Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa

Remarks as Delivered

Thank you, Tim. I appreciate it.

Before we start on the matters that brought me here today, I want to note another important matter that took place today.

This afternoon, a complaint was unsealed in the Eastern District of New York charging an individual with ties to Iran who we allege sought to hire hitmen to assassinate a politician or a U.S. government official on U.S. soil.

As outlined in our complaint, in June of this year, the defendant met with several individuals in New York who he thought were hitmen but who were in fact undercover law enforcement officers.

For years, the Justice Department has been working to aggressively counter Iran's brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American government officials for the killing of General Soleimani.

The Justice Department has brought multiple cases against individuals working on behalf of the Iranian government to lethally target Americans in the United States.

But as I said last week, we expect that these threats will continue and that these cases will not be the last.

The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would carry out Iran's lethal plotting against Americans.

Because this is an ongoing criminal matter, I am limited in what else I can say about the matter.

I do want to recognize that in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump last month, the American people are more aware than ever about the seriousness of the threats facing our public officials.

While our investigation into the attempted assassination remains ongoing, as the FBI has stated multiple times, we have not found any evidence that the shooter had accomplices or co-conspirators, either foreign or domestic.

And, in light of the heightened public interest, I want to be clear that, although our extensive investigation continues, we have found no evidence of any link between the defendant charged in the complaint unsealed today and the attempted assassination of the former President in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

As I have said repeatedly, threats against public officials are threats against our democracy itself.

The Justice Department will take every action available to hold accountable those who target public officials, regardless of the motive.

And now, onto the matter that brings us to today's meetings. I came here today to talk to our prosecutors and to law enforcement leaders gathered at this table. They are working together every day as partners in confronting violent crime and protecting the people of Iowa.

When I became Attorney General three and a half years ago, I knew that the most powerful tool we would have to address violent crime would be our partnerships. That was my experience as a line attorney prosecuting violent crime and drug trafficking in the early 1990s and as a Justice Department official supervising and organizing our efforts in that regard later in the 1990s.

So, we built an anti-violent crime strategy rooted in strengthening our collaboration across federal law enforcement; with state and local law enforcement; and with the communities we all serve.

And we fortified those partnerships by bringing to bear the latest technologies for identifying and prosecuting the individuals and gangs most responsible for violent crime in our communities.

Our anti-violent crime strategy has meant zeroing in on those individuals and gangs responsible for the making the most violent acts; making critical investments in police departments to hire more officers; and dedicating resources and initiatives aimed at preventing and disrupting violence before it occurs.

It has also meant working side by side with our state and local law enforcement partners to arrest violent felons, seize and trace guns used in crimes, and disrupt violent drug trafficking.

We now have some results. Last year, we saw one of the lowest violent crime rates in 50 years nationwide. That includes the largest drop in homicides in 50 years. And according to a recent report, the first six months of this year show the trend is continuing, with further declines in violent crime in more than 40 cities.

But we know that progress in many communities is still uneven. And of course, there is no level of violent crime that is acceptable.

That is why this U.S. Attorney's Office is continuing to work collaboratively with state and local law enforcement partners to protect communities from deadly drugs and violent crime.

Last month, the work of this office, together with the Tri-State Drug Task Force - which consists of over 10 different agencies across Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota - resulted in a 19-year prison sentence for a defendant on gun and drug charges. The defendant led law enforcement on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash. He was found in possession of more than 150 pounds of stolen marijuana, roughly a pound of methamphetamine, and three firearms.

As part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces program, what we call OCDETF, this office has also worked diligently to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level violent crime and drug trafficking organizations operating in the country.

In April of this year, this office successfully prosecuted an individual who distributed fentanyl and heroin to an Iowa man who overdosed and died as a result. The defendant advertised his product on a private online forum for recovering heroin users, and he shipped his product nationwide. He has been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.

In May, the office again worked to secure a 15-year sentence for an Arizona man responsible for sending thousands of fentanyl pills to Marion, Iowa.

And just a few weeks ago, this office worked with six federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute two gang members responsible for mailing thousands of fentanyl pills described ... disguised as prescription painkillers to Sioux City. The defendants each received sentences of at least 15 years.

In addition to our work to get fentanyl out of our communities, this office is working with its partners through the Department's Project Safe Neighborhoods program to crack down on firearms offenses and disrupt violent crime.

As part of that program, this office successfully prosecuted a defendant who pretended to work for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in order to steal firearms. The defendant was unlawfully in possession of at least 20 firearms when he was arrested. He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.

This U.S. Attorney's Office will continue to combat gun crimes that endanger Iowa families. And it will not rest until every person, in every neighborhood, in every community in Iowa is safe.

I know that these examples are just a snapshot of the work this office does every day to fulfill the Department's mission to keep our communities safe, to protect civil rights, and to ensure the rule of law.

I am very proud of the work of U.S. Attorney Duax and all of the men and women of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa. And I am equally proud of their partnerships, with the people around this table, and with the federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies that work every single day to keep Iowans safe.

With that, we will begin our meeting.

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