Attorney General Merrick Garland told NPR that the Justice Department will not shy away from pursuing "political" cases stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol.
Members of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Jan. 6 select committee — comprised of Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans — maintain that former President Donald Trump could be charged with conspiracy and obstruction for his actions that day.
Some Democrats have expressed concern that Garland might try to avoid the political firestorm that would result from charging Trump.
The attorney general, however, rejected that notion.
"We are not avoiding cases that are political or cases that are controversial or sensitive," Garland told NPR. "What we are avoiding is making decisions on a political basis, on a partisan basis."
Garland added that probing the Capitol assault is "the most urgent investigation in the history of the Justice Department."
A jury found a Texas man guilty Tuesday of all charges in the first criminal trial stemming from the breach of Capitol. That followed an Alabama man affiliated with the far-right Oath Keepers militia group pleading guilty to seditious conspiracy for his actions leading up and through the Jan. 6 attack.
"We begin with the cases that are right in front of us with the overt actions and then we build from there," Garland told NPR. "And that is a process that we will continue to build until we hold everyone accountable who committed criminal acts with respect to Jan. 6."
Garland said that "every FBI office, almost every U.S. attorney's office in the country is working on" the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
"We've issued thousands of subpoenas, seized and examined thousands of electronic devices, examined terabytes of data, thousands of hours of videos," he told NPR. "People are working every day, 24-7, and are fully aware of how important this is.
"This had to do with the interference with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another. And it doesn't get more important than that."
Garland discussed other topics, including election laws. He claimed "the Supreme Court has taken away some of our tools" when it came to protecting voting rights.
"That has not prevented us from being bringing cases against states that have instituted practices and procedures," he told NPR. "And we will continue to do that, and we will make those decisions based on our best reading of the law and the facts."
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