Garland says he’d resign if Biden asked him to take action against Trump

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that aired Sunday he would resign if President Biden asked him to take action in probes into former President Trump.

“I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that regard,” Garland said when asked on CBS News’s “60 Minutes” what his reaction would be if Biden asked him “to take action with regard to the Trump investigation.”  

“And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen,” Garland continued.

Asked if he ever needed to tell Biden, “Hands off these investigations,” Garland said, “No,” adding that the president “has never tried to put hands on these investigations.”

In the interview, Garland discussed a range of issues and sought to reaffirm the independence of the Justice Department. 

On special counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor in the federal cases against Trump, Garland said he was not in communication with the president or any member of the administration about the Trump investigation.

“The most important aspect of the regulations is that the special counsel is not subject to the day-to-day supervision of anyone in the Justice Department,” Garland said.

He also pushed back on claims that special counsel David Weiss, who is investigating Hunter Biden, was “slow walking” the investigation. 

“Well, look. This investigation began under David Weiss,” Garland said in the interview. “David Weiss is a longstanding career prosecutor, and he was appointed by Mr. Trump as the United States attorney for the district of Delaware. I promised at my nomination hearing that I would continue him on in that position and that I would not interfere with his investigation.”