| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
77.3 Million Americans
00:11:32
|
||
| To assassination attempts, Senator. | ||
| I have to say, Javer from Les Miz would be chagrined at the efforts of Democrats to do anything possible to take him down. | ||
| And I believe the real target in this was not President Trump, but it was the American people, that these prosecutions were brought because partisan prosecutors were terrified that the American people would do exactly what they did in November of 2024 and vote to re-elect Donald J. Trump. | ||
| By 77.3% million Americans, 77.3 million Americans. | ||
| Will you commit every day as Attorney General to follow the law, to follow the Constitution, to uphold the rule of law without favor and without regard to the partisan position of any criminal defendant? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| That's what we should all expect from an Attorney General. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| We'll now recess for a 30-minute lunch break. | ||
| That means we'll be back at 1225. | ||
| And when we resume, Senator Booker will be recognized to ask his questions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Start the | |
| questioning so we don't waste any time. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for this hearing. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, thank you so much for the visit to my office. | ||
| A couple of things. | ||
| First of all, congratulations on the nomination. | ||
| And number two, a couple of Vermont things that we talked about. | ||
| We're going to have a new U.S. attorney in the state of Vermont. | ||
| And in the last Trump administration, the Justice Department and the Trump administration worked closely with Senator Leahy, Democrat, and with Governor Scott, Republican, and came up with a consensus choice. | ||
| And I seek your assistance in helping make sure that we are successful in getting a very competent U.S. attorney in Vermont, and hopefully with the cooperation of Governor Scott, our Republican, as I mentioned, and Senator Sanders and me. | ||
| And Senator, as I discussed with you in our meeting, I look forward to working with you and cooperating with you and learning about many of the issues you have in Vermont. | ||
| And thank you. | ||
| And then on that, by the way, one of the issues we talked about, we are one of two states that does not have a residential reentry program. | ||
| That is outrageous in my mind. | ||
| I know you worked on the First STEP Act, but our federal judges, our federal prosecutors, our federal public defender are all in support of a residential reentry program. | ||
| Our state and Hawaii are the only two states without it, and our justice system and officials believe that we need it. | ||
| And I seek your energetic assistance in helping us get that residential reentry program. | ||
| Can I address that, Senator? | ||
| Yes, I'd like you to. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator, I didn't realize that you were the only two states without a reentry program. | ||
| We started that when I was a prosecutor, and those are so vitally important. | ||
| One thing that I just learned is the Bureau of Prisons, 98% of people in the Bureau of Prisons will be released. | ||
| They're not serving life sentences. | ||
| So we must do everything we can when people are in prison to help rehabilitate them for when they get out. | ||
| And that's why reentry is so vital. | ||
| But we tell people, get out of prison and become a productive member of society. | ||
| Go get a job. | ||
| Yet people don't know how to go find a driver's work. | ||
| Well, I appreciate it. | ||
| They don't know how to get to work. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| And I have confidence that you will do that given your history on the First Step Act and other things that you did. | ||
| The next, I do have some concerns, not so much about you, but what President Trump has said about a desire on his part to go after what he considers to be political adversaries. | ||
| You know, his own words, for instance, says that if he's elected, he'd seek to appoint a special prosecutor to go after Joe Biden. | ||
| I assume you've had no discussion with President-elect Trump about that? | ||
| Absolutely not. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And he Senator Schiff. | |
| I'm looking at your next one. | ||
| Well, my colleague, Senator Schiff, who I think did an incredibly good job, President Biden had different points, or pardon me, President Trump had different views about that, where he said on a number of occasions that he should be prosecuted. | ||
| Everybody on the January 6th committee should be prosecuted for their lies and treason. | ||
| No discussion about that? | ||
| No, Senator. | ||
| And Liz Cheney also, he's said that she should be prosecuted for lies and treason as well. | ||
| We have had no discussions about Liz Cheney. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And you've satisfied me that this is not an agenda you have. | ||
| President Trump has satisfied me that when he says things that are pretty provocative, he's often serious. | ||
| And as Senator Cruz wants, I want, and that is to have a Justice Department that is not going after people on the basis of them being political opponents. | ||
| And my understanding in listening to your answers to the questions along this line is that you have no intention, no intention of pursuing people on the basis of them being a political opponent. | ||
| No one will be prosecuted, investigated because they are a political opponent. | ||
| That's what we've seen for the last four years in this administration. | ||
| Well, people will be prosecuted based on the facts and the law and fairly sentenced. | ||
| That's good. | ||
| I disagree about the characterization of the past four years, but we don't have to discuss that with your assurance that the next four years there'll be no effort on the part of the Justice Department to pursue political adversaries, right? | ||
| Every case will be done on a case-by-case basis. | ||
| No one should be prosecuted for political purposes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Absolutely not. | |
| I just have a couple of other things. | ||
| One is the False Claims Act. | ||
| Senator Grassley, thank you for that False Claims Act. | ||
| In Vermont, there are incredible challenges for folks trying to get health care. | ||
| It's really expensive. | ||
| And there was a shocking report in the Wall Street Journal about a major insurer that is ripping off taxpayers by overbilling, over-prescribing on Medicare Advantage. | ||
| Billions of dollars. | ||
| And the report indicated that insurers are adding diagnosis basically to make money, not to help the patient, that insurers sent nurses to find diagnoses that doctors didn't find, that insurers got paid to cover patients who were already getting your coverage through the VA, and it adds up to billions of dollars. | ||
| And Vermonters are struggling under the weight of incredibly expensive health care. | ||
| The False Claims Act, Senator Grassley authored, is an area where the Attorney General can protect consumers against ripoffs. | ||
| I'm not asking you to comment on this particular Wall Street report, but I want your assurance that in addition to fighting crime, and we're all for you doing that, you're going to be there protecting consumers and taxpayers from ripoffs. | ||
| Absolutely, Senator. | ||
| When I was Attorney General, we went after a pharmaceutical company. | ||
| It was Medicaid fraud. | ||
| I can't remember the settlement value. | ||
| It may even be ongoing, but it was a large, large number. | ||
| And people don't understand that's hurting the taxpayers of Florida, of Vermont. | ||
| So use that False Claims Act that we can thank Senator Grassley for. | ||
| It's cold out there in Vermont. | ||
| We need vigorous enforcement to protect taxpayers and Vermonters from ripoff charges. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I yield. | ||
| Senator Schmidt. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| It's good to see you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| And I meant every word of those introductory remarks. | ||
| I have the greatest deal of respect for you personally and professionally. | ||
| This is a great pick by President Trump. | ||
| You're going to do a great job. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I do want to say, though, that it appears as though Trump derangement syndrome is alive and well. | ||
| The focus of these questions today are disturbing. | ||
| I don't think my Democrat colleagues learned very much from the November 5th election. | ||
| The American people rejected all this. | ||
| Their obsession with President Trump didn't bode well for them electorally. | ||
| And I think if they stay on this path, they'll be in a permanent minority. | ||
| But that's up to them. | ||
| 112 electoral votes, Senator. | ||
| The landslide. | ||
| But that's up for them. | ||
| That's up to them to decide. | ||
| I do want to comment a little bit, I guess, on this newfound religion on independence from the Attorney General. | ||
| I will remind my colleagues that the last three Democratic attorney generals, attorneys general for the United States of America, were perhaps the most biased, politically biased AGs we've had in modern political history in the United States. | ||
|
Eric Holder's Wingman Bragging
00:15:41
|
||
| And there are some receipts. | ||
| Eric Holder described himself as Obama's heat shield and wingman. | ||
| This committee moved forward, and one of my colleagues referenced that the Attorney General shouldn't be the wingman of the president. | ||
| Eric Holders bragged about it. | ||
| He bragged about it. | ||
| Loretta Lynch met with Bill Clinton on the tarmac in a private meeting while she was investigating Hillary Clinton. | ||
| And Merrick Garland probably gets however many gold stars you want to give for the most politicized, weaponized Department of Justice we have ever seen. | ||
| And I think it's worth exploring that. | ||
| And I want to get your comment on it. | ||
| To just sort of take a step back, I think part of leadership is understanding the moment that you're in and the landscape. | ||
| We've never seen anything like this. | ||
| And there is a story to be told. | ||
| The arc of this story begins when Joe Biden gave a speech demonizing half the country, calling them threats to the Republic, threats to democracy, these MAGA Republicans. | ||
| And I'm going to do everything I can to make sure President Trump ever gets back into the White House. | ||
| Miraculously, these zombie cases are resurrected. | ||
| And let's talk about a couple of those. | ||
| You've got, of course, Jack Smith, the overzealous and disgraced special prosecutor, who time and time again has been slapped down by courts for overcharging and taking an overtly political position. | ||
| He, by the way, in his post-mortem this week, even acknowledged that it was unusual for him to be tasked with going after the political opponent of the President of the United States. | ||
| It didn't stop him, though. | ||
| The Supreme Court did, thankfully. | ||
| But you had Jack Smith take on these unprecedented actions. | ||
| You had a raid at Mar-a-Lago, staged photos at Mar-a-Lago for boxes of documents, which, by the way, boxes of documents were in Joe Biden's garage from his Senate days. | ||
| And by the way, somebody who didn't register like you did under Farah, Hunter Biden was staying in. | ||
| We don't know if he's compromised or not because that investigation was dropped. | ||
| And don't and give me a break that justice was meted out fairly for Hunter Biden. | ||
| It wasn't. | ||
| The Department of Justice went out of its way in documents to try to get him absolved of all potential crimes in the plea deal. | ||
| It was only when the judge asked questions that unwound that. | ||
| And they got back to the gun charge. | ||
| But then President Biden did the dirty work himself. | ||
| It was always going to be Plan B. You had Jonathan Sue, Biden's deputy White House counsel, coordinated with the DOJ and Jay Bratt on those classified document cases. | ||
| Matthew Colangelo, who's that? | ||
| The number three guy at DOJ goes to where? | ||
| Alvin Bragg's office. | ||
| Alvin Bragg then brings resurrects a zombie case in law fair at a local level. | ||
| Why would the number three person go do that? | ||
| Maybe there was coordination. | ||
| Maybe there was coordination, by the way, with the number two assistant DA in Atlanta in the Fonnie Willis case, who was meeting with the White House. | ||
| Why would the White House care about a case in Atlanta? | ||
| Well, the truth is, as everybody knows, it was on full display, this was the worst case of lawfare we've ever seen. | ||
| If this was happening in another country, our State Department would be warning us about it. | ||
| It's banana republic stuff. | ||
| And one of the reasons why I'm so glad that you have been put up and nominated for this position is that I think you have the ability to level set. | ||
| So, when the Democrats ask you questions about your independence, it is beyond ironic that we're sitting here today because of the lack of independence from Merrick Garland and Eric Holder bragging about being Obama's wingman. | ||
| So, I just want to ask you, you've been asked this a bunch of times, you're going to make decisions, as you always have, right, on the law and let investigations go where they're going to go, but they're not politically motivated, correct? | ||
| Yes, Senator, based on the law and the facts that apply. | ||
| And in my limited time, I do want to give you an opportunity to talk about some of your experience working with law enforcement as Florida's Attorney General. | ||
| This is something that, you know, as you and I talked about over the years, you were known for this, the collaboration you had. | ||
| And I think getting the Department of Justice back to its core function of taking on violent crime, protecting the constitutional rights of Americans, but taking on violent crime is really important. | ||
| And how you went about doing it, you've gotten bipartisan praise for that over the years. | ||
| You've got the support of all these law enforcement agencies. | ||
| That's something that you're going to continue and take forward into this office. | ||
| Is that right? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
| And I feel that my experience with that goes back to when I was a state prosecutor with state and local, our sheriffs, our police departments, our police chiefs, and then as Attorney General on a statewide basis, and now, if I'm confirmed, all of our federal law enforcement agencies, I would be very proud to supervise those. | ||
| I'll just close with this, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| We heard one of my Democrat colleagues ask you the question that you're not going to pursue a case because of a name, but because of the crime. | ||
| I would argue that the current Department of Justice adopted Lenin's claim, which was, show me the man and I'll show you the crime. | ||
| And they did everything they could to throw President Trump in jail for the rest of his life because they didn't want to lose the ballot box. | ||
| That is not what this country is about. | ||
| That is not what this republic is about. | ||
| But they did it. | ||
| And it's up to you now to restore the integrity of that agency, of the Department of Justice, and I have full confidence that you will. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| Before I begin, I just want to remind us all for the record that the 34 convictions, not indictments, convictions of former president and coming President Trump were by a jury of his peers. | ||
| Thank you, Ms. Bondi, for being here today. | ||
| And I, too, would like to welcome your family and friends who are here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Appreciated the opportunity to meet yesterday to learn about your priorities and discuss a number of issues that are important to me. | ||
| But I got to tell you, as I reflected on our conversation yesterday and as I've observed the hearing today, I continue to have significant reservations on your ability to function as a truly independent Attorney General for your friend. | ||
| Let's say you keep referring to him, your friend, President-elect Trump. | ||
| So I hope you can address some of these concerns through your responses to my questions here. | ||
| Now, the first issue area is something that we didn't get a chance to touch on yesterday. | ||
| So I actually want to follow up on some of Senator Durbin's questions from earlier about the 2020 election. | ||
| And to be specific, on the day after the 2020 presidential general election, you traveled to Philadelphia to appear alongside President Trump's then attorney, Rudy Giuliani. | ||
| And together, you falsely asserted that President Trump had, quote, won Pennsylvania in that election. | ||
| Now, I want to be clear, at that moment, there were still at least a million ballots left to be counted in Pennsylvania. | ||
| Of course, President Biden went on to win the state by more than 80,000 votes. | ||
| But in the following days, even after the results were clear, you continued to double down on the big lie, promoting falsehoods about election fraud and cheating without offering any actual evidence. | ||
| And I remember it clearly because I served as California Secretary of State at the time, and I invited anybody associated with the Trump campaign who was making these claims to come forward with evidence of irregularities in the election or massive voter fraud. | ||
| Four years later, I still have seen none. | ||
| So I ask you today: do you have any evidence of election fraud or irregularities in the 2020 election? | ||
| So, first Senator. | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| It's a yes or no question. | ||
| First Senator. | ||
| Do you have evidence? | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| First Senator. | ||
| First Senator, I'm so sorry about the fires to you and Senator Schiff and what you're going through in your states. | ||
| I have to say that. | ||
| I appreciate all of my talk is ticking and I want to all of our hearts go out to everyone in California for what you're facing right now. | ||
| I'm glad you asked the question about Pennsylvania. | ||
| It's a yes or no question. | ||
| Do you have evidence, yes or no? | ||
| Senator, I was hoping you'd ask the question. | ||
| Do you have evidence, yes or no? | ||
| I traveled to Pennsylvania. | ||
| Do you have the evidence? | ||
| I traveled, Senator, to Pennsylvania. | ||
| Okay, you're not answering my question. | ||
| If you have no evidence to offer, let me ask you this: will you now retract your previous statements that Trump won Pennsylvania in the 2020 election? | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| Oh, Senator, I traveled to Pennsylvania, and let me tell you what I saw first. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| I didn't talk about California because I was not in California. | ||
| I talked about Pennsylvania because I was there. | ||
| I'm going to move on because she's clearly not answering my questions. | ||
| And I want to know, colleagues, for everybody, for everybody, members of the committee and everybody watching, that the other, the attorney you stood beside, Mr. Giuliani, was making very similar statements. | ||
| And he has since been disbarred from multiple jurisdictions for making these false claims about the 2020 election in court. | ||
| And like Mr. Giuliani, as you've noted today, you've taken an oath to uphold the Constitution just as an attorney. | ||
| And now you're asking us to consider you to serve as the chief law enforcement officer in our country. | ||
| So it's imperative, Ms. Bondi, that you subscribe to facts and evidence and not politically convenient conspiracy theories. | ||
| Your job will be, I'm speaking, your job will be to protect voters and election workers, not to undermine and dox them. | ||
| Now, I know that earlier you agreed that Joe Biden is in fact president, but many of the president-elect's inner circle continue to spread the big lie about the 2020 election. | ||
| Let me move on to a different topic. | ||
| Senator, you were speaking. | ||
| May I speak? | ||
| You come to the state. | ||
| I want to ask you the next question you can speak, and I hope you answered, Ms. Bondi. | ||
| Well, I speak yesterday. | ||
| When we met yesterday. | ||
| You pointed your finger at me and said, Let me answer my question. | ||
| I'm not going to be bullied. | ||
| I'm the 14th Amendment of the United States of America, which was deeply disappointing. | ||
| I guess you want to hear my answer with it today after I gave an opportunity to study overnight. | ||
| So can you tell me and this committee what the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment says? | ||
| Senator, I'm here to answer your questions. | ||
| I'm not here to do your homework and study for you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
If I am confirmed, you're the one asking for a confirmation vote. | |
| You cut me off. | ||
| Can I please finish? | ||
| What does the 14th Amendment say? | ||
| Senator. | ||
| Senator, the 14th Amendment we all know addresses birthright citizenship. | ||
| I have been a state prosecutor. | ||
| I've been a state AG. | ||
| I look forward to, even given your remarks today, working with you and the people of California if I am confirmed as the 87th Attorney General of the United States of America. | ||
| I didn't take your homework assignment. | ||
| I'm sorry. | ||
| I was preparing for today. | ||
| So on the 14th Amendment, now you've testified repeatedly to this committee that you will uphold the laws of this country and defend the Constitution of the United States. | ||
| Do you believe birthright citizenship is the law of the land and will you defend it regardless of a child born in the United States, regardless of their parents' immigration status? | ||
| Senator, I will study birthright citizenship. | ||
| I would love to meet with you regarding birthright citizenship. | ||
| Can I answer that? | ||
| Mr. Sergeant, as the Attorney General of the United States, you still need to study the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. | ||
| That is not helping me have more confidence in your ability to do this job. | ||
| One other immigration-related question, I'll still clear up the public. | ||
| I have one regarding that. | ||
| I'd like to. | ||
| Senator Hirona asked you earlier, but I don't think you answered her question. | ||
| Can you please tell us, do you agree with the statement that immigrants are, quote, poisoning the blood of our country, yes or no? | ||
| I did not say that. | ||
| I did not say that you said that. | ||
| I'm asking if you agree with it, yes or no. | ||
| I did not say that. | ||
| Do you agree with it, yes or no? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Senator? | |
| My great-grandparents are immigrants. | ||
| Do you agree with it? | ||
| They came here from Sicily through LS Island when they were teenagers. | ||
| Do you agree with it? | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| Senator, let me answer the question. | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| My great-grandparents came here, immigrated to this country from Sicily, recently went and found each of their birth certificates. | ||
| We are a nation made up of immigrants. | ||
| Do I believe immigrants are poisoning our country? | ||
| No, Senator. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I can't wait for the second round. | ||
| Same, Senator. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| No, sir. | ||
| Suggestions about unfair statements about the 2020 election? | ||
| I thought I'd remind people that Senator Schumer and former Senator Casey raised questions about the Pennsylvania Senate race just a few months ago. | ||
| In 2018, numerous Senate Democrats, some of them on this committee, claimed that the Georgia governor's election was stolen. | ||
| In 2016, Hillary Clinton and a host of Democrats claimed the election was stolen or illegitimate and blamed Russia for the loss. | ||
| And every one of my Democrat colleagues voted last month to confirm Judge Anthony Bridgenzi. | ||
| He engaged in lengthy litigation regarding his loss of the 2020 congressional election and did not concede until three months after the election. | ||
| I think we all agree that our elections can be more secure and better run, but I find these lines of attack against the nominee very partisan. | ||
| Senator Brett. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| And thank you so much for being here today and really glad to see your family. | ||
| I had the opportunity to help them find where to come back in. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| They are all so excited and rightfully so and so proud of who you are and the work that you've done. | ||
|
Adjudicating Eyore's Future
00:06:15
|
||
| And speaking of, I think it is absolutely, completely ridiculous that anyone on the other side of the aisle would ever say that you were anything but immensely qualified for this job. | ||
| From your time as a career prosecutor to then a two-time attorney general of the third largest state with regards to all of the people that operated underneath you with what you were able to achieve. | ||
| It is truly remarkable. | ||
| The United States of America could only be so fortunate if you were confirmed and to have someone of your caliber, of your intellect, and of your experience running a department that unfortunately has been run into the ground. | ||
| So I think that that is full-on gaslighting, which by the way, I had to get my children to explain to me what that was. | ||
| Not only that, but to act like you would be the one that would weaponize the Department of Justice. | ||
| What I have heard you say time and time and time again is that you will follow the law. | ||
| And this is coming from a side of the aisle that has allowed the Biden administration by saying nothing. | ||
| They've allowed them to go after parents who are at school board meetings who want nothing more than their children to be taught and not indoctrinated. | ||
| They have allowed them to go after people who are trying to practice their faith. | ||
| And they have sat idly by while the weaponization of the Department of Justice has undermined the credibility and credence that Americans believe that they should have in equal justice under the law. | ||
| So I know that you will, as you have said here, you will follow the law and you will return this department to where it should be in the eyes of Americans. | ||
| So thank you. | ||
| And I wish the gaslighting on the other side of the aisle would stop because from my perspective, I'm over it. | ||
| And I believe that's exactly what the American people have said too. | ||
| And speaking of, my distinguished colleague, who I have a great deal of respect from on the other side of the aisle, just said, tried to make you answer a question about immigrants and quote, poisoning the blood of America. | ||
| When actually the previous question by our colleague from Hawaii was illegal immigration. | ||
| We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws. | ||
| And the lawlessness under the Biden-Harris administration has made every single state in this nation a border state. | ||
| I am so thrilled about what you've done when it comes to opioid use and human trafficking. | ||
| And I look forward to you instituting that at the Department of Justice. | ||
| Your credentials speak for themselves. | ||
| When opioid and fentanyl overdoses are the leading cause of death between the ages of 18 and 45 in this nation, we need someone who takes it serious. | ||
| You not only take that serious, you have a track record of proving to the American people you've done it for the people of Florida. | ||
| And I look forward to what that means to the families that I have met. | ||
| You talked about the families you met across Florida that showed you pictures of their loved ones that they lost, their brother, their sister, their cousin, their friend, their mother. | ||
| And I know that there will be more lives that are saved as a result of your service when you are confirmed. | ||
| So on that, I say thank you. | ||
| And when it comes to illegal immigration, which we need to put a stop to, I want to ask you a question that you and I had an opportunity to discuss a little bit. | ||
| You share my desire, I know, to not only get away from the weaponization and wokeness that we are seeing in the department right now, but really prioritizing safety and security. | ||
| And I want to say thank you for that commitment and your commitment to blind justice. | ||
| When we are looking at illegal immigration, the Executive Office of Immigration Review with NDOJ, there have been a number of things that we have talked about with that. | ||
| And I know, as you are aware, some people call it EOIR, some people call it Eyore, but it houses our nation's immigration courts. | ||
| Over the course of the Biden administration, the immigration court backlog has grown from 1.4 million at the end of 2021 to 3.5 million at the end of 2024. | ||
| Over that same period, the Biden administration pursued policies both at DOJ and DHS to foster a culture within Eyore of failure to adjudicate cases. | ||
| As an example, between FY25 and FY24, immigration judges failed to adjudicate over 340,000 asylum claims. | ||
| That is compared to just under 13,000 non-adjudicated asylum claims in the previous six fiscal years combined. | ||
| Between cases dismissed, terminations, administrative closures, and failures to adjudicate, Eyore, during the Biden administration, has allowed around 1 million illegal aliens to remain in the United States on an indefinite basis. | ||
| Now, I've heard Lake and Riley brought up multiple times today. | ||
| Having talked to her parents, no parent should have to go through the heartbreak and tragedy that they have, and we are working diligently to rectify that and ensure that we are keeping Americans safe and secure. | ||
| But a House Judiciary Committee report on this issue appropriately called it, quote, quiet amnesty, what we're talking here with Eye. | ||
| Will you commit to me that if confirmed, you will make it a priority to reform the way that Eye operates and put in place measures to ensure that immigration judges actually adjudicate these claims and cases? | ||
| Yes, Senator, thank you for meeting with me in advance. | ||
| And I learned so much from you about this topic. | ||
|
Shaken Faith in Justice
00:08:56
|
||
| And I look forward to learning more and working with you to do everything we can to make sure that functions properly. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| If I am confirmed, Senator. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Well, you are going to be confirmed because America needs you. | ||
| As a part of this effort, I hope that you will consider a number of things, including reinstating the performance metrics for immigration judges similar to that that were in place during the first Trump administration and a reevaluation of the Biden administration's decisions and policies that have encouraged the use of administrative closures. | ||
| And I assume I have your commitment to examine those issues thoroughly. | ||
| We'll closely examine those, Senator. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator Booker. | ||
| Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the time. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, thank you very much. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| And thank you for being willing to meet with me in my office. | ||
| I really value that time that we had together. | ||
| If there's anything that's been demonstrated in this hearing thus far, is there is a serious crisis of faith in our judicial system in America. | ||
| And we are at a time where, as Judge Lauren Hand reminded us in his writings and speeches, that the power of the Constitution is only strong as long as it is believed in and had faith by the American people. | ||
| And that faith is shaken by so much of the political tumult. | ||
| And as we have a new administration coming in and a lot of the protestations about retribution or going after political opponents, I know you could expand your empathy enough to understand why there are many that really worry about your independence. | ||
| But I've heard you over and over again in this hearing, as much as I've tried to focus on it as I've gone back and forth between Senate Foreign Relations and another Floridian, Marco Rubio. | ||
| But I am hearing from you that you understand that the Attorney General's guiding star is the U.S. Constitution and her client is the American people, that there can be no argument about that. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And more than that, though, I hope that you, should you be confirmed, understand that there is an urgency in not just demonstrating through your actions that independence, but beginning to heal this country's lack of faith and shaken faith in that independence in the U.S. Constitution. | ||
| History may not long remember what any of us individually do here, but for the sake of our democracy, what you do to restore and repair the American faith, whether they be Democrats, Independents, or Republicans, is vital. | ||
| I want to switch here to say publicly that when Donald Trump appointed Craig Carpenito as the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, it was over the objections of myself and then Senator Menendez. | ||
| I was wrong in my anticipation that he would not do good things in our state. | ||
| He partnered with local leaders like those in Newark, New Jersey, to dramatically drive down crime. | ||
| He was good for the safety of the city in which I live and the one that I led. | ||
| Part of his strategy was to focus his resources on the most violent criminals. | ||
| But that also meant that he used something that you know of called prosecutorial discretion. | ||
| His strategy is aligned with that of local leaders and was able to create historic drops in our murder rate. | ||
| You know through your experience and you're intimately familiar that enforcement decisions prosecutors must make every day, which charge to bring, which plea deal to offer, or what sentencing recommendations he makes, it's very important that local prosecutors understand that, given this enormous discretion our legal system gives them, that they are best determined to make decisions about public safety. | ||
| I'm very concerned that many people are starting to call for a time in our country where the Department of Justice should prosecute state and local prosecutors who exercise that prosecutorial discretion. | ||
| As Attorney General, will you commit to respecting the autonomy of state and local prosecutors? | ||
| Senator, we have to work together with state and local prosecutors. | ||
| That's what I did my entire career. | ||
| And if confirmed as Attorney General, I will continue to do that. | ||
| They serve a vital function in our justice system. | ||
| And you understand, like in my state, that sometimes they will decide not to go after certain low-level offenses in order to use their scarce resources to focus on the strategy of pursuing more dangerous people. | ||
| Yes, Senator, I completely understand that. | ||
| And those decisions shouldn't be politicized if they're part of a larger public safety strategy. | ||
| No, Senator, when I was a state prosecutor, we used to sit down with the U.S. attorneys and talk about cases and work together. | ||
| And that's what I'm discussing about bringing back the cooperation between state and local. | ||
| Thank you, Ms. Bond. | ||
| I just want to continue. | ||
| One of the most stunning hypocrisies I've found since I've been down here in Washington is every politician gives lip service to driving down gun violence. | ||
| But the very federal authority, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm, that is primarily focused on enforcing America's gun laws and keeping people safe, is hamstrung by federal leaders. | ||
| The ATF's core responsibility is assisting in local law enforcement. | ||
| When I was a mayor, I detailed local law enforcement to the ATF, but I'm stunned at how they have been stripped of resources, of their budget, and all of their capabilities to go after illegal gun running. | ||
| When I was mayor of the city of Newark, we couldn't find one gun crime that was done with a legally purchased gun. | ||
| But when I turned to the ATF, the ATF leader at that time told me in private: we don't have the resources, support, or legal ability to go after these crimes. | ||
| I am concerned about our ability to fight gun crime in America that threatens our law enforcement officers as well as people in communities from red counties to blue cities. | ||
| Will you commit to doing everything you can to making sure the ATF has its resources and the legal power to pursue illegal gun runners in our country? | ||
| Senator, I will do everything in my power to prevent illegal gun runners in our country. | ||
| When I left being a state prosecutor to run for Attorney General, I almost didn't run because I was working on a wire case involving illegal gun runners. | ||
| The DOJ issued in 2022 a use of force policy for its federal law enforcement officers. | ||
| It was approved by the heads of the DEA, FBI, U.S. Marshals, and ATF, and many of them said it is actually a use of force policy that actually protects law enforcement officers as well as protects others from having their rights violated. | ||
| It was also endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police and NAPO, the National Association of Police Organizations. | ||
| This policy is considered best practices in law enforcement. | ||
| Will you commit to continuing this policy? | ||
| Senator, I have not read the policy. | ||
| I will review the policy and I will report back directly to you if I am confirmed as Attorney General. | ||
| And consult with law enforcement, absolutely. | ||
| And I would appreciate if you looked at the policy and I submit questions for the record, hoping that you can elucidate maybe more of your thoughts on this. | ||
| Certainly. | ||
| And then I will also say, it's my last question, because I see my time has run out and I look forward to a second round. | ||
| The DOJ issued a policy regarding chokeholds, which limited the use of no-knock warrants and chokeholds. | ||
| It's worth noting that Florida has outlawed no-knock entries altogether since 1994. | ||
| Would you commit to continuing the 2021 DOJ policy on these issues? | ||
| I'm familiar with the policy. | ||
| I have not read it. | ||
| I'm committed to reading it and studying it and reporting back to you on that policy once again. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator Hawley. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, welcome. | ||
| Congratulations on your nomination. | ||
| I'm so glad that you've been nominated, as we discussed when we had the chance to meet. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| It was a pleasure to work with you as a state attorney general for a number of years, and I'm delighted to see you here today before the committee. | ||
| I look forward to your confirmation. | ||
| You will be confirmed. | ||
| I, too, have taken note of the number of times you have been asked about weaponization of the Department of Justice as if it was a theoretical possibility that might happen in the future. | ||
|
Will You Protect Faith-Based Organizations?
00:15:17
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||
| One of my colleagues on the other side said, weaponization may well occur under your tenure. | ||
| We all know that weaponization has occurred like we've never seen before in American history under this administration. | ||
| And I want to get even more specific. | ||
| In the last four years, this administration has carried out an unprecedented attack and campaign against people of faith. | ||
| If you look at the numbers, we've never seen anything like it before in American history. | ||
| It has been one of the most disgraceful chapters in the history of the Justice Department and in the history of the FBI. | ||
| And I hope that you will reverse this and do right by every American citizen, including especially people of faith. | ||
| Let me give you some specifics. | ||
| After the Dobbs case was decided by the Supreme Court, over 100 pregnancy care centers and over 300 churches in this country were attacked, vandalized, firebombed. | ||
| Do you happen to know off the top of your head how many prosecutions Merrick Garland's Justice Department brought in those cases? | ||
| I do not, Senator. | ||
| It's a stunning number. | ||
| It's two. | ||
| Hundreds of churches, hundreds of pregnancy care centers. | ||
| And I might just add, these pregnancy care centers, the attacks on them, which were violent, which were gruesome, were egged on and encouraged by rhetoric from members of Congress, including members of this body, who have said that pregnancy care centers aren't real medicine, that they're not real doctors. | ||
| They have legitimized these attacks. | ||
| And the same thing was true of churches. | ||
| And this Justice Department couldn't lift a finger to defend these Americans, but at the same time, they used legislation, a law known as the FACE Act, to prosecute at least 53 different pro-life demonstrators, including people like Mark Hlock from Pennsylvania, whom this Justice Department sent a SWAT team to his door in the early morning hours. | ||
| He has, I think, seven children. | ||
| In the early morning hours, an FBI SWAT team shows up at his door to take him into custody and prosecute him. | ||
| By the way, he was acquitted. | ||
| This kind of outrageous, disparate treatment has to end. | ||
| So here's my question to you: Will you protect churches and pregnancy care centers when they are targeted for violence, when they are targeted for intimidation, when their members or parishioners are threatened with violence or other acts of illegal behavior? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Will you stop the disparate treatment of Americans on the basis of religious faith? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Will you stop the deliberate persecution of pro-life Americans for nothing more than their pro-life beliefs? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Will you ensure that nothing like the Mark Hauck case happens again, that Americans do not have SWAT teams arriving on their front doors with armed weapons to terrorize their children and their spouses, only in the end, of course, to have the case lost because there was nothing to it? | ||
| Will you put an end to that kind of deliberate intimidation of the good American citizens on the basis of their religious beliefs? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| I'm glad to hear you say that because we need it. | ||
| We need it. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, we need a new chapter at the Justice Department, and we need it quickly. | ||
| And I'm glad you're committed to it. | ||
| Now, I also have heard you've been asked about your comment that you thought that in some cases we need to investigate the investigators, the ones who were bad. | ||
| You know, I have to say, I'm glad to hear you stand by that. | ||
| We need to do that. | ||
| You need to do that. | ||
| And I'll give you another example. | ||
| I'm sure you've read about this memo, which I now hold in my hands, this memo that was developed by the FBI field office in Richmond, Virginia, 23rd January, 2023, targeting Catholic parishes for spying, for recruitment of infiltrators. | ||
| I mean, the memo goes on and on and on about the FBI's plans to put assets into Catholic parishes, into choirs. | ||
| This is an unbelievable, unbelievable assault on Americans' First Amendment rights. | ||
| And we only know of it because of a brave whistleblower who came forward and released it to us. | ||
| And I will tell you, I have never been misled and lied to like I was by the current Attorney General and the now former FBI director when they sat right where you're sitting now and told this committee, oh, we don't know anything about it. | ||
| Oh, only one field office was involved. | ||
| It was the single work of a single field office and a very few individuals. | ||
| As it turns out, that's not true. | ||
| Multiple field offices were involved. | ||
| Multiple individuals were involved. | ||
| Under your leadership, will you put a stop to the use of FBI or Department of Justice resources to try and recruit informants and spies into Christian churches or any church or house of worship in this country on the basis of nothing more than faith? | ||
| Of course, Senator. | ||
| Let me just say this. | ||
| To our knowledge, no one who was involved in the writing and performance, execution of this memo has been disciplined or fired. | ||
| Will you conduct an investigation like you talked about, Ms. Bondi, that will get to the bottom of abuses like this? | ||
| And to be clear, this is an outrageous abuse. | ||
| It is an outrageous abuse. | ||
| One of the worst abuses of Department of Justice and FBI authority in our history. | ||
| Will you conduct an investigation to find out who signed off on this, who approved it, who advocated for it within the Department of Justice? | ||
| Will you open the books on these abuses so that the American people can have confidence in their DOJ? | ||
| Senator, and I think what you're talking about is the ultimate weaponization, what we've been discussing all day. | ||
| If I am confirmed as Attorney General, one of the first things I will do, there'll be many, but I will personally read that memo. | ||
| And if Mr. Patel is confirmed, discuss it with him right away. | ||
| Fantastic. | ||
| And will you work with this committee and our relevant subcommittees? | ||
| I'm going to chair a subcommittee called the Crime and Terrorism Committee. | ||
| We're going to do our own investigation into what happened here at the FBI and the DOJ. | ||
| Will you work with us as you discover the nature of these abuses and as you put a stop to them? | ||
| Will you work with us to make sure the American people get all the facts and this never happens again? | ||
| Senator, yes, I look forward to working with you and the Democrats. | ||
| I would think this is something that we can all agree on on both sides, that this should not be happening in the United States of America and work together on it. | ||
| That's fantastic. | ||
| Let me ask you one other question here in my just few seconds that are remaining. | ||
| This memo, this memo targeting Catholic parishes, repeatedly refers to as an expert source, a group called the Southern Poverty Law Center. | ||
| Now, the Southern Poverty Law Center has a long history as an anti-religious group that has repeatedly gone after conservative and religious organizations, called them hate groups, called them sometimes terrorist groups. | ||
| They're cited in this memo. | ||
| They once infamously, the SPLC called the Family Research Council a terrorist hate group and an armed gunman came into their lobby and opened fire. | ||
| Will you put a stop to the use of the SPLC as an official source for any Department of Justice memorandum or finding? | ||
| That will be one of the first things we will look at as well, Senator, and report back to you and the committee. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Congratulations. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, as you know, the Supreme Court in Trump versus United States held the President has absolute immunity to commit crimes in certain core areas of the President's responsibility. | ||
| One of those core areas is the Justice Department. | ||
| So in a breathtakingly dangerous and irresponsible decision, Justice Roberts and the majority held the President can commit crimes using the Department of Justice and be immune from prosecution. | ||
| Justice Sotomayor correctly said this new immunity lies about like a loaded weapon. | ||
| So the fear and the concern we have is that the incoming president will use that loaded weapon, that immunity to commit crimes through the Department of Justice. | ||
| And for that reason, it is all the more important that we have an Attorney General who has the independence, the strength, the intestinal fortitude to say no to the President when it is necessary. | ||
| So my first set of questions has to do with whether you have the independence to say no when you must say no. | ||
| And you can say this is hypothetical, but it is not hypothetical. | ||
| So let me start with one very specific non-hypothetical. | ||
| The president has said Jack Smith should go to jail. | ||
| Will you investigate Jack Smith? | ||
| Senator, I haven't seen the file. | ||
| I haven't seen the investigation. | ||
| I haven't looked at anything. | ||
| It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment regarding anything without looking. | ||
| You're a long-practicing attorney without looking at a file. | ||
| So you would need a factual predicate to open an investigation of Jack Smith. | ||
| Is that right? | ||
| Not a summary by you sitting here. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
| And not a summary by the president either, right? | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| So a summary by the president or his desire to investigate Jack Smith would not be enough for you to open an investigation of Jack Smith. | ||
| Is that right? | ||
| I will look at the facts and evidence in any case. | ||
|
unidentified
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And 72 percent of Americans in the Department of Justice. | |
| Sitting here today, are you aware of any factual predicate to investigate Jack Smith? | ||
| Sitting here today. | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| Senator, I will look at the facts and the circumstances. | ||
|
unidentified
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You can't answer that question. | |
| You're not a part of the department yet. | ||
| There's no worry about divulging enforcement sensitive information. | ||
| So just tell us. | ||
|
unidentified
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Are you aware? | |
| Are you aware of a factual predicate to investigate Jack Smith? | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
|
unidentified
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Senator, what I'm hearing on the news is you seem reluctant to answer a simple question. | |
| Let me ask you a different simple question. | ||
| The president also wants to jail Liz Cheney sitting here today. | ||
| Are you aware of any factual basis to investigate Liz Cheney? | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| Senator, that's a hypothetical, and I'm not going to answer that. | ||
| No, it's not hypothetical. | ||
| I'm asking you, sitting here today, whether you are aware of a factual predicate to investigate Liz Cheney. | ||
| Senator, no one has asked me to investigate Liz Cheney. | ||
| That is a hypothetical. | ||
| The president has called for it publicly. | ||
| You are aware of that, aren't you? | ||
| No one has asked me to investigate Liz Cheney. | ||
|
unidentified
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The president has called me to answer my question. | |
| You are aware of the roof. | ||
| Ms. Bonnie, your robberies are 87 percent higher than the national. | ||
| My question is this. | ||
| That's what I want to say. | ||
|
unidentified
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My question is based on Senator General. | |
| Do you have the power to say no to the president? | ||
| And what you're suggesting today by your non-answer is you don't have the independence to say no to the president. | ||
| So let me ask you a different question. | ||
| It also requires you, if you're going to be a good attorney general, to be able to tell hard truths to the president. | ||
| So my questions now are: can you tell hard truths to the president? | ||
| So let me start with an easy truth that you could speak to the president. | ||
| Can you tell us, can you tell him that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election? | ||
| Can you say that? | ||
| Do you have the independence to say that? | ||
| Do you have the gravitas, the stature, the attestable fortitude to say, Donald Trump, you lost the 2020 election? | ||
| Can you tell us that here today? | ||
| Senator, what I can tell you is I will never play politics. | ||
| You're trying to engage me in a gotcha. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I will say that. | |
| I want to say I ask the question if you can speak truth with any ongoing power. | ||
| So let me ask you another question. | ||
| Like you did leaving your colleague Devin Nunes' memory. | ||
| If you can't answer the question, let me ask you a different, what should be a simple truth, not a hard one. | ||
| Was there massive fraud affecting the result of the 2020 election? | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| Senator, I'm glad you asked that question, if you'll let me answer what I saw in Pennsylvania. | ||
| No, I asked a simple question about massive fraud. | ||
| I can only tell you what I saw. | ||
| I know you want to answer a different question, but my question is, can you tell us whether there was massive fraud affecting the results of the 2020 election? | ||
| Yes or no? | ||
| Was there a question? | ||
| I can tell you what I saw when I went to the next step. | ||
| That's not my question. | ||
| So you can't answer that question. | ||
| You can't speak that even easy truth to us, let alone to the president. | ||
| So let me ask you a different question. | ||
| It will also be important that you give good advice to the president. | ||
| Are you prepared to advise the president not to pardon people who beat police officers? | ||
| Senator, as I said, the pardons are at the direction of the president. | ||
| We will look and we will advise. | ||
| I will look at every case on a case. | ||
| Let me finish on a case-by-case basis. | ||
| I abhor violence to police officers. | ||
| Follow up with that. | ||
| So will it be your advice to the president, Mr. President? | ||
| I know you said you want to issue hundreds of pardons on day one. | ||
| Will it be your advice to the president? | ||
| No, Mr. President. | ||
| I need to go over them on a case-by-case basis. | ||
| Do not issue blanket pardons. | ||
| Will that be your advice to the president? | ||
| Senator, I have not looked at any of those files. | ||
| If confirmed, I will look at the files and the pressure. | ||
|
unidentified
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And will you be able to do that? | |
| Will you be able to review hundreds of cases on day one? | ||
| I will look at every file. | ||
| I have asked. | ||
| Of course you won't. | ||
| So will you advise the president? | ||
| Can I answer the question? | ||
| Well, my question is. | ||
| I would have plenty of staff. | ||
| You said, of course, you won't. | ||
| You'll be able to review the case. | ||
| I'm not going to misread this body nor you. | ||
| All right, let me ask another question. | ||
| You don't want to answer that? | ||
| Let me ask you. | ||
| You were censured by Congress, Senator, for comments just like this that are so rapid. | ||
| So it will also be important for you to be able to preserve the records, the evidence of the department. | ||
| Are you ready to commit that none of the evidence in the January 6th investigation will be destroyed under your watch? | ||
| Senator, I will follow the law. | ||
| I will consult with ethical officials in the department. | ||
| Do you see any ethical basis to destroy evidence in the January 6th investigation? | ||
| Then why can't you answer the question? | ||
| Why can't you say, I commit to this committee, we will never destroy the evidence in the January 6th investigation? | ||
| Why can't you give this committee and the American people that assurance? | ||
| Are you frightened because evidence was destroyed against President Trump that was false? | ||
| Is that why you're frightened? | ||
| Why do you have difficulty answering that question? | ||
|
unidentified
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I can't believe that. | |
| Why do you have difficulty promising to preserve evidence at the Department of Justice? | ||
| Why is that a difficult question? | ||
| I will follow the law. | ||
|
What We've Witnessed
00:05:31
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| It shouldn't be a difficult question. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Ms. Bundy, I know that you are pleased that we are to the end of round one. | ||
| And we appreciate your being here. | ||
| And I appreciate that you told my California colleagues you were willing to work with them, even in light of the manner in which they have approached you. | ||
| Now, one thing I think we need to have everybody understand that is watching this hearing today and everyone sitting in here, what we have witnessed over the last four years with a weaponized DOJ. | ||
| My colleagues have talked about this, and the American people know this. | ||
| They know what was carried out against President Trump and his administration. | ||
| And in November, they voted to see an end to two tiers of justice, two tiers of treatment, two tiers of access, | ||
| because they have absolutely had it with the lies, with the accusations, and with the attacks that have come against so many people who were just seeking to live their lives, and then all of a sudden found the FBI or another federal agency or the DOJ knocking at their door. | ||
| You know, Ms. Bundy, it would make you believe that my colleagues have learned nothing from the elections in November. | ||
| They don't see this as a movie script that someone may have liked to write. | ||
| What they see is this is real life and they want a restoration to equal justice, equal access, equal treatment, abiding by the rule of law. | ||
| Many of us have talked today about making America safe again. | ||
| And in Tennessee, I hear a good bit about this. | ||
| And as we've discussed your nomination, one of the things I've mentioned to people is your career as a prosecutor. | ||
| And you have touched on that some today. | ||
| And you are bringing that insight of being a prosecutor to bear. | ||
| And I do appreciate that. | ||
| Now, one thing that I think is noteworthy, and in preparation for the hearing, I looked some of these numbers up. | ||
| During President Trump's first term, violent crime in this country actually fell. | ||
| It fell by 17%. | ||
| And in the first two years of the Biden administration, it soared by 43%. | ||
| This is crime that is taking place in all of our communities. | ||
| We've seen a rise, whether it's California or Tennessee. | ||
| We have seen a rise. | ||
| So I want you to talk to Tennesseans, to Californians, to all Americans about what you're going to do to get this crime rate down in this country. | ||
| Senator, thank you for that question. | ||
| And despite the questions from Senator Schiff, I look forward to working with you and the state of California to do everything we can to fight violent crime in California. | ||
| And you know as well as I, that crime is only going to go through the roof now after these forest fires. | ||
| You're going to have looting. | ||
| You're going to have price gouging. | ||
| You're going to have so many things that I have dealt with in the state of Florida. | ||
| And I am committed to working with California just as much as I am committed to working with you, Senator Kennedy, in the tragedy that just took place in Louisiana, given all the human beings that were murdered in your state. | ||
| And we have the Super Bowl coming up in less than three weeks now, I believe, Senator. | ||
| I've been a little busy. | ||
| But we've got to ensure, if I'm confirmed, that everyone in this country is safe. | ||
| And I will work with you. | ||
| I will work with you, Senator. | ||
| I will work with all of you in this country for everything that Senator Blackburn said. | ||
| We have got to reduce violent crime and we have got to restore integrity to our law enforcement officers. | ||
| Donald Trump, we keep saying he won this election by 77.3 million votes and 312 electoral votes. | ||
| Look at the map of California, Senator Schiff. | ||
| It's bright red, the popular vote, for a reason. | ||
| People want law and order. | ||
| They want to be safe so they can go to take their children to school, so they can go to church, Senator Hawley. | ||
|
Protecting Justices
00:02:55
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| People want safe streets. | ||
| Of course we care about our economy and what's happening in this world. | ||
| But if we're not safe, none of that works. | ||
| We have got to come together. | ||
| We have got to work together to make America safe again. | ||
| And that, in turn, will make America great again. | ||
| And I don't know where that phrase has become a bad word because I think that's a great one, making America great again. | ||
| Let me move on with you to something else that's about law and order. | ||
| And that is Section 1507, because making certain that our justices are protected is important. | ||
| And we also, with our judges, Section 1507 makes illegal any protest outside of a judge's residence if the intent is to influence the judges' decision making. | ||
| And we have heard about the protest outside of justices' homes where they were shouting loud and clear things like, and I'm quoting some of that, if you take away our choices, we will riot, end quote. | ||
| Another one, no privacy for us, no peace for you, end quote. | ||
| In other words, if the justices did not vote to uphold Roe and Casey, the protesters would continue to harass them. | ||
| Despite this clear violation of the law, Merritt Garland did not bring a single charge, not one single charge under Section 1507. | ||
| Will you commit to faithfully enforcing Section 1507 as Attorney General? | ||
| I will faithfully enforce that law and all laws that I am asked to review. | ||
| And Senator, I watched that on TV and it horrified me, the protesters outside their houses. | ||
| You can't do that for a reason, because our justices have to remain safe and unbiased and protected from threats, as do we all. | ||
| But they do enjoy a special protection, and yes, that should be enforced. | ||
| And thank you, Ms. Bondi. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| We'll now have our second round that I announced earlier. | ||
| We'll each have four minutes. | ||
| When we were talking in my office, I brought up the importance of your listening to whistleblowers. | ||
| And about 30 or 35 investigations I've got underway of the executive branch, and not just because of a Democrat president. | ||
| Some of them are probably carryovers from Republican presidents. | ||
| It's very important that the executive branch understand the cooperation that you must have with us to carry out our responsibilities to see that the president faithfully executes the laws. | ||
|
Protect Whistleblowers?
00:04:08
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| And I think that too often whistleblowers, being patriotic people they are, wanting government to do what government's just supposed to do and find something wrong, they want to report it, and they want to report it within the agency. | ||
| They don't come to Congress unless they don't get any help in the executive branch. | ||
| It seems to me that it's very important that you respect whistleblowers, but I've seen them treated like a skunk at a picnic by the agency they're in. | ||
| I've seen them ruin themselves professionally. | ||
| I see themselves, one time an FBI agent came to me, was escorted out of headquarters with his gun and badge taken away from him just because the laboratory there was not using science to make sure that crime was actually committed. | ||
| So now we have a new $40 million head or science lab so that people are protected and get their constitutional rights. | ||
| So will you protect whistleblowers from retaliation and promote a culture? | ||
| And I think that last thing, promote a culture, is more important that values the important contribution of whistleblowers. | ||
| Yes, and Senator, I think so people fully understand the importance of whistleblowers. | ||
| They have to be able to tell the truth and come forward without fear of retaliation. | ||
| And that's the purpose of the whistleblower staff. | ||
| When there's retaliation, the taxpayers' money is paying for that retaliation in most cases. | ||
| The Biden Justice Department issued guidance telling prosecutors to stop charging mandatory minimums and ignore laws setting penalties on drug type. | ||
| It also allowed folks to pay civil and criminal fines to politicize non-government, to politicize non-government organizations instead of the government treasury. | ||
| I put together a list of their guidance. | ||
| I find it very concerning and unfair to the taxpaying public, and I would like to have you review those policies very soon after you're confirmed. | ||
| Absolutely, Senator. | ||
| In regard to antitrust, enforcing antitrust laws is extremely important to ensure that markets are fair and that consumers are protected. | ||
| I've been active in making sure that the Justice Department and the FTC carefully scrutinize mergers and that they look out for anti-competitive behavior and predatory practices. | ||
| I keep a close eye on these issues as they impact my state of Iowa and particularly agriculture, health care, and technology industries. | ||
| And I'm interested in your commitment to make antitrust enforcement a priority. | ||
| Antitrust enforcement was a priority when I was a state AG, and it will be a priority if I am confirmed as Attorney General. | ||
| And again, I am so proud to have Gail Slater handling that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
She is. | |
| Do you agree that loved by both sides? | ||
| Okay, well, my time's up. | ||
| Go ahead, Senator. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead if you want. | |
| Okay. | ||
| The Civil Rights Division in your department, if you're head of it, supposed to enforce laws against race and sex discrimination. | ||
| But under the Biden administration, the Justice Department has arguably promoted discrimination and turned a blind eye to racist hiring practices. | ||
|
Why FOIA Matters
00:15:52
|
||
| Do you agree that race and sex discrimination by employers is illegal, even if the discrimination is called diversity or equity? | ||
| No one should be discriminated against. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| I'm done. | ||
| You owe me 44 seconds. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, I'd like to say something, and I hope you agree with it. | ||
| Violence is never acceptable when it comes to political expression. | ||
| I think I said that initially. | ||
| Yes, I do agree. | ||
| Of course, I agree. | ||
| I abhor that sort of thing happening when it comes to conservative Supreme Court justices, and I abhor it when it comes to Nancy Pelosi's husband being attacked in his home. | ||
| That was horrible. | ||
| Which we should all say unequivocally, both are unacceptable. | ||
| I think you agree, correct? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Horrible. | |
| All right. | ||
| I guess as I reflect on what you've said today, a couple things surprise me. | ||
| I did not expect you to be as outspoken as you are about Kash Patel. | ||
| He's been characterized as a professional career defense attorney and a career prosecutor. | ||
| That's a pretty amazing achievement in his life. | ||
| But he also has said and done some things which are impossible to understand and justify. | ||
| For example, are you familiar with something called the QAnon conspiracy? | ||
| I have heard of it, but I do not know what it is, but I've heard of it many times, Senator. | ||
| So let me tell you what I've learned about it. | ||
| Its core belief is that a cabal of satanic, cannibalistic child molesters are embedded within our government and are conspiring against President-elect Trump. | ||
| They asked Mr. Patel about it and he said, quote, I agree with a lot that the movement says, end of quote. | ||
| Does that sound like a good preparation to run the FBI? | ||
| Senator, I don't know anything about. | ||
| I actually, I had heard of QAnon, but I've never heard that definition attached to it at all. | ||
| You're going to have to ask Mr. Patel about those statements. | ||
| We will. | ||
| And I'll tell you, until we get answers to those questions, I don't know many people on this side of the table who give him an unequivocal endorsement. | ||
| This and his enemies list, what he calls his government gangsters. | ||
| This is what you expect of Stasi. | ||
| This is what you expect of secret police. | ||
| It is not what you expect of justice in America as you've even described it at the table today. | ||
| So I would say this unequivocal support of Mr. Patel should at least have some reservation until he explains some of these outrageous positions he has taken. | ||
| I look forward to hearing his testimony about QAnon in front of this committee. | ||
| You will. | ||
| Let me say another word about January 6th and what happened. | ||
| We lived through it, many of us. | ||
| We'll never forget it. | ||
| To think that the United States of America's Capitol building was desecrated by an insurrectionist mob that came in and did horrible things, particularly to our police force that keeps you safe as you sit there and keeps us safe every single day. | ||
| Over 100 of them were attacked by these demonstrators. | ||
| One, Kenneth Bonowitz, a member of the so-called Proud Boys, another alt-right group, assaulted at least six officers, placed one in a chokehold, and lifted him up by the neck. | ||
| Bonowitz injured one officer so severely he had to retire. | ||
| Kyle Fitzsimmons, convicted for five separate assaults against law enforcement, including one that caused a career-endering, ending, and life-altering injury to U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Akalino Gannell. | ||
| Can you understand why when Donald Trump says the day I am inaugurated as president, I will issue a blanket pardon to these, quote, political prisoners? | ||
| We view this with an outrage on our side. | ||
| These men and women risk their lives for us every day and they almost died. | ||
| Some of them did die in the course of this attack. | ||
| Why aren't we treating them as such and why do you have to reserve judgment? | ||
| Vice President Vance didn't. | ||
| When he was asked this week, he shouldn't, he said that pardon should not be extended to those who were guilty of violence against policemen. | ||
| And Senator, I do not agree with violence against anyone, but especially police officers. | ||
| And every time I've been walking through these halls, meeting with all of you, the men and women of the Capitol Police Department are incredible. | ||
| They do a great job. | ||
| They deserve to be safe. | ||
| And I do not agree with violence against any police officer. | ||
| I would hope. | ||
| I never have, Senator. | ||
| You weren't able to answer my question affirmatively earlier, but I would hope that if this moves forward in a positive way on your nomination, you will speak up at some point on behalf of these police officers who are keeping you safe today and your family safe. | ||
| I yield. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Before Senator Graham, I want to enter into the record without objection from the members of this committee letters from law enforcement groups who support Ms. Bondi's nomination. | ||
| These groups include the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriff's Association, the National Association of Police Organizations. | ||
| They praise her, quote, support for law enforcement, crime prevention, and public safety, end of quote, without objection. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's ordered. | |
| Senator Graham. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Well, I've been gone for a while, so they're asking you about cash, but it must be going pretty well. | ||
| You didn't miss anything, Senator. | ||
| That's just an observation. | ||
| So anyway, thanks to my colleagues on the Democratic side. | ||
| It's been a good hearing. | ||
| And a couple things. | ||
| Pardons. | ||
| If somebody applies for a pardon, you'll give the president legal advice as to whether or not he should grant it. | ||
| Is that the way the system works? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| So rather than prejudging what you would do, you would look at the application and give him your best advice, and you don't like people who beat up cops. | ||
| Correct. | ||
| I hope no one does. | ||
| Yeah, okay. | ||
| Fair enough. | ||
| So let's just get back to the process. | ||
| I'm not going to speak for the president, but the president does not like people that abuse police officers either. | ||
| Yeah, well, the hope is that through this pardon process, you'll make a rational decision based on the applicant rather than deciding the outcome in a Senate hearing. | ||
| That's all I'm asking. | ||
| That's what I would want if I, you know, I represented somebody. | ||
| I'd want at least to be heard. | ||
| Now, Section 230, are you familiar with it? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| One thing that unites this committee is protecting children and society at large from social media abuse. | ||
| We passed online privacy legislation. | ||
| Senator Durbin's been great to work with. | ||
| Everybody, Klobuchar, we're all trying to find out how to empower people who may be victims of social media. | ||
| To empower a parent whose child has been bullied, when you call the social media platform and they blow you off, you go to court and they kick you out of court because of Section 230. | ||
| Sexual exploitation of children on the internet, we've heard stories that make us just break our hearts. | ||
| We're united of trying to give people a say. | ||
| If they take your content down, you're appealing to the people who made the decision to take your content down. | ||
| So what I want to do, along with Senator Holly, everybody, is repeal Section 230 or replace it with a system that empowers consumers who may have been hurt. | ||
| Do you agree with that? | ||
| Senator, I would love to look at that with you. | ||
| I'm not familiar with what you want to do on the issue. | ||
| I've talked to Senator Klobuchar. | ||
| I think Senator Durbin and I may have even discussed it, but I'm committed to looking at that with you. | ||
| There are so many issues online that that's one of the things. | ||
| We have to find things that can bring us together now, and this has to be one of them. | ||
| Well, just protecting our children. | ||
| Here's what FBI director said, Ray, where you agree with him or not, I agree with this. | ||
| I see blinking lights everywhere, turn regarding the national security threats. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Does that make sense to you? | |
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| I was looking at that, the date of that. | ||
| That was a year ago. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| I also heard about, I haven't seen it yet, his 60 Minutes interview that was very troubling to me for our country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Right. | |
| We know we found eight guys from Tajikistan that were released, caught again because they were tied to ISIS. | ||
| So the point I'm trying to make is January 20th, we own this. | ||
| I just urge you to the extent you can to urge the president to secure that border. | ||
| We need money. | ||
| The idea of moving money around from defense is not going to cut it. | ||
| We need a lot of money for bed space to finish the wall, do technology, hire ICE agents to accelerate deportation of people who are criminals and gang members. | ||
| We don't have time to waste. | ||
| I hope you'll make that an urgency because the threat is real. | ||
| Are you worried about an attack on our homeland being generated from ISIS or their affiliates, and what should we do about it? | ||
| Senator, I don't have a security clearance yet, but only from the public reporting that I've seen. | ||
| I'm terrified. | ||
| Senator Whitehouse. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| I'm going to try to fit in two questions in my four minutes. | ||
| Lindsay, stick around because I'm going to say something nice about you. | ||
| First, yes to 230. | ||
| We've got to really work on that. | ||
| There's a lot of support for fixing 230, in fact, outright repealing 230 in this committee. | ||
| First question, presumably your commitment to fairly enforcing the law based on facts and evidence would also apply to environmental cases. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| I'm concerned because, you know, under Trump, criminal prosecutions for pollution dropped sharply in his first term. | ||
| And you will be running an environment and natural resources division that has things like, for instance, a methane task force that big polluters who spent big money to get President Trump re-elected don't like. | ||
| And they're going to be coming to you to say, hey, we don't want a whole lot of enforcement on this. | ||
| Methane leaks, carbon dioxide leaks, it's a pollutant polluting our water, polluting our air. | ||
| Will you be strong when that happens? | ||
| Senator, if you haven't learned yet, I'm pretty strong and I'm pretty independent. | ||
| And I will, I think you and I spoke about this in your office a bit. | ||
| I don't know a lot about that issue, but I am committed to meeting with the ENRD division and talking to you about it. | ||
| I wish I knew more about the issue you faced, but I don't. | ||
| But I'm committed to absolutely looking at it and doing what I can to help you in your statement. | ||
| I don't want environmental prosecutions to be an ignored stepchild subset. | ||
| It's law just like any other law. | ||
| The second question that I'd like to get to goes back to Chairman Grassley's opening comments that it's going to be really important for the Department of Justice, under your leadership, to answer questions from senators, both Republican and Democrat, and to give us real answers. | ||
| Sometimes the best oversight comes from the other party. | ||
| And indeed, sometimes the best oversight comes from one senator who sticks to one issue and persists at it without necessarily support from the rest of the committee. | ||
| And that oversight has been really consequential in the past, and it's really important. | ||
| So Chairman Grassley has been very good about trying to enforce that rule. | ||
| And I want to tell you just a quick story about something that went the wrong way, I believe. | ||
| Crossfire Hurricane was mentioned by Senator Graham. | ||
| There was a committee investigation into Crossfire Hurricane. | ||
| During that Crossfire Hurricane investigation, boxloads of material was provided by the Department and the Bureau to Senate Republicans. | ||
| They got files. | ||
| They got investigative reports. | ||
| They got internal memos. | ||
| They got stuff that would not be FOIAable. | ||
| They really were able to do a deep dive because they got everything they asked for, even stuff that the FBI would ordinarily not produce. | ||
| That was happening on that side of the aisle. | ||
| For me, I had questions about Justice Kavanaugh's supplemental background investigation. | ||
| And I asked for things like, what is the Department of Justice policy for how tip lines work? | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's a FOIAable question. | |
| I didn't get a single piece of paper. | ||
| I asked for things like, what are the ground rules for investigations of supplemental background investigations? | ||
| I didn't get a single piece of paper. | ||
| Senator Graham called the Deputy Attorney General up into his office to say, will you guys please knock it off and give this guy some information? | ||
| So, you know, I have lived the example of if you're a Republican on this committee in a Republican administration, you get everything you ask for and more. | ||
| And if you're a Democrat, you get Z-Row. | ||
| That was not a great moment for me and not a great moment for the department. | ||
| And so I will take the chairman at his word that he wants the department to be responsive to requests from all of us. | ||
| And I would ask you, will you be responsive to all of us, irrespective of our party affiliation, if we are asking legitimate questions that you have the power to answer? | ||
| Senator, I think I've said that from the beginning. | ||
| Yes, especially on Freedom of Information Act. | ||
| I will follow the laws that apply to the Freedom of Information Act. | ||
| I believe in that. | ||
| I actually dealt with the public records when I was a state prosecutor. | ||
| It's been so long ago, I'd forgotten about that. | ||
| So I just hold all the public records. | ||
| Just sort of point of order here. | ||
| The Freedom of Information Act process is one thing. | ||
| Anybody can get information under the Freedom of Information Act process. | ||
| As senators, we should be able to do better than that. | ||
| When we're doing worse than that, that's a sign he's hiding something. | ||
| When we're doing better than that, that's a good thing for congressional oversight. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator Tillos. | ||
| Can we take a minute off Senator Schiff since I'm joking? | ||
| Since he took an extra minute, I'm joking. | ||
| Yes, you can. | ||
| You wanted to say something to Senator Schiff? | ||
| No, sir. | ||
| I asked if we could take a minute off Senator Schiff since Senator Whitehouse took an extra minute. | ||
|
Resisting Absurd Notions
00:03:16
|
||
| I was teasing. | ||
| Senator Tillos. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, I wanted to come back. | ||
| I'm glad I did because I got another mark on my bingo card. | ||
| QAnon came up. | ||
| It's a little known fact, but the so-called, I think I heard someone say that that's an organized cabal that has cannibalistic tendencies. | ||
| I don't know if y'all know this. | ||
| It's a well-documented fact that the so-called QAnon shaman is a vegetarian who actually had to be transferred to another prison to satisfy his dietary needs after being sentenced to 41 months in prison. | ||
| So I don't know if all the QAnon people are cannibals, but it's a little bit absurd. | ||
| I just wanted to add a little levity here and let y'all know I'm one mark away from hitting bingo. | ||
| But it's important to talk about this folks because this is the part I don't like about the big committee. | ||
| I love intellectual property subcommittee because we don't get into this theater. | ||
| But it's just absurd to think that, and it was mentioned in reference to a comment that Kash Patel made, who I spoke with earlier today. | ||
| You know, it's just absurd to kind of throw that stuff out there. | ||
| Does anybody honestly believe someone with a distinguished career like Kash Patel thinks that a cannibalistic cabal controlling the internals of government really exists? | ||
| Let me give you an example why I resist that notion. | ||
| I resist the notion that most of the members here who all raise tens of millions of dollars through Act Blue that has a subpage that only until Senator Butler finally told them to take it down after I spent a year ranting about it on their Act Blue, a subpage on Act Blue had the all cops are bastards subpage and fundraising drive. | ||
| I came to this committee for a year and tried to encourage my members to say this is absurd. | ||
| So would it be fair for me to say that President Biden is embracing an organization that thinks all cops are bastards and you should have a fundraising run for 13.12 miles and protest outside of police departments and put pressure on them? | ||
| Saying that President Trump or you or anybody else are somehow have some Kash Patel have an allegiance, it's so absurd to think in a big hearing like this, we actually just talked about that we actually think someone of the stature and the experience that would come before this committee would actually think a bunch of people eating cabals controlling the entertainments of government was real. | ||
| That's just being done. | ||
| I get the theatrics, I get the marketing department thought it'd be really cool if it was said, but guys, that's not us at our best. | ||
| And I just thought it was kind of funny that he's a vegetarian too. | ||
| But I want to go back to that. | ||
|
Drug Programs and Clemency Reforms
00:09:35
|
||
| This is a narrative that people are going to force, and I'm going to trust you to do what you do as a prosecutor. | ||
| Like you said earlier, you're going to examine the facts of a case. | ||
| You're going to give the president your best advice. | ||
| If you, I cannot believe if there is compelling evidence that you as a prosecutor know that this person breached the Capitol and injured a police officer, that the president would even ask you to consider it. | ||
| And I certainly can't imagine you recommending that they move forward. | ||
| It's a hypothetical. | ||
| I don't want you to respond to it, but your track record as a prosecutor would suggest otherwise. | ||
| Last question. | ||
| You mentioned that when you were dealing with some of the opioid challenge, I think it was opiates, OxyContin, I believe, you mentioned that you went up against your own party or you got some pushback from your own party. | ||
| Would you explain how you have looked at your party and done the courageous thing of speaking truth to them? | ||
| Oh, I remember when that started, several of my former colleagues are behind me. | ||
| They're probably smiling, but I remember when that started, I said, oh, I'll never get elected to a second term because, yes, I fought for what I believed in based on meeting these victims' families and seeing the need. | ||
| And I fought the industry. | ||
| That was a great idea. | ||
| And you were in an elected position. | ||
| You were in an elected position with a lot of people with a target on you, and you stood firm. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| More than once, Senator. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator Coons. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Grassley. | ||
| Attorney General Bondi, in our previous conversation, we talked about criminal justice reform, and in particular, your contribution to the enactment of the First Step Act in the previous Trump administration. | ||
| And I just want to talk with you about a couple of bipartisan initiatives in this area. | ||
| Senators Cornyn, Lee, Durbin, Tillis, Booker, and I have introduced a bipartisan bill called the Safer Supervision Act. | ||
| It focuses on the fact that federal probation officers have a massive caseload, often more than 100 folks they are supposed to be closely supervising. | ||
| And this bill would work on focusing supervised release resources on those who really need it and creating positive incentives for those who are willing and able to be rehabilitated and leave prison much less likely to reoffend. | ||
| What's your experience about the need to support people when they get out of prison and to provide them with positive incentives rather than just leaving them to their own free will and the very high likelihood they may reoffend and thus violate public safety concerns? | ||
| Yeah, and Senator Coons, that's why reentry, we call it halfway houses, what you need, Senator Welch, are so important because people, people, many people deserve to go to prison, but many people are going to get out of prison. | ||
| And we don't want a revolving door. | ||
| We want to do everything we can to make productive members of society. | ||
| And when someone goes to prison, I mean, I saw this every day. | ||
| You saw this as a revolving door. | ||
| People get out. | ||
| And first of all, back up, we need drug programs. | ||
| I could go on all we need drug programs, more drug programs in our prison. | ||
| We have to. | ||
| Mental health, we would be here for another two days. | ||
| We have to get more mental health in our prison system, counseling to help people. | ||
| I think our local jails actually do a better job of it, at least in Florida. | ||
| But we've got to work on that because when people get out, we expect them to do well. | ||
| Many people don't even know how to go get a driver's license, yet we're telling you, go get a job to have a place to live. | ||
| So we have to do that. | ||
| If I could move to the driver's license question, I've also led a bipartisan bill with Senator Wicker. | ||
| Senator Grassley is also a co-sponsor. | ||
| It's called the Driving for Opportunity Act. | ||
| And it recognizes that in many states, there is a practice of suspending driver's licenses where someone is too poor to pay their court-related or public safety-related fines and fees, but where the driver's license isn't suspended because they're dangerously driving. | ||
| It's just because they haven't paid their fines and fees. | ||
| And then without a driver's license, they lose their job or they're not able to get a job. | ||
| Would you be willing to work with this bipartisan group of us on these two bills, Driving for Opportunity and the Safer Supervision Act? | ||
| I would love to read both of them, and I was unaware of that happening with driver's license. | ||
| Last two questions. | ||
| Clemency. | ||
| As we discussed, often near the end of an administration, there's a rush to consider pardons. | ||
| Would you be willing to work at a more institutionalized clemency process where there aren't just lots of commutations near the end of a term, but where there's a regular process where the DOJ and the clemency process is looked at to see whether there are reforms that should be made and recommendations that could be made to the president throughout his term? | ||
| I would love to look at that process. | ||
| I can tell you that the pardons, the commutations that Joe Biden just made were abhorrent to me, absolutely abhorrent, taking people off death row. | ||
| I looked at the facts of many of those cases and they were so troubling to me. | ||
| I don't know what process you intend to implement, but I would love to study that with you. | ||
| Well, we talked positively about your experience and mine with drug courts, veterans courts, mental health courts. | ||
| There are some things we will continue to disagree about and other things I hope we can work on together. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| Senator Lee. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Ms. Bundy, as you're aware, criminal justice reform has been an important part of my role on this committee. | ||
| I worked for the better part of a decade with Senator Durbin, Chairman Grassley, Senator Whitehouse, Senator Cornyn, Senator Booker, and a bunch of others to eventually pass the First Step Act, which President Trump signed into law in December of 2018. | ||
| The First Step Act, as the name implies, was intended to be the first of multiple steps. | ||
| Much remains to be done, including with the implementation of the First Step Act. | ||
| The credits available under the First Step Act are still being implemented and need more. | ||
| I assume you'd be willing, if confirmed, to help us continue to implement the First Step Act. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| And also, I just learned it's my understanding, I don't know for a fact, but it's my understanding that a lot of those beds for halfway houses for reentry have not been filled under the First Step Act. | ||
| So if that's true, I want to look at that right away and figure out why. | ||
| Right. | ||
| And I think other reforms like the Safer Supervision Act, of which I'm a co-sponsor, can also be helpful on that front. | ||
| It's always important to make sure that we're running, although ours is not the largest criminal law enforcement institution in the country, meaning the states themselves have far more criminal cases, far more prisoners under their jurisdiction collectively than the United States government does. | ||
| And nonetheless, it is a significant presence. | ||
| And states often look to the federal government, sometimes for good, other times for ill, on leadership as to where they should take their own criminal justice system. | ||
| And so it's important that we get this right, especially given that we've been wrong at times in the past. | ||
| I also think it's important to address the topic of over-criminalization. | ||
| A few years ago, a few of us on this committee decided that we wanted to find out how many federal crimes are on the books. | ||
| We reached out to the Congressional Research Service, the CRS, whose job it is to answer such questions like this when members have these questions. | ||
| The answer that came back was stunning. | ||
| The answer that came back was to the effect that the answer is unknown and unknowable, but at least 300,000. | ||
| A lot of the reason for this is that there are a lot of instances in which federal regulations impose criminal penalties. | ||
| Impose criminal penalties often without Congress independently enacting anything, just using some sort of delegated lawmaking authority from Congress, which ought not be okay, incorporating elements of a criminal offense into a criminal regulation, which we add to the Code of Federal Regulations at a clip of around 100,000 pages a year, give or take, depending on which parts of the Federal Register that you add to the CFR at the end of each year. | ||
| This seems highly problematic to me for multiple reasons. | ||
| Reason number one, of course, are that Article 1, Sections 1 and 7 make clear that you cannot make a federal law or change a federal law without Congress, without both houses of Congress passing the same text, submitting it to the President. | ||
| Reason number two, oftentimes when this happens, you end up with an either absent or hugely ambiguous mensrea, meaning the standard of intent with which one must have acted in order to commit the criminal offense in question, is often absent or at least so murky that nobody can tell what it means. | ||
| Both of these things, of course, lead to huge problems for defendants and for the liberty interests of the American people. | ||
|
Expressing Concerns About Pressure
00:10:10
|
||
| So I'd ask that you, if confirmed, help work with us on these things and share any thoughts you might have on them. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| And I wasn't aware of the mensrea issue. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator Klobuchar. | ||
| Very good. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for mentioning antitrust. | ||
| I am really proud of the work you and I have done together as well, Senator Lee and I. | ||
| And I know we discussed with you, Ms. Bondi, the work on allowing state AGs, a bill that Senator Lee led, and I was the Democratic lead on letting state AGs keep the antitrust cases involving tech in their states. | ||
| And Senator Grassley and I successfully passed our bill to finally update the merger fees, which have allowed larger mergers have to pay in more, smaller mergers less, and that has led, along with other reasons, to beef up the antitrust division of antitrust during the last few years. | ||
| And I want to make sure that you are committed to continuing a strong antitrust division with adequate personnel. | ||
| And if I am confirmed, I intend on bringing in Gail Slater. | ||
| She is amazing. | ||
| And I think bipartisan support for her and did a lot of antitrust. | ||
| Well, I had someone who knew antitrust much better than I when I was state attorney general and it's very important. | ||
| But very important. | ||
| The resources for the division, it has been under this administration, the current outgoing one, they have added lawyers and others to it. | ||
| And my question was is if you'll continue that. | ||
| Yes, I was actually looking at the structure of that unit. | ||
| And if I am confirmed, I've been a little busy. | ||
| I plan on working with Gail Slater and all the lawyers in that unit. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| And then just continue, you and I discussed some of the important cases, the Google case, Live Nation Ticketmaster, the Apple case. | ||
| I don't know if we talked about that one, but RealPage. | ||
| And will you commit to continue these cases and to pursue remedies that will fully protect consumers from anti-competitive conduct? | ||
| I'm not asking what the result will be. | ||
| I can imagine you couldn't answer that, but I'm just asking that under if you are confirmed, that you will continue the work on these cases. | ||
| Yes, Senator, I haven't looked at those on a case-by-case basis, but I'm committed to that type of case and protecting consumers. | ||
| And I will look at that and have that unit look at that right away. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| At its founding in 1870, the Justice Department's priority was to enforce civil rights. | ||
| That's what was founded, the reason guaranteed by the 13, 14th, and 15th Amendments during Reconstruction. | ||
| Today's civil rights enforcement is led by the Civil Rights Division. | ||
| Do you believe it is a critical mission of the Justice Department to vigorously enforce our nation's civil rights laws? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Okay, thank you. | ||
| Voting rights. | ||
| Will you commit to properly enforcing federal laws that protect the right to vote that are critical to ensuring free and fair elections like the Voting Rights Act? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| We're back to the FBI nominee. | ||
| Again, I express my deep concern, Kash Patel. | ||
| He has vowed to retaliate against the President-elect's enemies, quote, not just in the government, but in the media, end quote. | ||
| As we know, the President-elect has already sued a pollster in Iowa whose predictions turned out to be wrong, which happens with pollsters all over the place, as we all know. | ||
| But a free press is essential to our democracy. | ||
| Reporters must be able to do their job without fear of being investigated or prosecuted. | ||
| Will you commit that the Justice Department, under your leadership, if confirmed, will respect the importance of a free press? | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| And if the President or the depends on who the FBI director is, I have some strong views on that, tries to push to go after the media, how would you respond to that? | ||
| I have not, clearly he's made some statements, but I haven't talked to Mr. Patel about those statements. | ||
| But going after the media just because they're the media is wrong, of course. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator Kennedy. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| General, I admire your spunk. | ||
| Coming from you, Senator, that is a huge compliment. | ||
| You know, I learned the hard way up here. | ||
| You may know it already, but up here, if you turn the other cheek, you just get it in the neck. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh. | |
| You're friends with President Trump, are you? | ||
| Yes, Senator, and I spoke to him this morning. | ||
| You're not enemies. | ||
| No, Senator. | ||
| I don't think I'd be sitting here if I was an enemy. | ||
| He'd be crazy to have me sitting here if I was an enemy. | ||
| So you're friends? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| I find otherworldly, this suggestion by some of my colleagues that that somehow disqualifies you. | ||
| Have you ever seen a President of the United States appoint his enemies to his cabinet? | ||
| Exactly, Senator. | ||
| I think many presidents, including President Obama, were friends with his Attorney General throughout the years. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| I want to also ask you about one of the suggestions of my colleagues. | ||
| I wrote it down. | ||
| He said he was concerned that, quote, you would start with a name to prosecute and then look for a crime, unquote. | ||
| It made me immediately think of District Attorney Bragg in New York, who actually in 2019 ran a campaign, in large part suggesting that if you elect me, I'll prosecute Donald Trump. | ||
| I believe there were others as well, Senator. | ||
| How long were you a prosecutor? | ||
| 18 years. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Is there anything in your background to suggest that my colleague's suggestion that you would start with a name and then look for a crime? | ||
| Is there anything in your background that would give him basis to say that? | ||
| No, Senator. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Have you ever done that? | ||
| No, Senator. | ||
| And I think I have a lot of former colleagues sitting behind me who would back me up on that as well. | ||
| Do you plan to do that as Attorney General? | ||
| Of course not, Senator. | ||
| I hope no Attorney General going forward would ever do that. | ||
| Well, I thank you for your time today. | ||
| One need not be clairvoyant to see that you're going to be confirmed. | ||
| And you talked a lot about bringing us together today. | ||
| I'll make this suggestion. | ||
| Senator Durbin talked about it. | ||
| You can bring us together if you will just answer Grassley's letters. | ||
| That will be a really good start because you'll never hear the end of it, nor should you. | ||
| The man is, he's like a dog on a bone. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| Thank you, Senator Dan. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for your comments. | |
| Senator Welsh. | ||
| You can go ahead and call on Senator Welsh. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Thank you, Ms. Bondi. | ||
| Three things. | ||
| One, I do have some concern that whoever is the Attorney General, you or anyone, is going to be presumably, will be under a significant amount of pressure at some point from the President. | ||
| Attorney General Barr was, Attorney General Sessions was. | ||
| And you've made it very clear your client is the Constitution. | ||
| I think that's very reassuring to us. | ||
| But the President does have now a Supreme Court provided immunity. | ||
| And I just want to express to you my concern, and it really does align with what Senator Schiff said. | ||
| You have what I regard as a very bad decision by the Supreme Court. | ||
| The President should not be above the law, never has been. | ||
| And my concern on the basis of statements that President-elect Trump has made is that he does identify people as political enemies, including Senator Schiff, and there may come a day where there is pressure on you. | ||
| And I'm just going to express my hope that that independence that you've had throughout your career, when it comes to the Constitution or pressure from a higher official, that you're going to choose the Constitution. | ||
| So you don't even have to answer that, but it's a concern I share, I think, not just with colleagues here, but with many Americans. | ||
| My colleagues have made the case about weaponization in this administration. | ||
|
Pending Litigation Debate
00:15:45
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||
| We can have a debate about that, but there's been a universal statement here that we want the rule of law to be the basis of going forward. | ||
| So thank you for allowing me to say that. | ||
| Second, I'm really interested in your focus on how do we cut down on recidivism. | ||
| I was a public defender. | ||
| That's how I got started. | ||
| You started the prosecutor. | ||
| In Vermont, prosecutors and defenders were good friends. | ||
| We each had a job to do. | ||
| But my experience with my clients, and I'm accepting folks who just, they're really dangerous. | ||
| You've got to lock them up. | ||
| You've got to throw away the key. | ||
| But the vast majority of people had a substance abuse problem, oftentimes had very limited education, oftentimes face these incredible dilemmas that Senator Coons was talking about, where they get fines and they get their license suspended. | ||
| So the job they had now, they lose. | ||
| So can you just elaborate a bit on what you want to do to inject some energy into dealing with cutting down on recidivism? | ||
| Well, first, we can address it at the Bureau of Prison level, of course, what we talked about. | ||
| Those are for the people who will be locked up in prison serving sentences to make sure they get the resources that they need upon release. | ||
| 98% of the people in the Bureau of Prisons will be released. | ||
| I believe it's a mess right now, a mess. | ||
| And when you look at an organizational chart of the office, assuming I may get confirmed, I was looking at all the slots and my eyes went down to the bottom to Bureau of Prisons because of my career experience as a prosecutor and caring about what happens there for the very reasons you said we need more drug courts and you were talking about drug addicts as well. | ||
| It's more than that and we both know that. | ||
| It's also people who are dual diagnosed, meaning you have a drug addiction but also mental health issues. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And that's I'd like to work with you on that. | |
| And then the third thing is that I mentioned this earlier, the consumer issues, the False Claims Act efforts that you can bring, the challenge to ripoffs in the civil sphere where companies are doing things that are just crushing our consumers and charging ripoff and overcharging. | ||
| That is very, very important. | ||
| And I hope that there'll be as much emphasis on protecting consumers as there will be on protecting public safety, which obviously is a high priority for you and for the department. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Okay, thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I think you're doing incredible today. | ||
| I'm not surprised. | ||
| Mom, how are you doing? | ||
| Good? | ||
| I told her not to react no matter what. | ||
| That's probably harder for her than it is for you. | ||
| Well, listen, we've talked about this over the years. | ||
| So for me, I didn't know any lawyers growing up. | ||
| I'm trying to think when I actually met a lawyer in my life. | ||
| I grew up in a really blue-collar neighborhood, but I was attracted to the law because I felt like it gave guardrails for people to pursue their dreams, right? | ||
| That you would be on equal footing. | ||
| And I think that your fights for the little guy, I referenced this in the opening statements, are admirable. | ||
| And, you know, you got some questions earlier about are you willing to stand up against corporate interests or are you willing to fight back? | ||
| I mean, I think you've demonstrated that, right? | ||
| I think we did it together when we were attorneys general as well. | ||
| Yeah, your client is the people, and it's your job to fight for them. | ||
| Because in these jobs, especially even a local prosecutor, I think is even more appropriate scenario. | ||
| There's only one local prosecutor. | ||
| There's only one prosecutor in that county. | ||
| So it's interesting when we have these discussions about some of these prosecutors across the country. | ||
| And Senator Hawley and I know there's been a couple in Missouri and they're all around. | ||
| When they decide not to charge violent criminals, there's nobody else who can do that. | ||
| There's nobody else that can do that. | ||
| One of the things that when I was Attorney General, we were able to do when President Trump was in office. | ||
| Sadly, the Biden administration dropped this effort was we had assistant AGs deputized as assistant U.S. attorneys to help fight violent crime to add capacity. | ||
| And when there was a surge to take on some of the most violent criminals on the streets, we were there to help. | ||
| Those are the kind of partnerships I'm guessing that you'll look towards, right, to get back to the core mission of taking on violent crime and fighting for the little guy. | ||
| So I wanted to give you a little bit of an opportunity to talk about that. | ||
| And also, sort of what's your vision? | ||
| You're answering a lot of questions. | ||
| What's your vision for the department? | ||
| I mean, how do you see your role? | ||
| How do you want to go do that? | ||
| I think you're incredibly qualified to do it. | ||
| But just in your own words, what are the things that you're going to focus on? | ||
| You know, Senator, it's truly overwhelming when you look at the volume of that department. | ||
| The Department of Justice, it is the largest law firm in the world and manages the largest law enforcement agencies. | ||
| And that's why, first and foremost, what I did when I was Attorney General, you surround yourself with great people. | ||
| And that includes Gail Slater. | ||
| That includes my chief of staff, if I am confirmed, my deputy, and so on and so on. | ||
| And work from there, but look at each and every department. | ||
| And I don't know if one department is more important than the other, but I will work very hard every day. | ||
| And as Senator Welsh had said, it's not only fighting crime. | ||
| I think that's just first and foremost on Americans' minds right now. | ||
| But that's why there is an entire huge civil division that falls under the Department of Justice to protect consumers, to do the antitrust cases, to do all the Medicare cases, to do all of the other cases. | ||
| So it's multifaceted. | ||
| But first and foremost, of course, to keep America safe and restore integrity to that department. | ||
| I don't think I can stress enough that 72 percent of Americans have lost faith in the Department of Justice. | ||
| Yeah, and I think that the belief that the American people need to have, again, is that people are going to be treated the same. | ||
| As you said earlier, there's only one tier. | ||
| There's not two tiers of justice. | ||
| And I think that's when you really dig down to some of the comments you've heard and questions, at least on this side, that's the big concern. | ||
| I don't want it tilted in anybody's direction. | ||
| You just want it to be fair. | ||
| And you want certainly the top law enforcement official in the country to view it that way. | ||
| I think you do. | ||
| And I think your history, your qualifications, your demeanor, your character warrant a bipartisan vote. | ||
| I hope you get it. | ||
| I really do. | ||
| You deserve it. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| Senator Brumenthal. | ||
| Thanks, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Again, thank you, Ms. Bondi, for answering our question. | ||
| I want to come back to TikTok. | ||
| And we ran out of time when I was asking you before about the importance of the law that was passed overwhelmingly bipartisan majority here in the United States Congress. | ||
| As you know, last year, a Chinese hacking group, it was called Salt Typhoon, broke into several American phone companies, reportedly used that access to spy on the White House, the FBI, other sensitive government targets. | ||
| The threat of Chinese communist espionage goes beyond just watching. | ||
| It also involved potentially shutting down our grids, other critical infrastructure. | ||
| I assume you agree with me that Chinese cyber warfare, espionage, malign influence is an existential threat to America. | ||
| It is an existential threat, Senator, and also I have not seen it yet, but from what I've heard about FBI, former FBI Director Wray's comments on 60 Minutes regarding China, sleeper cells within our own country, infiltrating our water systems, our natural gas lines, telecommunications, a very, very real threat to our country. | ||
| I'm glad that we agree. | ||
| And as you know, and as the Department of Justice has noted, it's not classified, so we can talk about it openly. | ||
| Byte dance is beholden to the demands of the Chinese government. | ||
| It is controlled by the Chinese government, and it in turn controls TikTok. | ||
| Do you agree that ByteDance's control, ownership, exploitation of TikTok is a threat to American national security? | ||
| Senator, this is pending litigation within the Department of Justice. | ||
| Okay, let me put it in a different way. | ||
| It's not pending litigation within the Department of Justice. | ||
| It's in the courts. | ||
| In the courts. | ||
| And the Department of Justice is currently defending the constitutionality of American law. | ||
| Will you continue to defend the law passed by the Congress defending America's national security? | ||
| Senator, it would be irresponsible for me to talk about anything. | ||
| And it is pending litigation. | ||
| You can talk some answers. | ||
| I'm not trying to hedge on anything, Senator. | ||
| I just can't comment on anything. | ||
| With the idea that you won't tell me that the Department of Justice will continue to defend against constitutional attacks the law of the United States. | ||
| When I was Attorney General of the state of Connecticut, I would say I have an obligation to defend the law of Connecticut against any attacks. | ||
| You have an obligation, or you did as Attorney General of Florida, to go to court when those laws were attacked. | ||
| You have an obligation as United States Attorney General to do what this Attorney General is doing, whether you agree with it or not. | ||
| And frankly, whatever the President thinks about that law, you have an obligation to defend it. | ||
| This is an easy question for you. | ||
| Will you defend laws of the United States of America against constitutional attacks? | ||
| I'm asking you, in general. | ||
| In general, yes. | ||
| And with respect to the law that would require defestiture of TikTok, which is a law passed by this body and supported by, I think, a majority of members on both sides of the aisle, why can't you tell us that you will defend it? | ||
| Senator, I'm not hedging. | ||
| This is all pending litigation, and I just can't talk about pending litigation if confirmed as Attorney General. | ||
| I have to tell you, with all due respect, that answer is unacceptable to me. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Before I go to Senator Britt, I'd like to enter a letter into the record from former Department of Justice employees who support Ms. Bondi's nomination. | ||
| This bipartisan group of attorneys includes several former AGs, cis Senate Attorneys General, U.S. attorneys, right to share, quote, strong and enthusiastic support, unquote, for Ms. Bondi and attest to their integrity, her integrity, and devotion to the rule of law. | ||
| End of quote, without objection, I would enter these into the record. | ||
| Hearing none, so order. | ||
| Senator Britt. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have insinuated that your friendship with Donald Trump is a problem. | ||
| My colleagues on my side of the aisle have leaned into this, kind of exposing the hypocrisy, given what we have seen before from previous administrations. | ||
| And I would just like to read something to you from 1961. | ||
| Washington, January 13th. | ||
| The Senate Judiciary Committee approved without objection today President-elect John F. Kennedy's selection of his brother, Robert, as Attorney General. | ||
| The vote came after two-hour hearing. | ||
| Would you like a two-hour hearing, by the way? | ||
| Can we redo this? | ||
| Yeah, that's right. | ||
| The vote came after a two-hour hearing devoted in large part to the praise of Mr. Kennedy. | ||
| Forecast that there would be several critically critical questionings, especially from Republicans, proved incorrect. | ||
| All 14 committee members present voted to approve the nomination when it was formally made. | ||
| The New York Times. | ||
| As it said, blood is thicker than water, meaning family bonds are stronger than any other relationship. | ||
| I just think that that needs to be before the American people once again, and I appreciate you continuing to reiterate that you will serve the people of this great country and that you will follow the law. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| I'd like to move to something that has become another theme of this hearing, and that is Senator Grassley's letters. | ||
| So I myself sent a letter to our current Attorney General and unfortunately received the very same treatment. | ||
| So in front of this committee, Merrick Garland, Attorney General Garland, had made a testimony that we found evidence to possibly contradict what he had said. | ||
| On March 23rd, I came in front. | ||
| He came in front of the Appropriations Committee where I was a member, and I presented him with evidence that the DOJ had actively discouraged the enforcement of 18 United States Code, Section 1507, at the homes of Supreme Court justices in the wake of the leak of a Dobbs decision. | ||
| Evidence that appeared that he had clearly either misled or misinformed this committee. | ||
| Evidence that showed that the department was putting politics above duty. | ||
| Section 1507, as you well know, makes it illegal to picket or parade near a judge's residence with the intent of influencing them and the discharge of their duty. | ||
| It was openly and fragrantly violated on numerous occasions in the summer of 2022, yet never enforced by U.S. Marshals stationed at the home of the justices, in large part because of the evidence that we showed that they had been actively discouraged from making arrest. | ||
| When we asked Attorney General Garland why no one had been prosecuted, he said because no one had been arrested. | ||
| Really going back to the fact that the U.S. Marshals in these slides were actively discouraged from making them. | ||
|
Defending Gun Control Efforts
00:15:29
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| On May 3rd, 2023, I led a group of senators, many on this committee, sending a letter to the Attorney General asking him for a response to 19 questions by the end of May. | ||
| And to this day, I have yet to receive any actual response to any of my questions. | ||
| To Senator Grassley's second point, if you do get a response, which mine came almost a year late, it was just words on paper. | ||
| And so what I'd like to know from you is two things. | ||
| One, if confirmed, will you do everything in your power to have yourself or one of your top officials respond in a timely manner to those of us on this committee? | ||
| And second, since I am almost out of time, will you commit to working to help me get answers about why this happened in the Department of Justice so that we can ensure that it never happens again? | ||
| Yes, Senator, and it sounds like we're going to have to open an entire unit to handle Senator Grassley's letters to respond to them. | ||
| That's what we all like to hear. | ||
| Senator Booker. | ||
| Thank you, and I'm grateful to Senator Britt for bringing that up. | ||
| It's probably one of the most bipartisan commitments if we're going to fulfill our duties of the Constitution to give oversight. | ||
| It's really important that we get timely responses, and I'm grateful for that. | ||
| I want to jump back right in where we were talking in last is just about the crack and powder cocaine disparities that we discussed in my office. | ||
| It's something that this committee in a bipartisan way have done a lot on. | ||
| We discussed about the 18-to-1 sentence of disparity, which came down from 100 to 1. | ||
| I've been working in good faith with people like Senator Grassley on trying to just get justice with that, move it as much towards one-to-one as possible. | ||
| We know that actually in Florida, your home state, as well as 43 other states, it's one to one. | ||
| Thank you for making my question quicker. | ||
| Will you commit to continuing the DOJ 2002 policy of just enforcing it as if it was one-to-one? | ||
| Yeah, and I will look at that policy if I am confirmed as Attorney General. | ||
| I had no idea it was 18 to 1. | ||
| I will look at that policy if confirmed and report back to you right away. | ||
| It sounds like if I'm confirmed, I have a lot of reporting backs to do right away. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| But I will, Senator Lee. | ||
| Am I overly stating the fact that reading from your expression that you seem to think that 18 to 1, especially given what's going on in Florida, seems unreasonable? | ||
| I was unaware that that was happening and why you would want it to be one-to-one. | ||
| Right. | ||
| I know your sincere and heartfelt beliefs on abortion in general, and I respect that and our differences on it. | ||
| But when it comes to medication abortion, over two decades ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved the medication abortion pill, Mifepristone, as safe and effective. | ||
| Decades of research continue to confirm the drug safety. | ||
| However, access to Mifepristone was threatened by several lawsuits that second-guessed the FDA's expert judgment about the drug. | ||
| The Department of Justice has vigorously defended the FDA's judgment about the safety and effectiveness. | ||
| And I guess a lot of people are concerned about reversing a policy that could deeply affect people's access to mifepristone. | ||
| I'm wondering if you would commit to continuing the U.S. Department of Justice's efforts to defend the FDA's judgment in lawsuits against Mifapristone. | ||
| And I was not aware of that, Senator, until we spoke. | ||
| And I think I told you I will look at that policy. | ||
| I was not aware of the policy. | ||
| I will look at that policy. | ||
| I am personally pro-life. | ||
| I have always been pro-life, but I will look at that policy. | ||
| I will not let my personal beliefs affect how I carry out. | ||
| I wish I had more than 90 seconds to talk to you about an issue, but you've been so willing to talk to me about it. | ||
| But the First Step Act implementation is, in my opinion, in a dire state. | ||
| We had a bipartisan bill with 87 senators voting for it, 88 if Lindsey Graham was not off fighting the world's fight. | ||
| I would like to make sure that you work with us to have implementation done. | ||
| One of the reasons why it's so poorly implemented is because of the disastrous realities in the Bureau of Prisons. | ||
| We've had bipartisan hearings here about the egregious stuff. | ||
| The hearing was so disturbing that one of my colleagues on the other side came over and said, whatever I can do, let's work together. | ||
| It is understaffed, and therefore a lot of the people that are supposed to be implementing the programs that would help for people to earn time credit to get out, the education programs that are proven to reduce recidivism can't be done because the Bureau of Prisons is a disaster in terms of staffing and funding. | ||
| People leave their federal correctional officers' jobs to go to state because they can make significantly more money. | ||
| Is this a- Morale is horrible. | ||
| Yes, morale is horrible. | ||
| Do you feel a sense of urgency like I do to focus on the Bureau of Prisons to deal with the staffing issues and help for the full implementation of the First Step Act? | ||
| Yes, Senator, and yes. | ||
| And I spoke about that, I think, when you were in another committee hearing, but yes, I will, of course. | ||
| Thank you for the latitude, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| For a question for both the nominee and you, Senator Booker, you were talking about this one-to-one equation. | ||
| If your implication to her was that it could be done through her actions, then it seems we've been wasting our time trying to find a compromise between you and me on that subject for legislation. | ||
| I didn't prepare for this hearing, sir. | ||
| I didn't know I'd be asked questions. | ||
| I look forward to working with you. | ||
| I do believe that it should be done judicially as well as with prosecutorial discretion. | ||
| It should be done legislatively as well as prosecutor's dural discretion. | ||
| Thank you, sir. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| General Bondi, I congratulate you on an excellent job at this hearing. | ||
| And I want to go back to the topic you and I discussed before, which is the politicization of the Department of Justice. | ||
| I want to focus on a different aspect of it. | ||
| We talked about the Department of Justice under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris being used to target the president's political enemies. | ||
| We talked about it being used to protect the political friends and allies of the White House. | ||
| But there's another aspect of politicization and lawlessness, and that is refusing to follow the law, utterly defying federal statutory law. | ||
| And I think there's no area where this has been more egregious than as it concerns our immigration laws. | ||
| We have had four years of a wide open southern border. | ||
| My state, Texas, has borne a disproportionate burden as a consequence of that, as 12 million illegal aliens have flooded into this country. | ||
| And what the Biden administration has done, no other president in the history of America has done. | ||
| The Biden administration has simply ignored the law, and when illegal aliens are apprehended, they release them. | ||
| Federal law says they shall be detained, says they shall be deported. | ||
| And frankly, our constitutional system is not meant to deal with a president who defies the law. | ||
| Article 2 says the president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. | ||
| This administration utterly defied the law. | ||
| I have said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, Joe Biden did something I previously thought was impossible. | ||
| He made me miss Barack Obama. | ||
| Because Barack Obama, for all my disagreements with him, when it came to illegal immigration, he by and large followed the law. | ||
| Barack Obama deported millions of people. | ||
| The left got mad at him and called him the deporter-in-chief. | ||
| No administration has ever done what this administration has done, which is said, we are going to facilitate the invasion of this country. | ||
| We're going to release 12 million people, and we are going to see Americans murdered, women raped, children abused and murdered. | ||
| We're going to see drugs flood into this country, fentanyl flood into this country. | ||
| And so I want to ask you several things on this. | ||
| First of all, in your experience, what are the consequences of open borders and who pays the price when illegal immigrants and in particular violent criminal illegal immigrants are released in this country? | ||
| American citizens, Senator. | ||
| And I think they're paying, I know they're paying the price every single day. | ||
| We're seeing it. | ||
| We're watching it. | ||
| We've talked about Lake and Riley, of course, multiple times, but there are multiple victims, violent crime in all of our states. | ||
| And as we say now, every state is a border state. | ||
| I was at the border, not in your state, but in Yuma, Arizona, several months ago. | ||
| And I saw firsthand, I saw the Border Patrol Agents and Customs showed us IDs and driver's license, Venezuela from all of these countries, IDs, just thrown on the ground, and people were allowed to walk freely into our country. | ||
| Senator, I never knew the definition of a disposable child. | ||
| I never heard that term in my entire career until I was there. | ||
| A disposable child, the agents kept recognizing a little boy coming over and over. | ||
| You're familiar with it, I'm sure. | ||
| Same little boy. | ||
| And let me ask this because my friend's not a good person. | ||
| He had been trafficked. | ||
| Let me ask, because my time has expired and the issue you're raising is so incredibly important. | ||
| One statistic that every American should know is the number 300,000. | ||
| There are over 300,000 children that this administration has lost. | ||
| Little girls and little boys who came here unaccompanied, were in this administration's custody. | ||
| They handed them over to adults, many of them not blood relatives, and they don't know where they are. | ||
| I've never seen a single Democrat in this committee ask one question about the 300,000 children. | ||
| I want to ask you a commitment. | ||
| Will you, as Attorney General, investigate and make every effort to find those children? | ||
| And if they are subject to abuse, get them out of those abusive situations that the federal government has put them into. | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Senator Padilla. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| And I'll just follow up Senator Cruz's final comment with suggesting that we include targeting those children who are victims of unscrupulous employers as well. | ||
| And happy to follow up with articles and reports as you prepare for this position. | ||
| Senator, I'm sorry, employers? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Okay, I didn't understand that. | ||
| Many employers across the country who are employing and exploiting dangerous conditions, these children that we're talking about. | ||
| Ms. Bondi, we have even less time in this round than the first round. | ||
| Oh, darn. | ||
| And I don't have some yes or no questions, but a couple of important issues I do want to make sure to cover for the record. | ||
| When you were a Florida Attorney General, you defended restrictive abortion laws, including mandatory waiting periods and parental consent requirements. | ||
| If confirmed as Attorney General, would you advocate for similar restrictions at the federal level? | ||
| I will follow the law of the United States of America. | ||
| Okay, well, I'm asking this question because there's a difference between federal law and Florida law. | ||
| There's a difference between the law and your personal views. | ||
| And according to Dobbs, those are left to the states. | ||
| How would you ensure that your personal views don't influence your decisions as Attorney General in cases involving reproductive health? | ||
| Oh, my personal, no, my personal feelings would not influence, Senator. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Next, questions on the topic of gun violence, which continues to be a challenge and a problem in many parts of the country. | ||
| As you know, the Department of Justice plays a key role in enforcing federal gun laws and working to prevent gun violence. | ||
| In the wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018, you expressed support for certain gun control measures in Florida, including raising the minimum age for firearm purchases and implementing red flag laws, which I agree with. | ||
| I support. | ||
| They're proven to make a difference and to save lives. | ||
| How would you use the position of Attorney General to advance these common sense gun safety policies on a national level? | ||
| First, Senator, let me say I am pro Second Amendment. | ||
| I have always been pro Second Amendment. | ||
| I will follow the laws of my state of Florida and our country, of course, regarding any gun laws. | ||
| I did, I worked that shooting, meaning I was there when 17 family members were notified, I was there, that their children were murdered. | ||
| Also, Paul Snyde Club. | ||
| I also went to Nevada to help with the MGM shooting. | ||
| The Attorney General at the time asked me to come out there. | ||
| I believe over 60 people were murdered there. | ||
| I am an advocate for the Second Amendment, but I will enforce the laws of the land. | ||
| Okay, well, I appreciate that. | ||
| I would certainly hope so. | ||
| But any specific ideas that you have on advancing the common sense gun safety proposals that you support as you were Attorney General? | ||
| I gave you two examples, raising the minimum age for firearm purchases or implementing red flag laws. | ||
| There's, I think, a growing national consensus on universal background checks. | ||
| I would be glad to meet with you and review any legislation that you have, Senator. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| All right. | ||
| I only have a few seconds left, but thank you for your testimony. | ||
| I know we asked some tough questions in this hearing. | ||
| That's what the confirmation hearing process is supposed to be about. | ||
| I know how to count and I know how to read tea leaves. | ||
| It seems to me you're very, very, very, very likely to be confirmed. | ||
| And certainly look forward to working with you and your office on the issues that I've raised today and more. | ||
| And I certainly look forward to seeing you demonstrate the independence and respect for the rule of law that you have suggested to the committee today. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| And my prayers are with you in California again on the horrific fires and what you're doing. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| And I know you're so pleased that we're about to the end of the day. | ||
| And we thank you so much for your time and your dedication and your desire to serve. | ||
| And there are several things that we work together on here in this committee, and we will need your help. | ||
| Online privacy, we have never addressed. | ||
| Senator Blumenthal and I have worked on that. | ||
| The Kids Online Safety Act, which we are looking forward to finishing here this under President Trump's leadership so that we can protect children in the virtual space. | ||
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Combating Human Trafficking
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| And another portion of the work that I put a good bit of time into is combating human trafficking. | ||
| And I know you have such a background in that. | ||
| And we are so appreciative that you bring that background to the AG's position because this is an issue that has languished. | ||
| Now, Senator Cruz mentioned the 300,000 children that are not accounted for nearly two years ago. | ||
| I wrote the HHS Secretary, it was at about 100, it was at 75,000 at that point. | ||
| And the number has increased. | ||
| And there are steps that could be taken that this administration, the Biden administration, has tossed to the side. | ||
| We have legislation to address those. | ||
| But General Bondi, this is something that you can begin to do on day one. | ||
| This administration has stopped doing fingerprints. | ||
| They have stopped doing DNA testing. | ||
| And because of that, we know that about 40% of the kids that come to that border are being trafficked. | ||
| And there is a way to put an end to this. | ||
| So we have, we think creating a database, a human trafficking database at DOJ is a good step forward. | ||
| We do have legislation on that. | ||
| Another thing that we're working on is having child protective services actually record the interviews with children and adults to help to protect these children. | ||
| But I would really like to get your commitment on the record for your help and a statement about the work that you have done in human trafficking and your commitment to ending that in our country. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| And I have not yet reviewed your legislation, but I would love to review that legislation. | ||
| Yeah, I learned about the fingerprinting and the DNA when I was at the border a few months ago. | ||
| And I really couldn't believe that. | ||
| And while I was there, I went to a rape crisis center. | ||
| And what I saw and learned at that border, there is nothing humane happening at that border. | ||
| And so many women and children are being trafficked coming into this country. | ||
| And When I was Attorney General for the state of Florida, I went to Mexico and I went to a safe house and I met victims of human trafficking, women and children. | ||
| I held babies who had been trafficked. | ||
| And what gets a young drug-addicted, because they addict all these women to drugs when they're trafficked, young, drug-addicted mother to break free from her captor, they were sending her to New York. | ||
| And when they were going to do that, what do they do? | ||
| They were going to kill her baby. | ||
| And that's what got her to break away and get to a safe house. | ||
| So I am committed to fighting human trafficking alongside you, and I have not yet read your legislation. | ||
| I appreciate that. | ||
| We appreciate so much your commitment to that. | ||
| There is nothing compassionate about what is going on at that southern border, and we will need your attention to fix those issues. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| On behalf of the Chair, Senator Schiff. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| It's been suggested, Ms. Bondi, by a number of my colleagues that the concern Democrats have is that you are friends with the President. | ||
| That's not our concern. | ||
| It's not our concern that you're loyal to the former President. | ||
| The President has a right to choose people who he believes will be loyal to him. | ||
| Our concern comes when that loyalty to the President conflicts with your duty, conflicts with the Constitution, conflicts with your oath. | ||
| And our questions have been designed to try to ascertain what you will do when that inevitable conflict arises. | ||
| And you may say that you believe that conflict will never come, but every day, week, month, and year of the first Trump administration demonstrated that conflict will come. | ||
| Jeff Sessions may not have believed it would come to him, it came to him. | ||
| Bill Barr may not have believed it would come to him, it came to him. | ||
| It came to everyone. | ||
| It will come to you. | ||
|
Encourage Price Gouging Action
00:03:58
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| And what you do in that moment will define your attorney generalship, your public service, everything you've done up to that moment will be judged by what you do in that moment. | ||
| I would encourage you to talk to Secretary Mattis, someone who had broad respect and has broad respect of Americans in both sides of the aisle, who felt it incumbent on him to leave his post because he could not in good conscience continue to do as he was asked. | ||
| I would encourage you to talk to Chris Wright, who perhaps, as well as anyone, walked that difficult line, avoiding unnecessary and gratuitous fights with the former president, but at the same time defending his workforce, defending the democracy and our institutions. | ||
| I would talk to those who have been where you're about to be, because you will surely be faced with that difficult challenge if you are confirmed. | ||
| Let me turn to some California particular concerns. | ||
| I'm grateful for your acknowledgement of the trauma we've been through with the fires. | ||
| That is not over. | ||
| We will need your help in going after those who are committing arson or who are looting or the inevitable fraudsters who will take advantage of the situation to try to defraud taxes. | ||
| Price gouging. | ||
| As well as price gouging. | ||
| Indeed, on the subject of price gouging, and we talked quite a bit about the 2020 election, the 2024 election was about the high cost of living. | ||
| I hope you will demonstrate a willingness to go after anyone who's engaged in price gouging. | ||
| I think the oil companies are engaged in price gouging. | ||
| The price of the pump in California is through the roof. | ||
| Are you willing to take on even powerful interests like the oil industry if you determine that they are gouging consumers? | ||
| I handled the BP oil spill, Senator, when I was Attorney General for the state of Florida. | ||
| Right now, as an immediate concern, I would be concerned about helping you in California with all the criminal acts that I'm sure are happening throughout your state with the looting. | ||
| And this is just from me watching it on the news. | ||
| You've been there on the ground, but crime is rampant in California and it's only going to get worse based on these fires and what happened. | ||
| And price gouging is when people come in and they try to raise the price of goods, water, essential commodities, when people have lost their homes. | ||
| And not everyone lives in a big home. | ||
| Most people don't. | ||
| And people have lost everything that they have had. | ||
| And I am committed to working with everyone in California constantly to help the people in the aftermath of these fires and do everything that I can. | ||
| We will need your help on that. | ||
| We will need your help on attacking the scourge of fentanyl. | ||
| We can't solve this problem as a local government or state government or federal government alone. | ||
| We need to work together on that. | ||
| And let me ask one last question, if I may, Mr. Chairman, important to a great many Californians and people around the country. | ||
| And that is, will you respect their marriage? | ||
| Will you respect marriage equality? | ||
| Will you defend marriage equality? | ||
| I will respect the law, absolutely. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| I'm sitting here in the chairman's seat. | ||
| General Bondi, it's really, it's a great feeling of power. | ||
|
Rescinding The 2021 Memo
00:08:25
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| Do you have documents you want me to review? | ||
| Maybe some things I'd like you to sign. | ||
| Let me just ask you here, and I think I may be your last interlocutor for the day, so congratulations. | ||
|
unidentified
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Ed. | |
| You've just done fantastic. | ||
| Thank you for answering all of our questions. | ||
| Let me just ask you about another of the abuses that this past administration perpetrated that is still in place. | ||
| And I'm referring to the October 2021 memo from Attorney General Garland targeting parents at school board meetings. | ||
| Do you remember this? | ||
| Yes, Senator. | ||
| What happened was, as I'm sure you recall, we now know, the Biden administration, the White House, the Secretary of Education solicited a letter from the National School Board Association. | ||
| They ginned it up. | ||
| It was fake from beginning to end. | ||
| They ginned it up calling for law enforcement scrutiny against parents, tax-paying parents who were going to school board meetings, inquiring what their children were being taught, inquiring about face masks, critical race theory. | ||
| And Attorney General Garland, you talk about bowing to political pressure. | ||
| When the White House demanded he activate the FBI against these parents, amazingly, unbelievably, he did it. | ||
| And he issued this memorandum in October of 2021. | ||
| All of this time later, that memorandum has still never been formally rescinded. | ||
| Even after the National School Board Association withdrew their letter, admitted they had been wrong to call parents potential domestic terrorists who were merely raising questions about what their children were being taught. | ||
| Garland never apologized for it. | ||
| He never did anything about it. | ||
| It is still in effect. | ||
| Here's my question for you. | ||
| As Attorney General, if and when you are confirmed, will you finally rescind that memorandum and do right on behalf of all of these parents who have been wrongly, unjustly targeted by the FBI and DOJ? | ||
| Senator, I have not yet read the memo. | ||
| If I am confirmed, I will read the memo and I will do the right thing, just like I told senators on both sides of the aisle regarding their issues. | ||
| Good. | ||
| I look forward to you doing that, and I would hope this is something you could do on the first day after that you're confirmed to send a message to parents and law-abiding citizens everywhere. | ||
| This shouldn't be a partisan issue. | ||
| I bet the parents who went to these meetings, they're Republicans, they're Democrats, they have no partisanship, but they want to know that their First Amendment rights will be protected. | ||
| And you rescinding that memo formally after, frankly, the current Attorney General lied to us about it for years, would send a tremendous message. | ||
| Let me just ask you about the one other thing, and this is something near and dear to me. | ||
| We talked about this when you came to my office. | ||
| The Department of Justice administers a fund called the Radiation Exposure Compensation Fund. | ||
| This is a fund that helps pay for the health care bills of Americans who have been exposed to nuclear radiation by the government through no fault of their own in the West and other parts of the country. | ||
| The Department of Justice has administered that program for years. | ||
| Senator Warren Hatch actually wrote the initial bill. | ||
| It has been in existence since 1990. | ||
| It's been supported by senators from both parties. | ||
| It's extremely important to my state because the state of Missouri, we have a lot of nuclear radiation that has occurred. | ||
| It's still in our groundwater, still in our soil, not cleaned up yet. | ||
| My question for you is: since you'll be in charge of administering it, will you administer that program fairly and equitably? | ||
| Will you defend it? | ||
| Will you make sure that radiation victims who are under the statute entitled to compensation from their government get what they deserve? | ||
| Senator, I was speaking about that with someone yesterday because I did not know. | ||
| Again, there's going to be a lot if I am confirmed that I don't know. | ||
| That's why it's so important to keep an open dialogue with every senator from every state. | ||
| And yes, I am committed to looking at that. | ||
| And I did not realize you had that horrific problem in your state. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Thank you for answering our questions. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time. | ||
| Before I close down this meeting, I would enter into a record from a bipartisan group of attorneys who have served as Attorney General in their respective states. | ||
| This includes New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois, and Hawaii. | ||
| They write that Ms. Bondi has worked, quote, across both state and party lines to solve problems. | ||
| And a further quote, that she is, quote, unquote, highly qualified nominee without objection, that will be put in the record. | ||
| You've done extremely well. | ||
| I thank you for your testimony today, and I thank your family. | ||
| Whatever pressures they felt, we apologize for it. | ||
| But thank you for being so patient through all this process. | ||
| You should be very proud, Ms. Bondi. | ||
| You performed well, I think, admirably, is another adjective, and showed this entire country that you're eminently qualified to serve as Attorney General. | ||
| If confirmed, you will be a chief protector of the rule of law. | ||
| And I have every confidence that you're going to do a superb job. | ||
| Now, for information for the future, written questions can be submitted for the record until tomorrow at 5 p.m. Ms. Bondi. | ||
| When you receive these questions, please return them to the committee as soon as possible, because under our rules, that has something to do with when we can schedule action for your confirmation. | ||
| You're excused at this point. | ||
| This committee is adjourned. | ||
| We will reconvene tomorrow, right here. | ||
| Is it right here in this room? | ||
| Well, right here at 10:15 a.m. to hear from a panel of outside witnesses in regard to Ms. Bondi's nomination. | ||
| We adjourn. | ||
| Thank you, Senator. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
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The House meets at 9 a.m. Eastern for legislative business and will consider legislation to deport or deny U.S. entry to foreign nationals who are convicted of sex offenses or other crimes involving domestic violence, stalking, and child abuse or neglect. | |
| On C-SPAN 2 at 10 a.m. Eastern, former 2024 presidential candidate and President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Interior Secretary Doug Bergham appears before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for his confirmation hearing. | ||
| And then at noon Eastern, the U.S. Senate gavels in to continue work on a bill that requires the Homeland Security Department to detain migrants for theft-related crime. | ||
| And on C-SPAN 3 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, President-elect Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, Businessman Scott Besant, will appear before the Senate Finance Committee at his confirmation hearing. | ||
|
Thursday Morning Washington Journal
00:00:52
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unidentified
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You can also watch all of our live coverage on the C-SPAN Now video app or online at c-SPAN.org. | |
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington and across the country. | ||
| Coming up Thursday morning, we'll discuss the incoming Trump administration and congressional news of the day. | ||
| First, with New Mexico Democratic Congressman Gabe Vasquez, a member of the Armed Services Committee. | ||
| Then Indiana Republican Congressman Jim Baird, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal. | ||
| Join in the conversation live at 7 Eastern Thursday morning on C-SPAN. | ||