In a hearing now before the House Judiciary Committee, Chairman @RepJerryNadler tells AG Merrick Garland it's not enough "just to right the ship," he must also help the country "understand and reckon with the violence and lawlessness" of the last administration.
"Across the country, state legislatures are restricting the right to vote in service of the most cynical of political motives," @RepJerryNadler says. "Congress owes you... the tools you need to consign these nakedly undemocratic efforts to the dustbin of history."
Rep. @Jim_Jordan says the FBI has opened "a snitch line for parents" and then starts ranting about the Steele Memo.
Rep. @Jim_Jordan attempts to show a video but @RepJerryNadler upholds an objection against it because Jordan didn't provide 48 hours' notice. Now they're all yelling at each other.
It's apparently a video of parents speaking at a school board hearing.
Chairman @RepJerryNadler is now introducing AG Merrick Garland. Here, via @CNN, is his prepared testimony. cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2021/image…
Here's AG Garland's prepared testimony about the #CapitolRiot. Expect questions on the subject from the committee to come.
Noteworthy that multiple Republicans so far have worked criticism of Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate @TerryMcAuliffe into their statements to Garland. What does he have to do with AG Garland or the DOJ? Nothing. But he's in a tight race with Republican @GlennYoungkin.
Rep. @replouiegohmert asks if any of the Capitol rioters who broke the glass in the Speaker's Lobby door (where Ashli Babbitt was shot) were working for the FBI. This is a popular conspiracy theory among those on the right looking to downplay what happened on January 6.
AG Garland tells @replouiegohmert the DOJ is investigating possible civil rights abuses of #CapitolRiot defendants at the D.C. Jail and the Marshals have conducted an inspection. The issue was referred to them last week by Judge Lamberth. Previous story: wusa9.com/article/news/n…
Rep. @replouiegohmert also mentioned another conspiracy theory, which is that police killed Roseanne Boyland. A coroner determined she died of acute amphetamine intoxication. In this video, you can see other rioters trampling her to attack police. wusa9.com/video/news/nat…
On the school board issue, AG Garland says DOJ "is only concerned about violence, threats of violence, against teachers, school board members, staff."
Look, it's nothing new for politicians from both parties to use these hearings as an opportunity to create soundbites, but it's still amazing to me that, given the opportunity to directly question the Attorney General of the U.S., Republicans are just whining about school boards.
School boards, again, this time from Rep. @MikeJohnson. He's repeatedly asking AG Garland whether he has or will seek an ethics review related to his son-in-law's education company. Conservatives think the company sells CRT materials (it doesn't).
Rep. @chiproytx is currently screaming at AG Garland about unverified rumors stemming from an assault in Loudoun County schools (Story here: wusa9.com/article/news/l…).
School boards again from @RepTiffany. He asks if he and his neighbors are "domestic terrorists." Here's the one-page memo all of the Republicans on House Judiciary are performatively enraged about today: justice.gov/ag/page/file/1…
I was hoping at least the Democrats on the committee would prioritize some #CapitolRiot investigation questions for AG Garland, but they haven't, so I'm bailing on this to go back to January 6 court hearings.
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