Garland deflects lawmakers' questions on Trump as he tries to sidestep politics

Attorney General Merrick Garland deflected questions about whether the Justice Department is investigating legal violations by former President Donald Trump and about the reach of the ongoing probe into the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6 at his first congressional oversight hearing since he arrived to run the Justice Department seven months ago.

Garland, who had been an appeals court judge for more than two decades before joining the Biden administration this year, told members of the House Judiciary Committee that he is laboring to keep the Justice Department out of politics after four years of chaos during the Trump presidency.

"The Department of Justice has a long-standing policy of not commenting on investigations," Garland said. "I'm going to have to rest on that."

Democratic lawmakers pushed Garland to defend congressional interests as a criminal contempt of Congress referral for former Trump adviser Steve Bannon makes its way to the Justice Department this week.

Citing executive privilege, Bannon is refusing to cooperate with the congressional panel investigating Jan. 6 insurrection, even though he had not worked in the Trump White House for years at the time of the riot. Garland pledged that the acting U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia would follow the facts and the law, but did not otherwise show his hand on the issue.