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U.S. Attorney General Defends Justice Department in House Hearing, Merrick Garland Questioned Over Department's Work and Role in High-profile Cases; Remembering China's Crackdown on Pro-democracy Protesters, Thousands Attend Candlelight Vigil in Taipei on Anniversary of Bloodshed; Major Asylum Restrictions Now In Effect At Southern Border; Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wins Record Third Term But With Smaller Majority; Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Spars With Labour Challenger In Heated Debate. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 05, 2024 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:22]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Joe Biden's border crackdown, the U.S. president imposing sweeping new restrictions on the southern border, even as he comes under fire from fellow Democrats who say he's taking a page out of the Trump playbook.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims a third term in India but the win is not nearly as convincing as some thought it would be.

And tempers flare on the debate stage in the U.K. as the country's top two contenders for prime minister square off in their first televised debate.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, just two hours ago, the U.S. president's sweeping new immigration restrictions went into effect, cutting off access to asylum for many migrants who illegally crossed the southern U.S. border.

The executive action is aimed at tackling the immigration crisis, a major issue and this year's U.S. presidential race. Joe Biden said the goodwill of the American people is wearing thin right now, and doing nothing is not an option.

He also reminded critics he would have preferred a bipartisan border deal but congressional Republicans torpedoed those efforts because Donald Trump told them to, so he could run on immigration issues.

President Biden's action has angered progressives who argue he's using the same executive authority Trump once used to ban people from mostly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. in 2017.

And to bar most asylum seekers the following year, but President Biden vowed never to use any of Trump's discriminatory language or break up immigrant families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will never demonize immigrants. I will never refer to immigrants as poisoning the blood of a country. And further, I'll never separate children from their families at the border.

I will not ban people from this country because of their religious beliefs. I will not use the U.S. military to go into neighborhoods all across the country to pull millions of people out of their homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: These new restrictions come just ahead of summertime in North America when the number of border crossings tends to increase. More now from CNN's Rosa Flores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Joe Biden announcing his toughest immigration policy, an executive order barring asylum when daily migrant apprehensions at the U.S. southern border hit a seven day average of 2,500, a move that could result in the deportation of some migrants in a matter of days, even hours.

BIDEN: If they choose to come without permission and against the law, they'll be restricted from receiving asylum and staying in the United States.

FLORES (voice-over): The measure clamps down on unlawful crossings between ports of entry since migrant apprehensions at the U.S. southern border are now about 4,000 per day.

Biden appearing to take a page from former President Donald Trump's hard line immigration playbook. Trump tried implementing a similar policy in 2018. The ACLU led the challenge that caused courts to strike it down and says it plans to sue the Biden administration too.

LEE GELERNT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ACLU IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT: We do not believe that any provision, whether its 212(f) for any other provision, allows an administration to shut down the asylum system.

FLORES (voice over): Biden administration officials defended the executive order, saying it includes humanitarian exceptions for unaccompanied migrant children, for some medical emergencies and for victims of severe human trafficking.

The timing of the announcement --

FLORES: The number of migrant apprehensions right now is very low.

SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY: Extremely low.

FLORES (voice-over): Raising eyebrows among advocates like Sister Norma Pimentel because migrant apprehensions on the U.S. southern border have played, plummeted from nearly 250,000 in December to about 120,000 in May, a source familiar with the data told CNN.

FLORES: So, why do this, Sister Norma?

PIMENTEL: I would think it's because of the fact that we have an election very soon. And if he doesn't show a different optic picture, then they have -- they're losing.

FLORES (voice-over): The apparent strategy by the Biden administration pointing the finger back at Republicans who failed to support the Senate's bipartisan border bill, Republicans fired right back, saying it's too little, too late.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Joe Biden with a pen could fix the problems that he created and he chooses not to. He doesn't want to fix the problem.

FLORES (voice-over): Caught in the middle of this political battle playing out on the border.

[02:05:05]

FLORES: He says that during his journey, he saw all cycles of life, from newborns to the elderly, to people who died along the way.

FLORES (voice-over): Migrants like Rafael (ph) from Venezuela, who wants to go only by his first name for fear it could impact his case.

FLORES: Do you think migrants are going to go back to their country?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (on camera): In my years of covering the Biden administration and his immigration policy -- President Biden's immigration policy, I can tell you that I've heard from law enforcement, from officials, from voters on the border, saying that they wanted the president to do something significant, and that they were waiting for him to do something significant that they felt abandoned by the federal government and that they would even say and that while they did not agree with everything that Texas Governor Greg Abbott was doing, when it -- when it came to his hardline immigration policies, they would say he's doing something.

Well, now, the federal government has actually done something. We're just going to have to wait and see what the actual effect is.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Hidalgo, Texas.

CHURCH: Raul Reyes is an attorney, immigration analyst and CNN opinion writer and he joins me now from New York. Appreciate you being with us.

RAUL REYES, CNN OPINION WRITER: Hi, there.

CHURCH: So, as expected, U.S. President Joe Biden sidestep Congress Tuesday using his executive authority to block migrant access to the U.S. asylum system, when illegal border crossings exceed an average of 2,500 per day.

It's an effort to address big problems at the border, of course, but also to fix his reelection vulnerability. What is your reaction to this major policy change?

REYES: Right. Well, to be fair, I am not a fan of this move by the president. But it's certainly understandable how we got here, we have this situation at the border that's unsustainable, where we have large and large influx of migrants that shows no sign of stopping.

And so, the president is really being forced to take action. We're in an election year, his approval rating on immigration is just 28 percent. That's his pretty much his lowest issue.

So, he feels compelled to act. But the problem is, it's in my view, practically speaking, and in terms of the legality of this action, we're just -- it's just going to lead to more problems down the road. And it's certainly not an effective long term solution for the crisis at the border.

CHURCH: Right. And, of course, he accepted that, he called it a stop gap measure. Both Republicans and Democrats recognize that border security needs to be addressed. And that's exactly why they tried to pass that bipartisan border legislation.

But of course, Donald Trump torpedoed that historic bill because he wanted to run on the issue.

So, can we expect more executive orders on immigration before November's election, given Congress seems unwilling to work together on this issue to come up with any other solution?

REYES: Between now and the election, I think because this issue is so controversial and such a hot button. I think it's very doubtful that we see any further action between now and November.

That said, it's not going to go away. And what we see time and time again here, no matter who is in the White House, really, whether we're talking about President Obama or President Trump now President Biden is that presidents continually come up against their limits of their authority, because remember, in our system, the president can set immigration policy, but only Congress can make immigration law.

So, as we hear, you know, about the migrants at the border, which they're in a very sympathetic situation in my view, as we look at that dysfunction, you know, the constant stack -- how stagnant this issue is in Washington, for me, if you want to say, who's the villain here, who's the bad guy? It's not President Biden, and it's not necessarily any of the presidents who have preceded him. The bad actor here is our Congress.

Our Congress has refused to act under President Obama, under President Trump even. And we're seeing the same situation.

So, we sort of stay in the status quo, because presidents are limited in how much they can do. And no matter, really, no matter which party controls Congress, for at least 15, 25 years now, there has been no inclination of our legislature to actually take action and move forward and solve this type of crisis.

CHURCH: Yes. And of course, we saw that this year, didn't we?

So, this executive action comes after nearly 10 million migrants have crossed into the U.S. since President Biden took office that is according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, what's driving those high numbers and how does the U.S. determine who gets to stay and who has to go?

[02:10:05]

REYES: It's so complicated when we talk about what's driving the migration crisis at our border, because in many ways, it's similar to things we see around the world.

It could be climate change, it could be instability in other nations, not just Central America or South America, because at our border, we see arrivals from the Middle East, from China, it's really from all over the globe now.

And so, people are coming here, not only because they are in search of humanitarian relief, but because under American law, anyone unauthorized or not, if they present themselves on U.S. soil, they do have this human right under existing U.S. law to claim asylum.

Our system right now is so backlog that that process can take about 4.5 years, five years on average. So, we see, again, like this shortfall of resources and overwhelmed border, doesn't show any signs of going away. And it always comes back to Congress. That's the only fix we can see. And Congress doesn't want to move on it.

The situation has become so untenable, that now Congress is just abdicating its authority. It is basically whether on the Republican side, they seem to -- this is an issue that works for them. They seem to thrive on the chaos, because that could help them win in November.

And on the Democratic side, we see great hesitancy to move forward, maybe expend more political capital, tackling immigration, because they know, it's so contentious with the public.

So, again, you know, here we are with the status quo, very dysfunctional. And the saddest thing of all is that the most vulnerable people in this whole issue at the center of it are migrants seeking humanitarian relief that they're guaranteed they will continue to suffer. They will continue to wait on the border, and many will wait years before their claims are adjudicated in our system.

CHURCH: Raul Reyes, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

REYES: Thank you. CHURCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set for a third consecutive

term in office after vote counting in India's general election concluded early Wednesday. The final results show Modi's BJP led alliance won 292 seats, only 20 more than the 272 needed to win an outright majority.

But his party also lost one of its most strategic strongholds, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, it's a stunning blow for Modi who had vowed to win the election with a super majority. Modi thanked his supporters after the results were announced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Continuously for the third time, the people's love and blessings boost our morale and give new strength to our results. We Indians will walk together toward the development of the country and in this third term, the country will write a new chapter of big decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The India coalition which includes the opposition Congress Party won 234 seats. More than 640 million people voted from April 19th to June 1st in the world's largest election.

And CNN's Ivan Watson has been following this election and has more now from New Delhi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world's largest election is now over. And just hours into the massive vote count, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's followers were already partying.

WATSON: Supporters are celebrating here at the headquarters of the BJP, and it does look like Narendra Modi will govern for another term. But it does not seem that he has won the landslide victory he predicted, which suggests he'll govern with a weaker electoral mandate.

WATSON (voice-over): At a rally in the capital, Modi declared victory, even though for the first time in a decade, his party failed to win a majority of seats in parliament. Modi will have to form a coalition government if he is to continue to rule. The opposition say, they've hurt the powerful prime minister.

RAHUL GANDHI, INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS: The country has unanimously and clearly stated we do not want Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Amit Shah to be involved in the running of this country. We do not like the way they have run this country. We do not appreciate the way they have attacked the constitution.

WATSON (voice-over): Modi's opponents accused the prime minister of limiting freedom of speech and press with crackdowns on political rivals. Modi and his party have also targeted India's Muslim minority with Islamophobic rhetoric.

MODI (through translator): Do you think your hard earned money should be given to infiltrators?

WATSON (voice-over): Modi's brand of Hindu nationalism may have reached its limit. His party's candidate lost in Ayodhya, the town where he inaugurated a controversial new Hindu temple on the site of a demolished mosque.

[02:15:11]

Modi is still seen by many as the business friendly steward of the world's fifth largest economy. Indian stock markets plunged more than five percent on Tuesday upon news of Modi's lackluster election results.

Though weakened, Modi is still the most powerful and polarizing politician India has seen in generations.

Ivan Watson, CNN, New Delhi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The mayor of a Western Mexican city has been killed in an attack on her way home from the gym along with her bodyguard. Yolanda Sanchez Figueroa was the mayor of Cotija, Michoacan State, the attorney general's office there says the two were attacked with firearms by people in a white van.

An investigation has been launched. This comes a day after Claudia Sheinbaum became Mexico's first woman president. Mexico faces high levels of gender based violence. Sanchez Figueroa had previously been kidnapped in September.

Senior officials from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar are set to meet in Doha in the coming hours to work on a possible ceasefire in Gaza.

The White House ays CIA director Bill Burns is expected to get an update on Qatar has extensive discussions with Hamas. The U.S. is urging Israel and Hamas to accept the latest proposal outlined by President Joe Biden on Friday.

Hamas officials says any deal must include a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military launched a new ground and air assault in central Gaza on Tuesday, going after what it says were Hamas targets.

Gaza's Ministry of Health says the operation killed 15 Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy and wounded dozens.

Large fires in northern Israel are under control after first responders spent all of Tuesday battling the flames. Nearly two dozen teams including an Air Squadron were deployed amid changing winds and high temperatures. Israeli officials blamed Hezbollah rocket attacks from across the

border in southern Lebanon for causing the fires which burned 400 hectares and prompted evacuations.

Thousands of people in northern Israel have been displaced since the cross border fighting erupted in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel. During a tour of some of the most heavily damaged areas, the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff said the military is prepared to ramp up its operations if called on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. HERZI HALEVI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES CHIEF OF STAFF (through translator): The IDF is prepared and very ready for this decision. We have been striking here for eight months and Hezbollah is paying a very very high price. Hezbollah has increased its attacks in recent days, and we are prepared to move to an offensive in the north.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Still to come, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer went head-to-head in their first T.V. debate on Tuesday. A look at their plans to revive the country's economy, that is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:37]

CHURCH: With less than a month before the U.K.'s July 4th general election, the British Prime Minister took on his Labour Party challenger in their first debate. Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, went head-to-head on who's best equipped to handle some of the country's biggest issues, including the economy, immigration, healthcare and the war in the Middle East.

And they stuck to party lines trading blame on the economy and taxes. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Inflation is back to normal, wages are growing. Taxes are now being cut. Keir Starmer would put all that progress at risk. He would put up everyone's taxes by 2,000 pounds, 2,000 pounds and high taxes for every working family in our country. After all the hard work and sacrifice we've been through. That's not the right course of action. I don't know why you want to put up people's taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keir Starmer.

KEIR STARMER, PARTY LEADER OF THE Labour PARTY: Paula (ph), I just don't know how you feel when you hear a prime minister say having heard what you're going through, but the plan is working. It's all right.

This is the prime minister who's been part of a government that has put up tax 26 times. The last manifesto that they had in 2019 said we won't put up National Insurance. This man then put up National Insurance. He's the -- he's the British expert on tax rises. They're at the highest level for 70 years.

SUNAK: The waiting lists are coming down. But what Keir Starmer didn't mentioned to you which you did, Julie (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

STARMER: -- 7.2 million and now 7.5 million. He says they're coming down and then the guy says he's good at math.

SUNAK: Yes, they are -- they are now coming down. They are now coming down.

STARMER: 7.2 what you said you get them down, 10.2 million that are 7.5 million. I'd like you to explain how they're coming down.

SUNAK: Because they were coming down from where they were when they were higher. And now they're now on their way down. They are down, right?

Yes, because the NHS was impacted by industrial action. And if it wasn't for that, half a million employment would have been saved.

STARMER: Somebody else's fault.

SUNAK: We've got the numbers down last year by a third. And now we have a deterrent ready to go. Migrants have been detained. The flights will go in July, but only if I'm your Prime Minister.

If Keir Starmer is elected, all those people will be released, the flights will be canceled, and we will have no deterrent to stop the unfairness of people crossing in boats.

STARMER: We need to smash the gangs that are running this vile trade, making a huge amount of money, putting some of the most vulnerable people in boats across the channel and making a fortune.

Before I was a politician, Steven (ph), I was the Director of Public Prosecutions. And I've worked with the police and prosecutors in other countries to bring down terrorist gangs who are running across borders. I do not believe it's impossible to bring down these games. What I won't do is engaged in an expensive gimmick, the Rwanda scheme.

SUNAK: You say one thing here, but your track record says something completely different. And you can't trust him to tackle immigration.

STARMER: So, why are the numbers -- why are the numbers this year 10,000 record numbers. Why is that?

SUNAK: Because this is a challenge.

STARMER: It's on your watch.

SUNAK: This is a growing challenge. But I've got a plan to deal with it because I'm going to put people on planes, what are you going to do with them? I can tell everyone what I'm going to do.

You might not like it, but I've got a plan. Because we've got to have a deterrent. What are you going to do? Tell everybody. What are you going to do with illegal migrants?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rishi Sunak, please -- just please, gentlemen, we will lower our voices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now from London is Anand Menon the director of U.K. in a Changing Europe. Thank you so much for joining us.

ANAND MENON, DIRECTOR, U.K. IN A CHANGING EUROPE: Pleasure. How are you?

CHURCH: Good. So, with just one month to go to the July 4th U.K. elections, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak battled it out as we saw with his Labour challenger Keir Starmer in their first T.V. debate Tuesday. How do you think each of them went? And who do you think came out on top?

MENON: Well, I think in a curious way, both sides will be quite happy. Sunak will be happy because he managed to get that line across about tax. It's not a strictly accurate line. But he hammered home this line that Labour are going to raise taxes. There was a snap poll done by one of our big polling companies immediately afterwards, that said, by 51 percent to 49 percent, that Sunak had won.

But of course, Starmer will be quite reassured to because the bottom line is Keir Starmer, is 20 points ahead in the polls. So, a slight perceived victory for Sunak in one of these debates really isn't going to change the overall picture.

[02:25:00]

CHURCH: So, what are they each proposing to revive the U.K.'s economy and deal with all the other challenges currently facing the U.K.?

MENON: Well, it's interesting, because in part, the answer is very little, it's very hard to know, both parties talk about growth, both parties say we're going to get the economy growing again, there's very little that's been announced so far that speaks to that problem directly or gives an indication as to how they intend to go about it.

I mean, growth -- the lack of growth has been a long standing problem in the U.K. economy, has been something that's plagued us for over a decade.

So, what we're doing at the moment, I think, is waiting for the two party manifestos when they lay out their policy offer to see precisely what it is they're saying on the economics because for the moment, the prime minister is coming out with all sorts of initiatives about protecting pensioners, about introducing some form of national service and labor is saying very, very little indeed, partly again, because if you're 20 points ahead, you play defense, don't you? You try and make sure that you've got nothing that can be -- that there's nothing no way you can be attacked rather than coming out with ambitious policies.

CHURCH: So, what about potential spoiler and new reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage, who a day before the T.V. debate revealed he's seeking election to parliament. Many critics saying that was a gut punch to the prime minister. What impact might the frick -- the Brexit architect have ultimately on the conservative party's chances here do you think?

MENON: Well, when it comes to reform U.K., the party for which Nigel Farage is standing, a couple of things.

Firstly, I think most people in the U.K. thought he was in charge of the party anyway when he announced that he was taking over, so I'm not sure it'll make a lot of difference.

It is conceivable because Nigel Farage is a very gifted campaigner that he will increase their vote share by a few percent. And the crucial thing is the more votes that reform U.K. get, the more they take away from the Conservatives because it is the conservative vote they eat into.

So, it can only be bad news for Rishi Sunak that Nigel Farage has said he's going to stand because chances are, if there's any effect at all, it will be a negative one for the conservatives.

CHURCH: Right. And as you have already mentioned, polls put Labour way ahead of the Conservatives and a major poll suggests the prime minister's ruling Tories are on track for an historic route. Do you agree with that? Sounds like you do.

MENON: Well, I mean, what I would say -- I mean, there's still four weeks to go and anything can happen. So, you never say never particularly given the British politics has been so unpredictable for the last decade.

But what I would say is Labour's poll lead of around 20 percent has remained stubborn for a couple of years now. And whatever the prime minister has tried to do in over the last six months, he's made some very dramatic announcements about protecting pensioners, increasing defense spending.

So, a lot of eye catching announcements, none of which have shifted the polls at all. So, at the moment, it looks like Labour has set for quite a handsome victory.

There are some unknowns. There are a lot of don't know voters, we don't know which way they will go. And we're not sure about turnout, we have an election where most people seem to think they know what the outcome will be. And a lot of the voters seem to think the two parties are very similar, that tends historically to mean quite a low turnout. And we're not quite sure what that might mean in terms of the overall result.

CHURCH: So, what would your advice be to each of the prime ministerial contenders to do going forward so they can pull themselves ahead?

MENON: Well, in the words of that well known joke, my advice to Rishi Sunak will be don't start from here. It is very, very hard to see how a prime minister who as I said, have tried all these policy initiatives can claw back 20 point lead.

What -- the crucial thing about this election is Rishi Sunak is an unpopular prime minister in charge of an unpopular party that is behind when it comes to perceptions of competence. And turning that around within a four week election campaign is going to be incredibly different -- difficult.

And I think, you know, if you flip that on its head, I think Keir Starmer is doing the right thing in the sense that if you are 20 points ahead, you play a very, very defensive electoral strategy. You don't come out with gimmicks, you don't come out with bold policy announcements that your opponents can pick apart. You play your cards very close to your chest, and you hang on to that poll lead.

CHURCH: And what sort of leader do you think Starmer would be if he does win this?

MENON: Well, this is the problem that comes from a pre (AUDIO GAP) card so close to their chests. There's a degree of uncertainty about what Keir Starmer would do when he became prime minister because we do face significant economic problems in this country.

I think after we've had a very, very turbulent 10 years in this country where the referendum on Europe, we've had changes of government, frequent changes of Prime Minister, the one thing that Keir Starmer is promising and the one thing I think that actually the British people quite won is a period of relative calm and stability, you can expect a massive change of style from the era of Boris Johnson.

Keir Starmer is quiet. He's competent. He's more of a technocrat. So, I think the style of government we see will be very different to what we've perhaps become used to.

[02:30:00]

CHURCH: Anand Menon, thank you so much. Joining us live from London, appreciate it.

MENON: Thank you.

CHURCH: And still to come, sparks fly on Capitol Hill between the U.S. attorney general and House Republicans, who had pointed questions about the Justice Department's role in some high-profile criminal cases. We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The U.S. attorney general forcefully defended the work of the Justice Department in a five-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, some of the most tense exchanges came when Merrick Garland was grilled by Republican lawmakers who claim the Department is being weaponized against conservatives. But the attorney general was not afraid to push back. CNN's Manu Raju reports from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Do you swear or affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Attorney General Merrick Garland, facing off with his loudest critics on Capitol Hill.

MERRICK GARLAND, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: I will not be intimidated and the Justice Department will not be intimidated.

RAJU (voice-over): And calling out GOP attacks that his Department was behind the New York hush money case that made Donald Trump the first ever ex-president to become a convicted felon.

GARLAND: That conspiracy theory is an attack on the judicial process itself.

RAJU (voice-over): Republicans firing back.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): Will the Department of Justice provide to the Committee all documents, all correspondence between the Department and Alvin Bragg's office and Fani Willis' office and Letitia James' office?

GARLAND: The offices you're referring to are independent offices of state.

GAETZ: I get that. I get that. The question is whether or not you will provide all of your documents and correspondence, that's the question. It's -- I don't need a history lesson.

GARLAND: Well, I'm going to say again, we do not control those offices. They make their own decisions.

GAETZ: Yes. The question is will you communicate with them, not whether you control them. Do you communicate with them and will you provide those communications?

GARLAND: You make a request, we will refer it to our office of legislative affairs. They will respond appropriately.

GAETZ: But see, here's the thing, you come in here and you lodge this the attack that it's a conspiracy theory, that there is coordinated lawfare (ph) against Trump. And then when we say fine, just give us the documents, give us the correspondence, and then if it's a conspiracy theory, that will be evident.

RAJU (voice-over): Democrats said Republicans were playing for an audience of one. REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): There are about to nominate a convicted felon and they don't know how to cope with that.

[02:35:00]

RAJU (voice-over): The GOP taking aim at Garland for appointing Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution against Trump in two federal indictments.

JORDAN: Is he your first choice?

GARLAND: I'm not going to go into the question.

JORDAN: Did you know him before you picked him?

GARLAND: I did not.

JORDAN: Did he ask for the job?

GARLAND: This was not a job -- I don't think anybody asks for. I'm sorry.

JORDAN: No, but that's not the question I asked you. I said did Jack Smith ask for the job?

GARLAND: He did not ask me for the job, no.

RAJU (voice-over): Garland today refusing to comply with the House subpoena for audio of Special Counsel Robert Hur's interview with President Joe Biden over his handling of classified documents. In that 388-page report, Hur declined to prosecute Biden, citing in part how a jury would view him as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.

GARLAND: Releasing the audio would show cooperation with the Department in future investigations.

RAJU (voice-over): Republicans accusing Garland of protecting Biden as they threatened the attorney general with contempt of Congress.

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): Is it because DOJ has determined the president is not mentally fit to defend himself and stand trial for his crime, but former President Trump is?

GARLAND: I say again, that's an inaccurate description of Mr. Hur's report.

RAJU (voice-over): Undercutting the GOP's criticism is the fact that two sitting Democratic Congressmen and the president's own son, Hunter, are facing three separate criminal indictments.

REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): So, you've prosecuted Democrats and as we speak, Hunter Biden, who is a son of the president, is under trial in Delaware. You haven't weaponized the Justice Department in terms of hiding and protecting Democrats Menendez, Cuellar and Hunter Biden?

GARLAND: The Justice Department follows the facts and the law.

RAJU: And this all comes as Republicans are grappling with the fact that their presumptive nominee is in fact a convicted felon. A lot of those Senate Publications and House Republicans, including ones in swing districts, are actually aligning themselves with Donald Trump and his criticism of this verdict and in criticism of this case. I did ask the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell today about whether or not he still supports Donald Trump in the face of the fact that he is now a convicted felon. McConnell said this case should never been brought, but he did not say if he still supports Trump.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

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CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Tuesday mark the 35th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Four people were arrested in Hong Kong where the event can no longer be safely commemorated after China imposed a new national security law. Taiwan remains the last corner of the Chinese- speaking world where the victims can be publicly honored.

CNN's Will Ripley has that report from Taipei.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's no surprise that every single time we mention the words Tiananmen Square massacre on CNN, our signal inside China is cut off. It goes to bars and tone. This happens whenever we cover controversial stories in China. But on this anniversary, the 35th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 massacre of hundreds or perhaps thousands -- we don't know the number because there was never an official number released -- of protesters, many of them students, young bright minds in China who were fighting for democracy, fighting for an end to government corruption and then brutally suppressed and silenced by the People's Liberation Army in Tiananmen Square.

The history of that moment for the more than one billion people who live in China has essentially been erased. I have friends who grew up in China and didn't even know about Tiananmen Square until they left the country and attended university in other places with an open internet, unlike the heavily restricted internet in China. But they certainly don't forget Tiananmen Square here in Taipei. And in the Taiwanese capital, on the evening of the June 4the anniversary, 2,000 people gathered for a moment of silence. They lit candles in the numbers eight, nine, six, four, of course, a reference to June 4, 1989, saying we will not forget what you did.

The Tank Man photo remains an iconic image to this day and getting that photo to the world was an ordeal in and of itself 35 years ago. CNN journalists actually had to hide the tapes in the U.S. embassy before they could be smuggled in a suitcase to Hong Kong. And Hong Kong at that time was much more free than it is today. There used to be large gatherings for decades, commemorating Tiananmen Square, sometimes with more than 100,000 people. But on the day of the anniversary, Hong Kong Police out in force, arrested four people, two men and two women, ages 23 to 69, a sign of just how quickly things have changed in that Chinese territory, even as here in Taiwan, they insist that they will, as a Chinese-speaking democracy, remember the past.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

CHURCH: I want to thank you for joining us. I am Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.

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