'The Five' rip Merrick Garland for targeting parents despite lacking information
The panel on 'The Five' react to Garland grilled by Republicans on school boards, Democrats on 1/6 protests
Attorney General Merrick Garland proved himself not sufficiently competent for the role of the nation's highest ranking law enforcement officer throughout his House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, the panel on "The Five" discussed, with some hosts remarking he had no idea about a handful of high profile cases his department should have been following.
Garland was grilled by Rep. W. Greg Steube, R-Fla., on whether the Justice Department was prosecuting violent environmentalist protesters who illegally broke into the Stewart Lee Udall Interior Department headquarters in Foggy Bottom, D.C., as fervently as the right-wing protester who broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Steube noted Garland referred to January 6 as "the most dangerous threat to democracy" in his career but testified he was unaware of the incursion at the Interior Department. The Sarasota lawmaker then held up a photo of incursions at the Capitol and Interior Department side by side and noted their similar appearance.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., holds photo from the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol as he questions Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing of the Department of Justice on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
"[It] blows my mind you're not aware of violent extremists forcing their way into a Department right here in Washington," he said.
On "The Five", host Greg Gutfeld remarked incredulously that Garland is supposed to be the attorney general but doesn't recall such events.
"He talks about how he reads stuff in the news. He had no idea about what happened with the Department of Interior last week. The dude is the attorney general. Didn’t know that an ‘insurrection’ happened?" the "Gutfeld!" host asked, noting Garland is simultaneously targeting parents at school board meetings for potential investigation if complaints are made.
"He has no idea about the statistics behind the police-suspect interactions. He gets all of the direction from secondary undocumented opinions," Gutfeld added. "I mean, if they’re going to target U.S. citizens, you should be getting your info not from Buzzfeed, right? You are talking about ruining people’s lives. You’re an attorney general, not an associate producer for ‘The View’ -- it’s disgusting."
Gutfeld noted Garland appeared to admit to Ohio Reps. Jim Jordan and Steve Chabot that the National School Boards Association letter largely spurred action on the school board memo front.
Opponents of the academic doctrine known as Critical Race Theory protest outside of the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
"Think about it. This guy is initiating an investigation on parents, not because he had statistics, actual specific cases, but because he got a letter," he said. "if the letter was about an environmental group or BLM, he wouldn’t have proceeded like this. It’s indeed a political action. You have to admit that. But what’s worse is how easy it was to motivate this guy to comply -- just send a letter.
Host Jesse Watters echoed Gutfeld, but went on to blame President Obama for Garland's prominence. He noted Garland became a political celebrity on the left once Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., essentially blocked him from nomination proceedings for the U.S. Supreme Court, citing congressional precedent.
"Who do I blame Garland for? Obama," Watters said. "He was the one that brings Garland to the conversation… It turns out he’s not moderate: not even competent. You can write a letter to the AG and they can activate the FBI?"
"Oh, there were articles in the letter that they linked to. I read some articles. He got a letter from a liberal and read some fake news and that’s how you get an active FBI investigation?"
Watters added that Garland didn't appear to know the specifics of the Loudoun County, Va., case at the center of the school board controversy.
Later, co-host Harold Ford Jr., a former Democratic congressman from Memphis, added that he has seen cases in his own home state where Garland's memo may be helpful, reporting that medical experts called to a school board meeting about COVID-19 mitigation near Murfreesboro, Tenn. were threatened and harassed following the forum.
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