Biden to blame Trump for ‘chaos and carnage’ of 6 January attack – live | US news

It was a quiet week already for the Senate, with Monday’s snow keeping everyone out of session for Monday and Tuesday (and Tim Kaine stuck in traffic for 27 hours, lest we forget).

Now it appears to be staying that way:

While attorney general Merrick Garland and his speech today will not have assuaged any critics who are calling for the justice department to act more swiftly and judiciously with their investigation into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, the reaction to his remarks have mostly been positive:

At one point, Garland began talking about the debunked claims of widespread voter fraud – claims he pointed out were debunked by officials in both administrations – and how these claims are now being used to restrict the rights of voters.

Attorney general Merrick Garland quietly acknowledged the frustration with the speed and scope of the justice department’s investigation, making a point to describe how investigators must build a foundation first with the easy cases to get to the big cases.

“To ensure that all those criminally responsible are held accountable, we must collect the evidence,” he said. “We follow the physical evidence, we follow the digital evidence, we follow the money. But most importantly, we follow the facts. Not an agenda, not an assumption, the facts tell us where to go.”

Attorney general Merrick Garland said thus far, the justice department has filed charges against 725 defendants “in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia” in connection to the 6 January attack.

Of those defendants, 325 were charged with felonies – 20 have already pleaded guilty.

Garland noted that investigators have “issued 5,000 subpoenas, seized 2,000 devices, pored through 20,000 hours of video footage and searched through 15 terabytes of data”.

“The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last,” he said. “The justice department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”

Attorney general Merrick Garland has taken the podium to reaffirm that the justice department’s commitment to defending the American democracy. He alluded to a major point in the Biden administration’s agenda: voter rights protections.

“We will protect the cornerstone of our democracy: the right to every eligible citizen to cast a vote that counts,” he said.

Tomorrow, Joe Biden will address the nation on the anniversary of one the worst days in the country’s history, the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Now it appears far-right representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene will be providing a response.

As a reminder, many have voiced unhappiness with the justice department and how attorney general Merrick Garland has been handling the investigation into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol – the main criticism being that the justice department has not taken enough action, gotten to the origins of the organizing behind the attack or made any mention about Donald Trump’s role in the whole event.

In a moment, attorney general Merrick Garland will provide remarks on the justice department’s investigation into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Watch live here.