AG Garland declines to answer questions about the indictment of former President Trump, saying that his own limited role is spelled out in Justice Department regulations.
had assembled a team of veteran career prosecutors and agents to examine the facts of the case.
“As I said when I appointed Mr. Smith, I did so because it underscores the Justice Department’s commitment to independence and accountability,” Garland told reporters assembled in the attorney general’s fifth-floor conference room on Wednesday, where he was meeting with federal prosecutors across the country to discuss violent crime.
“Mr. Smith is a veteran career prosecutor. He assembled a group of experienced and talented prosecutors and agents who share his commitment to integrity and the rule of law,” Garland said.Garland pointed the public to the special counsel regulations, which leave Smith to make the prosecutorial decision and allow the attorney general to overrule only in limited circumstances. In that scenario, Garland would have had to inform Congress about his decision to overrule Smith.
Trump and his supporters have made unsubstantiated claims that President Joe Biden and Garland directed Smith to charge Trump. Garland, a former judge, said Wednesday that his role was spelled out in the regulations, though he declined to specify when exactly he was informed of Smith’s decision to charge Trump in the case.
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