Mr. Cruz asked.<\/p>\n
Mr. Garland responded that \u201cleaks under all circumstances are inappropriate,\u201d adding that he was committed to conducting all investigations fairly.<\/p>\n
How Times reporters cover politics.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The attorney general, in his opening statement, explicitly addressed the topic of his fairness, saying it was his \u201cmission to reaffirm the norms\u201d of the Justice Department.<\/p>\n \u201cThe health of our democracy requires that the Justice Department treat like cases alike, and that we apply the law in a way that respects the Constitution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, pressed Mr. Garland about a report this week in The Washington Post detailing infighting at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Two senior officials in the Washington field office, the article said, resisted the plan to search Mr. Trump\u2019s residence in Florida in August, clashing with their superiors at the bureau and other Justice Department officials.<\/p>\n The attorney general, as is his practice, declined to comment on an open investigation. But he opened a narrow window into an internal deliberation process he seldom discusses publicly.<\/p>\n \u201cI will say as a general matter, and at a high level of generality, that in my experience \u2014 long experience \u2014 as a prosecutor there is often a robust discussion,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s encouraged among investigators and prosecutors.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans also focused on the growing threat posed by the widespread distribution of fentanyl and the illegal online marketing of over-the-counter medications laced with the drug.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a war \u2014 act like it \u2014 do something,\u201d said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the committee, quoting the mother of two sons who died of overdoses. \u201cSo, 106,000 people die from drug overdoses \u2014 70,000 from fentanyl last year \u2014 it\u2019s getting worse. The leading cause of death for Americans age 18 to 45 is death by fentanyl poisoning. What are we doing?\u201d<\/p>\n Tackling the crisis was a top priority, Mr. Garland said, adding that its sheer magnitude, and the ease of producing, transporting and selling the narcotic, made it particularly tough to combat.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a horrible epidemic, but it\u2019s an epidemic that\u2019s been unleashed on purpose by the Sinaloa and the new-generation Jalisco cartels,\u201d said Mr. Garland, who said he pressured high-ranking officials in Mexico to crack down on producers during a recent trip to the country.<\/p>\n Mr. Cruz and Mr. Hawley also grilled Mr. Garland about his response to protests targeting conservative Supreme Court justices and their families after a draft of the court\u2019s decision to overturn federal protections for abortion rights leaked in May.<\/p>\n \u00a0For the first time in the department\u2019s history, \u201cI ordered United States marshals, 24\/7, to defend every residence of every justice,\u201d Mr. Garland responded.<\/p>\n As the day wore on and the questioning intensified, Mr. Garland, a former federal judge, seemed increasingly impatient.<\/p>\n The tension broke\u00a0briefly when Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, politely\u00a0asked why Mr. Garland had not admonished Democrats who had denounced Supreme Court justices after their abortion ruling\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n Mr. Garland, whose nomination to the court in 2016 was scuttled by Senate Republicans, did not offer a\u00a0direct answer but gave a more sweeping assessment.<\/p>\n \u201cI come from a kinder and gentler era \u2014 and a kinder and gentler court \u2014 even in terms of the way the members of the court treat themselves,\u201d he said, an apparent\u00a0reference to reports of squabbling among justices.<\/p>\n