Doug Jones supports Merrick Garland as attorney general, ashamed of pro-Trump state delegation

Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, who left office this month after losing the Nov. 3 election to newly sworn-in U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, today expressed his support for President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general, Merrick Garland.

Jones had been considered a front-runner for the position along with Garland. Biden announced Garland on Wednesday to lead the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Judge Merrick Garland will bring the integrity, professionalism and dedication to DOJ that is badly needed,” Jones wrote in a statement posted on Twitter today. “The events of yesterday only underscore the challenges that he and his talented team will face on day one and they will need everyone’s support. He and the team certainly have mine.”

Jones gave an emotional farewell address to the senate on Dec. 9, 2020. Jones won a 2017 special election that made him the first Democratic senator from Alabama since his mentor, U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin, retired in 1997.

Garland and three others Biden has picked for Justice Department leadership posts were being introduced Thursday afternoon in Wilmington, Delaware. They include Obama administration homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. 3 official. He will also name an assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, now the president of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an advocacy group.

Also on Thursday, Jones issued a statement about the mob attack on the Capitol. “Like so many of you I was horrified by what I saw from our President and his insurrectionist supporters yesterday,” Jones said. “I was also ashamed that seven members of the Alabama delegation put their loyalty to Donald Trump above their loyalty to the Constitution.”

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