Tipsheet

Gabbard Has a Message for Garland After He Vowed Not to Allow the DOJ to Be Used As a 'Political Weapon'

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  September 13, 2024 3:15 PM

On Thursday, as we covered at the time, Attorney General Merrick Garland made some rather tone deaf remarks claiming that the Department of Justice's (DOJ) "norms" are "a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon." Garland was promptly called out for such remarks, by the Trump-Vance campaign, as well as former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, once a Democrat, now an Independent who is on the Trump transition team. Gabbard also addressed how her criticism is personal. 

That same night, Gabbard spoke with Fox News' Laura Ingraham about her thoughts on Garland's speech, as Doug P at our sister site of Twitchy covered. 

In response to Ingraham pointing out that Garland's remarks came so recently after the Trump-Harris debate on ABC News, Gabbard offered, "it's hard not to laugh at his statement where he tried to sound so serious, and so convicted, and so grave about never ever politicizing or weaponizing these government agencies when in fact that is what they are doing currently and what they have been doing for years," including during the Trump administration. 

"I would tell Merrick Garland today, if you are serious about the words you have just delivered to the American people, why don't you start by investigating some of your own federal agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security and TSA and ask them why after one day, the very next day after I called out Kamala Harris for being a danger to our country, should she be elected as president, I got added to a secret domestic terrorist list," Gabbard continued, noting "that's a good place to start."

The stunning news about Gabbard being on a list was covered last month, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is looking for answers. 

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Gabbard spoke of other instances other than her own, such as how FBI Agent Steve Friend "blew the whistle on how the FBI is being essentially used as the Democrats' police force, their personal partisan police force," and then "was attacked by the leadership of the FBI," through doxxing and exposure of his personal medical records.

Despite the revelations shared by Gabbard about Friend, Garland also claimed during his Thursday's remarks that "there is not one rule for friends and another for foes... one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans." He also tried to argue that "we have only one rule: we follow the facts and apply the law in a way that respects the Constitution and protects civil liberties."

Gabbard brought up how a weaponized and politicized DOJ has been used against former and potentially future President Donald Trump as well, noting that "there's too many to cite," but that they "have been made very clear to the American people and those paying attention with any objectivity, that this is lawfare, this is the kind of thing that happens in dictatorships and authoritarian governments, where those who are in power, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, are weaponizing and politicizing the [DOJ] and law enforcement agencies, both at the federal level and the state level, to take out their political opponent, the greatest threat to their power in a way that has never been done... before in our country's history. That's where he should start!"

Ingraham and Gabbard also discussed how such an issue is not about political parties opposing one another, but rather "about this permanent Washington establishment that cares more for their own power, the power of their government, that they control, over the voices and the power of a free people living in a free society." Gabbard spoke out against the so-called Republicans who have endorsed Harris, such as former Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) as well as former Vice President Dick Cheney. 

Gabbard also offered a selling point for Trump, noting that "that's really where President Trump has exposed them for who they really are," making clear that "this isn't about Democrats versus Republicans, it is a choice for voters in this election between freedom versus tyranny, between peace and war, economic prosperity and economic hardship."

To add to the sense of tone deafness from this administration, Harris had made such claims about Trump while in North Carolina on Thursday, using debunked narratives to do so, just as she did throughout Tuesday's debate. 

The crowd was all too happy to eat up her false narratives, as they booed Trump.