Ted Cruz grills Merrick Garland on satirical Nazi salutes, and 5 other moments from today's Senate hearing
Perhaps unsurprisingly, things grew rather heated (and bizarre) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, in which Attorney General Merrick Garland was blasted by Republicans for his "intimidating" memo pledging support to school officials facing rising violence in their districts, reports USA Today.
To start, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) classified Garland's testimony, official "directive," and entire "performance" as "shameful," before calling on him to "resign in disgrace." "Thank God you're not on the Supreme Court," Cotton exclaimed. Garland otherwise defended his decision to issue the Oct. 4 school board memo, and explained his motives for doing so throughout the hearing.
Cotton also wanted to know if the Department of Justice had begun investigating the protesters who followed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) into a bathroom earlier this month.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) ended his time by calling on Garland to resign, as well.
Meanwhile, Garland pushed back on assertions that the memorandum would have a "chilling impact" on parents' constitutional rights.
And of course, it wouldn't be a Senate hearing roundup without a memorable moment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who questioned Garland over Americans' right to use satirical Nazi salutes at school board meetings before grilling the AG over his son-in-law and critical race theory.
All in all, it looked to be quite an exhausting hearing for Garland, who somehow managed to keep his cool. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), on the other hand, eventually had enough of the day's antics.
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