I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Tuesday, February 23.

Let me first play just a few sound bites from the last 24 hours that are kind of stunning for their emotion

and how they represent the change of government that we're still transitioning to here on

day 35 of the Biden presidency. This is Biden's Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland

at his confirmation hearing yesterday. You can keep in mind, as a point of reference,

the way William Barr tended to talk, his content, and his tone.

And here's Judge Garland, asked by Senator Cory Booker,

why he wants to be Attorney General of the United States.

I come from a family

where my grandparents fled anti-Semitism and persecution.

The country took us in and protected us.

And I feel an obligation to the country to pay back.

And this is the highest, best use of my own set of skills to pay back.

Merrick Island, so that's one contrast.

And as you all probably know, yesterday was the day the U.S. officially hit 500,000 COVID

deaths.

A year ago today, there hadn't been even one yet.

And now half a million lives have been lost to this disease.

Former President Trump did not mention it in his

public statements yesterday, focusing instead on what he called a witch hunt after the Supreme Court

refused to shield his tax returns from a New York grand jury's tax fraud investigation.

I guess Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are part of the witch hunt now.

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