JD Vance Deflects While Defending Matt Gaetz

In a possible attempt to shield Matt Gaetz, who President-elect Donald Trump has tapped as the next attorney general, from criticism, Vice President-elect JD Vance made a post on social media deflecting attention toward current AG Merrick Garland.
Trump called Gaetz a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney” when he announced the pick on his Truth Social platform Wednesday. As attorney general, Gaetz would “root out systemic corruption” at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Trump said.
With an air of shock coming with the appointment, Vance attacked the current attorney general, saying that he had used the DOJ to target political critics and had used federal agents to harass parents at school board meetings.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Vance wrote: “The main issue with Matt Gaetz is that he used his office to prosecute his political opponents and authorized federal agents to harass parents who were peacefully protesting at school board meetings.
“Oh wait, that’s actually Merrick Garland, the current attorney general.”
While the attempt might be to distract from Gaetz’s qualifications and appointment, the claims Vance made about Merrick Garland could be considered misleading.
Newsweek has reached out to Vance, Trump, Gaetz and Garland for comment.
His first criticism seems to be leveled at the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump, a carryover of the allegations made by the President-elect following his last term in the White House and ahead of the 2024 election that the department had been “weaponized” against him.
Trump and his allies have often said that Garland using his authority to appoint special counsel Jack Smith to oversee federal cases examining Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and his role in the events of January 6, 2021, were politically motivated.
Garland said in September that he would not allow the Justice Department to be used as a “political weapon” and called out “conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence.”
“It is dangerous to target and intimidate individual employees of this Department solely for doing their jobs,” Garland said.
Before his reelection, Trump and his allies had also shared false claims about how the Justice Department had used its powers to suppress free speech and the credibility of Trump.
Vance’s comments that Garland used federal agents to “harass parents who were peacefully protesting at school board meetings” is part of the same weaponization rhetoric and has been debunked.
As reported by The Washington Post in October 2021, the DOJ was accused of using the FBI to pursue parents after a memo was sent out announcing plans by the federal task forces to investigate violence and threats of violence at these meetings.
The move from the Department of Justice came after fraught scenes at school board meetings across the country, with heated exchanges about COVID-19 regulations and Critical Race Theory (CRT).
Some meetings were subject to protests against mask mandates and other COVID-19 measures, while videos of attendees strongly opposing the teaching of CRT were widely circulated.
Garland’s memo did not directly refer to school board meetings, CRT or COVID-19, but it did reference “debate about policy matters.”
“In recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools,” the memo said.
“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.
“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety,” it said.
Garland’s memo did not mention parents and, instead, directly references “illegal” threats and harassment. It doesn’t propose any direct action other than coordinating or sharing information on addressing the trend and said that the FBI would “announce a series of measures designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.”
The memo or the comments did not suggest that this initiative was a part of interrupting peaceful protest, as Vance appear to say in his post.
“It makes absolutely clear, in the first paragraph, that spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution,” Garland told a Senate panel in October 2021.
“That includes debate by parents criticizing school boards.”
The memo was widely used by Republicans to assert that Garland was attempting to treat parents as criminals.
Vance’s attack on Garland came amid questions and shock regarding the appropriateness of Gaetz as Trump’s attorney general pick.
Legal experts have questioned Trump’s selection of Gaetz due to his limited legal experience and because he is being tapped to lead a department that has previously investigated him.
The DOJ ended a sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz with no charges last year. His resignation on Wednesday ends the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into allegations of child sex trafficking, sexual misconduct, and illicit drug use, among other things.
Gaetz has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.