ABC lands first one-on-one TV interview with Garland since confirmation

ABC News announced on Sunday that it will air the first one-on-one interview with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland since his Senate confirmation last month.

The interview, set to air on Monday, will be conducted by ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas.

ABC News noted that the interview will air on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which Garland helped prosecute as a top Justice Department official.

The interview will air across multiple ABC News platforms including “World News Tonight with David Muir,” “ABC News Live Prime,” “Nightline,” and “Good Morning America.”

The Senate voted to confirm Garland as attorney general on March 10 in a 70-30 vote. He had previously been nominated by former President Obama to serve on the Supreme Court to replace the late justice Antonin Scalia, but the GOP-controlled Senate refused to hold a hearing for Garland, claiming at the time that it was too close to the 2016 president election, which was eight months away.

This episode became a point of contention after former President Trump nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett less than two months before the 2020 presidential election. 

President Biden announced in January that he had selected Garland to be his attorney general. Biden had reportedly also considered former Democratic Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former deputy attorney general Sally Yates.

During his confirmation hearing, Garland vowed to work independently from Biden.

“I am the United States’ lawyer. I will do everything in my power … to fend off any effort by anyone to make prosecutions or investigations partisan or political in any way,” Garland said.

“I would not have taken this job if I thought that politics would have any influence over prosecutions and investigations,” he added.