Merrick Garland urges prosecutors to protect DOJ’s mission in first comments since Trump picked Matt Gaetz to succeed him

Attorney General Merrick Garland, nearing the end of his tenure leading the Justice Department, told career prosecutors Monday that they are the “backbone” of the Justice Department and urged them to continue to “uphold the rule of law.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland, nearing the end of his tenure leading the Justice Department, told career prosecutors Monday that they are the “backbone” of the Justice Department and urged them to continue to “uphold the rule of law.” In his first public comments since President-elect Donald Trump selected former Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick to run the Justice Department, Garland told prosecutors at the Southern District of New York to continue to protect the department’s “mission.” Gaetz has derided the Justice Department as rife with members of the so-called “deep state” hostile to Trump. “You can’t just have the same career people who have grown up in a system that has fallen victim to political capture,” Gaetz said in an interview this summer. On Monday, Garland sought to rally department employees as he wraps up a tenure that has been overshadowed at times by investigations involving Trump but also has featured corruption cases against prominent Democrats such as Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. “I may be coming to the end of my tenure at the Justice Department, but I know that all of you will continue in the department’s mission – what has always been its mission – to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe and to protect civil rights,” Garland said.