'Whoa': Legal analysts stunned by Garland's new slap-back to MAGA

Legal analysts lined up to cheer Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday for finally fighting back against the Republican attacks on the Department of Justice.

Writing in the Washington Post, Garland attacked the ways in which the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president claims that the Department of Justice is a partisan political arm of the Democratic campaign for president.

In an X post, NBC justice reporter Ryan Reilly pointed specifically to this excerpt:

“Disagreements about politics are good for our democracy," Garland wrote. "They are normal. But using conspiracy theories, falsehoods, violence and threats of violence to affect political outcomes is not normal.”

"Whoa, right on," agreed Andrew Weissmann, who served as a top prosecutor on former special counsel Robert Mueller's team.

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance referenced a different excerpt that addresses the ways in which political leaders have turned the employees of the DOJ into villains. It means that people like Jack Smith have been plagued with threats necessitating security for himself and his family.

"We will not be intimidated by these attacks," wrote Garland. "But it is absurd and dangerous that public servants, many of whom risk their lives every day, are being threatened for simply doing their jobs and adhering to the principles that have long guided" DOJ.

"Very glad AG Garland has said this. The Justice Department and its lawyers are a critical institution for the preservation of our safety and our democracy," former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal posted on X.

Former prosecutor Shan Wu asked: "What is Merrick Garland doing about it?"

Critics of Garland have argued for the past several months that if he did his job, several critics would be behind bars by now.

"Let me remind you: if Merrick Garland was doing his f--king job…some of these scum bags we had to watch wickedly attacking Dr. Fauci today would already have been indicted and having to grift more than they already do…to pay their own legal bills," said ex-Republican and podcast host Jack Hopkins.

Pam Keith, the CEO of the Center for Employment Justice, said that Garland was supposed to be a "guardrail of democracy," but he hasn't been. "He let people who plotted a coup to remain out of jail and IN Congress. WHY? Was defending our democracy not in the job duties?"

The op-ed was published a few hours before the House Rules Committee will likely pass a contempt resolution for Merrick Garland. It could go to the full House for a vote as early as Wednesday. The House Judiciary Committee put out its own video arguing colleagues to support the contempt vote.

Garland’s assistant attorney general responded to a letter from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) about the matter by saying that Jordan wants to hold Garland in contempt for being unable to provide things that don't exist.

“The Department has conducted a comprehensive search for email communications since January 20, 2021, through the date of the verdict, between any officials in Department leadership, including all political appointees in those offices, and the District Attorney’s office regarding any investigation or prosecution of the former President. We found none," the letter says.

"This is unsurprising. The District Attorney’s office is a separate entity from the Department. The Department does not supervise the work of the District Attorney’s office, does not approve its charging decisions, and does not try its cases. The Department has no control over the District Attorney, just as the District Attorney has no control over the Department. The Committee knows this."