Transcripts For CSPAN Deputy Attorney General Associate Attorney General Nominees Testify At... 20210310

hearing. we'll go back light into the hearing room here on c-span2. >> and thank you all for being here today. ms. gupta, i want to come to you first. should a future senate confirm nominee tweet critical comments about a sitting u.s. senator? >> senator, i have apologized and will apologize again for the harsh tone and coarse language ideas, and if i am confirmed as associate attorney general you will not hear that kind of coors light was for me and i will look forward -- >> but it is a part of your past, and on october 5, 2018, you tweeted senator collins -- i got it right here -- senator collins is failing our constituents and sending a dangerous message to survivors here this is excruciating. do you regret that? >> senator, i recall -- >> yes or no is fun. >> id regret it, yeah. >> all right. -- i do regret it. >> you are criticizing her because of her vote on justice kavanaugh's? >> yes. >> in june 15, 2020, two years later you tweeted, and i have got that one right here, there was a reason, many reasons come so many of us fought tooth and you to keep kavanaugh off of the court. i see that you also have tweeted that we should believe survivors, on september 27, 2019, you tweeted one year later i still support dr. blasey ford. i thank you for a bravery and yes, i still believe her powerful testimony. the truth is she was not alone last year. millions of women, survivors and allies had her back. we still do. believe survivors. so now by women, brave women, have come forward with allegations of inappropriate conduct that new york governor andrew cuomo. lindsay boylan, said -- against her wishes. do you believe lindsay? >> senator, i think it's important that the attorney general of new york has opened an investigation to investigate those claims and i believe that survivors too often in this country and victims of sexual assault don't have their ability to be heard and i think it's appropriate for the attorney general -- >> let me ask you a broader question that you don't want to say whether you believe a survivor of sexual harassment. should these five brave women be believed? >> sorry, senator, i'm not sure i understood the question. >> it's a simple yes or no. should these women who have stepped forward, all five of them, he believed? >> i believe survivors should be heard and i believe that it is appropriate for the attorney general of new york to be conducting an investigation. >> okay. so the survivors of sexual harassment shouldn't all be believed? >> senator, as i said i believe very much and has spent a lot of my career ensuring that victims and victims of sexual abuse and sexual violence are able to have their voices are obviously in a criminal justice system everyone is afforded the presumption of innocence and there's a process for that. but on this where i think on his allegations of the investigation by the attorney general is ongoing and i believe that's appropriate. >> if these stories are true should governor cuomo resign? >> senator, as a nominee for the justice department i don't believe it's appropriate for me to decide what the remedy should be. i believe there should be a full and thorough fact-finding, yes. >> so you don't have an opinion like you have an opinion back in 2018. and i thought that you backed me to and believed all survivors. so you have been posting about believing women over and over since the #me too movement started, and i thought that you supported women in the #me too movement here so to me it seems a little hypocritical to say the least that you seem to not have an opinion based on the allegations of multiple women that have come forward. let me move on since we don't have an opinion on me too. you are an outspoken advocate for soft on crime approaches, and i'm not sure if your lenient approach to punishment is what we want to see for the number three official at the justice department. on december 10, 2020, you tweeted, abolish the death penalty. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> okay. july 4, 2020, you tweeted the death penalty is always wrong, but right now a priority apparently for u.s. doj. is that correct? >> senator, i have been a proponent against the death penalty that it also know how to enforce the law, and i did so when i was in the justice department before when dylann roof committed a heinous act against nine parishioners -- >> so let -- >> in that prosecution and conviction happen under my watch. >> is the death penalty wrong for the boston bomber? or the charlottesville shooter? >> is fine confirmed i will be following the law and that the justice department that were actually quite strict procedures for certification in a death penalty case that presides that decision to pursue a a depth e come resides with the attorney general of the united states who considers the aggregators and mitigated pursuant to the law. that will be the decision and determination of the next attorney general of the united states. >> ms. gupta, is it fair to say that you have double standards within based on your personal opinion or what you see as a professional responsibility? >> i don't believe i do. i believe that if i am confirmed my personal opinions on things take second place to the constitution and federal law. >> yield back. >> thank you, senator blackburn. i would like to submit for the record letters of endorsement of vanita gupta from the fraternal order of police, national sheriffs' association, the president of the national sheriffs' association david mahoney, sheriff of dane kenneth wisconsin, the major townships of america, the chief of police, major cities chiefs association, 53 current or former police chiefs or sheriff's, the police executive research forum, the federal law enforcement officers association, the hispanic american police commanders association, the national organization of black law enforcement executives, national association of women law enforcement executives, the president of the iowa state sheriffs and deputies association tony thompson who's a shift of black hawke county iowa. without objection i will add those to the record. i understand senator hirono is prepared. >> yes, thank you, mr. chairman. >> take it away, senator. >> ms. monaco and ms. gupta, welcome. as part of my responsibilities i ask the following two initial questions of every nominee who comes before any on the committee of which i set. so i will ask you the questions. since you became a legal adult have you ever made unwanted request for sexual favor or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? >> no. >> no, senator. >> have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct? >> no. >> no. >> as i listened to some of the questions from my colleagues, i want to note we have been subjected to quite a lot of man's planing with regard to ms, religion, policing and ms. gupta i commend you for your home responses. the judicial crisis network -- right wing dark many groups up and running as against your nomination, ms. gupta. one of the claims that the ad makes is that you want to defund the police and you have said several times today but that is not your position. jim pascoe, executive director of the fraternal order of police, , group that is endorsed your nomination call out the judicial crisis network as what it is and i quote him. he calls it the judicial practice -- partisan demagoguery and the politics of personal destruction. i certainly couldn't agree more. i have seen you, ms. gupta, advocate for shifting some responsibilities away from police officers to professionals with expertise in mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse disorders. could you talk briefly about what this means and why it is so important? >> yes, senator, thank you. i have experienced and heard from any number of people in law enforcement as well as from community leaders and mental health professionals about the importance of ensuring that there is community-based mental health services and substance abuse treatment. so that communities are not fully and only rely on the criminal justice system when family members are in need and suffering from these issues. law enforcement, sheriff's just recently was in a series of meetings with sheriff's where they're talking about this issue about what they're dealing with in their jails and and i thk there's an enormous opportunity right now to work together to figure out how we can better support law enforcement and not have it be solely their burden and ensure that argument is based where this possible, where the call response and mental health experts can arrive on the scene with law enforcement. that's something we'd seen in action in places like denver and seattle and cleveland and other places. i think this is really important. i also know, senator, that president biden has pledged $300 billion which i believe would be able to support some of these efforts based on engagement ifad in the needs of law enforcement and communities that i'd i've been hearing e last many years. >> thank you for your understanding of how some of the situations can be better handled, not just by the police. so since january 1 republicans in 39 states have introduced over 254 suppression bills. this is the legacy of supreme court -- shelby county decision which guided the voting rights act. now there are two my cases, arizona cases, before the supreme court and there is a concern the courts conservative majority will significantly narrow the effectiveness of section two of the voting rights act in challenging voter suppression laws that disproportionately impact racial minorities. why? well, in response to question justice amy coney barrett and arizona for the arizona republican preset allowing more people to vote puts the republicans, quote, at a competitive disadvantage. so that's really revealing their true motives, which is voter suppression by the way. i know you've added gated that advocated for congress to restore that preclearance position of voting rights act. why is it important to robust voting rights laws at the federal level? >> senator, a core function of the justice department through its civil rights division is the enforcement of the federal voting rights laws that this body has passed its the help america vote act, the national voter registration act, protect the voting rights of servicemembers are serving our country, and the voting rights act. the shelby county decision in 2013 took away and devastated major part of the voting rights act that gave the justice department the ability to ensure that hyper local changes were not racially discriminatory. i hope that to honor congressman lewis and his whole legacy that provision will be restored, but certainly regardless it will be incumbent upon the justice department to ensure that all eligible americans are able to exercise their right to vote. it is foundational to our democracy. >> couldn't agree with you more. in fact, right after the shelby county decision some 13 states very quickly enacted voter suppression laws, and now all these states are quickly trying to pass over 250 laws to vote or suppress. i think they very sympathetic supreme court that will uphold what they're trying to do. i know, ms. gupta, you are well aware of the increasing number of hate crimes against the asian american pacific islander community. many ideas have been put forth of what we can do to stem this violence and to prosecute the people who are responsible. one of the ideas is a position dedicated at the department of justice to expedite review and prosecution of these incidents and grants for states and local governments to address this violence and to prove data reporting. can you tell us about what you believe should be done to address the continuing incidents of hate crimes against this community? >> thank you, senator. the recent data on the surgeon hate crimes against the aai p to meet has been distressingly more evident from a local partners about the justice department's enforcement of the matthew shepard and james byrd, jr. hate crimes prevention act. needs be rigorous and we need to continue to ensure appropriate data collection so we can understand the scope of the problem. and i believe there's important community organizations that are often the first go to for victims of hate crimes because they are trusted in their community and his support for the justice department of relationships there. the criminal sanction of the civil rights division prosecutes hate crimes. they do with great honor and in dedication and if i'm confirmed i would want to be able to assess the resource needs and i guess as ms. monaco said, it would be -- it will be hard to turn down additional resources in this area, but obviously want to be able to ensure that the justice department can do everything it needs to do to prevent the scourge of hate crimes. >> i just have a limit of time remaining or maybe my time is up. just wanted to ask you, you have been a champion of equal rights against all kinds of discrimination. can you briefly talk about your work on supporting military people in terms of your work? >> yes, senator. when i was at the justice department before, heading up the civil rights division, the civil rights division enforces statutes to protect the voting rights that servicemembers, particularly better the point overseas where there's been a lot of problems and ensuring their ability to vote and have their vote counted. but also to ensure that predatory lending practices that are taken away property in properly and servicemembers when they were deployed, that is a statute as well as employment. when members of military are deployed, when they face unlawful employment discrimination or termination. so these are some of the statutes that we enforce. i was honored to work with the didn't associate attorney general to launch a servicemembers initiative to protect and kind of get a more holistic all department approach to protecting the rights of servicemembers and ensuring that they are never penalized for the service that they give to our country. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hirono. now we're going to call on senator tillis followed by senator booker. senator tillis. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. monaco, ms. gupta, congratulations on your nominations. i know that you and your family and friends should be proud. ms. gupta, also i know that some of my colleagues on my side of alice asked you a number of of different questions about position just taken on twitter or public statements. i'm only going to refer to one of those and then move onto a few more questions. i hope that you understand that the department that you're being considered for is one of the few departments in the administration that we are striving our best to have people go forward who do not necessarily have a partisan background and i think we can infer from some of your statements that you make. and not necessarily take offense to it, , just understand i think the motivation is to create leadership in the doj that are as unbiased as possible, matters of policy. but i do have to ask your question about a tweet that you posted february last year. i believe believe it was february 20. it read please understand what senate majority leader at the time mitch mcconnell has pride for the prioritizing this week. he's moving for an antiabortion bills and more lifetime federal judges instead of holding votes on all the important civil and human rights legislation already passed by the house. you ended it by saying we won't forget. ms. gupta, do you recall what the antiabortion bills we were pursuing that week? >> senator, i do not, sorry. >> well, we were voting on senator graham's pain capable unborn protection act in the born alive by protection survivor act. one required doctors to provide medical care to any child that was born alive after an attempted abortion and the other one makes it a a criminal offe for doctor to perform an abortion 20 weeks after fertilization here in fact, these bills were bipartisan. we got a couple of democrat votes on them here so i'm just curious before i move on the doj policies why, in your mind, you don't think a doctor should provide medical care to a child who has been born alive? >> senator, the issue here i think, and they seem to recall that we were gravely concerned over hundreds of bills that were held up in the senate that have been passed by the house, and that were not receiving even hearing. and the concern was that there were swift movement on confirmation of judges, , that'a hold of these bills was of great concern to many of us and i was giving voice to that. it doesn't mean to diminish the bill that you were considering, that we were expressing a lot of concern about the hundreds of bills that were being held up or not receiving a hearing in the senate. >> would like to move on to some things that would be closer should you be confirmed. on qualified immunity, you have advocated for the elimination of what i believe you have referred to as judge made doctrine qualified immunity. do you believe congress should replace it with protection from law enforcement officers to have to make very difficult, oftentimes split-second decisions in dangerous circumstances? is that something congress should act on? >> i believe it is really important that law enforcement is able to do their important jobs of maintaining public safety. i think the issue around how to hold individual officers accountable for misconduct is one that is really important and those were a set of questions asked after george floyd was killed in minneapolis. these were questions that i believe members of this committee were asking and habite that i know and will be considering again in the george floyd justice and policing act. but also think they are very challenging. there isn't an easy answer for this. we have to be able to ensure that law enforcement can do their jobs and also be able to ensure individual accountability when misconduct occurs. .. dangerous path if we and make it more likely people to go away from the law profession. you mentioned george floyd, you are aware of the case proceeding that. i was this morning seeing a news report around the perimeter of the courthouse and if i'm not mistaken it was 2 jersey turnpike barriers with fences elected and razor wire in between. they would suggest depending on the outcome of that case they're anticipating civil unrest so do you believe that the first amendment right protects people who can potentially break that building regardless of what the outcome is, a protest on either side? do you believe that first amendment protections ever extend to people who destroyed buildings, who assault people and do you believe the department of justice should pursue them without any web whatsoever of what sideof the argument they may be on ? >> the answer to your question first question is yes absolutely, the first amendment only protects peaceful protest and i do think the justice department will have to in that type of situation were that to occur, the justice department has to enforce the law and protect communities from violence whether it's in the course of a protest or not regardless of who is engaged in. >> we've got a report from the fbi director last week that some 300 arrests have been made for one and there are thousands more coming but i also asked the question about continuing to focus on those who perpetrate a crime, damaged buildings, farm people, hundreds of law enforcement officers. do you feel like there should be equal weight on investigating arresting and convicting anyone over the past year of violence that we've seen almost unprecedented violence in this country. you intend to inflict emphasize that anyone who harms someone who damages a building, who harms law enforcement officers should be pursued regardless of what their underlying protest was based on? >> yes. >> i've got a couple of other questions. i guess i've got 12 seconds. i want to try and understand something that you said about reducing the footprint of police and law enforcement. a cynic would say more eloquently insane defunding the police. what is different between reducing the footprint of the police and the criminal legal system and defunding the police. what's the distinction there, i need to understand. >> thank you for raising that and as i said and i will say it again i don't support defunding the police. the difference is i've worked throughout my career with conservative leaders and with progressives and libertarians to ensure that there isn't government overreach for our criminal justice system which caused enormous harm on communities of color through low-level enforcement measures that have been very disparate in communities and that where we can refocus on violent crime and ensure that there's availability it seems like community-based treatments and mental health treatment that we should be supporting that as a set of societal priorities. i have also and been very clear that i have advocated for greater police resources and i know president biden has committed hundred million more dollars to the cops office. i will look forward to implementing that, those funds if the office sees them. i believe that constitutional community oriented policing is crucial to supporting local law enforcement and the communities that they serve. and if confirmed as associate attorney general i'd be committed to doing so . >> thank you miss gupta. >> senator booker. >> first of all, mister chairman i want to correct for therecord there are not turnpikebarriers, they are jersey barriers . it's very important we get that right .>> the correction will be noted. >> i appreciate that very much. >> can we take off miss gupta from where my friend senator tillis left off. if you pull black and brown communities on crime, you can imagine the polls would say they want more police protection often, correct ? >> and want more police and they want fair policing. >> i ran a police department, i was a mayor of the city where the policedepartment was under my command and that was the case, the biggest concern was their safety and security . but you talk to the police in my department and the community itself, they know that a lot of people get swept up into the criminal justice system that need help , not incarceration. would you agree with that? >> yes. >> would you note for the record i correct in saying the majority of the people who go to our jails and prisons, overwhelming majority of people who are in prison and jails today are people who are suffering from addiction , serious mental health challenges. and addiction and serious mental health challenges so that counts for the majority. >> that's correct. >> itincludes survivors of sexual trauma, that's the majority of the female prison population as well . when you are talking about footprint, as a person who ran a cash city when i was mayor of my city and i reduce myworkforce 25 percent . including unfortunately having to lay off police officers, the reality is that most of us who were involved in the day-to-day driving down a crime, we had a lot of success in newark. we know that our dollar per dollar would be better spent in lowering the demand, my police officer would say if we had like president trump did in the executive order by having coal responders, people who are specialized in mental health, specialized in addiction, specializes in homelessness and specializes in sexual violence. >> that's right and in fact i think law enforcement are some of the biggest champions of that and want to see that it supports them, it helps them focus on violent crime and do their job in communities. >> there's been data that shows dollars invested in that will lower crime more dramatically necessarily been maintaining the very expensive dollars we often spend. it's a lower-cost option than the dollars we are spending in terms of reducing crime andwhere necessary spending on police . >> i think that's right. i also think that's why you see such drawn bipartisan coalitions. that's why i've been honored to work with membersof the committee on these issues . i think it brings people together. >> forget partisanship, that's one of the reasons you have such strong support from police organizations who understand you're not trying to defund them, you're trying to make their jobs better. one of the reasons i couldn't run community policing efforts were the same police officers called sector integrity day in the community to know that neighborhood so that's one of the reasons i couldn't do that is because my police officers were too busy chasing the radio often through calls and if we had the funding for it other services could have provided. >> that's right and you'll hear law enforcement talk all the time about how their budgets have been slashed in part because they're having to do all this other kind of enforcement they wish there were other interventions for, absolutely . >> one of my colleagues said you're soft on crime and i don't care what your political perspective is, i haven't somebody who comes before this hearing, none of us want more crime, you're all trying to find intelligent ways to drive crime down, is that correct? >> yes, i'll just say senator my own grandmother was murdered and my family experienced homicide personally . i have listened and heard and talked to crime victims every week that i was on the job at the justice department. to me this is all about being able to deliver a better public safety. it and better keep our community safe. >> i'd like to shift to the personal if i can, you and i are friends, correct? i'm surprised to admit that publicly but i can't and i've been in a lot of personal conversations with you as you and i are struggling to advance bipartisan criminal justice. >> that's right. >> ever in my time i heard you in any way disparage members on the other side of the aisle in private conversations and in fact i've heard you often talk about the importance of building bridges and coalitions in order to get things done. in context of me because i know you as a person of great kindness who you know, i've been very moved by how even in the heat of some very difficult moments, where you had conversations when we were worried about people getting a lifetimeappointment of some kind so even judges you and i have talked about . where we believe that lifetime appointment might work against some of the basic fundamental rightsand liberties . i still am remark that you do not diminish the humanity of folks that you still seem to find a way to view them with equal dignity and in light of my privateconversations , i do wonder about what twitter has done to our culture and the snarkiness it seems to breed and you apologized here to the committee saying that you were contributing to an environment that frankly no side has a monopoly on. you come from a faith tradition that i also know and i just wanted to in the remaining minute i have left, can you talk to that just from your own work across the aisle to get real things done that have protected americans from your work across the aisle to help legislation passed through this committee, from your private conversations where you seem to fiercely adhere to the ideals of the committee? can you maybe help me understand from your heart in context now again this week that have been brought up bya member of a number of my colleagues . >> the original impetus for me to engage in racial justice work and civil rights work was my own deep abiding faith. and i believe it brings a lot of us to the table on these issues. and i have always prided myself as someone who sees the humidity in everyone and can bring people together who may not agree on 100 things but agree very strongly on these three or four and to be able to recognize the importance ofdoing that bridge building . i think to be honest with you i do think that twitter has been incredibly polarizing. i've played a role in it and i don't think it speaks well to my own desire to heal and build bridges and consensus. i think it does reward dark and polarization and i have as i said fallen prey to that but my demonstrated record, i've been criticized by organizations and full-time or allies for doing this bridge building work and working across the political spectrum and engaging with people understanding that all of us have a right to dignity and there's a lot of work that we need to do to address the great problems facing all americans and i don't have a monopoly on the truth or on the answer but being able to roll up my sleeves, working with law enforcement and working across the political spectrum has been a defining feature of my career and confirmed as associate attorney general , you'll probably be happy to know i will be tweeting . in that way and i look forward to not using that harsh rhetoric and working constructivelyand productively as i have done throughout my career with members of this committee and with anyone for business before the justice department . that will be my pledge. >> i will affirm you have definitely been criticized by people on the left for your pushing and working to try to build the kind of coalitions necessary to pass legislation to get things done and protect the american people . >> thank you senator booker.we have to democrats, senators padilla and ossoff and rob hopkins who asked for five-minute rounds so we can blend these together and we will go to the ranking member senator grassley. >> before i ask questions of both of you i'd like to emphasize for a thirdtime my personal policy on some of the things that are close to the work you'll be doing. i'd like to emphasize our common humanity . i don't like to lump people into simplistic racial groupings so let me go to my questions. i was concerned that judge garland's hearing to learn from this gupta's replacement at the leadership conference that a vast array of organizations will have access to attorney general garland and that he quote unquote, carry out their request. along those lines according to the intercept a powerful washington lawyer jamie gorelick who has previously described judge garland as early man has been advertising her connections to the future attorney general. her law firm even put up a page about her long times to eric garland. only to take it down when people noticed it. this is especially concerning because gorelick is rumored to have been a lawyer for google and used during the obama years to handle antitrust investigations so to both of you, what commitments can you give me that influence peddlers, whether hired guns like gorelick will not get special access to the justice department ? >> every case that comes before me as deputy attorney general if i'm confirmed, every matter will be judged and assessed based on the facts in the law. nothing more, nothing less. no commitments to any individuals or organizations. that will be my focus and my approach. >> senator, i agree with miss monaco. >> i assure you as mister as supervisor of the antitrust division what commitments can you give that our army of democrat lobbyists or nonprofit activists in the text pockets won'tinfluence your enforcement decisions ? >> there will be if i am confirmed i will lead and oversee the antitrust division completely free from any improper influence, partisan, corporate or otherwise. i believe robust enforcement of our antitrust laws is crucial that no company will be given vessel treatment. all that will guide decisions in that area and in every area at the justice department will be the facts on the wall. >> to miss monaco, judge garland when asked about domestic terror attacks against the courthouse attempted to distinguish between criminal attacks on government property at night and attacks on inaccuracy, those are his words, on democracy during the day. do you agree with what i consider it rather bizarre distinction between violations of laws? >> respectfully and i watched judge garland hearing. i did not understand him to be making a distinction at all. let me tell you my approach which i know is consistent with judge garland switches that domestic terrorism has a very clear definition in our law and it turns on the intent of the violence perpetrator. regardless of which direction the violence comesfrom , to quote judge garland, left, right or from any direction, it needs to be prosecuted. it needs to be investigated and prosecuted and it's unacceptable. >> i think you answered my next question but i'd like to have you say, you said to prosecute all this, would you say all of this fall weather it's left or right, whether it's portland or whether washington dc, domestic terrorism? >> i think that accommodated question. it really does turn on the intent read as you well know senator, domestic terrorism is violence against a civilian population done to coerce or to intimidate and done for a political end. if any facts that are presented to me meet that definition, that would seem to me to be domestic terrorism. but regardless you have my commitment that violence is unacceptable from whatever direction. >> this will have to be my last question. as president obama's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism and deputy national security adviser, did you have any involvement or role related to crossfire hurricane investigations and if so, what was it? >> know senator. >> thank you very much. >> also we have some questions to submit in writing. >>senator padilla . >> thank you mister chairman. congratulations to the both of you and i thank you for your willingness to continue to serve. some of my colleagues have touched upon the general issue of voting rights. the need to restore the chief voting rights act but i want to revisit that for a minute. this past sunday was the anniversary of lenny sunday as you two are well aware, a day that 56 years ago when date and local police attacked peaceful demonstrators in selma alabama. there were seeking to march, montgomery in protest of jim crow laws that denied black women and men the right to vote. we've come a long way in many ways since blood sunday but as we know all too well we still have a long way to go to ensure complete access to the ballot for all eligible americans. indeed, in the first two months of this calendar year legislators in 43 states have already proposed more than 250 bills that if an active would have the net effect of making it harder for eligible citizens to register or state registered or to cast their ballots. thejustice department clearly has a critical role to play in ensuring that our elections continue to be fair and free . but it's ability to do so has been hampered by the shelby versus older decision by the supreme court in 2013 so my first question is to miss monaco and miss gupta, have you envisioned reinvigorating civil rights division generally and specifically its voting rights section to defend all americans right to vote? >> senator, the justice department founding creation was really about what miss gupta has talked about and judge garland has described, it's about enforcing civil rights of individuals and black americans in the early part of the 19th century and sorry, the 20th century and it is a priority of the department that judge garland has already talked about in the private president biden has talked about to reinvigorate the civil rights division. you do everything we can to enforce and make clear that all individuals who are eligible to vote need to be able to do so. free from harassment, free from impediment and that will be a priority of the department if i'm confirmed as deputy attorney general . i would look to the leadership of miss gupta is associate attorney general to direct oversight of the civil rights division and other portions of the department under her portfolio and i have no doubt having seen already for leadership in that regard that she's more than up to the chat task to do that. >> thank you senator. as you know i've spent my career working on these issues of voting rights access and it is something that if confirmed, i believe the civil rights division needs to use every tool at its disposal. to ensure that every eligible american is able to exercise their right to vote. and it is something that i know if confirmed i would make a top priority but i don't, i know that judge garland if he is confirmed as attorney general knows that is his top priority as well as we just heard from miss monaco and so i have no doubt this will be an important priority . >> for my next question i'll raise a topic for the record, questions for the record close to this hearing but i want to echo a topic that some of my colleagues including senator booker have raised in terms of policing and police reform pacifically. catching on this trend of local jurisdictions increasingly not sending police officers mental health professionals to any and every incident where that is the more appropriate response and hoping that data and experiments can feed and inform evidence-based best practices and utilizing the department of justice tools and relationships with law enforcement across the country to advance those across the country. so my last question is an environmental justice space. as i believe both of you are familiar, california has long been a leader in combating climate change. including to our cap and trade program, california's landmark program was the first of its kind in the nation and is of course the largest carbon market in the world . a key component of that is california's linkage with the canadian province of qucbec. in october 2019, six years after the program was first established, the justice department under the prior administration sued the state of california because of its agreement with connect. it also was likely viewed as simply another effort by the then administration to attack california and undermine it. california led the nation when it comes to producing vehicle omissions. this is part of a climate change strategy, something i'm proud of and our colleagues at the committee have played a leadership role here in the senate area with the prior administration similarly attempted to undermine california's independent authority to regulate pipe emissions from vehicles including the justice department at the time launching a politically motivated antitrust investigation against the automakers that it agreed voluntarily to work with the state of california to reduce emissions. every automaker has now walked away from supporting the prior administration's effort and the department of justice was forced to drop its lawsuit. miss gupta, how would you examine the litigation position taken by the prior administration particularly when it comes to climate policies and environmental justice? >> senator, combating environmental degradation and promoting environmental justice is both a top priority of president biden's and would be of the justice department. i believe we have to use all the tools in our laws that are in place to be able to do this critical almost existential work. i don't prejudge any of the litigation, i'm not in the building obviously as a nominee but if i'm confirmed, as part of my job looking at or reviewing all the litigation i would look at whether the facts of the law support the current stance of the justice department these are the estate and auto industry which are referring to and that would be my duty and i would fulfill it . >> i'll go with you on that. >> senator, five minutes. >> miss gupta, earlier when i asked you whether you had the case for the decriminalization of all drugs, you said no sir, i do not. but you are aware you recall a piece you wrote when you were at the aclu where you did advocate that position, correct? >> yes senator, my position on this as people are a number of reasons. >> that's what i want to ask you about. earlier you said no sir, i do not reedit you didn't tell me that your opinion has changed or evil. can you tell me when you changed your opinionon decriminalization of all drugs ? >> so first i believe in that article although i would have to review it but i was talking about decriminalization of possession of drugs but. >> you're right, simple possession of all drugs. >> but to the force of both working at the justice department as well as experiences that my family has had related to these issues, my family like too many families in america as experienced opioid addiction and the impact of that and so that evolution has happened and i'm not too proud to admit that evolution but that is the explanation behind the statement. when i heard you asked me that question ibelieve that was in reference to my current position . >> and your position on the use of these settlements/funds as people too, have not have to mark you recall in previous capacities at the leadership conference on civil and human rights, you vigorously opposed the stop settlement/funds act, correct? >> if i'm confirmed as associate attorney general i am bound by the law and by the constitution and there is a regulation in place at the justice department which i believe is it imposes the important guardrails and ensure that money goes to victims and i would comply with that. >> that's what you told us earlier, i appreciate that. i just, there is obviously some discretion associated with any job like attorney general and i want to know what we can expect so i appreciate that. regardless of your previous advocacy, in favor of allowing third-party payments for these settlements, you will comply as i hear you say with the current regulations. let me ask, i note your financial disclosure forms that you own a number of securities and other assets including trusts, real estate and other financial holdings. this indicates your net worth is upwards of $50 million . obviously a substantial amount of money. can you commit to me that you will recuse yourself from any action in which you have a stock interest or business interest in weston mark. >> yes senator and i also plan if confirmed to divest from individual stocks that i control. >> i know tens of millions of dollars are in some trusts under your control and based on your financial disclosures, it's unclear what companies holdings and securities that you have an ownership interest in reedit will you commit to providing the committee a full inventory of all the companies and securities including in your trust to the judiciary committee in the spirit of transparency? >> yes. >> thank you for that. i know a number of comments, a couple of times but the associate attorney general is in charge of grants programs at the department of justice. is that correct? >> the office of justice program, the office of violence against women is in his portfolio. >> it's come out today that a number of law enforcement organizations have endorsed you. are each of those organizations eligible for grants from the department of justice ? >> they may be, i'm not sure. i think those grant programs do tend to support law enforcement jurisdictions at the local level. there are some collaborations with the associations that were talking about but most of it goes directly to state and local law enforcement agencies. >> thank you mister chairman. >> thank you, senator. >> readings to our panel, congratulations on your nominations, thank you for being with us today miss gupta. black americans continue to experience persistent targeting harassment, profiling, discrimination, brutality throughout the criminal justice system. you will have in your portfolio as associate attorney general many components of doj with civil rights and law enforcement related jurisdictions. how will you use your authorities if you are confirmed to make equal justice for all a reality in this country ? can you please be as specific as possible. >> thank you senator. as you know my whole career has been spent on civil rights and civil rights enforcement and on the very values that you're talking about and at the justice department from its founding through my experience of heading up the civil rights division, i was tasked with overseeing the vigorous enforcement of all the nations federal civil rights statutes in the areas of lending, voting, educational equity. forget the many many federal laws but the civil rights division and forces doesn't and dozens of federal laws and amenities around the country back on rigorous enforcement to ensure combating an end to discrimination and it's something i am personally committed to . >> thank you miss gupta and miss monaco, in the same vein , and the position you may hold of deputy attorney general, can you be specific about how you will prioritize investigations of cases involving color of law violations under 18 usc 242 as well as working potentially with miss gupta on investigations pursued by the civil rights division? we just marked the first anniversary of the shooting of ahmaud arbery where authorities declined to pursue an investigation until they were under immense treasure from civil rights groups. this will mark the first anniversary of the shooting death of breanna taylor who was killed during the execution of a no knock warrant of which shewas not a subject, not asking you to comment on those cases but asking you to lay in on the color of law as well as pattern of practices . >> in the first instance that the goal up to be doing everything we can to ensure that those tragedies don't happen to begin with. start with doing everything the justice department can to assist state and local police departments to get the training they need, to get the technical assistance they need. to do constitutional policing and address the challenges and their communities in a way that builds trust. so i would look to the work of the justice department, grantmaking programs and it would come under the first instance under the purview of miss gupta if she's confirmed and similarly the appropriate use of pattern and practice investigations which after all of course are a tool that congress has provided to the justice department to address and investigate unconstitutional conduct. that is a profound responsibility of the justice department has to undertake. it is an important tool and it needs to be used judiciously and appropriately and subject to measurements and outcomes but it is one that is provided by the congress to address unconstitutional conduct and it's one that we can and should use and it's something that i know miss gupta has done in her prior experience and would be perfectly suited to lead that work in the first instance. >> miss monaco, in georgia and nationwide we seen a significant increase in violent crime over the last year. we have for the secondweekend in a row in atlanta georgia or than a dozen shootings last week . 13 wounded, one killed in columbus georgia, george's chattahoochee river valley, we had a period of 12 days with six shooting debts, 46 homicides in columbus georgia last year by far the highest total in at least half a decade. will you work with my office and this committee to determine the causes of this violent crime wave which has many georgians and many americans deeply concerned about community violence, community safety and work with thiscommunity to address it ? >> the issue of this spiking violent crime is something you and i think virtually every other member of this committee wife talkedto in advance of this hearing have raised this and what you're seeing is due to the communities you represent . the first priority of the justice department's public safety and so addressing violent crime, the causes of it, the enterprises that fuel it is absolutely a top priority of the justice department and it's something if i'm confirmed i very much look forward to working with you on. >> miss gupta can confirm he will oversee the antitrust division as well and at the moment when many markets are already intensely concentrated and when we may see seek to increase economic growth and all the liquidity that's been added to financial markets in the last few years an increase in merger activity in certain industries , what are some of the mechanisms by which corporate actors seek to influence the department of justice when it's making determinations about antitrust matters and how can we insulate and how can you insulate the department from those influences so the public interest is football. >> i know that the career men and women that are at the justice department's take very seriously the need to be absolutely independent from any lobbying advocacy in that way. yes, justice department officials meet with stakeholders but they take a degree of pride that is frankly quite incredible around the enforcement from partisan, corporate, political and proper motivation in the robust enforcement of federal laws. i know the antitrust division career lawyers very much adhere to the same belief and value set and if i am confirmed i along with miss monaco and judge garland hopefully as attorney general would do everything we can in our power every day to ensure this does justice department is beholden to no one but the constitution. >> thank you miss gupta, thank you miss monaco, thank you chair. >> senator lee for five minutes. >> thank you mister chairman. miss gupta, in federally funded hospitals, forced nurses to assist in abortions , when it would violate their stated religious or moral convictions . >> the supreme court spoke. i believe that that is the issue you're referring to in the littlesister's case and if i am confirmed as associate attorney general i will be enforcing the case as well . >> so i assume you would also continue to make sure that the department of justice pushes test where people deviate from the standard including an in an existing case at the department of justice as against the university of vermont medical center. and it has been accused of forcing a nurse to participate in abortion procedures in violation of current law . >> obviously i'm not in the building, i want to understand the nature of the case but it is incumbent on me and anyone else at the justice department to enforce supreme court precedent and the supreme court spoke on this issue. >> i'll take that to mean that you will keep moving forward with that one. i want to get back to some of the consent decrees plus one issues we were discussing earlier. when you were the head of the civil rights division, the department of justice you signed off on multiple statements where defendants were required to pay into a fund. of run by independent or unrelated third parties, is that right? >> yes, i must have. i think i did not write the regulations. >> you signed off on them. >> yes, in the division i would have signed off on those area. >> earlier today you testified you would abide by a regulation promulgated by the department of justice last year. banning the slush funds. as i pointed out and i presume you know on january 20 that is the day president biden was born in the white house issued a list of over 100 agency actions for review. for potential review and listed just one with respect to the department of justice. which happens to be the very regulation that we're talking about here. the regulation batting slush funds run by third parties. i'm worried that this regulation is going to be repealed and then you may go back to your prior practice. that you had adopted of approving these. this coming in your new capacity of uprooting these slush funds. so will you commit to abiding fully by the content of the regulation regardless of whether it's repealed. >> senator, i don't know what the status of that review is. to be honest with you i wasn't aware that was listed among those hundred things. if i am confirmed i would want to understand what the cause for concern is in the review. what the equities are and would welcome the opportunity to speak with your office about whether it's any move away from this existing regulation. >> i appreciate that. south dakota, not too distant past considered a bill to limit gender reassignment surgery for children. for children under the age of 16. it's my understanding that the bill failed but when it failed inside the south dakota legislature , you made some statements to the effect that you were quote, so happy and so thankful that these surgeries would be universally available to children under the age of 16. at what age then if it's not appropriate to limit these surgeries, to children under the age of 16 at what age would be inappropriate to grant a gender reassignment surgery decision to a child other than surgeries on infants , or someone who has been born in intersex category. >> senator, i believe that everyone must be treated with dignity and respect. these are i'm assuming very personal decisions. that made in families area at my job if i'm confirmed as associate attorney general will be to enforce the existing laws. obviously protecting the dignity of all people in our federal civil rights laws but that will be my mandate at the justice department. >> where this thing is appropriate, do you believe parents should get their consent before such a surgery is performed ? >> senator, honestly there's the facts here matter. there are so many facts in anyparticular individual circumstance . and i don't believe it's for the justice department. if i'm confirmed to be opining on that kind of very personal decision that gets made in families or by individuals in fact i believe it would be highly improper and so again, my allegiance will be to enforcing existing federal law. and ensuring that the dignity of all americans is protected. >> thank you. >> any senators on the democratic side? senator booker. >>. >> moving quickly, two things i wanted to cover finally. i quoted in my book testimony my i think republican appointed fbi director who told a story about him walking down the street with a group of black boys, young men hanging out on one side and a group of white boys on the other side. he was not racist but he admitted the challenges we have about racial bias that you might be suspicious of just because of the ingrained messages of a lifetime of that african-american boys and see them as more of a threat. that's not him being a racist, that's what we mean by implicit racial bias. >> and what's interesting is in the data there's so many studies on this ad nausea where they control other elements. they find that black officers actually implicit racial bias against african-americans as well. getting to have observed much of the soda messaging of the culture often and createthat suspicion, is that correct ? so this is i don't think i disagree on both sides of the aisle when we discussed this, i just think there are not seeing the same thing. you don't believe that our society individuals are racist in our society but you do believe when it comes to the law. we have a problem in a nation where there is no difference between blacks and whites of an economic gap and using marijuana. but african-americans because of the implicit biases within the justice system will get arrested at four times the rate. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> that is something that i know this from my mother working for ibm corporations even now when they do things like you mentioned before trying to just have training where people are more aware of what's bias and maybe gender biases, race biases, religious biases or what have you and that's a productive pursuits, correct? >> i think implicit bias training is increasingly judges are a nation. federal prosecutors. and not just honestly center in the justice system obviously the consequences of implicit bias if i'm impacting the justice system can mean loss of life to liberty. frankly because it's a common human conditionthat you and i and everyone else share , the ability to manage these implicit biases and recognize them consciously is he to be able to have productive and healthy interactions with in a diverse society created. >> it's frustrating to me because results often in as we see again control for income and a lot of other things. lots of the same crime will get 20 percent longer sentences. not because judges are racist because of that bias. >> implicit bias is shown how to kind of exacerbate racial disparities, the deeper the criminal justice system you go. , pretrial detention decisions and boy, there's a lot of data on that. >> i've learned so much from my colleagues on the other side of the eye, one of my favorite moments was going into study the bible in one of my colleagues offices and i saw a picture of a black girl on his shelf. and i remember sorta being surprised that and i said why am i surprised weston mark i have implicit biases about the conservative person. doesn't make me somehow racially biased against my colleague, does it ? >> know, making a human being . >> sometimes constructed working on issues with these people and sometimes those biases undermine my ability to work together constructively on the core values we all share, would you agree? the last thing i want totalk about is my mom has a saying, behind every successful child is an astonished parents . and i know you as a friend but recently i got to know your dad. i actually have his book and i found his life truly stunning and a great horatio alger story of someone who is just a piece to the american dream. he's very successful in the private sector but he's not astonished with his daughters area his kids, and it starts with you. but you have spent her entire life not in the most lucrative careers. you spent her life in public service. and i'm just wondering what is it from your family that has made you dedicate yourself to the cause of the this country and making it better. what did your parents teach you or you learn from those experiences that makes you want to do what you're doing ? >> you make every witness cry apparently. i am deeply grateful and proud of my father, and my mother. and my father is the most humble person i know in the world. their ethical character of my parents. and their love of the country because it showed them enormous opportunities that they sought but never expected to have. and they raised two daughters who made choices to go into public service and my sister is an hiv aids infectious disease physician and an culture more and i don't think they would have imagined that either of us would have chosen the past when they first immigrated into this country but they have been enormously supportive of the choices that we have made. and i believe that it is quite astonishing that i would be sitting here before all of you in the u.s. senate seeking confirmation to the associate attorney general given that they came literally as my father's book is called with eight dollars in his pocket. and a scholarship to cornell. and i hope every day that i can live a life to give them honor. i realize some of my tweets don't necessarily do that. i will seek to do that moving forward but i have been blessed to have the kind of parental embrace, the sacrifices that they have made. the successes they had and i can in any way to forward to the most vulnerable people in this country, and to live up tothe ideals of our constitution, i am honored and will be continued to be honored to do so every day. >> i will be honored to vote for your confirmation . i just want to say for the record i apologize miss monaco for completely ignoring you during my questioning what i'm grateful for you and forward to supporting your nomination as well . >> thank you senatorbooker and miss gupta, you'vegiven me an idea that we need to give witnesses fair warning . senator booker'slast question , be prepared .>> that would be fair, i appreciate that. >> senator cruise, five minutes. >> thank you mister chairman and i will say the exchange between my friend senator booker and miss gupta. made me sad about what's being told to young people because we heard an extended conversation about what's called implicit racial bias. and how apparently everyone is guilty of this area you heard a discussion about how african-american police officers are apparently afflicted with implicit racial bias. miss looked upat one point said to senator booker and it was such an astonishing statement i wrote down word for word . she said to senator booker you and i and everyone else share implicit racial bias. and i think this is a falsehood that is being sold to young people. that diminishes the evil that is racism. it diminishes the bigotry that we find in not seasoned the clan, miss gupta talked about her father coming as an immigrant, my dad came as an immigrant in from cuba as well with $100 in his underwear. bigotry and racism are real and when the left tells america everyone in america is racist. that does real damage to the important fight. to combat bigotry that we have seen from the dawn of this country and indeed through the dawn of time. when you see every american as harboring implicit racial bias, one can advocate for that as an academic, one can advocate for that is a partisan advocate. but your nominated to be the number three official at the us department of justice. and one area that gives me real concern this gupta is in the area of free speech. the censorship wesee from big tech . you are one of a handful of individuals invited to have dinner with mark soccer. to discuss the growing problem we've seen of big tech censorship silencing voices that silicon valley billionaires disagree with and then dismaying thing is what's been publicly reported about that meeting is not that you urged mister zuckerberg and others in tech to protect free speech and have a free and fair marketplace of ideas but precisely the opposite. the quote that's been recorded from this and i think you tweeted this was mark zuckerberg doesn't know what the first amendment is for. he thinks it's a floating right that carries no responsibility. that seems to suggest that you want big tech to censor more speech rather than less speech. would that be a good direction in this country? >> senator, i have fiercely defended freedom of speech. i've worked for an organization that is often been criticized for being so fierce in its defense of all free speech. i also believe any type of as you point out discrimination is an anathema to this country and it is unconstitutional plainly. my engagement with facebook was -- >> have you disbanded speech of someone you disagree with? have you ever defended the speech of a pro-life advocate or a pro-second amendment advocate or is it just the people that politically disagree with you . >> as you know the american civil liberties union -- >> i'm asking about you personally know not more broadly others. >> i've been a free-speech lawyer myself. >> you added the civil rights organization. >> i've defended civil rights at the american civil rights. >> can you point to any instance of you defending the free-speech rights of someone you disagreed with? >> i'm sure that i did. the civil rights division doesn't have a federal statute on this but i would welcome actually senator so they don't misspeak an opportunity to respond in writing . >> i would welcomea response in writing but let me ask a simple question . should big tech be censoring more or censoring less? >> we want to ensure we have free speech and a free internet while understanding the responsibility that social media has in propagating and radicalizing terrorists online. >> let me try again. is big tech engaged into much censorship or too little censorship? >> i'm not sure i know which side of the ledger you're talking about. they have community standards that they are not enforcing at many of these companies that are creating a lot of problems around issues in our democracy. for a long time they were allowing, facebook was allowing unlawful ad targeting. >> i guess i'm concerned if you're saying you want them enforcing community standards when you began this exchange with senator booker by saying everyone in america has implicit racial bias and you know what big tech, silicon valley billionaires with monopolies to enforce standards that just happened to coincide with the political views you have. here's another area. you follow the keystone pipeline dirty and dangerous. do you agree that pipelines continue to be the safest mode of transport to transport our oil and gas and natural resources? >> senator, i don't recall that specific language but obviously if i am confirmed i will oversee the environmental and natural resources division and don't want to make judgments about factual issues related to that. again i will be enforcing the law of any particular pipeline or anything else. >> senator klobuchar. >> i think we're coming to a close. i saw you were doing pretty well there in taking a break miss guptabut they've been great and quite well-behaved . first, something that i know we don't talk about much, the violence against women act and i would very much looking forward to working with the chairman on this bill. and of course a major priority for the presidency because it's his work on this when he was in the senate . can you it to working with us to make sure we reauthorize the violence against women act in congress. >> yes senator, i believe that it needs to be reauthorized. the justice department as you know plays an important role in fighting violence against women and supporting crime victims. and i believe it's incredibly important legislation that needs to be reauthorized. >> this as in the past tended to be a very bipartisan bill and just to note for the record here, senator murkowski and i with senator casey had a letter just recently with 38 senators calling for additional funding because of the pandemic. as you know there's been an uptick in violence related calls and raised prices center calls during the pandemic and i hope that will go into our thinking as well as we work on the violence against women act . i know you have a strong record of standing with us on . >> very good. >> we talked about 80 things from the criminal area and i'll end with antitrust. >> .. judge garland expressed support for these programs and last october our state received a grant from the trump justice department to form a new conviction integrity unit and partnership with the great northern innocence project. could you quickly give me your views on federal grants on conviction integrity units? >> as somebody who has worked on cases where people have had their convictions overturned these are incredible important and it's disheartening to see prosecutors offices around the country and i'm glad to hear that they have already passed support for these types of offices and i think they will help build trust in our legal system and something that i would hope to support. >> very good. also on the related it's different in terms of the justice treatment program but you've heard my story my dad and was treatments that gave him a new life and our family a new life after he struggled with alcoholism and most of my time going up and we have now gotten to have federal drug courts and i was proud of the work we did in our county on one of the most successful major county drug courts but could you talk about your views on diverting nonviolent drug offenders to treatment rather than incarceration. >> senator, president biden has also spoken about the importance of alternatives to incarceration for people with a substance abuse disorders. it is something i have spent my life working on to ensure that there is available community-based drug treatments facilities and i think that would be a shared priority for the justice department and we certainly want to ensure that the office of justice program does data evaluation that the justice department, if confirmed, is using evidence-based practices in this regard to help support communities as best as possible. >> thank you. i promise antitrust, ms. monico, newsroom are shrinking across country and part of this is the issue that content providers and people who write for living reporters aren't adequately compensated and big tech has so much control over online that we saw this erupt in australia where two tech companies literally were threatening to leave the marketplace because they had the power to do it instead of negotiating on the content so senator kennedy and i are we introducing legislation this week that david cicilline is also leading in the house and we have had support by the bill, by chairman durbin as well as mitch mcconnell was on the bill last time and i'm just asking you to look at this because part of doing something in antitrust is to even the playing field and this is a glaring area where we are having issues in our country with this is not the only reason but it is one of the major reasons because of the loss of advertising revenue and the like and i wonder if you would commit to look at that bill. >> i would be happy to. the issues around consolidation that you have lead on in a bipartisan basis is very important and i would be happy to take a look at that bill and work with you on it if confirmed. >> okay. of a series of questions of antitrust. i can see the chairman raising his eyebrows that i will ask on record including looking back at some of the acquisitions like instagram and what's app and other things but i want to thank both of you for doing a very good job today responding to the senator's questions. >> thank you, senator klobuchar. senator cotten. >> ms. gupta, at the aclu chapters took a position that possession of child photography should not be a crime and do you believe the possession of child photography should be a crime? >> yes. >> did you express that view at the time to the state chapters? >> senator, the structure of the aclu is a board of affiliates and even the like in the policy conditions and state affiliates and i worked at the national office and did my job and limited criminal justice area that i oversaw as deputy legal director. the national office doesn't have supervisory authority over the affiliate. >> thank you, i understand but several people here today have talked about the letters of support you receive from law-enforcement organizations and i want to discuss the circumstances of that support. did you or anyone on your path or anyone in or affiliated with the biden campaign transition or administration pressure those organizations with threats of retaliation if they do not support your nomination? >> no, senator. >> there were no threats to cut off access or influence to the department of justice if those law-enforcement organizations do do not support your nomination? >> i don't believe a single law enforcement organization would allow itself to be subject to threats and certainly would not support my nomination. it goes against the grain, to be honest, the supports of the civil rights lawyer for the number three position of the associated attorney general at the justice department to support my nomination and these are from long-standing relationships that i have had with the fraternal order of police and with every other law enforcement association and these are people that would take lightly to being pressured in any improper way. >> are you aware of the phrase not enough being used in these conversations? lawn force meant organizations telling they are not enough to support judge garland and ms. monico but have to support you as well but they want access to the prime and of justice. >> i have not heard of any such thing. >> take you, i want to turn to a couple questions about gender. in may 2018 the department of justice issued a policy saying that the inmates biological sex would be determinant to the validity to which they were assigned other gender identity and said that was only appropriate, quote, in rare cases or on a case-by-case basis and criticize that decision and let me ask you, do you believe that it should not be limited to rare cases and a case-by-case basis to assign a biological male inmate to a women's prison facility? >> senator, i believe that if confirmed i will be enforcing federal laws on this and the decisions that i made up in the civil rights on these issues were very considered at the highest levels of the justice department and enforcing federal laws and constitution and in protecting the public safety of people in prison regardless of their background. >> if infamous mega donor and democratic donor, harvey weinstein change to a woman gender, would he be placed in a woman's jail? >> how one defines sex and sex discrete nation has been decided by the united states up in court and i will, if confirmed, be enforcing all federal law and supreme court. >> it's an open question whether that's extended beyond the employment context. sports, in 2016 civil rights division issued guidance that title ix required that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity. that means if a biological male student informs the school that he now identifies as a female the school would be required to allow him to participate on girls athletic teams. is that correct? >> senator, president biden has been clear and forthright about support to protect all lgbtq people and an executor border and i think also supported in title vii as you know and has asked federal agencies to look at and consider application of the decision and other federal statutes consistent with the law. if confirmed, i believe in supporting the dignity and well-being of all people in accordance with our federal laws and the constitution. >> ms. gupta, to hold the world record for women in the hundred meter and 200-meter dash? >> no, i do not. >> the late great florence griffith joyner, flo jo for millions of her fans. no woman has ever run faster in those two races but do you know who has? seventy-six high school boys in america in 2019. do you really think it is fair that high school girls given the innate physical differences to have boys who can beat the fastest woman in history of the world transition to female identity and compete against them in their sports? >> senator, i believe that lgbtq people have the right and dignity to be identified as they see fit, as do all americans and if confirmed i will be enforcing federal civil rights laws and the constitution and upholding that value. >> time has expired. >> senator kunz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. mnuchin, if i might, i was struck at some of the ways in which event characterized as somehow anti- religion or antireligious when you have self described as a person of faith and talked about the role that faith has played in the pursuit of opportunities here by your family and by her husband's family and i would be interested in hearing your input on the time we spent while you lead the civil rights division working to protect religious freedom and to combat religiously based hate crimes. if you would tell me more about that i think that might be constructive and balancing some of the characterizations. >> thank you, senator coons. when i was at the civil rights division, the civil rights division enforces several statutes that protect people on the basis of their at that combat religious disco nation. if the area of educational equity in the area of land use so that churches and temples and mosques and any other place of religious worship can be cited and if there are local efforts to improperly fight that that's a civil rights division and the justice department can ensure that the laws are followed they are. he crimes is another one. we prosecuted when i was at the civil rights division any number of hate crimes against people because of their religious backgrounds. as i began to do this work i felt like it was important, not just to engage the prosecution all law enforcement strategy that are available to the justice department but i launched an interagency initiative to protect religious freedom in combat religious discrimination. i traveled to about nine cities and did it with an all effort involving the fbi and u.s. attorneys offices around the country where we met and we met with faith leaders of all stripes and of all political persuasions and we were very concerted in the outreach that we did and in engaging stakeholders about what they were experiencing and what discrete nation they were experiencing, what obstacles to religious practices they were experiencing and then we issued a report and got resources to bolster enforcement on these areas. these are issues that are incredibly important and, as i said, religious liberty is a founding freedom of this country and one that if i am confirmed as associate attorney general i would be honored to support. >> one of the other areas of excited to have your skill and you're convening an attention to is the violence against women act and it is something my predecessor in the seat and a friend and our president played no small role in not just helping get passed in the first place but having it reauthorized. as senator klobuchar just asked you about working with us in congress to reauthorize it and to implement it i understand about leading the civil rights division you were involved in a number of initiatives to combat sexual violence and gender-based violence and frankly those are the sorts of real-life issues that have dramatic and consequential and painful impact on families all over our country and on women facing violence because of their gender. could you describe that work and how you would continue to do that work and to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence if confirmed? >> i think that the scourge of sexual violence and domestic violence is a ongoing travesty in this country and we don't always put enough resources behind it. i think the justice department through its office of violence against women can do as much as i can through funding and support services for victims as well as to engage in pilot programs, research and data collection, technical assistance and groups that are providing services in communities to get them and obviously the prosecution jurisdiction that the justice department has. my hope is that the violence against women act will get reauthorized and i out that senator graham and senator grassley and senator durbin and others have recently sponsored legislation for crime victims and i hope that that funding will be a really, i think, benefit the justice department and the crime victims to support crime victims around the country. >> thank you, ms. gupta. if i might i just want to read into the record one more letter that i did not get to before. there are some who been suggesting that law-enforcement may have been cautious or hesitant in their support of you. i've known chuck wexler executive director of the police executive research forum for decades and played a central role in helping me as a county elected official improve the ethics and transparency of our police department and he wrote, in my 25 years and i've worked with numerous professionals at all levels of government and her she's will most sincere, knowledgeable hard-working people i've known and has earned the respect and confidence of members across policing profession and i will skip forward and she walks the talk, seems ideally suited for the position of associate attorney general and is a consensus builder and collaborator known and respected by both management and labor. she appreciates the current needs of law enforcement in anticipating future possibilities and i joined the members of a board in encouraging the committee to complete advance her nomination and the senate and to confirm her as someone who works around law enforcement for some time in my local role and i am clear how unusual it is to get the breath support you got in from the civil rights community, long person community and conservatives and progressives who have known you and i very much look forward to voting for your confirmation and i also want to appreciate the chance to question you today and look forward to the confirmation of both of these very talented public servants. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my thai just take a moment ms. gupta, to commend you for weathering the attacks and absorbing the slings and arrows that come with this nominating process and given your track record and the conversations we are shared i know that is because you view this opportunity to do good and to secure equal justice for all as a historic one and i want to give both for your willingness to serve with the equanimity you've approached this process and i know your family is proud as well. i would like to ask you a question about voting rights. as a colleague of mine observed we just honored the 56th anniversary of blood he sunday when in selma alabama john lewis and hundreds of others marched into a storm of billy clubs and police dogs and brutality for daring to demand the right to vote for black americans 56 years ago but congressman lewis had a skull fracture that day, as you know for daring to demand the right to vote. and yet it was just yesterday that georgia's state senate approved legislation so brazen and flagrant and obvious in its partisan and racial targeting voter suppression legislation so outrageous that even george's own republican lieutenant governor refused to oversee the debate of this bill because he recognized there was no legitimate basis for their restrictions on voting and that it is merely an exercise in the abuse of power using force of law to disenfranchise people to pursue partisan. ms. gupta, should you be confirmed and you will assuredly have my support in your nomination for this position, will you commit to using the full power of your office to protect the sacred right to vote which remains under attack in this country and to make democracy real for every american citizen? >> guest, senator. >> thank you, ms. gupta paid with my remaining time a question for you ms. monaco. this is about cyber security. in foreign intelligence threats to the united states. the office of the director of national intelligence states that quote, the cyber threat is simultaneously a national and homeland security threat and counterintelligence problem. have extensive experience in national security policy homeland security policy and i asked fbi director esther for ray last week and this committee whether the recent solar winds breach whereby malware was embedded extensively on sensitive u.s. government networks was a counterintelligence failure and director christopher wray somewhat noncommittal on that point and i believe that it reflects some ambiguity across the federal bureaucracy about who is responsible for cybersecurity, whether chiefly in the department of justice, office of management and budget or otherwise but do you have comments on how we can improve cybersecurity as a national security and counterintelligence mission and will you work with my office and this committee to try to resolve any of that ambiguity so there is clear lines of response ability and accountability and we can improve our nation's national security by strengthening our networks, whether it be nonstate actors or foreign intelligence services that seek to penetrate them? >> senator, this is an area that i worked on for some time both in and out of government and i think it is really important to acknowledge that as of 2013 our intelligence community said that cyber threats were actually the top threat facing this country which was a surprise then and took people by surprise that it eclipsed the terrorism threat at the time and my understanding it has remained at the top of the worldwide threat assessment. this is something that the entire government has to focus on and we have to make this and all of government effort. solar wind issue i will look forward to getting a briefing on this if confirmed and in understanding the full state of the government's knowledge about that attack. what is clear to me is that nationstates are engaged in an effort to use cyber tools in a game of political one upmanship and geopolitical up mentorship and the use of these tools and it's incumbent upon the entire government for us to focus on this issue and i think the justice department to the work of the fbi which has prioritized cybersecurity issues and working as part of the intelligence community to call out and identify malicious nation state actors through the good work of the department of homeland security in this effort and i was very, very proud to work as the leader of the national security division to prioritize and emphasize the work on nationstate actors and identify them, call them out and hold them to account. we have to continue all of those efforts and i was encouraged when president biden named deputy national security advisor specifically for cybersecurity and emerging technologies. we have to work across the government and if confirmed, as deputy attorney general addressing cyber issues from nation states as a foreign intelligence threat and as a threat to our economic security with the theft of intellectual property as well as a criminal matter will be a top priority. >> thank you, ms. monaco. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thanks a lot. i have a few comments and we will wrap this up. i thank you both for being here today and for subjecting yourself for questions and some of them repeatedly but that is the function of this committee to give you your day in the sun under oath to answer the questions of the members. several things struck me. the whole question of defunding the police. i never bought into that idea from the start it just did not sound right. when i hear explanations i understand what those who wrote that phrase might have been thinking and in the case of daniel pruden in rochester, new york a man and obvious mental distress at three in the morning takes all his clothes off and sits in the middle of the street in a snowstorm and two policemen show up and they clearly did not know what to do with him. eventually they handcuffed him and then when i thought perhaps he was spitting on them they put a hood over his head and before it was over and began a process of association which took his life several days later. that was clearly a case or some other expertise was needed and it wasn't law-enforcement expertise but someone who had a background in dealing with mental illness and psychology. these officers might have been excellent policemen but were not psychologists and psychiatrists. that man lost his life and if the message for police funding is to bring to police work professionals who can avoid that tragic ending with their own expertise and supplemented with police work in domestic violence in so many areas which are highly emotionally charged i think that is what many of us are driving for and i don't think that disparages the police in any way but defines their role in the reality of their training and preparedness to deal with these situations. the reason we know daniel story is because two or three things that become, i think, game changers when it comes to law enforcement. dna is a game changer. we know from the innocence projects all across the united states and thank goodness for what they do. we also know videotape is a game changer. it is no longer just someone's word but a videotape tells a story and the many tells a different story than the written or oral account you may have had to rely on before and social media. those random thoughts of all of us do not disappear but they tend to be around for a long time and we are held accountable for them, all of us, including yourselves. in terms of changing your position on an issue i'd like you to lincoln made comments that i rely on that my public life and they wants to accused abraham lincoln of changing his position on an issue and he said i did but i'd rather be right some of the time then wrong all of the time. i think that reminds me that if you have an open mind and a learning person you are bound to learn some things and life experiences change your mind. if you're honest about it i don't see anything wrong with it. i would like to spend 30 seconds to speak for 150,000 human beings that we will depend on you and we've not mentioned them once. i'm talking about the occupants of the federal prison system. we are bringing that number down in the total number of occupants we still have a lot of hard questions to answer. we have had hearings in this full committee and i was honored to chair one of them about solitary confinement and isolation and i believe that's as cool as anything you can do for a person and we do it to too many. amazingly many of the states have gone ahead of us. senator booker has real interest in this area and when we discussed the first step act he was one of the person that brought changes into our system and to be a part of that effort. that i might say relates to this and that was a bad vote by me and a lot of others many years ago in response to crack cocaine that i've been trying to straighten it out ever sense and the first step act and there still more to do and we need to do it. i want to make sure that every dangerous person is taken out of circulation but there are many, many people in our federal prison system that do not fit that definition. they are there because of laws, flawed laws which are written by us and they are living them out and i noticed ms. gupta that one of the ten cases which you identified was a man who'd been sentenced to 44 years for prison and through your good work he was finally released. let me close by saying that a lot of things were said here but i want to make a note on one. ms. gupta, when your question about your financial situation you gave such a refreshing, open and honest answer and i will disclose and i will do best and we have not heard that law for a long time from the top in washington and it is something i think is part of my response ability as public service or public service. thank you for reminding us. what is to occur here, i want to enter a number of letters sufficiently into the record and make a few logistical notes, both nominees enjoy broad bipartisan support and members have noted their support. it is too long a list to read of all the letters that have been sent in support of both of your nominations but we will certainly enter this into the records. questions for the record we do to the nominees by 5:00 p.m. friday march 12 in the record remains open for submissions and letters and similar materials until 5:00 p.m. on tuesday marc. with that the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] , rod. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]washin. host: with us next is amy walter , national editor of the cook political report. the peace we are talking about is titled "volatility is the new normal." it seems like this is something we all knew but this puts it into focus. it has been a volatile couple of decades, not just years. guest: we tend to think -- i'm of a certain age.

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