With Trump in trouble, Republicans go for justice department

When Merrick Garland was nominated to the US supreme court by Barack Obama, Republicans refused to grant him a hearing. Now that Garland is the top law enforcement official in America, the party seems ready to give him one after all - an impeachment hearing.

- David Smith

Republicans on Capitol Hill are moving up a gear in a wide-ranging assault on the justice department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that would have been unthinkable before the rise of Donald Trump. The party that for half a century claimed the mantle of law and order has, critics say, become a cult of personality intent on discrediting and dismantling institutions that get in Trump's way.

"I often think, what would Richard Nixon say?" observed Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "He was the original law and order' president, with that slogan. What would he think now the party is going after the primary institutions of law and order, at least at the federal level? The law and order party has become the paranoid party."

The trend, apparent for years, has become palpable since Republicans gained narrow control of the House of Representatives in January. Within a month they had set up a panel, chaired by Trump loyalist Jim Jordan, to investigate "the Weaponization of the Federal Government" and examine what they allege is the politicisation of the justice department and FBI against conservatives.