Attorney General Merrick Garland came across in Wednesday's House hearing as a "pedestrian in their own department" who is seemingly uninvolved directly with multiple prominent investigations and concerns the DOJ is or should be handling, critics told FOX News.
Mark Levin, host of "Life, Liberty & Levin" who was Attorney General Edwin Meese's chief of staff during the Reagan administration, said his then-boss was much more involved in day-to-day DOJ activities than Garland appears to be. Meese, he said, wasn't afraid to proverbially take it to Democratic opposition during similar hearings, and didn't "hide behind" ambiguities.
Levin suggested Garland's responses to several Republican lawmakers' questions were not sufficiently detailed or direct for someone in his position.
"I was chief of staff to an attorney general, and I went to many hearings with my attorney general, Meese, and those hearings were very robust, and my attorney general went toe-to-toe with Democrats and some Republicans, and he wasn't hiding behind anybody else," Levin told "The Story."
"[Meese] wasn't hiding behind any platitudes, and he knew exactly what was going on in his department — and he got up there and that's what they did. That's not what happens anymore, apparently, with this attorney general."
Levin argued such issues with Garland's official persona should be raised by Congress to a "constitutional level." Otherwise, Republicans will be stuck on a "hamster wheel" trying to get transparency from the Biden administration.
Levin suggested Garland's responses to pointed questions were evasive or insufficient, which should lead to action by GOP lawmakers. He called on Congress to subpoena Garland's schedules, official correspondences and memoranda, as well as those of Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, whom he later claimed is the true leader of the current DOJ.
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"[T]he idea that he couldn't replace David Weiss because that would set back their investigation… is ridiculous," he added, claiming a Weiss replacement could get up to speed on the Hunter Biden investigation within days of appointment.
FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett previously cited to "Hannity" a federal regulation stating a special counsel appointment must be someone currently outside the federal government, as Weiss remained Delaware's U.S. attorney.
Levin said his experience with Meese and other Reagan officials was also very disparate from how Garland comports himself, recounting the then-attorney general being active in meetings with the directors of the FBI, DEA and BOP.
"People take notes… the subject matter of the meetings are noted. They need to get a hold of all this stuff and start to do the hard work of unraveling who's in charge, who's making these statements," he said.
Under questioning on Weiss' knowledge of the waning statute of limitations in the Hunter Biden probe, and the appointment of the prosecutor as special counsel, Garland said he didn't "endeavor to investigate" because it would be potentially improper.
"The way not to interfere is [to] not investigate an investigation," Garland responded to Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C.
George Washington University Law Prof. Jonathan Turley said Garland also appeared to act as a "virtual pedestrian in his own department" during the hearing.
"He kept on saying that other people made decisions," Turley said. "You have all of these scandals that were brought up to him, including things that were brought up two years ago, that he still says that he has no knowledge of, except for what he's reading in the media."
Turley remarked Garland was not someone pulled off the street to be questioned on what they saw in TV but a top federal official who should be versed in the subject matter.
He also criticized reports Weiss was the only person reportedly considered for special counsel in the Hunter Biden matter.
"[H]e reappointed the guy who was just accused by whistleblowers of fixing an investigation, the effective author of a sweetheart deal that collapsed within an hour in court. And he didn't want to do anything that would disrupt that."
"He's about as active as a ficus plant, as he describes his role… he takes no action," Turley said, adding that Garland "appears not curious at all about any" of the controversies and criticisms surrounding Weiss' probe, nor that he was rebuffed by California and District of Columbia federal prosecutors while seeking to expand the investigation.
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