By Steve Neavling
The heads of the Justice Department and Homeland Security warned senators Wednesday that white supremacy is the most serious threat facing the U.S.
In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the departments are cracking down on violent extremism.
“The department is taking a new approach to addressing domestic violent extremism, both internally and externally,” Mayorkas said.
Garland said the Jan. 6 insurrection was “an attempt to interfere with the fundamental element of our democracy, a peaceful transfer of power.”
“I have not seen a more dangerous threat to democracy than the invasion of the Capitol,” Garland said.
He added, “We will use every appropriate tool at our disposal to deter and disrupt such criminal acts and to bring their perpetrators to justice.”
The Justice Department has charged more than 430 people in connection to the deadly riot.
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy called the threat “uniquely dangerous” in his opening remarks.
“Attacks and plots by domestic extremists are at historic highs, with the majority of them being planned by those on the far right espousing white supremacist and related ideologies,” Leahy said. “In 2020 alone, white nationalists and like-minded extremists conducted 67% of terrorist plots and attacks in the United States. We cannot deny we are facing a class of criminals who feel more emboldened than ever.”
Read Garland’s full comments here.
