Jan. 15, 2025 - Bannon's War Room
58:18
Participants
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| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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Attorney General. | |
| From 2010, the year before she took office, to 2018, the last year she was in office, together Florida experienced a remarkable 26% drop in overall crime, including a 19.6% drop in violent crime and a 27.4% drop in property crime. | ||
| These aren't just numbers. | ||
| These are tens of thousands of lives. | ||
| You're watching The War Room. | ||
| We're going to be between the CIA today, the confirmation hearing of Marco Rubio, and the confirmation hearing of Pam Bondi. | ||
| We're going to go back. | ||
| Senator Rick Scott talking about Pam Bondi. | ||
| We'll be cutting back and forth, and I'll be giving context throughout the first hour. | ||
|
unidentified
|
...in this short introduction. | |
| As U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi will restore law and order to the nation. | ||
| She'll put Americans' interests first and make the nation a better and safer place. | ||
| I urge every single member of this committee to support my friend, Pam Bondi, and I look forward to voting for her confirmation soon on the Senate floor and help her get to work for the American people. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| It is an honor for me and a privilege to introduce Pam Bondi, President Trump's nominee to be the 87th Attorney General of the United States. | ||
| I have known and worked closely with Pam for years, and I'm glad to call her a friend. | ||
| When Pam was nominated by President Trump, my reaction was, this is a home run. | ||
| As many of us are, I was only to be outdone by Senator Graham, who described the nomination as a grand slam, touchdown, hole-in-one, ace, hat-trick, slam dunk, Olympic gold medal pick, and he's right. | ||
| As the letter joined by more than 100 former Justice Department officials put it, Quote, it's all too rare for senior Justice Department officials, much less attorneys general, to have such a wealth of experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe, end quote. | ||
| Pam exemplifies and personifies the Department of Justice's mission to uphold the rule of law, to keep our communities safe, and to protect our rights and liberties as Americans. | ||
| Pam has distinguished herself in her career in public service. | ||
| Okay, ready? | ||
| Okay, here's what we're going to do today. | ||
| This is Flood the Zone, right? | ||
| This is what we recommended, and now we have to juggle, along with everybody else. | ||
| The three major confirmation hearings this morning. | ||
| Senator Rubio for Secretary of State. | ||
| His opening statement on Breitbart is kind of a complete reorientation to an America First. | ||
| We're going to catch that. | ||
| Pam Bondi. | ||
| Durbin, you saw earlier in Real America's Voice, Dick Durbin already read her, the Riot Act, about her relationship with President Trump, and they're going to drill down on her today. | ||
| I don't think it will be as intense as Pete Hegseth, but it might be, so we're going to go back and forth between Pam Bondi and Secretary of State, and if John Ratcliffe and CIA anything explodes there, we'll go to this. | ||
| I want to reiterate to this audience. | ||
| Pete Hegseth is going to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense, and that is because of two things. | ||
| Pete Hegseth, tremendous, tremendous performance yesterday. | ||
| Also this audience. | ||
| The number is 202-224-3121. | ||
| Today, make sure you give support for Senator Rubio, Pam Bondi, and of course Congressman John Ratcliffe at CIA. It's going to be quite intense this morning. | ||
| We're going to try to juggle and go through, but I want to make sure. | ||
| Joni Ernst last night said that she's good with Pete Hexas. | ||
| That means that Pete Hexas is going to be through. | ||
| We can get all of President Trump's nominees if we continue to work and to put pressure. | ||
| We're going to let you try to hear as much as possible, particularly Democrats going after President Trump's nomination. | ||
| Let's go back to the introductory remarks on Pam Bondi. | ||
| And as soon as Senator Rubio is up, we'll go right to his opening statement. | ||
| Let's go to the back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
She's incredibly generous and someone I could always count on. | |
| She's truthful, she's tough, and she's a born leader. | ||
| She has charted her own course with the rare combination of backbone and heart. | ||
| The next Attorney General of the United States must restore trust by reversing the weaponization we've seen the last four years and refocusing that department to its core mission, administering justice. | ||
| The next Attorney General must promote the rule of law, take on violent crime, keep our communities safe, and safeguard the God-given rights that each American has protected in our Constitution. | ||
| I can think of no one, no one, more up to that task than Pam Bondi, a career prosecutor and widely respected Attorney General with the prudence, fortitude, and temperance for this incredibly important job. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, it is truly an honor for me to introduce Pam Bondi to this committee. | ||
| And to our country here today and speak on her behalf. | ||
| And it's my hope that her nomination will be swiftly confirmed. | ||
| Thank you, Senator Schmidt. | ||
| Now, Ms. Bondi, would you please come forward? | ||
| And before you're seated, I'd like to administer oath. | ||
| Would you please raise your right hand and answer this question? | ||
| Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give to this committee will be the truth, the whole truth? | ||
|
unidentified
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And nothing but the truth, so help you God. | |
| Please be seated and move ahead with your opening statement. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Grassley. | ||
| Ranking Member Durbin and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. | ||
| I've had the opportunity to meet with almost all of you and I greatly appreciate that. | ||
| I'm grateful to President Trump and to this committee for your consideration to be the 87th Attorney General of the United States. | ||
| I would not be here without my family. | ||
| And if you can bear with me for just a moment, a lot of them have made a very long trip, and I wrote them all down so I don't forget anyone. | ||
| My beautiful mother, who wouldn't be here, a retired kindergarten teacher, would not be here without my mom. | ||
| As of a week ago, it was 12 years since we lost my dad to leukemia. | ||
| Feels like 12 days. | ||
| My amazing husband, John, and his two incredible girls. | ||
| Collins and Finley. | ||
| Collins is a senior at University of Florida, and I think all of you on this committee will be very happy to know Finley is in cybersecurity. | ||
| There's a third who is traveling abroad. | ||
| I wish she could be here. | ||
| My amazing father-in-law, David. | ||
| My sister, Beth. | ||
| My brother-in-law is home with my niece. | ||
| My nephews. | ||
| If you could just raise your hand. | ||
| Evan, Jake, and soon-to-be niece, Savannah. | ||
| My brother, Brad, a brilliant lawyer. | ||
| My sister-in-law, Tandy. | ||
| And my nephews, Justin, who just got a 4.0 at UVA. Rex, great college tennis player. | ||
| Brad, great tennis player. | ||
| Is Rhea here? | ||
| And my niece, my beautiful niece, Rhea. | ||
| And the little guy is in school because he's 10. My friends, Leslie, Kathy, Dina, Tiffany, Kim, Paula, and so many of my former co-workers. | ||
| Okay, we're going to shift to Tom Cotton over the CIA opening of John Radcliffe. | ||
| We're going to go back to Pam after her general introductory remarks. | ||
| Let's go to Tom Cotton at the CIA confirmation hearing. | ||
| Celebrated and even known. | ||
| Unlike our troops, no one buys them beers in the airport. | ||
| Sometimes their families. | ||
| Don't even know what they do. | ||
| So let me say to them today, on behalf of this committee and a grateful nation, we respect you, we appreciate you, and we thank you. | ||
| But we also need more from you. | ||
| In these dangerous times, our intelligence agencies haven't anticipated major events or detected impending attacks. | ||
| In just the last few weeks, the members of this committee and, I presume, the president The same goes for Hamas' October 7th atrocity against Israel in 2023. I could give other examples, but suffice it to say, we're too often in the dark. | ||
| While this goes for the entire intelligence community, the problem is especially acute at the CIA, which remains, after all, the central. | ||
| Intelligence Agency. | ||
| The CIA needs to get back to its roots, but must overcome several challenges to do so. | ||
| First, the CIA has neglected its core mission, collecting clandestine foreign intelligence. | ||
| Put more simply, stealing secrets. | ||
| Intelligence collection is the main effort. | ||
| Every other job is a supporting effort. | ||
| If you don't collect intelligence by, say, handling spies or hacking computers, you should ask yourself how you support those who do or how you harness and use what they produce. | ||
| I've seen way too many reports over the years with phrases like, according to, based on, judging by, followed only by diplomatic accounts and press reports. | ||
| In other words, not intelligence. | ||
| And it's gotten worse over the last four years. | ||
| Those sources are not unimportant, but without clandestine intelligence, we might as well get briefed by the State Department or a think tank or just read the newspaper. | ||
| Second, the CIA has become too bureaucratic. | ||
| Now, I realize that Alan Dulles probably had the same complaint just five years after the CIA was created, but this has also gotten worse in recent years. | ||
| In no small part, thanks to former Director Brennan's so-called modernization, lines of authority have grown blurry. | ||
| Talkers have replaced doers. | ||
| Managers with no field experience have taken over operational roles and more. | ||
| Much like our military, the tooth-to-tell ratio at the CIA is badly out of balance. | ||
| Third, the CIA's analysis and priorities have been politicized. | ||
| Intelligence analysis all too often has aligned curiously with the Biden administration's policy preferences. | ||
| The Afghan army is strong and cohesive. | ||
| Ukraine's army will collapse within days of Russia's invasion. | ||
| Israel can't possibly destroy Hamas or Hezbollah. | ||
| Iran's air defenses are mighty and fearsome. | ||
| Time and again, the CIA has produced inaccurate analysis that conveniently justifies President Biden's actions, or as often his inaction. | ||
| Likewise, the CIA's misplaced priorities have yielded too many reports on matters, like the prospects for gay rights legislation in Africa or climate change. | ||
| These topics may have their place in government, but it's not at the CIA. And I certainly hope to never again see another video, statement, or social media post from the CIA about diversity or equity or inclusion. | ||
| If you wonder why our intelligence agencies struggle to collect intelligence, consider this fact. | ||
| The CIA offered to pay diversity consultants three times as much as a new case officer. | ||
| I'm sorry. | ||
| But if you feel like you need a diversity consultant or an affinity group or your pronouns in an email, maybe the CIA isn't for you. | ||
| This job isn't about your identity or your feelings. | ||
| It's about our nation's security. | ||
| Fourth, the CIA dabbles too much in questions of political judgment, even as it neglects its core mission of intelligence collection. | ||
| Some of the blame, to be fair, lies with us. | ||
| I hear questions from this committee about, say, some nations will to fight, or if we do this, that, or the other thing, what will Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping do in response? | ||
| These aren't really intelligence questions, but rather matters of statesmanship and political judgment, or prudence, the statesman's supreme virtue. | ||
| I would observe that Lincoln and Churchill didn't have our vast modern intelligence apparatus, but they were pretty good wartime leaders. | ||
| Because they were great statesmen. | ||
| It's the CIA's responsibility to provide us and the President with timely, relevant secrets. | ||
| For example, that Russia has mobilized multiple divisions on Ukraine's border at Christmas time and sent perishable fresh blood supplies to the front. | ||
| It's our job to use that information to discern the inherent logic of events, not to defer passively to the intelligence community's judgment. | ||
| That is a convenient conclusion that Putin hadn't yet decided to invade just days before the obviously impending invasion. | ||
| Fifth, the CIA needs to become bolder and more innovative in covert action. | ||
| I've seen successful covert action programs. | ||
| I've seen debacles. | ||
| The latter are usually caused by ill-advised constraints by political leaders or when a president uses covert action as a substitute for policy. | ||
| I'll have to save more for our closed session, of course, but for now I'll just say that the timid indecision that has characterized the Biden administration's overt actions extends to its covert actions. | ||
| Mr. Ratcliffe, you have a big job ahead of you. | ||
| The nation needs a strong, capable, and aggressive CIA. I believe the men and women you will lead want to serve in just that kind of agency. | ||
| They joined the CIA, after all, not a church choir or a therapy session on a college campus. | ||
| They and the nation are counting on you to deliver badly needed reforms and on this committee to ensure you do. | ||
| I'll now recognize the vice chairman for his opening remarks. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, and first of all, congratulations on becoming chair of what I think is the most important committee in the Senate. | ||
| Okay, that is Tom Cotton. | ||
| We're going to juggle three this morning, folks. | ||
| It's important you see it. | ||
| John Ratcliffe before the Intelligence Committee in the Senate. | ||
| That's Mark Warner, the vice chair, or the ranking member, I guess, talking. | ||
| Ratcliffe, we got Pam Bondi. | ||
| Pam Bondi's about, I think, getting lit up by Dick Durbin here in a second. | ||
| We'll go to that. | ||
| We're going to focus principally on the Democrat questioning. | ||
| We think that's most helpful. | ||
| And two of these are going to be put under intense scrutiny. | ||
| That will be Marco Rubio, because Marco Rubio's opening statement, you saw it up on Breitbart, Matt Bull and the team had it as an exclusive, gives a very different outlook than the Washington consensus runs. | ||
| It's really, I think, the most forward, you know... | ||
| Presentation of America First, talking about the post-war international rules-based order being over. | ||
| Let's go to Judiciary. | ||
| Let's watch Pam Bondi handle Dick Durbin. | ||
| As soon as Marco Rubio starts talking, we'll cut back to that. | ||
| So we're juggling today, but I think it's important that people see all three. | ||
| Let's go ahead and go. | ||
|
unidentified
|
As they want information, will you commit to responding to my oversight requests? | |
| As well as a request of other members of the committee. | ||
| Chairman, either I or my top staff will personally review the letters and do everything we can to respond to you. | ||
| Your tenure as Florida Attorney General was impressive. | ||
| You fought against pill mills, human trafficking. | ||
| You eliminated a backlog of rape. | ||
| You fought against organized retail theft, and you were known to stand for law and order. | ||
| With such achievements, it's easy to see why the people of Ford re-elected you in 2014 and why President-elect Trump nominated you to serve as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. | ||
| So, this gives you a chance to tell us on this committee. | ||
| And the people of this country, what you're proud of is your record as Attorney General of Florida. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Grassley. | ||
| I was truly honored to serve the people of the state of Florida for eight years, but it was a team effort. | ||
| I had great people around me, many of whom were in this room today. | ||
| And we did a lot. | ||
| We did a lot to fight crime, and I've been reminiscing a lot since I was asked to take this nomination. | ||
| Opioids, as I talked about, were a top priority right when I took office. | ||
| When I was running for office, I went through the entire state of Florida. | ||
| Parents were walking up to me, handing me pictures of their children who were deceased from opioid abuse. | ||
|
unidentified
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After I was elected, I took those pictures and I framed them in my office as a goal of stopping that fight, which I talked about in my opening statement. | |
| And if, U.S. Attorney General, I'll bring those pictures back out and they will be there to inspire me on the further drug abuse we're facing throughout this country. | ||
| We also learned that something else was happening. | ||
| Pregnant women were having babies as a result of being opioid dependent. | ||
| We called it neonatal abstinence syndrome. | ||
| We fought to educate mothers. | ||
| We fought that issue as well. | ||
| Fentanyl was wreaking havoc in our country, but it was just getting started. | ||
| I actually fought my own party a bit on scheduling fentanyl because at that time people thought it was something you merely got in the hospital. | ||
| On a patch after surgery. | ||
| Apples and oranges, and boy, do we all know that now, the difference. | ||
| Fentanyl is raging throughout our country, and I will do everything I can to fight that with the agencies that fall under the Department of Justice. | ||
| Human trafficking became a top priority for me as Attorney General. | ||
| I had the opportunity on a bipartisan trip to go to Mexico, and the one thing I found out there, they were doing better than we were. | ||
| They had safe houses. | ||
| I saw things I never dreamed I would see. | ||
| And all of these things in my past have formed the person I am right now sitting here before you. | ||
| I came back to Florida. | ||
| We started a human trafficking council. | ||
| And we partnered with others. | ||
| And we expanded and added safe houses in the state of Florida. | ||
| I don't know how many are in this country right now. | ||
| But I would like to partner with both sides, if confirmed, to continue those efforts. | ||
| I'd like to interrupt you. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
| And go to another question. | ||
| And I'll have another round so you can finish on that point. | ||
| I'd like to ask you about something that's central to fighting government waste and fraud, the False Claims Act. | ||
| I want to... | ||
| I want you to know that Attorney General Garland calls me once a year. | ||
| He called me yesterday to tell me the success of the False Slames Act since 1986 when I got it passed. | ||
| This is why it's... | ||
| That's Chairman Grassley, Judiciary. | ||
| We have Judiciary with Pam Bond. | ||
| He wants to be Attorney General of the United States, President Trump's pick. | ||
| You've got Intelligence with John Ratcliffe. | ||
| President Trump's pick to not just go to the CIA, but to basically restructure the CIA. And you have Marco Rubio, Senator Marco Rubio, who's going to be his Secretary of State. | ||
| This is all with the Ukraine war, everything going on. | ||
| Senator Rubio. | ||
| If you go to Breitbart, I think I actually put it up last night on my getter. | ||
| He gave an exclusive to Breitbart his opening statement, which is a pretty definitive walkthrough of the intellectual framework of America First, really. | ||
| The post-war international rules-based order has been gained by the Chinese Communist Party. | ||
| The reason it's important, we're trying to get you to all three. | ||
| Yesterday, this audience was a major factor, a major factor in making sure that Pete Hexeth got over the top, particularly with folks like Senator Joni Ernst and others. | ||
| And remember, back four weeks ago, you guys went to fix bad nets and kept Pete Hexeth. | ||
| Pete Hexeth would have been traded out for Ron DeSantis. | ||
| Within an hour of when we really got to hard work there on that Thursday, what, about a month or so ago. | ||
| This audience is quite important to make sure we're putting pressure on the Senate to approve these candidates. | ||
| And particularly, all we need to do is hold together the Republicans, the 53 Republicans. | ||
| And obviously, next Monday, J.D. Vance will break any ties. | ||
| But he'll be vice president on Monday. | ||
| It's critical to do, so we're going to try to juggle all three. | ||
| I particularly want to go to Rubio's opening statement. | ||
| We're going to dip into some of the Democrats questioning Radcliffe, and particularly Democrats coming after Pam Bondi. | ||
| Someone may be jumping around a little bit today. | ||
| Real America's Voice. | ||
| We're going to try to skip commercial breaks in the first hour. | ||
| It's so important that you guys are up to speed on what's going on. | ||
| You have state magnificent performance. | ||
| Like I said, Pete Hegseth. | ||
| Senator Joni Ernst said last night she's comfortable she's going to vote for him. | ||
| I think that should put it to bed unless anything else pops up between now and the time of the committee vote. | ||
| And I think the committee vote, they're going to try to get that, I believe, Thursday or Friday. | ||
| The committee vote will be before then. | ||
| The General House vote or the whole Senate vote. | ||
| Hopefully on Monday or Sunday, if they can do that, people really want to swear in Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense right after President Trump takes the oath of office. | ||
| Let's go back to Pam Bondi. | ||
| Let's hear Pam Bondi. | ||
| The questioning of Pam Bondi will be jumping back and forth. | ||
| I'll be coming in to put context, maybe just sometimes with my voice, maybe sometimes with my lovely visage. | ||
| Okay, let's go back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
To my knowledge, Donald Trump has never acknowledged the legal results of the 2020 election. | |
| Are you prepared to say today, under oath, without reservation, that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020? | ||
| Ranking Member Durbin, President Biden is the President of the United States. | ||
| He was duly sworn in, and he is the President of the United States. | ||
| There was a peaceful transition of power. | ||
| President Trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024. Do you have any doubts that Joe Biden had the majority of votes, electoral votes, necessary to be elected president in 2020? | ||
| You know, Senator, all I can tell you as a prosecutor is from my firsthand experience. | ||
| And I accept the results. | ||
| I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is president of the United States. | ||
| But what I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania. | ||
| As an advocate for the campaign, I was an advocate for the campaign, and I was on the ground in Pennsylvania, and I saw many things there. | ||
| But do I accept the results? | ||
| Of course I do. | ||
| Do I agree with what happened? | ||
| And I saw so much. | ||
| You know, no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country. | ||
| We should all want our elections to be free and fair and the rules and the laws to be followed. | ||
| I think that question deserved a yes or no, and I think the length of your answer is an indication that you weren't prepared to answer yes. | ||
| Have you heard the recording of President Trump on January 2, 2021, when he urged the Secretary of State of Georgia to, quote, fine 11,780 votes and declare him the winner of that state? | ||
| No, I've heard about it through clips, but no, Senator, I've not heard it. | ||
| What was your reaction to President Trump making that call? | ||
| I would have to listen to the tape, Senator. | ||
| Well, the quote that I give you is exact. | ||
| He said to the Georgia Secretary of State, find 11,780 votes. | ||
| Do you have the entire context of that call? | ||
| I feel like it was much longer than that and may have been taken out of context. | ||
| It was an hour long. | ||
| Right. | ||
| And you can certainly listen to it. | ||
| I hope you will. | ||
| Every American should. | ||
| As a former prosecutor, are you not concerned that the President of the United States called a state election official and asked him to find enough votes to change the results of the election? | ||
| Senator, I have not listened to the hour-long conversation, but it's my understanding that is not what he asked him to do. | ||
| You need to listen to it. | ||
| Let me ask a third question. | ||
| Do you believe that the January 6 rioters who've been convicted of violent assaults on police officers should be pardoned? | ||
| Senator, if confirmed as Attorney General of the United States, the pardons, of course, fall under the President. | ||
| But if asked to look at those cases, I will look at each case. | ||
| And advise on a case-by-case basis, just as I did my entire career as a prosecutor. | ||
| You also advise the President on pardons. | ||
| That's part of your responsibility as Attorney General. | ||
| And so I'm asking you, do you believe that those who've been convicted of the January 6th riot, violent assaults on our police officers, should be pardoned? | ||
| That's a simple question. | ||
| So, Senator, I have not seen any of those files, of course. | ||
| If confirmed and if asked to advise the President, I will look at each and every file. | ||
| But let me be very clear in speaking to you. | ||
| I condemn any violence on a law enforcement officer in this country. | ||
| Let me ask you about your work as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners. | ||
| You did not list your current position as a partner at the lobbying firm. | ||
| The work you've done for your Ballard partner clients, such as lobbying for the country of Qatar for $115,000 a month and for corporate giants Amazon and Uber when you're asked about conflicts of interest. | ||
| Why do you believe your work as a lobbyist does not constitute potential conflicts of interest? | ||
| Well, Senator, first, that was the amount my firm received. | ||
| I believe multiple people represented the country of Qatar within my firm. | ||
| My role, and I am very proud of the work that I did, it was a short time and I wish it had been longer for Qatar, was anti-human trafficking efforts leading into the World Cup, which is something I'd like to talk about later too. | ||
| I was registered as FARA along with many members of my firm. | ||
| That was the sole portion of my representation for Qatar. | ||
| Now, if there are any conflicts with anyone... | ||
| I presented in private practice, I would consult with the career ethics officials within the department and make the appropriate decision. | ||
| I would also like to point out to you, I don't believe that I would be the first Attorney General who has represented and advocated for businesses in their past. | ||
| Of course not. | ||
| The question is whether you will recuse yourself from any case involving... | ||
| Your Ballard clients. | ||
| One of those clients was the GEO Group, was it not? | ||
| GEO, yes. | ||
| A private prison company you lobbied for manages correctional institutions and detention facilities. | ||
| The GEO Group has faced criticism for safety violations, inadequate health care, and poor management. | ||
| U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is GEO's largest source of revenue. | ||
| Under the Trump administration, GEO stands to earn hundreds of millions of dollars by detaining immigrants if there is this mass deportation. | ||
| Would you sense any conflict of interest if you're asked to judge the performance of this government contractor? | ||
| Senator, I will consult with the career ethics officials within the Department of Justice and make the appropriate decision. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Senator Graham. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Congratulations. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| You forgot to say that John's family was from South Carolina. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The upstate, I'm sorry. | |
| I'll give you a pass on that. | ||
| From Anderson, by the way. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So, listen, President Trump asked a bunch of us, who would you pick for Attorney General? | |
| How many of you got to ask that? | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Not that we wouldn't want to watch Lindsey Graham. | ||
| I've got to come back. | ||
| The war room position on this is Trump won. | ||
| Biden's illegitimate. | ||
| Now I realize that Pam Bondi's got to get confirmed. | ||
| And you see the eggshell she's walking on right there. | ||
| But the appropriate answer, Pam, and Pam's a good person. | ||
| I know her very well. | ||
| Pam Bondi, Trump won the 2020 election. | ||
| Biden's illegitimate. | ||
| And we need to adjudicate that. | ||
| I'm feeling now we need a special prosecutor more and more. | ||
| And maybe that special prosecutor's got to report up to the White House. | ||
| And the, you know, the unified theory of the executive. | ||
| The President Trump's the chief executive. | ||
| He is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. | ||
| And he's chief magistrate and chief law enforcement officer, not the attorney general. | ||
| That's what they've been trying to run on us since Watergate. | ||
| Do we have, let's go, Marco Rubio, I think, has given his opening statement. | ||
| I think they're trying to bang him up. | ||
| Lindsey Graham's questioning. | ||
| Pam Bondi will come back when we get a Democrat to try to chop her up and you see her action. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Let's go to Marco Rubio for a second. | |
| All right. | ||
| So while America too often prioritized the global order above our core national interest, other nations continued to act the way nations have always acted and always will in what they perceive to be their best interest. | ||
| And instead of folding into the post-Cold War global order, they have manipulated it to serve their interests at the expense of ours. | ||
| We welcome the Chinese Communist Party into the global order. | ||
| And they took advantage of all of its benefits. | ||
| And they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities. | ||
| Instead, they have repressed and lied and cheated and hacked and stolen their way into global superpower status. | ||
| And they have done so at our expense and at the expense of the people of their own country. | ||
| In our very own hemisphere... | ||
| Narco-terrorists and dictators and despots take advantage of open borders to drive mass migration, to traffic in women and children, and to flood our communities with deadly fentanyl and violent criminals. | ||
| In Moscow, in Tehran, in Pyongyang, dictators, rogue states, now have stability and align with and they fund radical terror groups. | ||
| And then they hide behind their veto power at the United Nations Security Council. | ||
| Or the threats of nuclear war. | ||
| The post-war global order is not just obsolete. | ||
| It is now a weapon being used against us. | ||
| And all this has led to a moment in which we must now confront the single greatest risk of geopolitical instability and of generational global crisis in the lifetime of anyone alive and in this room today. | ||
| Eight decades later. | ||
| We are once again called to create a free world out of the chaos. | ||
| And this will not be easy. | ||
| And it will be impossible without a strong and a confident America that engages in the world, putting our core national interests once again above all else. | ||
| Just four years ago, I believe we began to see what that would look like during President Trump's first term. | ||
| America's strength was a deterrent to our adversaries. | ||
| And it gave us leverage in diplomacy. | ||
| There were no new wars. | ||
| ISIS was eviscerated. | ||
| Soleimani was dead. | ||
| The historic Abraham Accords were born. | ||
| And Americans were safer as a result. | ||
| Now, President Trump returns to office with an unmistakable mandate from the voters. | ||
| They want a strong America. | ||
| A strong America engaged and guided by a clear objective. | ||
| To promote peace abroad. | ||
| That is the promise that President Trump was elected to keep. | ||
| And if I am confirmed, keeping that promise will be the core mission of the United States Department of State. | ||
| Now, tragically, horrifying atrocities and unimaginable human suffering can be found on virtually every continent. | ||
| And I am certain that today I will be asked about the array of programs and the activities the Department of State carries out to address them. | ||
| We are a nation who was founded on the revolutionary truth that all men are created equal, and that our rights come not from man or from government, but from God. | ||
| And so we will never be indifferent to the suffering of our fellow man. | ||
| But ultimately, under President Trump, the top priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. | ||
| The direction he has given for the conduct of our foreign policy is clear. | ||
| Every program we fund, every policy we pursue must be justified by the answer to one of three questions. | ||
| Does it make America safer? | ||
| Does it make America stronger? | ||
| Or does it make America more prosperous? | ||
| Under President Trump, the dollars of hard-working American taxpayers will always be spent wisely and our power will always be yielded prudently and towards what is best for America and Americans before anything And everything else. | ||
| Prudence in the conduct of foreign policy is not an abandonment of our values. | ||
| It is the common sense understanding that while we remain the wealthiest and the most powerful nation on the earth, our wealth has never been unlimited and our power has never been infinite. | ||
| And placing our core national interest above all else is not isolationism. | ||
| It is the common sense realization. | ||
| That a foreign policy centered in our national interest is not some outdated relic. | ||
| Since the emergence of the modern nation-state over two centuries ago, countries acting based on what they perceive to be their core national interest, that has been the norm, not the exception. | ||
| And for our country, placing the interest of America and Americans above all else has never been more relevant or more necessary than it is right now. | ||
| For in the end, how can America promote the cause of peace on earth if it is not first safe at home? | ||
| What good is America to our allies if it is not strong? | ||
| And how can America help end the suffering of God's children across the world if it is not first prosperous here at home? | ||
| I thank you and I hope I can earn your support, whether it's because you believe I would do a good job or because you want to get rid of me. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Bring it to me. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Either way, the results... | |
| Okay. | ||
| By the way, it shouldn't be lost in anybody. | ||
| We have two University of Florida grads. | ||
| The Gators are representing today. | ||
| We're going to go back to Pam Bondi. | ||
| Big question, I think, by Democrats. | ||
| That was Marco Rubio. | ||
| Pretty impressive opening statement, America First, by Senator Rubio. | ||
| Let's go back and hear the grilling of Pam Bondi. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Senator, the Attorney General's office in Florida is the third largest in the state, approximately 1,400 employees and approximately 400 lawyers. | |
| Only California and Texas are our bigger offices. | ||
| And you were responsible for hiring into that office while you were Attorney General? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Would you have hired someone into the Florida Attorney General's office who you knew had an enemies list? | ||
| Senator, to cut to the chase, you're clearly talking about Cash Patel. | ||
| I don't believe he has an enemies list. | ||
| He made a quote on TV, which I have not heard. | ||
| I saw your sign, or Senator Durbin's sign, about Cash. | ||
| But I know that Cash Patel has had 60 jury trials as a public defender, as a prosecutor. | ||
| He has great experience in the Intel Department, Department of Defense. | ||
| I have known Cash, and I believe that Cash is the right person at this time for this job. | ||
| You'll have the ability to question Mr. Patel when you do. | ||
| And I'm questioning you right now about whether you will enforce an enemies list that he announced publicly on television. | ||
| Oh, Senator, I'm sorry. | ||
| There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| What is the FBI's role in national security and counterterrorism, and how important is that role? | ||
| You know, Senator, I believe now, more than ever, counterterrorism is so important and vital in our country. | ||
| We are facing such incredible threats here and abroad. | ||
| I'm sure many of you saw. | ||
| For former FBI Director Ray's interview on 60 Minutes, he talked about the threats, frankly, again, I don't have my security clearance, but the threats facing us, Senator, from China, from China right now, that are so great, with the sleeper cells within our country. | ||
| Given that importance, is it responsible to call for shutting down the FBI's counterterrorism and national security work? | ||
| And will you? | ||
| As Attorney General, impede or shut down the FBI's counterterrorism and national security work? | ||
| Two questions. | ||
| Senator, I believe that national security is vital right now for our country on so many fronts. | ||
| I could continue to discuss many others. | ||
| And the FBI's role in that? | ||
| And the FBI plays a vital role in counterterrorism throughout our world. | ||
| Which he will or will not shut down. | ||
| I will look at each agency. | ||
| I have no intention of shutting anything down right now, Senator. | ||
| I am not in that office yet, and if confirmed, I will look at each individual agency and how it should be managed. | ||
| But counterterrorism right now in our world is vital. | ||
| You have said that Department of Justice prosecutors will be prosecuted in the Trump administration. | ||
| Department of Justice prosecutors will be prosecuted, and why? | ||
| I said that on TV. I said prosecutors will be prosecuted to finish the quote, if bad. | ||
| Investigators will be investigated. | ||
| You know, we all take an oath, Senator, to uphold the law. | ||
| None of us are above the law. | ||
| Let me give you a really good example of a bad lawyer within the Justice Department, a guy named Klein Smith. | ||
| Who altered a FISA warrant, one of the most important things we can do in this country. | ||
| So will everyone be held to an equal, fair system of justice if I am the next Attorney General? | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| And no one is above the law. | ||
| Under what circumstances will you prosecute journalists for what they write? | ||
| I believe in the freedom of speech. | ||
| Only if anyone commits a crime. | ||
| It's pretty basic, Senator, with anything, with any victim. | ||
| And this goes back to my entire career for 18 years as a prosecutor and then 8 years as Florida's Attorney General. | ||
| You find the facts of the case, you apply the law in good faith, and you treat everyone fairly. | ||
| And it would not be appropriate for a prosecutor to start with a name and look for a crime. | ||
| It's a prosecutor's job to start with a crime and look for a name, correct? | ||
| Senator, I think that is the whole problem with the weaponization that we have seen the last four years and what's been happening to Donald Trump. | ||
| They targeted Donald Trump. | ||
| They went after him, actually starting back in 2016. They targeted his campaign. | ||
| They have launched countless investigations against him. | ||
| That will not be the case if I am Attorney General. | ||
| I will not politicize that office. | ||
| I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation. | ||
| Justice will be administered even-handedly throughout this country. | ||
| Senator, we've got to bring this country back together. | ||
| We've got to move forward or we're going to lose our country. | ||
| Yeah, I think the concern is that weaponization of the Justice Department may well occur under your tenure. | ||
| And we want to make sure that that's not the case, that you remain independent, that you remain able to and willing to tell the president no when that's necessary to protect the Constitution and the integrity of the department. | ||
| So that's where I'm asking these questions. | ||
| We talked in the meeting about the contacts policy that has prevailed really since Senator Hatch sat in that chair and demanded it of the Clinton Justice Department. | ||
| Through all the administration since then, with the exception of a brief period under Attorney General Gonzalez, which he corrected and which did not end well for him, there has been a contacts policy that limits contacts between the White House... | ||
| And the Department of Justice to a very few senior officials on each side. | ||
| In your role as Attorney General, if you are confirmed, will you maintain, defend, and enforce that long-standing contacts policy? | ||
| Senator, yes. | ||
| I will meet with White House counsel and I will meet with the appropriate officials and follow the contacts policy. | ||
| My time has expired. | ||
| Thank you, Ms. Bundy. | ||
| Senator Cornyn. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, your testimony is music to my ears. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| One of the things that I have been most concerned about over the last, certainly the last four years and extending back during President Trump's administration is weaponization and politicalization of the Department of Justice, which together with the FBI is one of the most important institutions in this country. | ||
| If people don't trust... | ||
| That their elected officials will faithfully enforce the law or administer equal justice under the law. | ||
| They've lost faith in America. | ||
| And that disturbs me greatly, and I know it does you too, based on what you said. | ||
| So I'm delighted to hear you say what you have said. | ||
| But I want to talk about some specific topics. | ||
| Time is short. | ||
| First, the border. | ||
| I believe President Biden and Vice President Harris had presided over one of the biggest humanitarian and public safety disasters in American history. | ||
| Senator Cruz and I represent a state with 1,200 miles of common border with America. | ||
| But as you pointed out with fentanyl, what happens is the border doesn't stay at the border. | ||
| Fentanyl poisoning is the most Common cause of death of young people between the age of 18 and 45. We know where it comes from. | ||
| The precursors come from China. | ||
| They go to the cartels. | ||
| They mix them up, make them look like innocuous pills. | ||
| And young people take them and die. | ||
| It's just that simple and that tragic. | ||
| So there's just so much that we could talk about with regard to the border. | ||
| You know, I know people... | ||
| You see what the Democrats are trying to do. | ||
| And I just want to reiterate, the engine room is informing me, which I knew, but I will repeat this. | ||
| Your efforts yesterday, during and after the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, really, I think, made sure that Joni Ernst understood that everybody's on watch here and others. | ||
| Joni Ertz came out on a talk show in Iowa yesterday and said she's all good with Pete Hexeth. | ||
| She's going to vote. | ||
| That changed the total dynamics. | ||
| You can see the air last night on MSNBC go out of the propaganda apparatus over there as they face the reality that Pete Hexeth is going to be Secretary of Defense. | ||
| That is because this audience had his back from the very beginning. | ||
| Today, Pam Bondi, and look, we love Pam Bondi, and Pam Bondi's going to be the Attorney General. | ||
| We need her as the Attorney General right now. | ||
| She's not Matt Gaetz, but then, you know, how many Matt Gaetzes are there? | ||
| There is a lesson here, though. | ||
| They were very close to letting Hexeth go. | ||
| If this audience, we had Gaetzes back, the lesson we should take is never give in to the Democrats whatsoever. | ||
| They're never going to treat you fairly. | ||
| You saw Hexeth yesterday. | ||
| They came up with a personal tax. | ||
| When you go back and see Rubio, And Pam here, Pam Bondi, the Democrats will be coming up with every snarky comment they can make to try to chop her up, try to chop him up. | ||
| You know, two very decent people that have tremendous track records, right? | ||
| I realize that, you know, maybe Pam is not Gates and not as hard as, you know, the Warren Posse and particularly some of the elements over in Rumble, you savages, want. | ||
| And I agree that we wanted Matt Gates. | ||
| We didn't get Matt Gates. | ||
| There's a lesson in why we don't have Matt Gates here today. | ||
| Because people blinked, right? | ||
| People blinked. | ||
| And we could have gotten Matt Gaetz through. | ||
| It would have been very messy. | ||
| It would have been contentious. | ||
| Today's hearing would have been 10x Pete Hexas. | ||
| But guess what? | ||
| Everybody else would have gotten through with flying colors. | ||
| Let's go back to – I want to go to Marco Rubio right now. | ||
| We'll come back to Pam Boni in a second. | ||
| Let's go to Marco Rubio. | ||
| I think the United States should be very concerned because I believe this is a test run for applying it to American service member and American leaders in the future. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well said. | |
| I couldn't agree with you more. | ||
| Certainly, the court has badly damaged its reputation and it's going to have a long ways to go to recover from that. | ||
| So with that, Senator Shaheen. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Senator Rubio, as I said in my opening statement, I hope that this committee can better collaborate to swiftly confirm career Foreign Service officers. | ||
| These are patriotic Americans who have served under both Democratic and Republican administrations and they work to advance U.S. national security interests. | ||
| Delays and vacant posts hurt America's interest. | ||
| I know you agree with that because we've had that conversation. | ||
| But will you commit to working with Chairman Rish and me to prioritize the advancement and confirmation of career State Department officials? | ||
| Well, the answer to that is yes, but I would also point to this fact that... | ||
| I think we're going to begin by prioritizing. | ||
| We're going to look at what are the key issues in the world. | ||
| Obviously, every post in the world is important, or it shouldn't exist. | ||
| And then the question is, which are the ones we bring to you first? | ||
| And those are the ones that I think are most critical. | ||
| So obviously, I think you'll see our nominees for the deputy posts, which are critically important, all the undersecretaries as well. | ||
| And what I've endeavored to do as we interview and identify people, and I believe I've met with and interviewed most of the candidates for those top posts, is I want to bring you people that have three things. | ||
| Number one, are aligned to the mission. | ||
| I think that's critically important, whether they be foreign service officers. | ||
| I'm not talking about political alignment. | ||
| I'm talking about alignment with the mission that we've outlined for American foreign policy, which is one of the things that I think has hurt the State Department. | ||
| Under numerous administrations, it's sometimes the mission. | ||
| What is the core mission of the department has not been well defined. | ||
| That's on us, and it's our obligation to define that. | ||
| So number one, align to the mission. | ||
| Number two, the capability to do the job. | ||
| And I can tell you now that my entire service on this committee, which spans 14 years, we always had fellows from the Department of State, I believe all of whom are still in the service of our country. | ||
| And I intend, because I know them and I've worked with them, to utilize their skill sets in the department. | ||
| And, in fact, a couple who we hope will be returning home soon from foreign postings to work with us at the State Department closer to my office. | ||
| But the point is that we want to have people that are highly capable, both those who we bring from what they call political appointees, but also those that are promoted from within the Foreign Service. | ||
| And then the third are people that we can get through the committee because time is of the essence. | ||
| Now, you may not agree with all their views. | ||
| Whether they be foreign service officers or whether they be political. | ||
| But I think it's important. | ||
| And we're not going to exclude someone just because we think that maybe they're going to have a rougher confirmation process than someone else. | ||
| But I do think it's important that we have people in these positions as quickly as possible. | ||
| And having served for 14 years on that side of this room, I understand that one of the things we can do to help expedite that is to bring you people that will do a good job, who are qualified for the job, are mission aligned, but also that... | ||
| Can move through this process quickly enough so that they can be at post and begin to fulfill their duties. | ||
| If I have to wait a year to get them in place, well, I'm not sure on some of these issues we face today we have a year to wait. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I certainly agree with that and I appreciate your focus on mission and qualifications because I think the committee will be looking closely at that. | |
| I want to go now to NATO, because in 2023, Congress overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan Cain-Rubio provision prohibiting any president from withdrawing the United States from NATO without Senate approval or an act of Congress. | ||
| Will you commit to adhering to Senate approval or an act of Congress as required under that law that you authored if President Trump attempts to withdraw the U.S. from NATO? Well, first let me say that President Trump has appointed an ambassador nominee for NATO, which clearly indicates his role to engage in that. | ||
| Second is the law is what it is. | ||
| Obviously, as you've mentioned, I was a co-sponsor of the law, and so it's tough to say I'm not in support of a law that I hope to pass, and that I think it's an important role for Congress to play, because frankly, it's not just about the withdrawal piece of it, it's the contributions you make towards the power of the purse still resides with the Congress. | ||
| As if confirmed, moving towards the executive branch, I'll become, I'll forget that lesson a little bit. | ||
| I hope not. | ||
| But ultimately, I still recognize and understand that the power of the purse is with Congress, and it's an incredibly important power. | ||
| Let me point on NATO one thing. | ||
| I think there's a misunderstanding about it. | ||
| The NATO alliance is a very important alliance. | ||
| I believe that. | ||
| I believe alliances can be, and it's been very useful. | ||
| Without the NATO alliance, there is no end to the Cold War. | ||
| In fact, without the NATO alliance, it's quite possible. | ||
| That much of what today, at the time, today we know as Europe, would have fallen victim to aggression. | ||
| But what's important for the United States is not just to have defense allies. | ||
| It's to have capable defense allies. | ||
| Allies who are capable of defending their region. | ||
| And I think there is a question to be asked. | ||
| I'm not stating a public policy position. | ||
| I'm stating a question to be asked, and that is, should the role of the United States and NATO in the 21st century be the primary defense role, or is it backstop to aggression? | ||
| With countries in the region assuming more of that responsibility by contributing more. | ||
| Now look, in fairness, and I think the further east you move in Europe, the more money you see spent on the military as a percentage of GDP. But I think there's been broad acknowledgement across Europe. | ||
| And across multiple administrations, both Republican and Democrat, that our NATO partners, these are rich, advanced economies, need to contribute more to their own defense and ultimately to the NATO partnership as well. | ||
| And that's a demand that's been made by multiple presidents across the years. | ||
| And the fact that that is true has been... | ||
| Revealed by what's happened with Ukraine. | ||
| Look at the ramp-up in defense spending and the industrial capacity of multiple countries in Europe as a result of an armed conflict. | ||
| Imagine if that capacity had been there before, it quite possibly might have had a deterrent effect as well. | ||
| So I think it's important that we have alliances, but we have to have alliances with strong and capable partners and not those who sort of have viewed the U.S. and the NATO defense agreement as an excuse to spend less on defense and more on some domestic needs. | ||
| We have domestic needs, too. | ||
| These advanced and rich countries in Western Europe have enormous safety nets programs that they fund. | ||
| We have domestic needs as well, but they've been able to divert or grow those programs because they don't have to spend as much on defense as we do as a percentage of our overall economy. | ||
| And that dynamic needs to change, and I expect that President Trump will continue to forcefully make that point. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And as you know, this committee and the Senate NATO Observer Group, which I co-chair, has made that point repeatedly, and we are now up to 23 of the 32 NATO nations who are meeting their 2% of GDP, and we have a number of them who are going beyond that, and it's appropriate. | |
| We're going to shift back to Justice and Pam Bondi, Amy Klobuchar's question, and let's go to it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It will be my job. | |
| If confirmed as Attorney General to make those decisions. | ||
| Politics will not play a part. | ||
| I've demonstrated that my entire career as a prosecutor, as Attorney General, and I will continue to do that if you confirm me as the 87th Attorney General of the United States of America. | ||
| In an earlier question, Some of my colleagues talked about China and the risk, yet you have a nominee from this incoming administration, Kash Patel, the pick to head the FBI, of serious concerns about him, has referred to the FBI's intel division, | ||
| which is responsible for protecting us from foreign adversaries like China, as, quote, I have not seen those comments from Mr. Patel. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I would review them, but we have to do everything we can to protect our country. | |
| Again, Mr. Patel would fall under me and the Department of Justice, and I will ensure that all laws are followed, and so will he. | ||
| There are many decisions made by the FBI director, having seen a number of them do their work, that can be made. | ||
| While I agree you would be the boss of Kash Patel, I'm not sure that you would be able to intervene with every decision or position that he had or know what he's doing. | ||
| So let's continue. | ||
| Do you agree it is a duty of the Justice Department to defend the laws Congress passes, and will you commit to do even when the president may disagree with an act campaigned against its passage or called for its repeal? | ||
| President Reagan's AG, William French Smith, said the department policy was, the department has the duty to defend an act of Congress whenever a reasonable argument can be made in its support. | ||
| So I'm specifically referring to the 2022 law that I long led that we passed to empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices, major savings for seniors. | ||
| Will you commit to defend the law against the lawsuits from Big Pharma? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Senator, I was involved in big pharma cases when I was Attorney General of the State of Florida, and I will commit to protect the laws of the United States of America. | |
| Okay, thank you. | ||
| That would also, same question, with the Supreme Court is going to be hearing a challenge to the Affordable Care Act's coverage of preventative services. | ||
| And despite the fact that you twice joined suits to have the entire Affordable Care Act invalidated, will you commit to defending this law? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I believe this is... | |
| Very different. | ||
| It's a very isolated, it's different. | ||
| It's not the entire Affordable Care Act, but I will, it's pending litigation, of course, within the department. | ||
| Since the 1990s, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act has protected patients, providers, and facilities that provide reproductive health services. | ||
| Will you commit to continuing to enforce the FACE Act to address violence and threats against those providing reproductive health care services? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Senator, the FACE Act not only protects abortion clinics, but it also protects pregnancy centers and people going for counseling. | |
| The law should be applied even-handedly. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| So you'll uphold the enforcement of that law? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'll uphold the enforcement. | |
| Of the law, Senator. |
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