Former George W. Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales argued on CNN on Tuesday that current Attorney General Merrick Garland has an obligation to enforce the law and should not be deterred by Donald Trump supporters threatening violence if their MAGA leader is arrested.
CNN's Kasie Hunt played a clip of President Joe Biden discussing the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol while campaigning in Pennsylvania.
"My Republican friends in Congress, don't tell me you support law enforcement if you won't condemn what happened on the 6th," Biden said. "Don't tell me."
"What do you make of that?" Hunt asked. "President Biden responding to President Trump and many of his supporters?"
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"You know, I would go a little bit further," Gonzales replied. "I would say don't tell me you believe in the rule of law, don't tell me you believe in democracy, if you are not willing to condemn what happened on Jan. 6 so listen, i think we have issues on both sides of the aisle, quite frankly, but I certainly agree with the sentiment that don't tell me that you support the police if you're not willing to condemn what happened on Jan. 6."
"He also talked," Hunt said. "President Biden talked at some length about political violence and he seemed to be responding to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) when he said, if such and such, this is President Biden, if such and such happens, there will be blood in the streets. Of course, potentially referring to Lindsey Graham saying over the weekend that there would be riots in the streets in the event that the former president is indicted over the search down at Mar-a-logo. What was your take on the president's pushback to those comments?"
"Let me comment first on Sen. Graham's comments, which I thought were terrible, quite frankly," Gonzales said. "The notion that there should be any kind of violence in response to what may happen in our courts, again, the procedure is going to go according to the Constitution. Former President Trump, if he is in fact charged and tried, it will be pursuant to the protections afforded any defendant in our country."
"And so, you know, whatever the repercussions or outcome of anything that happens with respect to the search at Mar-a-Lago, there shouldn't be violence in response to that," Gonzalez continued. "So I condemn what Sen. Graham said. I think it was inappropriate and I think it was wrong."
Gonzales said that if Garlarnd, "believes a crime has been committed and he believes he can prove that crime, beyond a reasonable doubt in our courts, then he has an obligation to move forward. The most he can do at that point is of course prepare, have the federal government prepare for any kind of reaction that may arise as a result of the charges, as a result of the trial, as a result of a conviction. But make no mistake about it, he has an obligation as the attorney general to make sure that crimes are prosecuted. And you know, and deal with the repercussions when they occur."
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