Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that he has deployed the FBI to track down those responsible for attacking crisis pregnancy centers but the agency has been stymied by “clever” criminals who do their work at night.
In heated testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Garland defended his department’s fulsome prosecutions of protesters at abortion clinics and insisted he would deliver the same treatment to those who firebomb or vandalize Catholic churches and pro-life centers — if the FBI could find them.
“If you have any information specifically as to who those people are, we would be glad to have that,” Mr. Garland said.
“That’s your job,” responded Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican.
Republican senators repeatedly pressed the attorney general on what they said was a striking disparity between prosecutions in pro-life and pro-choice attacks.
They were incredulous at his explanation that the FBI has come up empty.
Ms. Blackburn pointed to an attack on a pregnancy center in Tennessee where a pro-choice group, Jane’s Revenge, took credit.
Mr. Garland said the FBI wants to nab those in the group responsible but can’t find them.
“We intend, if we find them, to [prosecute],” he said. “We have put heavy resources into this.”
Attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers have increased since the leak last year of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The ruling overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the abortion rights issue to the states.
Mr. Garland said the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which his department uses for prosecutions, applies equally to those who block clinics and pro-life centers. He acknowledged that his department has many more cases against pro-lifers protesting at abortion clinics but said it’s not intentional.
The attorney general said protesters at abortion clinics are violating laws “during the daylight” in view of cameras, and it’s easy to identify them. He called the attacks on pro-life centers “a horrid thing” but said they happen “in the dark.”
“These people who are doing this are clever, are doing this in secret, and I am convinced the FBI is trying to find them with urgency,” he said.
Republicans hammered Mr. Garland on abortion throughout the hearing. They expressed outrage that the Justice Department hadn’t prosecuted a single protester under a law that bars demonstrations outside federal judges’ homes to try to influence their rulings, the lack of security for Supreme Court justices, and the heavy-handed tactics used to arrest and charge a Pennsylvania pro-life demonstrator.
Protesters gathered outside the homes of justices in Maryland and Virginia after the Dobbs draft was leaked.
Some of the protests triggered vandalism and threats, including an assassination attempt in June against Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
“You sat on your hands and did nothing,” Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, told Mr. Garland. “Your failure to act to protect the safety of the justices and their families was an obvious product of political bias.”
He pointed to Mark Houck, a pro-life activist whom the Justice Department prosecuted on two charges of violating the FACE Act.
The charges stemmed from a 2021 encounter at an abortion clinic in Philadelphia. Federal authorities accused Mr. Houck of shoving an escort who was helping women enter the clinic. Mr. Houck said he pushed the clinic escort to protect his 12-year-old son.
In January, a jury found Mr. Houck not guilty on both counts of violating the FACE Act.
When the charges were brought last year, Mr. Houck offered to surrender to authorities, Republican senators said. Instead, the FBI made a high-profile morning raid, swarming his home with agents armed with long guns and ballistic shields.
Mr. Houck’s wife and seven children also were at home at the time, and his wife said agents pointed their weapons at her.
Mr. Garland said he was not notified of the raid in advance and said it was the decision of FBI agents on the scene. He said the FBI disputes the senators’ accounts of the raid.
Mr. Cruz said Mr. Garland hasn’t brought any charges against pro-choice activists under the federal law prohibiting protests in front of judges’ homes.
Although Mr. Garland acknowledged that the department hadn’t charged a single protester, he disputed accusations that he ignored the safety of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Mr. Garland said he took the unusual step of directing the U.S. Marshals Service to protect them.
“You asked me whether I sat on my hands, and quite the opposite. I sent 70 U.S. Marshals to defend [the justices],” Mr. Garland said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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