![]() In a speech accepting Biden’s nomination one day after the Capitol attack, Garland invoked the historical roots of the justice department as an agency to “slay the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan and its offshoots” and “ensure civil rights which were under militant attack”. “I would say that his experience in Oklahoma City – and the work we needed to do in response to the church bombings that took place when we were at main justice in the mid-1990s, as well as the abortion clinic bombings – grounded him in the importance of civil rights,” Gorelick said, “and in the importance of coordinated and strong approaches to dealing with the enforcement of our laws relating to civil rights and protecting the country against terrorism of any sort.” Two additional police officers died by suicide “in the aftermath of the battle”, police said.Īsked how Garland might handle the challenge ahead, Gorelick pointed to their work together in the mid-1990s on a wave of bombings and arsons of African American churches in the south carried out by white men, and to separate prosecutions of attacks on abortion clinics. He brought families to the table, he brought survivors, first responders to the table that were still dealing with loss, and surgeries, and putting their lives back together.”įederal authorities have charged at least 150 people in the invasion of the Capitol, in which five people died including one police officer and one woman trampled to death. “He played a pivotal role here, but I think, fast-forward to 2021, and he can play a remarkable role in bringing our country back together,” said Kari Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum. People who know Garland from his work in Oklahoma believe that the country could have no better ally in the fight against homegrown extremism, a broad job whose challenges include not only prosecuting the recent insurrectionists but also preventing the next attack, disrupting extremist groups on social media, rooting out white supremacists from police forces and the military, and restoring public trust in the rule of law.įloodlights illuminate the Albert Murrah federal building 20 April 1995 as rescuers continue searching in the aftermath of the attack. In spite of his being the target of an infamous Republican stunt four years ago that blocked his nomination to the US supreme court, Garland is expected to be confirmed by the US Senate as attorney general in the coming weeks. “The Oklahoma City bombing and its legacy are critical to understanding the domestic extremist movements of today,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report last year. Stewing in pernicious lies about election fraud spread by Donald Trump, the United States is once again facing a rising threat of violence from anti-Washington extremists and white supremacists, according to a rare bulletin warning issued last week by the Department of Homeland Security – and the Oklahoma City attack is riding high in some minds. “If you look at his background, he was very well suited for working both with the FBI and the other investigative agencies, and well-regarded by all of them, and he had a wonderful way of bringing people together on the ground.” “We had tremendous confidence in him, and I think his handling of that very challenging situation was flawless,” said Jamie Gorelick, Garland’s boss at the time of the Oklahoma City attack and one of the country’s longest-serving deputy attorneys general. Now, after 23 years as one of the country’s top appeals court judges, Garland, 68, is once again returning to a lead prosecutor role, tapped by Joe Biden to run the justice department as attorney general – with the threat from anti-government extremists again on the agenda. ![]() In this photo from 27 April 1995, Merrick Garland, associate deputy attorney general, speaks to the media following the hearing of then suspect Timothy McVeigh.
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