U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday took a dig at the House Oversight Committee hearing that advanced a contempt resolution against him last week, and joked that he saw it on “Saturday Night Live.”
“The House appears poised to move ahead with the contempt resolution on you. I just wonder if you have any comments on it, or if you could tell us whether or not you watched the House Oversight Committee meeting the other night?” a reporter asked the attorney general.
“I caught part of that hearing on 'Saturday Night Live,'” Garland said.The House Oversight Committee panel gathered last Thursday to discuss contempt proceedings against Garland, but it quickly erupted into chaos when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Jasmine Crockett began attacking each other over their physical appearance and intelligence.
“But seriously, I am very disappointed. The Justice Department, as I've explained before, has gone to extraordinary lengths to accommodate the legitimate interests of the committees.”
Garland noted that he had released a full report of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden in the classified documents case to the committee and had allowed Hur to testify on the investigation.
“The president of the United States has asserted executive privilege in order to protect the Justice Department's ability in future investigations to get cooperation in high-profile cases, particularly involving the White House,” Garland said. “My job is to protect the Justice Department's ability to conduct those investigations. My job is to protect the rule of law, and that's what I'm doing.”
