Adam Schiff Complains That Merrick Garland Wasn’t Partisan Enough

Senator Adam Schiff complained during a recent interview that former Attorney General Merrick Garland had not done enough to prosecute President Donald Trump, and claimed that the reason was Garland’s unwillingness to be seen as a partisan actor.

Schiff argued that Garland had intentionally slow-walked efforts made by then-President Joe Biden’s Justice Department to prosecute Trump — in cases that stretched across multiple jurisdictions — because he was taking precautions to ensure that those prosecutions were not partisan in nature.

WATCH:

Adam Schiff laments that Trump wasn’t prosecuted fast enough to be put in prison. He blames Garland for being just too darned non-partisan:

“He wanted to restore the reputation of the department for strict non-partisanship. And that made him very reluctant. Too reluctant.” pic.twitter.com/jpmVZMLnBj

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) December 8, 2025

Schiff, during a lengthy conversation with The New Yorker’s David Remnick, effectively complained that Garland’s “reluctance” to prosecute Trump had kept him out of prison long enough for him to win reelection.

“I hear all the time how the Justice Department under Merrick Garland, under that horrible partisan Merrick Garland, was so weaponized against Donald Trump. And that’s a complete fiction of fabrication,” Schiff insisted.

“Do you feel that Merrick Garland moved too slowly, too cautiously?” Remnick asked.

“I absolutely do. Yeah. And this is the irony of it, of attacking Merrick Garland, which is they moved with alacrity against the foot soldiers who broke into the Capitol that day,” Schiff complained. “They moved not at all for entire year against the higher-ups.”

“Why did Merrick Garland move so slowly?” Remnick pressed. “What about his character or tactics or strategy led him to behave that way?”

“The Justice Department in the first Trump was abused and made partisan, and he wished to restore the Department’s reputation for independence. Now, what they did in the first Trump Justice Department is peanuts compared to today,” Schiff insisted. “But nevertheless, Merrick Garland wanted to restore the reputation of the Department for strict non-partisanship. And that made him very reluctant to pursue an investigation of the President, too reluctant.”

Schiff then pinned the blame on the Supreme Court, arguing that Garland’s lack of urgency had given the court time to throw out additional roadblocks. His overall assessment was that Garland may have had the right idea, but that his execution had created a buffer zone around Trump that actually helped him prevail.

“Ultimately that gave the Supreme Court the time it needed to drag things out further and make the case against Trump go away completely when it could have been brought to fruition,” he added. “And we might be in a very different place today, but I think it was that laudable aim that taken too far amounted to a kind of immunity for the President.”