During hearings on Merrick Garland's nomination to be President Joe Biden's attorney general, the longtime federal appeals court judge told senators in 2021 that he hoped to ''turn down the volume'' on public discourse about the Justice Department and return to the days when the agency was not the ''center of partisan disagreement.

In a farewell speech to Justice Department staffers, outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appeared to rebuke attacks from President-elect Donald Trump and his allies who have "wrongly criticized" the department as politically motivated.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said "norms" determine the principles upon which the Justice Department operates while bidding farewell to staffers after leading it over the past four years.