WATCH: Biden Attorney General Nomination Merrick Garland Says Antifa Attacks on Federal Courthouse Are Not Domestic Terror
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) asked Judge Merrick Garland on Monday if he believed Antifa’s attacks on the US Courthouse in Portland in 2020 was an act of domestic terror.
[Scroll Down for Video Footage]
Garland claimed that because the courthouse was closed and not in session, he would not consider it to be domestic terrorism.
This is in stark contrast to how Garland and others have characterized the rioters on January 6th at the US State Capitol building.
Sen. Hawley: Let me ask you about assaults on federal property in places other than Washington, DC — Portland, for instance, Seattle. Do you regard assaults on federal courthouses or other federal property as acts of domestic extremism, domestic terrorism?
Judge Garland: Well, Senator, my own definition, which is about the same as the statutory definition, is the use of violence or threats of violence in attempt to disrupt the democratic processes. So an attack on a courthouse, while in operation, trying to prevent judges from actually deciding cases, that plainly is domestic extremism, domestic terrorism. An attack simply on a government property at night, or any other kind of circumstances, is a clear crime and a serious one, and should be punished. I don’t know enough about the facts of the example you’re talking about. But that’s where I draw the line. One is — both are criminal, but one is a core attack on our democratic institutions.
The video footage of the exchange between Garland and Hawley is embedded below:
The Antifa riots in Portland last summer resulted in the courthouse being boarded up; the destruction of security equipment, and the breaking of windows in the offices of federal prosecutors. However under Garland’s viewpoint, that damage is not necessarily considered domestic terrorism.
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