WATCH: Merrick Garland bursts into laughter at GOP senator's question

[turbinetree]

By Travis Gettys
Published October 27, 2021

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Attorney General Merrick Garland laughed at a Republican senator's question during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), like every other GOP senator before him, used his allotted time to pepper Garland with questions about an Oct. 4 memo directing the Department of Justice to investigate threats against local school board members after a national organization asked President Joe Biden for federal intervention.

"The National School Board Association sent the letter to the White House and the White House promptly called you and said, 'Sic the FBI on parents at school board hearings, and that's what I mean," Kennedy said. "The White House is the prophet here and you're just the vessel, correct?"

https://www.rawstory.com/merrick-garland-hearing-2655409165/

Hey Kennedy, do you get in front of a mirror every morning prior to going into a hearing to have that concerned look on your face....and did you coordinate that question with the Youngkin campaign....

[Fullduplexxx]

1. Senator corn pone

[Mz Pip]

7. It's an act.

He plays the down home stupid act for his constituents. The guy’s a Rhode Scholar.

I’d hate it if one of my Senators dumbed it down for me.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. That GDSOB is what gives us southerners a bad name. Idiot. KKKlown.

[elleng]

3. GO AWAY, 'senator.'

[Walleye]

4. I wonder if he practices that mouth full of hush puppies drawl. Land o' Goshen.My goodness gracious

[NurseJackie]

32. Perfect description!

I'm going to have to remember that: "mouth full of hush-puppies drawl".

[Walleye]

33. For some reason the image always pops into my head

[MontanaMama]

5. Reublicans are dicks.

No exceptions. That is all.

[mahina]

6. Can anyone make out the chatter from the other live mic?

It sounded like a female said she wasn’t able to get to everything. Who was that the person who spoke right before Senator Kennedy? Who was that person? It sure sounded like a admission in a public format that they have a coordinated response and these are not questions from the individual senators.

Our guys ask their own questions, and I wish they coordinated but they never do.

Kennedy, drop the act. You’re an educated man.

[Ohioboy]

8. Why are Republicans against protecting teachers?

And why is it political to them? Threats are not protected by the first amendment.

[Mad_Machine76]

12. Exactly!

Of course they generally hate public school teachers.

[Ohioboy]

25. You'll notice

Every time Garland starts to talk about how it's not about stifling free speech, it's only about threats, he gets stopped by whomever is questioning him. They really don't want him to answer. They just want to be able to put out their talking points. The whole thing is sick.

[pazzyanne]

28. + 1 nt

[lindysalsagal]

29. Unions are huge dem donors: Second only to corporations. That's just one reason for

charter schools: They're not union, and they threaten public schools. This is the same as USPS: Privatize, sell shares, get rich quick, avoid nasty government oversight.

[LakeArenal]

9. Had to stop listening. Maybe tell us where the thing to hear is on the video.

[GoCubsGo]

10. Jubulation T. Cornpone asks his queston at 3:21.

Garland then chuckles at it a few seconds afterward. Apparently, Kennedy doesn't understand that the DOJ is no longer an arm of the White House, as it was under his Dear Leader.

[LakeArenal]

15. Thanks. 3minutes of Cornball is 3 minutes too much. I hate that Southern drawls.

[Hav]

11. Another clickbait title

Exaggerating the situation doesn't help appreciating the source of the story but it surely gets the clicks.

Anyways, Kennedy is either incredibly stupid or just bad faith. He still didn't get the point despite repeated explanations.

[pazzyanne]

30. "Anyways, Kennedy is either incredibly stupid or just bad faith...

...He still didn't get the point despite repeated explanations."

In a nutshell, Kennedy is stupid, and lazy! He is tied to his Repub talking points, so he clings to them like a drowning man clings to a life raft. No new information makes it into his head!

[msfiddlestix]

40. Agree/ClickBait Title

Rhode Scholar loves to play Stupid. He's got the strategy down to a tee.

Unfortunately, push back is seriously wanting.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

13. Garland is so weak at this part of his job duties it's truly sad and frustrating to witness

MHO, fwiw

This PuQ is cutting him off OVER AND OVER to make his lying political points, and he says nothing about it.

On top of that he lets Johnson simultaneously attack him for the FBI being 'sicced on parents' and ALSO attack him for the FBI NOT investigating (i.e. investigating the complaints before sending memo).

No way I'm letting someone pull that fallacious bullshit if I'm in his position.

[ananda]

19. I wish Biden would replace him.

Garland really needs to go.

[Ohioboy]

26. It would be nice to hear him push back a little

He should be objecting to the premise of 90% of the questions he gets from these republican scumbags.

[RussBLib]

14. is it too much to ask

to have an Attorney General that sounds forceful and not timid? I often cringe when I hear Garland stumble and mumble and hem and haw, all with a quivering voice. Geez. It really sounds like he is about to cry half the time.

Toughen up, Merrick!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I am criticizing his style over his substance. I remember the old saying, "It's not what you say but how you say it." Superficial? Sure.

And very frustrating to listen to.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

16. +1000 see my last post :) nt

[Hekate]

17. Having to listen to 3+ minutes of Kennedy before getting to a moderate chuckle from the AG...

…is asking too much. AG Garland is doing fine, imo. He’s just not cut out for mud-wrestling and fending off the lies and slimy insinuations of GOP politicians.

[HUAJIAO]

23. Well, perhaps we need an AG

who WILL mud-wrestle and fend off the lies and slimy insinuations of GOP politicians.

[kacekwl]

18. If you don't have much time Mr. Kennedy

stop talking like foghorn leghorn you slow witted moron and make your irrational ingenious point.

[AJT]

20. Merrick Garland is so weak. Krazy Kennedy rolled right over him.

Garland was a huge mistake.

[Thtwudbeme]

21. Cotten said, "Isn't that special?" WTF?? He's channeling

the Church Lady?

Jesus Christ that guy is a jackwit.

[Justice matters.]

22. I can't imagine how much an 'Acting' AG Glenn Kirschner would have shut up that disgusting POS. n/t

[ancianita]

24. Bullshit Republican theater to politicize the memo, then attack the AG for doing the same.

Kennedy's is a bad faith interpretation of the AG's & DOJ's position about protecting school boards and "chilling" parents -- most of whom throw more heat at board members and need to chill, anyway -- "you've turned into someone you said you wouldn't be."

Translation: "How dare you say the DOJ can investigate our racist parents' threats!"

[ShazzieB]

27. Every question Kennedy asked was based on wildly unfair assumptions.

And that's if you can even call them "questions." They were more like assertions based around bold faced Iies.

This performance was straight out of the "Have you stopped beating you wife yet?" handbook on how to plant false ideas in the minds of listeners.

[themaguffin]

31. Kennedy is insufferable

[DFW]

34. Why does EVERY SINGLE REUPBLICAN use the word "chilling" in their harangung of Garland?

I get that they all watch Fox Noise and think that interruption of someone you think might give an answer you don't like is legitimate discourse. But when they all basically come out and say exactly the same thing and use the same words, it's pretty obvious they are following a script they worked out in advance.

I wonder if they ever saw the film "Z" about the fascist takeover in Greece in 1967? At the end, a prosecutor questions a line of corrupt government officials involved in the murder of a popular opposition figure, and they ALL use the same phrases in their answers. The prosecutor is removed and the fascists take over until the uprising of 1974. The film was made before they were booted out. I hope we don't go there, but listening Republicans with their nasty smirks using the same expressions over and over, one after another, gave me the creeps. These were no questions derived from true inquiry, but rather scripted remarks.

[helpisontheway]

35. Garland should resign and Adam Schiff should be AG. Nt

[Leith]

36. Kennedy sounds drunk

He says "ashoshiayshun" and has 3 different ways of pronouncing "incidents."

That ain't corn pone (like "commit a crahm" ), it's day drinking.

[Skittles]

38. it's a phony, folksy accent for the brain-dead cult supporters

to distract from the fact he was educated in "elite" universities

[Skittles]

37. jeez I hate that fucking phony Kennedy

[Martin Eden]

39. Kennedy's questions contained lies and false premises

Garland should have pointed that out, because answering the question as asked tacitly accepts the false premise.