Being in tatters. This is 20 minutes. Good morning. Thank you very much for taking the time to join with us today. I know will all go downstairs after this i do not get a chance to say hello, Merry Christmas, and happy holidays thank you for helping us and the American People about the important work of the 115,000 members of the department of justice what they do to make our country stronger and safer. As you have heard me say many times before, this president was elected as a law and on president. He was elected to make america safe again. And that mission has never been more important. In fact, just this morning he made that message very clear and reiterated it again to the fbi academy there when he spoke to the graduation. That was the first time a president has spoken to the graduating class of the fbi academy of 47 years. I met with mothers and fathers of those daughters who were brutally slaughtered by ms13. I talked to pastors who fear the dramatic rise in Violent Crimes. That threatens their community. I have heard from state and local Law Enforcement officers to go to work every day knowing that they might not come home at night. Like the two brave officers responded to reports of gunshots that were and was shot in the chest yesterday in st. Louis. We are so thankful they were wearing bulletproof vests. And they survived. But it is another reminder of how dangerous these jobs are. And how grateful americans should be every single day to our Law Enforcement and their families. As attorney general, and deeply committed to combating this surge in Violent Crime and supporting the work of our police officers. I made it one of our Top Priorities. Both in word and deeds. Over the last two years we have seen a deadly increase in Violent Crime. The overall Violent Crime rate is up by nearly 7 percent. Reversal of a downward trend. Robbery is up, assault is up, murder is up by more than 20 percent. And by the way, i recently read one of our Department Funded studies that found that larger increases in drug related homicides than in any other type of homicide. So these related drug dealers is a hike. The expansions in illicit drug markets contributed to the overall homicide rate they found. According to the study, nearly 1 4 of the increase in homicide is the result of an increase in drug related homicides. There can be no question that Drug Trafficking is inherently a dangerous business. And as we all know, these are not just numbers, they are mothers, fathers, daughters, spouses, friends and neighbors. These are empty places at christmas dinner tables and holes in the hearts and souls of victims of families that will never be filled. I will not accept this as the status quo. Neither will this department. We will not allow the progress made by our men and women in blue over the past two decades, to simply slip through our fingers now and be eroded away. We will not feed a community, black or streetcorner to violent thugs to violent poison or violent gangs that play on even children. Today, will make another important step in this fight. As we know, 85 percent of Law Enforcement is a state, local and tribal. To be effective we must utilize these people, these partners as a force multiplier. It is these authorities that have the critical streetlevel intelligence regarding the criminal element in their communities. We are most effective when these experienced state and local investigators are paired with the resources and expertise of the 15 percent that are our federal Law Enforcement officers. Put simply, this combined Task Force Model is what truly works. To reduce Violent Crimes, and that is precisely what we have established with our reinvigorated neighborhood programs. This brings together federal, state, local and tribal collaboration. Targeting violent offenders who commit a disproportionate amount of Violent Crimes. That by our 94 United States Attorneys Offices, project safe neighborhoods, task forces are hitting the streets across america to apprehend and bring violent criminals to justice. I have asked congress for additional psn funding next year. Because i believe nothing will be more effective. I am convinced it will reduce crime. Under this program, i am asking a great deal about United States attorneys. I am both empowering them and i am holding them accountable for results. To put them in the best position to impact and reduce Violent Crime, it is my privilege today to announce through a reallocation of resources, we will be enlisting and deploying 40 additional Violent Crime prosecutors across the United States. These prosecutors are being set transport sent to hotbeds such as social isolate new hardware web to federal prosecutors focusing solely on Violent Crime there and in their team. Each of our southwest border districts will receive additional prosecutors to focus on the cartels and the violence and illegality that infects the region. By working hard to find these additional positions, despite budget reductions, we are allocating prosecutors and many more cities including oakland, california, st. Louis, toledo, memphis, milwaukee, las vegas, and many others. These additional attorneys can make an immediate impact. I know, ive seen this firsthand. They committed a usa to supervise and often multiple investigations. Which in turn can apprehend and dismantle multiple criminal organizations. That means fewer violent criminals on the streets and more concentration of resources on the bad actors who are left. This is how you reduce crime. It also takes good intelligence to identify who and what gangs are the biggest threats to the neighborhood. My expectations for the new ausa could not be higher but i know that this is an investment that will pay dividends for years to come and i know will make a readily discernible impact in these communities struggling with violence. I personally work to repurpose existing funds to support this mission. We have a saying around here that a new federal prosecutor, the definition is it the coin of the realm, that means we can, when we can eliminate wasteful spending, when my first questions to my budget staff is whether or not this would allow us to appoint one more ausa to a violent district. Through these efforts we now have 40 slots. This is just the beginning. Of the push to increase the ratio at this department. To drive down Violent Crime. We plan to push out an additional 260 in the months to come. Im also announcing today to new Violent Crimes task forces that will focus on the areas most in need and in North Carolina and pennsylvania. Two areas where Violent Crimes far exceed the national average. In many of the counties surrounding pittsburgh, they suffer from more Violent Crimes than in philadelphia. To the communities that are suffering, hear this. Help is on the way. We are marshaling our resources and will be relentless in our pursuit of violent criminals that are victimizing your neighborhood. I am also announcing that i will be traveling to milwaukee, toledo and charlotte on monday and tuesday to personally observe the crime problem and to deliver the good news that additional help is on the way. This will mark my 32nd United States Attorneys Office visit this year. And every one of these stocks i have met some fabulous and dedicated ausas and federal investigators and state and local officials. I know i will see firsthand on these districts, the impact that prosecutors are having and more importantly, i will reaffirm the departments unequivocal support for the work done by Law Enforcement and prosecutors. Our federal team, ausa, fbi, dea, atf, us marshals and the bureau of prison are outstanding and i am honored beyond words to lead them. Finally during the Christmas Season and the holiday spirit i want to personally express my deep appreciation and profound thanks to all of the men and women of Law Enforcement. State and local. And their families for sacrificing so much in putting their lives at risk every day, holiday or not. So that the rest of us can enjoy the safety and security they provide. We love you, we honor your work, know this, we have your back. You have our thanks. So, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all. I am pleased to have with me, jesse. Has almost continued in the department of justice. She has been confirmed now and serving as the United States attorney here in the district of columbia. She had four years as a practicing federal ausa and the district of columbia. She had five or six years in the department of justice and civil rights and International Security i believe. She is an outstanding addition to our team and jesse, we are glad you can be with us. Would you share thoughts with us . Good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much mr. Attorney general and thank you. Thank you for your leadership on this critically important issue. I have no doubt that these Additional Resources will be put to good use by the way and not soon appeared and we will help make communities usa prepare my priority is protecting people of this great city from threats here and abroad we are a unique office and not only because of our location right here in the nations capital. Our office prosecutes both federal and local transport is a huge responsibility. But thankfully we have many partners. We work day and night with the fbi, the atf, dea, and a host of other federal agencies. As well as with the men and women of the metropolitan police department. Some of our best partners. Where the Community Every day. And we know that people all across the city are behind our efforts. And we draw support from the attorney general here at main justice. That is why we were so excited to see the emphasis you are placing a project safe neighborhoods and the task force approach to getting dangerous offenders and their guns and drugs off of our streets. We are very busy right now. Nothing on our longstanding relationships with Law Enforcement and the community at large to identify and address those areas in the district of columbia that are too often terrorized with gunshots and the injuries and deaths that follow. Much of this violence is related to drugs and neighborhood disputes. But going after the organizations and individuals behind that conduct, we can make our neighborhoods safer. And we are doing just that. Only last week, we joined with a task force to arrest and charged 12 people accused of distributing drugs in our city. Those arrests led to the recovery, not only of large amounts of crack cocaine and methamphetamine, but to guns as well. As you know, bringing these cases is very laborintensive. Especially when we must continue to fully prosecute all of the other offenses for which we have responsibility. Even one additional ausa can make a tremendous difference. The extra resources that are being announced today will help enormously and will show those on the front line, here and elsewhere, that fighting crime that we share their commitment. We are very grateful for the support. And we look forward to getting the reinforcements to work. Thank you all for being here. Merry christmas and happy holidays. We will take a few questions. Can you give us a sense of how the 2017 memos are fair and compared to the spikes in recent years . And then, the fbi was in the news of late in terms of allegations of bias. What is your sense . You share that the reputation of the bureau is in tatters . What was the first question again . [laughter] the first question has to do with how the 2017 i do not have the numbers yet. We did a crime survey but they alter the questions and it is hard to compare increases to decreases based on the survey. It would take some months before get the 2017 numbers. Were still, less than half of the United States attorneys conference, we still are altering our strategy that just now is going into effect. But i do believe that the project safe neighborhood, if sustained, is somewhat akin to the new york city proven model where you use good intelligence, you identify what the commissioner told me the alpha criminal and measure those are Top Priorities in your investigations and prosecutions. And you can see hopefully for america, what they have seen in new york is a steady decline in homicides and Violent Crimes. So i believe it is a proven technique. Our policies would call on the United States attorneys to encourage that in their district. Jesse has been traveling the neighborhoods in the city and talking to large numbers of people. In that regard. I believe the fbi is doing a great job around the country. They are partnering with state and local Law Enforcement. Dea, atf agents and reaching a higher level of unity and sophistication i think than we ever have. Just a few words. I think many of you know that my office has a very long tradition of engaging with the community. Since i started the job, if you months ago, i spent a lot of time going to Community Meetings and listening to the community. And i think that overall, the message i have been given is that people want their neighborhoods to be safe. And for the people who are out in the communities, even one Violent Crime is one Violent Crime to many. So that is what we are taking as our guiding star. Just to make sure [multiple speakers] he didnt answer the question. What you have to say about the Trump Legal Team calling for another special counsel . With fusion gps and would you consider such a special counsel . Are responsibility, it is clear, is to provide the highest possible professional standards of Law Enforcement that we can provide to the American People. That we do so in an effective way and we do so honorably and with integrity. So, we are going to take seriously the concerns i have been expressed. I will just say to you, Deputy Rosenstein is testifying before the congress again just yesterday. And we want to be open with him. We have made available to congress, Sensitive Information regarding the Fusion Center questions. We have quickly made it confidential informant available to them to speak them regarding uranium one. There was a controversy over that. We recently provided congress with Text Messages between an fbi agent and an fbi lawyer working on the investigation into the 2016 president ial election and the clinton email server. And we are going to do more. As much as we can, we will not be reluctant to admit error. We will not hide and be excessively defensive. We will never fail to monitor our people. And we are going to insist on the highest standards of behavior. Even the treasurer is not protected from review. Everybody has to be accountable and responsible. You can have arrogance seep into sometimes an institution. And that is not acceptable. We want to be open to the public and we are going to go as far as we can to do that. There are limits. In that regard. We are not able to just reveal everything and every criminal case that may be percolating here. Nor, and every potential personal matter. We have active and strong activity being carried out this very moment by our inspector general. We also have the professional Standards Group that watches and monitors our highest possible standards of behavior by our people. So we take that very seriously and i would just say we will continue to monitor our people to maintain high standards. I have to tell you, sometimes things might appear to be bad have more innocent explanations. So fairness and justice should also be provided to our personnel. Last question. Is a followup. The fbi is an important partner in his Violent Crime fight. President trump has pretty clearly suggested that the reputation and the status of the fbi is in tatters. You should have you . I do not show the view that the fbi is functioning, is not functioning at a higher level all over the country. He spoke to them today, the first time a president in 47 years has spoken to the fbi at quantico. The graduating class. He made clear that he supports them 100 percent in their activities. And that we are going to be a Law Enforcement administration that helps the Law Enforcement be successful. I will just say it that way and in my view, the fbi has Huge National security requirements. But it is also fulfilling a fabulously important role, of working to fight against Violent Crime also. Thank you. All right. We hope you visit our celebration. Thank you all. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas. Cspan washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up saturday morning, the Hill Ellen Mitchell discusses the future of defense spending and what was included in the National Defense authorization act that was signed by President Trump earlier this week. And in our spotlight on magazine segment, will feature Pacific Standard contributing writer andy kroll as he talks about his recent piece on the secondary market for goods. Then spencer Senior Research fellow brian knight shares his view on the future of crypto currency. Be sure to watch cspan washington journal live in seven eastern saturday morning. Join the discussion. Jefferson probably knew more about more things than any single man in north america. And i would include franklin in that. Who would be his only rival. And everyone was impressed by jeffersons extent of his knowledge. Adams was smart but he did not have the depth. But he had depth in history and law jefferson did not have. Not because jefferson could not. He just was not as interested in the law as items. Sunday on q a, professor and historian gordon on friends divided. About the relationship and different political views of john adams and thomas jefferson. Adams was re
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