Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing on domestic extremism as Congress ramped up its scrutiny this week of the circumstances around the attack on the Capitol.
Both Garland and Mayorkas testified that white supremacist groups pose the most serious domestic national security threat in the U.S., reinforcing what analysts have long concluded about far-right organizations.
"Domestic violent extremists pose an elevated threat in 2021 and in the FBI's view, the top domestic violent extremist threat we face comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race," Garland told lawmakers at the top of the hearing.
But the hearing on Wednesday highlighted the competing partisan priorities as Republicans urged a crackdown on illegal immigration and Democrats questioned whether the agencies are fully prioritizing efforts to prevent the type of domestic extremism that led to the storming of the Capitol.
Garland dismissed concern from Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) who asked whether the Justice Department was investigating with "equal vigor" protests in Portland, Ore., and other cities that were often a focus of former President Trump.
"We don't care what the ideology is, violations of law are pursued and are prosecuted. I think it's fair to say that in my career as a judge, and in law enforcement, I have not seen a more dangerous threat to democracy than the invasion of the Capitol," Garland said. "There was an attempt to interfere with the fundamental passing of an element of our democracy, the peaceful transfer of power. And if there has to be a hierarchy of things that we prioritize, this would be the one we'd prioritize. It is the most dangerous threat to our democracy. That does not mean that we don't focus on other threats."
Comment: Garland shows himself to be a massive schlub here. All of the sudden the 'capitol riots' are now 'white supremacist. There is so much in his statement that isn't even wrong. It ought to be concerning that such a massive tool is the US Attorney General, but that's probably the reason he is in such a position in the first place.
The Department of Justice has brought more than 400 prosecutions against individuals who participated in the Capitol riot, including members of right-wing groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who are facing conspiracy charges over their alleged roles in planning out operations at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Some of those charges have also been brought against those with a military or law enforcement background.
Mayorkas faced questions on a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) commitment to conduct an internal review of its own workforce to root out any extremist views within its ranks.
"That sends chills down my spine that we have to even be doing that," committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said before securing a commitment from Mayorkas to make the conclusions of the review public.
Mayorkas's appearance before the committee follows an announcement by DHS that they are establishing a specific domestic terror branch within the department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis and amid reports that DHS plans to increase its scrutiny of social media to root out potential extremist plots.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) warned the agencies need to track social media not just to root out plots but to monitor disinformation campaigns from Russia.
"They are using the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol in such a manner to amplify narratives in furtherance of their policy which is to disrupt and disunite and to indeed destroy, if they could, our democracy," he said.
But Mayorkas didn't offer specifics on DHS's efforts, instead offering up a closed door briefing.
"We are intensely focused on the information with respect to Russia's effort to sow discord and disunity in our country. And of course we're bringing an all of government effort to respond to that, and I would welcome the opportunity to brief you in a more appropriate forum to address information we have in that regard," he said.
While in past hearings on domestic extremism, Republicans have largely sought to encourage the agencies to focus their attention on left-wing extremism, Wednesday's questions from the GOP were almost exclusively centered on the southern border.
Mayorkas sought to dispel any concerns that swelling migration at the southern border could present a terror threat.
"We don't have any evidence to suggest that the threat on the border with respect to a foreign terrorist is any greater today than it was last year, the year prior, or the years over the past decade," he said.
Reader Comments
R.C.
"Comment: Garland shows himself to be a massive shlub here. All of the sudden the 'capitol riots' are now 'white supremisist. There is so much in his statement that isn't even wrong. It ought to be concerning that such a massive tool is the US Attorney General, but that's probably the reason he is in such a position in the first place."
SOTT rocks, it's editors, authors, tech support and contributors do an awesome job; this site has credibility up the wazoo my friend ... and most commenters are top notch too, imho, except me, my humour sucks... see what i mean:
a dyslexic walks into a bra.
an onomatopoeia walks into a bar without a sound.
a dangling participle walks into a bar. enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.
an oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
a comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. they sit. they converse. they depart.
the past, present, and future walked into a bar. it was tense.
a verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. the noun declines.
Stays up in bed wondering if there's a dog.
RC
it's been a while since i've been called an "idiot" ... i appreciate that, it keeps things in perspective, thank you.
yes you are correct: the two words: penis and pianist, are quite different - that was the point, it’s called humor - of course it has nothing to do with dialectics or dyslexia ... that's the point. you still don't get it do you ? maybe upsizing your boxers might help.
i modestly play the piano, and am quite proud of my penis, therefore i'm fairly sure i’m not an idiot, ...not today anyway.
if you’ve been following sott commentary for a while you would have noticed i speak a few languages and occasionally recognize the opportunity for a "play on words" both with spelling and grammatical sentence structure; i often utilize this skill, when commenting, to illustrate or highlight context in a humorous and non sarcastic fashion.
i also read and observe wit in the commentary; to which you have clearly articulated that you are a witty person - be it only half the time.
if you think the occasional spelling mistake detracts from the professionalism / credibility of sott editors then that's your prerogative. do you work for a living ? ever made professional mistakes ? ever heard that saying by JC "... those who live in glass houses...".
have a nice day.
ps. who calls people insulting names ? i mean really, was that supposed to make me angry ?
dude, remember, boxers/briefs, upsize.
you really need another hug buddy.
and no, that's not another deflection.
good luck dude.
One day a man walks into a bar and to his amazement, he finds a tiny person playing a tiny piano. Stunned, the man asked the bartender where he got this amazing person. The bartender replied that inside the closet there is a genie that will grant him a single wish.
The man dashed into the the closet, and as the bartender said, there was a genie inside.
Without hesitation the man wished for a million bucks, but instead 1 million ducks instantly appeared. Infuriated the man stormed to the bartender and screamed, "I think your genie is hard of hearing, I asked for a million bucks but instead I got a million ducks."
The bartender shook his head and replied, "You're telling me... Do you really think I asked for a 12 inch pianist?"
i wondered if anyone had the horsepower to correlate the two p words.
you did, that's cool, thank you.