CV NEWS FEED // U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland faced tough questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Below, readers can find seven videos of the most important moments from the hearing.
Lee asked Garland to “explain this disparity” between the many pro-life Americans Garland’s DOJ has prosecuted and the very few pro-abortion radicals who have faced similar prosecution.
Readers can watch the full exchange between Lee and Garland below:
.@BasedMikeLee: "DOJ has announced charges against 34 individuals for blocking access to…abortion clinics…there have been over 81 reported attacks on pregnancy centers…and only 2 individuals have been charged!"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 1, 2023
GARLAND: "We apply the law equally." pic.twitter.com/DRqeb5Pee1
Cruz confronted Garland about the many unprosecuted threats against pro-life Supreme Court justices and their families by abortion radicals in the weeks leading up to the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
‘You spent 20 years as a judge, and you’re perfectly content with justices being afraid for their children’s lives,’ Cruz said.
Readers can watch Cruz’s comments below:
"You did nothing!"
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) March 1, 2023
Sen. @tedcruz destroys Merrick Garland and the DOJ for allowing extremists to threaten and dox our SCOTUS Justices after Roe v. Wade was overturned. pic.twitter.com/jzYryydc4X
Cruz confronted Garland over the case of Mark Houck, Catholic pro-life advocate, husband, and father of seven, whom the DOJ prosecuted under the FACE Act but who was later acquitted of all charges. Cruz emphasized how many armed agents were deployed to arrest Houck at home, and how the event terrified his wife and young children.
“Do you want to apologize to Mrs. Houck and her seven children for being terrorized?” Cruz asked Garland.
Garland refused to acknowledge that the dramatic arrest had occurred in the way Mrs. Houck and her children have described it.
Readers can view the exchange here:
Sen. @tedcruz confronts AG Merrick Garland on the discrepancy between prosecuting pro-life counselors vs. pro-abortion extremists.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 1, 2023
Garland flippantly responds by asking if Sen. Cruz has “any information” on violent pro-abortion extremists attacking pregnancy centers. pic.twitter.com/JxdAjY6XuB
“Why did the Justice Department do this?” Hawley asked of the Houck arrest. “Why did you send 20-to-30 SWAT-style agents and a SWAT-style team to this guy’s house when everybody else had declined to prosecute and he had offered to turn himself in?” Hawley added that the children were “screaming” and “feared for their lives,” according to Mrs. Houck.
Garland again disagreed with the Houck family’s own description of the FBI arrest.
Readers can watch the exchange here:
Senator Josh Hawley takes AG Garland to task on the FBI arrest of pro-life advocate Mark Houck at his home in front of his family.
— Live Action News (@LiveActionNews) March 1, 2023
"Are you telling me that in your opinion as Attorney General, it was objectively necessary to use 20 or 30 SWAT-style agents with long guns and… https://t.co/1sNEy9PjWV pic.twitter.com/WfNFyu1bAb
Hawley cited a leaked internal memo from the FBI Field Office in Richmond, VA, which suggested that traditionalist Catholics posed a potential extremist threat and should be infiltrated and surveilled. “How many informants do you have in Catholic churches across America?” Hawley asked.
Readers can watch the exchange here:
FBI says “traditionalist Catholics” are a terrorist risk and should be monitored. So how many spies and sources do they have in America’s churches? Garland won’t answer pic.twitter.com/KjXd1pWjFD
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 1, 2023
Kennedy brought up a controversial memo that Garland wrote deploying the FBI to look into threats from parents who attended school board meetings to criticize COVID policies and sex-, gender-, and race-related curricula in public schools.
“Didn’t you understand the chilling effect that it would have,” Kennedy asked, “when you directed your criminal and counterterrorism divisions to investigate parents who were angry at school boards and administrators during COVID?”
The full exchange is below:
Ted Kennedy Grills Merrick Garland on Politically Persecuting Parents At School Board Meetings pic.twitter.com/prvrbyzDPc
— The NPC Show (@TheNPCShow) March 1, 2023
Blackburn asked why Garland has not prosecuted members of the pro-abortion terrorist group Jane’s Revenge, who have threatened and committed egregious acts of violence against pro-life organizations and churches since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Garland said he intends to “if we can find them.”
“Oh, so you can’t find them,” Blackburn said.
Garland replied that he would appreciate it if Blackburn would give him any information she might have gathered on the terrorist group.
“That’s your job,” Blackburn said.
Jane's Revenge claimed responsibility for firebombing pregnancy centers and went as far as spray painting their names on the wall, but Merrick Garland admitted that he couldn't find them.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) March 1, 2023
It's his job to find Jane's Revenge and prosecute them. pic.twitter.com/Woq36MCWhW