In an exclusive interview with NPR, the attorney general says he won't avoid cases related to the Capitol riot probe that are political, controversial or sensitive.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One year ago, Merrick Garland walked into the Justice Department as the United States attorney general. His job has been to move the department in a direction that differed from the priorities of his predecessors, including Jeff Sessions and William Barr. Garland sat for an exclusive interview with NPR's Carrie Johnson this week, and she joins us now. Carrie, good morning.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: You know, Garland has very rarely spoken at length in public at all. Why is he talking now?

JOHNSON: Well, one year in, Merrick Garland told me, he's getting comfortable at the Justice Department. He came from what he calls the monastery of a federal appeals court. And he walked into this institution that took a beating during the Trump years. It was under constant attack from the former president. Now there are some big questions about whether Merrick Garland is going to investigate Donald Trump, and he answered very carefully.

MERRICK GARLAND: Look, we follow the law and we follow the facts, and we follow them wherever they go. That's our one rule.

JOHNSON: The Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, cast a long shadow. Just that morning, the Biden campaign announced that Garland would be his nominee for attorney general, but that news was upstaged by images of a violent mob clashing with police. One hundred forty officers were injured that day; five people died.

GARLAND: People are working every day, 24/7, and are fully aware of how important this is. This had to do with the interference with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another. And it doesn't get more important than that.

JOHNSON: Garland has vowed to track down everyone responsible for January 6, whether they busted into the Capitol or helped fund or incite the attack. But he's been reluctant to address how the Justice Department is treating former President Trump. Congressional investigators recently asserted Trump could be charged with conspiracy and obstruction. I asked Garland about concerns from Democrats in Congress, and even some of his friends, that the DOJ would be too wary of a firestorm to move high up the chain of responsibility.

GARLAND: Look, I'm going to be clear about this. We are not avoiding cases that are political or cases that are controversial or sensitive. What we are avoiding is making decisions on a political basis, on a partisan basis.

JOHNSON: Garland says the rule of law requires that prosecutors treat cases alike. He says it doesn't matter if they involve the powerful or the powerless. So far, the Justice Department has charged 775 people with crimes related to the Capitol riot. This week, it won the first jury conviction and charged the leader of the far-right Proud Boys with conspiracy. The FBI seems to be homing in on a meeting between leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia in an underground parking garage the day before the attack.

GARLAND: This is the most urgent investigation in the history of the Justice Department. It is the most resource intensive. We've thrown 70 prosecutors from the District of Columbia and another 70 around the country. Every FBI office, almost every U.S. attorney's office in the country is working on this matter.

JOHNSON: The attorney general says he doesn't know whether they're near the halfway point in that investigation.

GARLAND: Particularly federal prosecutors, we begin with the cases that are right in front of us with overt actions, and then we build from there. And that is a process that we will continue to build until we hold everyone accountable who committed criminal acts with respect to January 6.

JOHNSON: Garland is balancing that Capitol riot probe with other top priorities, such as federal civil rights work. The Justice Department has charged 30 people with hate crimes since Biden took office. This year, it won convictions against police officers who stood by and failed to intervene as George Floyd died on a street in Minneapolis and three other men who chased and cornered Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia because he was Black. The attorney general says from the days of its founding, the DOJ has been focused on civil rights.

GARLAND: That's our job. That's in the DNA of the Justice Department.

JOHNSON: He says the Supreme Court has narrowed his options on voting rights, but DOJ is continuing to press ahead with lawsuits in Georgia and Texas. And Garland says he's keeping an open mind about other possible cases. He's also keeping a close eye on violent crime rates. The Justice Department has launched special task forces to help in places where shootings and homicides are on the rise.

GARLAND: We've issued violent crime strategies, which we are pursuing across the country. I have made stops in a number of cities already, and I expect to do more.

JOHNSON: Next week, the attorney general plans to visit Louisiana and Georgia with more travel on the way. Garland says every day is filled with variety. His attention runs from cracking down on price fixing in the chicken industry to seizing the assets of oligarchs who facilitate the war in Ukraine, not much like his last job on the federal bench.

GARLAND: Judges have to sit and wait until a great case or something important comes to them. Here, I can read an urgent report in the morning or, more important, I can hear something on NPR from you pointing out a problem that the - either in the country or the Justice Department is doing, and we can do something about that.

JOHNSON: Garland mentioned a recent NPR story that reported prosecutors have been limiting people's rights to ask for a compassionate release from prison as a condition of federal plea agreements. That relief is supposed to be available for prisoners suffering severe illness or other extraordinary circumstances. But prosecutors have been trying to restrict it for people who plead guilty and may have no idea what health problems or other troubles lurk in their future.

GARLAND: That sounded wrong, and we immediately, after I read your piece, started investigating that. And I can tell you that - and very soon, we will be issuing new policies to prevent those kind of across-the-board requirements that defendants waive their rights to seek compassionate release.

INSKEEP: That's Attorney General Merrick Garland responding to some reporting by our own Carrie Johnson, who talked with him - a rare interview. Carrie, he's in the middle of a job that can be bruising. Any idea how long he's going to stay?

JOHNSON: Yeah, I got the sense he's really enjoying it. He told me he loves it, despite all this political pressure on him, including from some of his friends and former professors and students at Harvard Law School. He knows that there is a possibility congressional oversight will get even more intense after the midterm elections, but he really seems to want to stick around for a while and to make his mark. One person after whom he's modeled his tenure is Ed Levi, who served two years. I think Garland wants to serve more as AG. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.