In a fiery exchange during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, June 4, Florida firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz accused Biden Adiminstarton Attorney General Merrick Garland of not focusing on being a neutral and fair arbiter of impartial justice, but rather a political apparatchik for the Biden Administration who used his power to “get Trump.”
Particularly, Rep. Gaetz accused AG Garland of having had Matthew Colangelo, formerly a top attorney in the AG’s office, to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to assist his case against former President Donald Trump, the case that recently ended in Trump’s conviction. Colangelo’s alleged involvement is the subject of a Freedom of Information Act request and suit from America First Legal.
AG Garland, for his part, tried to bat away Rep. Gaetz’s allegation about his having sent Mr. Colangelo to help the Manhattan DA “get Trump” with the “hush money” case that many on the right and center alleged was politically motivated. When pressed on Colangelo’s involvement and suspicions that the DOJ was involved, AG Garland said, “That is false. I didn’t dispatch Matthew Colangelo. That’s false.”
Further, Rep. Gaetz demanded an answer from AG Garland on if the Department of Justice would submit all of its communications between it and the various Democrat prosecutors who have gone after the former president, namely DA Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Garland declined but tried to demur and foist the blame elsewhere, saying, “The offices you’re referring to are independent offices of state—” Rep. Gaetz, curing him off and demanding an answer, said his question was simply “whether you will provide all of the documents and correspondence” and that he does “not need a history lesson.”
Continuing, Rep. Gaetz blasted AG Garland for smearing claims about Colangelo’s involvement as a conspiracy when he is unwilling to provide documentation and evidence that would show it to be so. He thundered, “You come in here, and you lodge this attack that it’s a conspiracy theory that there’s coordinated lawfare against Trump. And then we say, ‘Fine, just give us the documents. Give us the correspondents, and then if it’s a conspiracy theory that will be evidence.’”
Rep. Gaetz then mocked him for pushing the request through a lengthy process rather than just handing over the documents, saying, “But when you say, ‘Well, we’ll take your request, and then we’ll sort of work it through the DOJ’s accommodation process, then you’re actually advancing the very dangerous conspiracy theory that you’re concerned about.’”
Watch their back and forth here:
Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel, cast doubt on the official DOJ story about Colangelo’s involvement with DA Bragg as well. He said, “No one leaves being the #3 at the Department of Justice to go work in a district attorney’s office–no matter which one it is. There is no plausible explanation other than engagement in a coordinated campaign to target one man–President Trump. The American people deserve to see these records.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video