Following Wednesday’s violent clashes on Capitol Hill between law enforcement and supporters of President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden assured Americans that his incoming Justice Department will follow the rule of law – not his own personal bidding.
In a speech introducing several high-level nominees in his incoming Justice Department, Biden on Thursday called those who breached the Capitol building “domestic terrorists,” strongly condemning both the president and his supporters for their actions.
“Yesterday in my view, was one of the darkest days in the history of our nation. An unprecedented assault on our democracy. An assault on the rule of law, an assault on the most sacred of American undertakings,” Biden said in an address from Wilmington, Delaware. “It was not dissent, it was not disorder, it was not protests. It was chaos.”
The violence, Biden said, was predictable, and the result of four years of a president whose rhetoric resembles that of an “autocrat.”
“The past four years we’ve had a president who’s made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law, clear in everything he has done,” Biden declared of President Trump, vowing a dramatic change of course in his administration. “More than anything, we need to restore the honor, the integrity, the independence of the Department of Justice that’s been so badly damaged.”
Also on full display Wednesday were the clear disparities in police responses for supporters of President Trump and those who demonstrated in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in June of last year. Biden touched on images from the summer protests, where armed members of the DC National Guard hovered over peaceful protesters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
But on Wednesday, rioters had already breached the US Capitol by the time the DC National Guard was activated.
“Not only did we see a failure to protect one of the three branches of our government, we also saw a clear failure to carry out equal justice,” Biden said of police response to Wednesday’s violence. “No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protestors yesterday that they wouldn’t have been treated very differently than the mob that stormed the Capitol.”
That contrast, Biden said, “could not have more vividly demonstrated some of the important work we have to do in this nation.”
It was a poignant introduction for a slew of Biden’s Justice Department nominees, all of whom spoke of the importance of upholding the rule of law in the United States. Many also addressed the ongoing racial inequality throughout the country, pledging to “make equal justice for all under the law a real opportunity.”
Here are the nominees Biden announced and what they had to say:
While some of Biden’s nominees may face tough confirmation hearings, the president-elect on Thursday said he thinks Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to Attorney General will be swiftly approved. Garland was one of several Obama-era figures on Thursday’s stage: Senate Republicans refused to even hold hearings when President Barack Obama nominated Garland for the Supreme Court in 2016.
“It is no surprise why President Obama nominated Judge Garland to the Supreme Court,” Biden said Thursday. “He embodies honor, decency, integrity — fidelity to the rule of law and judicial independence. It’s those same traits he will now bring as the Attorney General of the United States, not as the personal attorney to the President.”
Already, Garland’s nomination has the support of at least one GOP senator — Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday tweeted he thinks Garland is a “sound choice” for the nation’s attorney general.
Should his nomination be confirmed, Garland would take over as the nation’s top law enforcement official at a critical moment for the nation and the agency. He would inherit immediate challenges related to civil rights, an ongoing criminal tax investigation into Biden’s son Hunter and calls from many Democrats to pursue criminal inquiries into Trump after he leaves office.
Facing the public for the first time at Biden’s side, Garland promised to restore independence and integrity to the Justice Department, pointing to Wednesday’s assault on the Capitol as a consequence of failing to do so.
“As everyone who watched yesterday’s events in Washington now understands, if they did not understand before, the rule of law is not just some lawyers’ turn of phrase, it is the very foundation of our democracy,” Garland said.
Marking yet another Obama staffer hoping to return to the White House, Lisa Monaco served as homeland security adviser to the former president.
“A fifteen-year veteran of the Department of Justice, Lisa knows the department inside and out. She is a definition of what a public servant should be — decent, trusted, and honorable,” Biden said of his nominee. “A top-flight prosecutor who took on public corruption, corporate fraud, and violent crime.”
Monaco in particular brings to the department significant national security experience, including in cybersecurity — an especially urgent issue as the U.S. government confronts a devastating hack of federal agencies that officials have linked to Russia.
“Today, we are at another inflection point. Some of the challenges we face are familiar — racial inequality; the need for criminal justice reform; domestic terrorism and threats to public safety,” Monaco said. “Some of the tasks are enduring — like the importance of working closely with law enforcement to ensure public safety and build trust in our communities. Some of the challenges are evolving — like mounting cyber threats.”
“I’m confident that the Department of Justice is up to all these challenges, but what is most critical in the days ahead is not a challenge at all — but an opportunity,” she added.
Vanita Gupta, who was head of the Obama Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, was tapped by Biden to serve as associate attorney general, the No. 3 official.
The president-elect also said Gupta is “one of the most respected civil rights lawyers in America.”
“At every step, with every case, she has fought for greater equity and to right the wrongs in our justice system where they existed,” Biden said. “And she has done so by bringing people together, earning praise from across the ideological spectrum for her approach to solving some of the thorniest problems we face.”
The selection of Gupta as associate attorney general and Kristen Clarke as assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, two women with significant experience in civil rights, appeared designed to blunt any concerns about his selection and served as a signal that progressive causes would be prioritized in the new administration.
If confirmed, Gupta would be the first woman of color to serve as Associate Attorney General.
“I am honored to return to a Department that will push every day for justice, accountability, and equality under the law,” Gupta said Thursday. “It will not be enough to restore what has been undermined or lost. This moment demands bold leadership.”
“The Department of Justice, as it has done throughout history, will have to uncover and reckon with hard truths; hold people, companies, and institutions accountable to our Constitution and laws; drive change where there is injustice; and heal a nation starving for decency and hope,” Gupta concluded.
Biden has tapped Kristen Clarke, now the president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. In 2011, Clarke was appointed Director of the Civil Rights bureau of then-Attorney General of New York Eric Schneiderman.
Having served in the department previously, Clarke has plenty of experience handling cases involving hate crimes, human trafficking, police misconduct, voting rights and redistricting -- but is perhaps most well-known for winning a landmark case against a group of white supremacists in 2019.
“Her previous tenure with the Justice Department saw her take on some of the most complex civil rights cases — from voting rights and redistricting challenges to prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking,” Biden acknowledged on Thursday, adding: “Now, she will return full circle to pursue that vital work where her career began.”
“If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed, we will turn the page on hate and close the door on discrimination by enforcing our federal civil rights laws,” Clarke pledged on Thursday.
“I know the passion and fearlessness that both the President-elect and the Vice President-elect bring to the work before us to restore justice, to heal our nation, and to move us closer to that ideal of equal justice.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.