Garland has criticised Representative Jefferson Van Drew for asking a “outrageous” question about whether “traditional” Catholics are extremists in another emotional confrontation.
A January FBI field office memo apparently refers to some Catholics as “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists,” which is the source of Van Drew’s query.
Garland declares that it is preposterous and absurd that someone with his or her family’s background would discriminate against any faith. “The FBI director and I both agreed that we were horrified by that memo.”
Garland revealed during his introductory remarks that many of his family members died during the Holocaust in what is now Belarus, causing him to become upset.