'Absurd!' Merrick Garland unloads rage on GOP lawmaker for insulting his religious heritage

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland lashed out at Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) after the congressman suggested that he was targeting religious Americans.

"The actions of the DOJ are on you," Van Drew charged at a House Judiciary hearing on Wednesday. "The decline of Americans' trust in our federal law enforcement is on you. The political weaponization of the DOJ is on you."

"Attorney General, I need a simple yes or no to the following, just yes or no, because we don't have much time," he continued. "Do you agree that traditional Catholics are violent extremists, yes or no?"

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"Let me answer what you've said in that long list of statements, and I'll be happy to answer all of those," Garland began before being interrupted.

"Attorney General, I control the time," the congressman remarked. "I'm going to ask you to answer the questions I ask."

"Attorney General, through the chair, I ask you, do you agree that traditional Catholics are violent extremists?" he repeated.

"I have no idea what the traditional means here," Garland replied.

Van Drew defined traditional as "Catholics that go to church."

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Garland responded with rage, seeming to take the question as an insult to his religious heritage. The attorney general's family fled anti-Semitism in western Russia.

"The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, so absurd," Garland said, raising his voice for the first time at the hearing.

After heated back and forth with Van Drew, Garland stated that he did not believe Catholics were extremists.

Watch the video below from House Judiciary.