Last week, a California man was convicted of threatening to an FBI office where hundreds of agents and other employees work. He wrote, “I can go on a mass murder spree. In fact, it would be very explainable by your actions.” Such threats of violence have become routine in an environment in which the Justice Department is under attack like never before, Attorney General Merrick Garland writes in the Washington Post. Garland complains of "an escalation of attacks that go far beyond public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate and necessary oversight of our work. They are baseless, personal and dangerous. Alluding to former President Trump's conviction in New York City, the attorney general cited "false claims that a case brought by a local district attorney and resolved by a jury verdict in a state trial was somehow controlled by the Justice Department."
Garland declared that his department "makes decisions about criminal investigations based only on the facts and the law. We do not investigate people because of their last name, their political affiliation, the size of their bank account, where they come from or what they look like. We investigate and prosecute violations of federal law — nothing more, nothing less." He concluded that, "Disagreements about politics are good for our democracy. They are normall. But using conspiracy theories, falsehoods, violence and threats of violence to affect political outcomes is not normal ... Continued unfounded attacks against the Justice Department’s employees are dangerous for people’s safety. They are dangerous for our democracy. This must stop."