Merrick Garland got hauled in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and spent a full four hours being “savaged on all sides.” The Hill notes that when Missouri Senator Josh Hawley got his turn, he led the “beat down, eviscerating the leftist Biden acolyte over the FBI’s ‘anti-Catholic’ bias.”
Garland grilled relentlessly
Senator Hawley was especially interested in what prompted Garland to order a whole herd of FBI agents in SWAT gear to raid the home of devout Christian anti-abortion activist Mark Houck last September. The tactical agents allegedly pointed guns at “Houck, his wife, and their seven children.”
The alleged crime he was charged with was “violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person produces reproductive healthcare.” He was totally cleared as soon as he got to court.
The only thing Garland could come up with in defense was to note that the bureau “claims” that “guns were never pointed at the family and were lowered or holstered as soon as Houck was taken into custody.” The head of domestic secret police wasn’t going to just admit to biased corruption.
Senator Josh Hawley may have just single-handedly forced AG Merrick Garland to RESIGN after being caught RED-HANDED! pic.twitter.com/AwjadZ23TF
— Maine Republican Patriot Cory Reynolds (@RepublicanCoryR) March 2, 2023
“Our department protects all religions, all ideologies. It does not have any bias against any religion of any kind.” Except Catholics, Hawley maintains. Not all Catholics, the witness hedged, and not simply because they’re Catholic. He still wouldn’t admit to whether they have agents infiltrating churches.
Hawley wasn’t buying it for an instant, accusing the Just Us Department of “being quick to deploy resources against Catholics” while “turning a blind eye” as “people are executed in the streets” of American cities. “Your answer frankly surprises me.” Hawley wanted to grill Garland about the Houck incident some more.
The actual facts of the matter are that he “got into an altercation with a Planned Parenthood escort in Philadelphia in October 2021 whom he claimed threatened his son.” The escort had “verbally harassed Houck’s 12-year-old son outside the clinic” to start the confrontation. The FBI had no business even being involved. Other than “optics.”
Merrick Garland has turned the DOJ into a political hit team for Joe Biden. There is no more impartial DOJ – the White House is using law enforcement to do its bidding pic.twitter.com/yCN7io4uM5
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 2, 2023
Local dispute became federal case
Hawley accused Garland and the DOJ of blowing what should have been a purely local matter into a federal case, literally, lambasting “the FBI for executing the search warrant” in as “extreme a manner as one can imagine.”
Hawley wanted to know straight from the horse’s mouth “why Biden’s DOJ is arresting Catholic protesters like terrorists – complete with SWAT-style tactics – while letting actual terrorist acts like firebombings go unpunished.” The FBI still has no clue who planted the pipe bombs on January 6. Either that or they do know, because they had them planted.
“Why did the FBI do this?” Hawley demanded “Why did you send 20-30 SWAT-style agents, SWAT-style team to this guy’s house when everybody else had declined to prosecute and he offered to turn himself in?” Garland was quick to snap back there weren’t that many agents.
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
He didn’t bother to deny the rest. Instead, he blamed the FBI field office. The FBI on the ground, he testified, “determined how to proceed and that they saw the situation differently than what the senator described.”
Was it really “objectively necessary” Hawley quizzed, “to send agents with guns and ballistic shields to Houck’s home.” Again, Garland blamed the bureau. That’s when Hawley hit him between the eyes with an assault hammer, demanding to know if the head of the DOJ was “abdicating responsibility.” Of course not. “Then give me the answer. Do you think, in your opinion, you are the attorney general of the United States. You are in charge of the Justice Department and yes, sir, you are responsible. So give me an answer.”
As The Hill reports, “Garland waffled, deflected, and did not answer, only claiming it did not happen the way the senator described it.” Hawley was flabbergasted. “What? That the children weren’t there? That there weren’t long guns there? That there weren’t agents? What do you dispute? What’s the factual premise that you dispute?” Hawley was relentless “You used an unbelievable show of force with guns that I just note liberals usually decry. We’re supposed to hate long guns and assault-style weapons. You’re happy to deploy them against Catholics and innocent children. Happy to. And then you haul them into court and a jury acquits him in one hour. I suggest to you that is a disgraceful performance by your Justice Department and a disgraceful use of resources.“
