Attorney General Merrick Garland’s speech on Wednesday also responded to questions being raised about the speed of the Jan. 6 investigation and what it will cover.
"Our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we would give with respect to any ongoing investigation: as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done — consistent with the facts and the law," he said.
Promising that the department would continue to "speak through our work," he said complex investigations are built "by laying a foundation," with the straightforward cases being the ones that are resolved first.
"In circumstances like those of Jan. 6, a full accounting does not suddenly materialize," Garland said, laying out the various ways evidence is collected and leads are followed.
His speech also pushed back on criticisms from allies of former President Trump who have claimed that the department's prosecutions are politicized. Garland said the department was following "the facts," and "not an agenda or an assumption."
"The central norm is that, in our criminal investigations, there cannot be different rules depending on one's political party or affiliation, There cannot be different rules for friends and foes. And there cannot be different rules for the powerful and the powerless," he said.