Attorney General Merrick Garland warned of threats to U.S. democracy, citing violence including the 2021 riot at the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, rollbacks in voting rights and possible legislative efforts to overturn the outcome of elections.
“A democracy cannot survive if its citizens forsake the rule of law in favor of violence or threats of violence,” Garland said in a commencement speech Sunday at Harvard University, his alma mater.
The Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection while Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s election as president aimed at “interfering with a fundamental element of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next,” he said.
