WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland is seeking to assure career staffers at the Justice Department that he will prioritize restoring the agency’s reputation for political independence and ensuring equal justice after a tumultuous four years under former President Donald Trump. Garland is inheriting a Justice Department embattled by a turbulent era under Trump, who insisted that the attorney general and the department must be loyal to him personally, battering the department’s reputation for political independence. Former Attorney General William Barr resigned in December, weeks after he said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential race, contradicting Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.
