Attorney General Garland said he would resign if Biden asked him to take action against Trump

The attorney general Merrick Garland said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would resign if President Joe Biden asked him to take action against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. But he doesn't believe he'll be put in that position.

"I'm sure that won't happen, but I wouldn't do anything about it," he said on CBS' "60 Minutes." “And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no feeling that something like that is going to happen.”

The Department of Justice is at the center not only of the accusations against Trump that include an effort to annul the 2020 elections and improper maintenance of classified documents , but also of cases involving Biden's son Hunter, the aftermath of the riot at the United States Capitol and investigations into classified documents. found in the president's home and office. Garland has appointed three different special counsels.

Garland has spoken only sparingly about the cases and reiterated Sunday that he would not go into details, but dismissed Trump's claims and his supporters that the cases were timed to ruin his chances of being president in 2024.

“Well, that is absolutely false. Justice Department prosecutors are nonpartisan. They do not allow partisan considerations to play any role in their determinations,” Garland said.

Garland said the president has never tried to meddle in investigations and dismissed criticism from Republicans that he was being lenient toward the president's son, Hunter, who was recently indicted on a weapons charge after a failed investigation. plea deal in his tax case. Hunter Biden is due to appear in a Delaware court this week.

“We don't have one rule for Republicans and another for Democrats. “We do not have one rule for enemies and another for friends,” he stated. ”We only have one rule; and that rule is that we follow the facts and the law, make the decisions required by the Constitution and protect civil liberties.”

Garland choked up as he spoke of his concerns about the violence, particularly as judges and prosecutors assigned to Trump's cases received death threats.

“People can argue with each other as much as they want and as loudly as they want. But the one thing they cannot do is use violence and threats of violence to alter the outcome,” he stated. “Americans must protect each other. They should make sure to treat each other civilly and kindly, listen to opposing points of view, argue as loudly as they want, but refrain from violence and threats of violence. “That is the only way this democracy will survive.”