Tipsheet

GOP Rep to Garland: Many Americans Feel the Justice Department Has Become the KGB

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  September 21, 2023 7:00 AM

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) tore into Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, telling the nation’s top law enforcement official that the Department of Justice is viewed by many as acting more like the KGB. The Indiana Republican delivered a lengthy lecture, noting how the FBI posted numbers urging voters in her district to rat out their neighbors. Spartz also said agents were all over, coming to people’s homes.

The feeling that the government no longer serves the people’s interests is rampant, partially fueling the chaos on Capitol Hill on January 6. Spartz wondered if Garland knew that millions of Americans fear that the DOJ will prosecute them, with the department’s reputation for coming after people based on political differences being held by nearly half the country. Garland tried to deflect, noting that the attacks on the Justice Department had been responsible for creating that narrative, but Spartz wasn’t having it:

Garland was grilled over aspects of the Hunter Biden investigation while trying, in vain, to sell that the Department of Justice is an apolitical agency that upholds the rule of law and is not beholden to a politically biased two-tiered system of justice. How the DOJ conducted its investigation into the Trump and Biden families is proof enough: one had hell-on-wheels speed, while the other remained intentionally stuck in the mud. The underreported harassment of pro-life activists is another point of contention regarding rogue FBI/DOJ narratives. 

 

Mr. Garland was a good soldier who delivered his pre-approved pitch. It failed because he’s comically inept and corrupted.