By Sarah N. Lynch Reuters
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday rejected accusations by House Republicans that he had politicized the criminal justice system in a bid to stop Donald Trump from reclaiming the White House.

In defiant testimony, Garland told lawmakers he would not allow politics to interfere with the Justice Department’s independent criminal investigations, and he accused them of peddling conspiracy theories that could endanger federal law enforcement officers.

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“I will not be intimidated,” Garland told lawmakers before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. “And the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.”

Tuesday marked the first time Garland has appeared before Congress since a Manhattan jury convicted Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump on 34 counts of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star before the 2016 election.

Trump still faces three other state or federal criminal cases — two brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents — and a state case in Georgia also tied to his actions in the 2020 White House race.

Republicans have claimed all four cases are politically motivated and represent an effort by Trump’s rival, President Joe Biden, to interfere in the Nov. 5, 2024 election.

They have threatened to defund Smith’s two investigations into Trump.

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee have also sought to advance contempt proceedings against Garland, after he refused to provide audio recordings of Biden’s interview with a second special counsel who investigated Biden’s retention of classified records and declined to press charges.

If Trump wins a second term in November, his allies have pledged to stack the Justice Department with loyalists who will do his bidding. Trump has said he wants to use the department to pursue his own political rivals – the very thing Republicans now accuse the Justice Department of doing.

“Many Americans believe there is now a double standard in our justice system,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio said on Tuesday. “They believe that because there is.”