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Garland:Resign if Asked to Act on Trump10/02 06:17
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview
that aired Sunday that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take
action against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. But he doesn't
think he'll be put in that position.
"I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that
regard," he said on CBS "60 Minutes." "And if necessary, I would resign. But
there is no sense that anything like that will happen."
The Justice Department is at the center of not only indictments against
Trump that include an effort to overturn the 2020 election and wrongly keeping
classified documents, but also cases involving Biden's son Hunter, the
aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol and investigations into classified
documents found in the president's home and office. Garland has appointed three
separate special counsels.
Garland has spoken only sparingly about the cases and reiterated Sunday he
would not get into specifics, but dismissed claims by Trump and his supporters
that the cases were timed to ruin his chances to be president in 2024.
"Well, that's absolutely not true. Justice Department prosecutors are
nonpartisan. They don't allow partisan considerations to play any role in their
determinations," Garland said.
Garland said the president has never tried to meddle in the investigations,
and he dismissed criticism from Republicans that he was going easy on the
president's son, Hunter, who was recently indicted on a gun charge after a plea
deal in his tax case fell apart. Hunter Biden is due in a Delaware court this
week.
"We do not have one rule for Republicans and another rule for Democrats. We
don't have one rule for foes and another for friends," he said. "We have only
one rule; and that one rule is that we follow the facts and the law, and we
reach the decisions required by the Constitution, and we protect civil
liberties."
Garland choked up when talking about his concerns over violence,
particularly as judges and prosecutors assigned to the Trump cases got death
threats.
"People can argue with each other as much as they want and as vociferously
as they want. But the one thing they may not do is use violence and threats of
violence to alter the outcome," he said. "American people must protect each
other. They must ensure that they treat each other with civility and kindness,
listen to opposing views, argue as vociferously as they want, but refrain from
violence and threats of violence. That's the only way this democracy will
survive."
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