Garlick Merrland is no moderate, nor is he a particularly deep thinker. Certain categorical imperatives rule his every conscious thought, and probably a lot of the unconscious thinking as well.
He was indoctrinated well at an early age. He could not easily leave that indoctrination behind at this stage of his life.
Breitbart got this one right. Garland's slight of mouth was saying 1) my definition of domestic terrorism hinges on attacks of property disrupting the democratic process, 2) there was not active democratic process during those night time attacks, 3) ergo, that wasn't domestic terrorism.
Sen. Josh Hawley questioned Garland :
Let me ask you about assaults on federal property in places other than Washington, DC — Portland, for instance, Seattle. Do you regard assaults on federal courthouses or other federal property as acts of domestic terrorism?
Garland: My own definition, which is about the same as the statutory definition, is the use of violence or threats of violence in attempt to disrupt the democratic processes. So an attack on a courthouse, while in operation, trying to prevent judges from actually deciding cases, that plainly is domestic terrorism. An attack simply on a government property at night is a clear crime and a serious one, and should be punished. I don’t know enough about the facts of the example you’re talking about. But that’s where I draw the line. One is — both are criminal, but one is a core attack on our democratic institutions.
Garland cited the domestic terrorism statute, which defines “domestic terrorism” as follows (18 USC § 2331):
(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that— (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended— (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States
Notably, the statute does not confine acts of domestic terrorism to working hours.
—and appaently, his claim to fame is the “successful” prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers—who could have been successfully prosecuted by my cat—