Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to use his farewell address Thursday to rally Justice Department employees to defend the department’s independence and protect its mission.
Garland took office in 2021 vowing to restore the department’s norms, which center on distance from the White House and Congress, seeking to insulate investigations from politics.
“We make that commitment not because independence is necessarily constitutionally required, but because it is the only way to ensure that our law enforcement decisions are free from partisan influence,” Garland is expected to say, according to excerpts of his prepared farewell address.
But Garland is ending his tenure with Democrats angry that investigations of Donald Trump ended up stretching past the 2024 election and were ultimately dismissed after Trump’s reelection, and Republicans claiming Garland and the Biden administration weaponized the Justice Department by prosecuting Trump.
Garland plans to defend the work of career DOJ employees, who have received threats for working on politically sensitive investigations, and who have become possible targets for retribution from the incoming Trump administration.
“I know that, over the years, some have wrongly criticized you, saying that you have allowed politics to influence your decision-making. That criticism often came from people with political views opposite from one another, each making the exact opposite points about the same set of facts,” Garland’s prepared remarks say.
“I know that you have faced unfounded attacks simply for doing your jobs, at the very same time you have risked your lives to protect our country from a range of foreign and domestic threats. And I know that a lot is being asked of you right now. But before I leave, I have one more thing I want to ask of you. That is to remember who you are, and why you came to work here in the first place. You are public servants and patriots who swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution.”
Garland’s farewell event Thursday at the Justice Department will also include remarks from outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.
