(Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department “remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law,” Attorney General Merrick Garland planned to say in a speech ahead of Thursday’s one-year anniversary of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

In remarks prepared for an address Wednesday to department staff, he plans to vow to pursue those responsible “whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.  We will follow the facts wherever they lead.”

Garland and other department leaders are facing increasing pressure, especially from Democratic activists and lawmakers, to investigate and charge all those responsible for conspiring to stop Congress from certifying the election of President Joe Biden on Jan. 6 and for encouraging the insurrection that day. That includes possibly indicting former President Donald Trump and his advisers. 

To date, the department has charged more than 700 individuals for storming the Capitol, resulting in the deaths of some police officers and rioters. More than 150 rioters have pleaded guilty to charges, from assaulting police to felony obstruction, according to the latest statistics.

Critics say the department must also investigate -- and potentially prosecute -- Trump for trying to block Biden’s certification by pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to nullify the election results and for urging a Washington rally of his supporters on Jan. 6 to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” 

Garland has kept a low profile and tried to keep the department insulated from such pressures. But the attorney general is finding it impossible to avoid being drawn into the nation’s polarizing political debates from the left and the right. 

The department has been using a federal grand jury to investigate the Jan. 6 attack and the events that led up to it, and it could be used to pursue charges against Trump and his allies, according to officials who asked to remain anonymous speaking about the sensitive matter. They said any decision on charges would be driven by the facts and evidence.

The department’s investigation and a separate probe in the House of Representatives are expected to force Garland to make politically fraught choices in the coming months. Charges against Trump and associates could range from criminal obstruction of Congress to conspiring to interfere in a federal election, officials said.

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