Transcripts For CSPAN3 Attorney 20240703 : vimarsana.com

Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sir, the policy of your office for u. S. Attorneys to use prosecutorial quotas. Im sorry. I have difficulty hearing you. Is at the policy of your office to use the tutorial quotas . Prosecute . Do you have prosecutorial quotas and play . That would be to your office, then, write . Is not policy. Correct. We dont have quotas. Would be consistent with that if you have a prosecutor that said that he wants to prosecute at least 2000 people who are alleged to have committed a certain type of crime . I think you are referring to the january 6 question. Would that be consistent with your offices policy if somebody said that we are going to get up to 2000 people on a particular crime . Is that consistent . I think what he was referring to is a prediction for how many more cases would still be brought, because the court had asked how many more people. We are looking at upwards of 2000 and we have 1200 more that we think will get. You dont do that for anything else . You dont do tax fraud . We are going to have some of the people we want to get for tax fraud. We dont have. The court asks us what the likely workload will be based on prosecution and investigations pending. U. S. Attorney obligated to respond. Did you provide any reference of the number of people he thought would prosecute involved in the 2020 summer rights of the burning of the portland courthouse while there were still people inside . You didnt file with the court or anything to say that we think we will have another 300 400 . You didnt file those, did you . Im not following. Im sure youre not. The number you are asking about. Lets switch topics. Made the judgment maybe this will be easier to follow. Is it the policy of the doj to provide advance notice to subject before conducting a search for evidence . It depends on the circumstance. If it were that you had a guesthouse where the u. S. Attorney is saying, we suspect that there is a lot of evidence there, but we are not going to really follow up, but we will call the attorney from the other side thing, we will do a search warrant. Would that be consistent . This is no hypothetical and i dont know the facts of the case and i dont know what happened. I believe the events you are talking about has reported in the press occurred under Previous Administration. No. That didnt happen on Previous Administration. You keep saying this happened on the Previous Administration, but lets talk about this for a moment. You keep saying, i dont know what happened, but i will opine when it happens. You see the fallacy and inconsistencies . I dont know what happened, because im not involved, but it happened under the Previous Administration station. That is logically fallacious. Im not following. , you are not following. You got one of your deputy u. S. Attorneys calling the attorney saying, we are going to go to these two places and in the next couple of days and ultimately the search warrant is called off. Is it consistent to call up people where you know that they have boxes of information or you suspect they have boxes of information, which is why he will go look and you give them a heads up, seek and move that information. Would that be consistent with doj policy . You are asking me to comment about allegations in a particular case. No, im not. Im asking if that is consistent with your overall policy. Forget delaware and what they did and that they actually did that. Lets just talk about generic policy. I thought you were asking about maralago. I may not have understood. When we are talking about this and your general policy, is it your policy is it acceptable when you suspect that there are movable items to call and say that we will be there to look . There is no policy. The strategy and tactics to preserve evidence left up to the investigators and offices on the ground. Sometimes, it can be a serious mistake at the call up. Once again, you dont know what happened in the hunter biden case, because that is someone else doing it, but you can be sure of the timing of when this took place. That is one of the biggest oddities of your testimony today. I yelled back to the gentleman from colorado. Time has expired. The chair recognizes the pennsylvania. Thank you. Thank you for your decades of faithful service to our country , constitution and rule of law. Thank you for putting up with this today. The American People are watching. They know whats going on here. This is a gross misuse of your time, teams time and our time. It is a shameful circus. It has a goal. The goal is to spew lies and disinformation and ultimately to tear away at the confidence of our independent institutions in your case, which are very Important Department of justice. That is the exact ml of a former president. Turned away at the confidence of our independent institutions, whether it is our electoral system, department of justice, judiciary and independent news media. The American People are watching , but its not just a circus. It is dangerous and you know that. You have mentioned that. I believe these fictions and fantasies are dangerous. They are dangerous for you and the 115,000 Public Servants with whom you work. Dangerous for National Security pretty dangerous for communities security. Dangerous for the rule of law and our constitution. All at the same time of a looming shutdown. The other side of the aisle cannot govern, so they have this hearing, which was supposed to be oversight and use it as a big distraction, because they are failing to govern. Imagine if we go into a shutdown. What does that say to your members of your department . What does it say to our servicemembers . U. S. Troops who would be training, fighting without pay. Without confidence in this countrys governing ability. It is a great distraction. Let me pivot to something i care about and i know you and your Department Care about. It is recovery month. For families like mine with a member in recovery, every month is recovery month. I thank you for what you are doing on the fentanyl crisis and the overdose crisis that has claimed 110,000 lives in a single 12 month period. 300 souls a day every day pretty souls who have died while we are in this hearing every day. What is the department doing to combat the trafficking and the amount of fentanyl on the ground. There is enough on the ground to the entire population multiple times over. Tell us about your work. Let me begin by saying that i share your personal concern and grief over this. I met with the families of children and teenagers and elderly people who have become addicted to fentanyl and have died. Everything you are saying is correct. It is a catastrophe for the country. As a consequence, the Justice Department has poured its resources particularly from dea with fbi assistance, as well and fugitive arrests by the Marshall Service and with gun tracing by the atf into the entire process by which fentanyl reaches the less. We have sanctioned the companies in china and we have indicted some of them for their violations. We have arrested some as far off as in fiji and brought them back to the u. S. We have traced the precursors to mexico where they are made into the fentanyl pills and fentanyl costs about . 10 to make and it can be sold on the street in the u. S. Between 10 and 30. You can see the enormous profit motive is here, so we must stop the cartels themselves. As i said to my travel to mexico twice in order to work with our counterparts in the military and Law Enforcement there. Thank you for that. I want to put it once and i want to do anything i can to partner with you on this issue. So that we stop losing people. I traveled with the Foreign Affairs committee and i met with the extraordinary folks in the top prosecutor and his able team. They were very complementary on the department of justice and your work. Can you tell us about your Important Role or americas portable Important Role in war crimes, especially in light of your powerful history. Im happy to. Ive traveled to ukraine twice to meet with the prosecutor general there and i will meet with him again this week here and he has met with me several times. The Justice Department is pursuing war crimes from russias unlawful and unjust invasion of ukraine to help investigate war crimes over which we have jurisdiction to help the prosecutor general in ukraine investigate those prosecutions. The International Criminal court of justice to meet with chief prosecutor to talk about our cooperation and respect to the investigations they are doing. I have assigned a Justice Department prosecutor to the body that has been set up for the crime of aggression and she is now working with the icc and i have assigned prosecutor to our embassy in kyiv turk with the prosecutor generals office. I appreciate you for allowing that to go on, because it is important. Americas indispensable. Time has expired. General from wisconsin recognized. Do you support the consent that was put in place in the city of minneapolis. Do you support the Consent Decree put in place with the Police Department of minneapolis . By the federal government, yes. Do you support fewer cops on the street . Do i support . Fewer cops on the street. No, i dont. Thats whats happening as a result. I dont think that is a consequence of the Consent Decree. They have been losing Police Officers for many years. To support more crime . No, i dont. There was a hearing in minnesota of minneapolis this last week where they were just beside themselves with the amount of crime that continues the riots of 2020 and i would point out to you that i had an officer in my district where i live across the border in wisconsin where my district begins and a Police Officer was shot to death as a result of a crime prosecutor in st. Paul and minneapolis minnesota. He served only four years for a violent crime. Do you think that is a problem . And officer shot to death is certainly not an appropriate sentence. Thats outrageous. We are doing everything we can to assist minneapolis. We have a very aggressive u. S. Attorney with a number of cases. Let me continue. Have a short period of time. In regards to disrupt drug networks, why do you think there is so much fentanyl coming into the country . Because it costs . 10 to make and it can be sold for 30. Arizona sat right where you are at a few months ago and under oath he said that the reason there is such a drastic increase in fentanyl coming in is because on january 20 of 2021, open border policies were announced. Have you expressed concern about those open border policies that have led to the rapid increase and amount of fentanyl coming in . I cant associate myself with the conclusion reached by sheriff, but i can certainly commiserate with the concern. The sheriff is incorrect . The cartels in mexico are bringing this causing this to be transmitted into the u. S. Terrific. We are doing what we can to illuminate. You are not going to do it. Just so we are clear, this is the same answer we received from secretary a couple of months ago when he was in denial about a sheriff who lives one of the most reparable shirts will find in the u. S. Of america sitting down there on that southern border. He sees it every day. He saw it working in 2020, because he told me when i was down there and now he says that it is not working. You are not, because the borders are wide open. Do you believe will shift to combating gun violence . You believe that a prohibited person that requires a gun illegally and disposes it in a dumpster where a criminal or innocent child could gain access to it should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law . This is no longer hypothetical, but a specific case, which is now in judicial determination before court of law and not appropriate for me to comment on that case. For the record, lets understand that the same prosecuting attorney who is now the special counsel gave a sweetheart deal to that person. Yes, you are correct. We are referring to the president sun. He got a sweetheart deal and the judge was smart enough to smell a rat when she saw it and said, go back to the drawing board. That same special counsel is in charge of the investigation. Isnt that correct . I will close quickly with this. There was a bike ride in Madison Wisconsin just a couple of months ago and i sent you a letter two months ago asking if you had a problem with that, because it exposed a 10year old girl by the race organizer to paddling around Madison Wisconsin naked to think that the problem . Why did you not answer our letter two months ago . I will ask the office of legislative affairs to get back to you . Does it typically take two months . It sounds like you are asking about state and local Law Enforcement and we get hundreds of letters. I will ask office of legislative affairs where the leader is. We were hoping you would ask. I yelled. Yields back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you again, attorney general for joining us and your patience with this questioning i am honored to represent a Diverse Community in North Carolina. They have worked to welcome people of all backgrounds, ethnicities and religions. The growth and success of my district in the Research Triangle depends on our commitment to celebrating the many cultures that contribute to our community. Unfortunately, over the past few years, these very communities that have contributed so much to my state and district have found themselves under attack. Jewish leaders have received threats to themselves and their synagogues as recently as last month. Hbcus across our state have locked down in response to bomb threats. Asian americans in North Carolina and throughout the country have found themselves facing slurs and threats in large part by the racialized language about the covid pandemic. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported in late 2020 that the number of White Nationalist groups grew 55 between 2017 and 2019 noting that the rise in attacks coincide with the growth of the White Nationalist movements. The Antidefamation League relatedly found that white supremacist propaganda incidents occurred over 13 times per day on average in 2020 with a total of 5125 reported cases and nearly twice the number of cases reported in 2019 and the highest number that they have other ever reported. This trend has continued in the last few years and has included as active clubs have been increasing in the number and prominence. These clubs started popping up in late 2020 and are a network of White Nationalist groups that see themselves as fighters in training for an ongoing war against a system they claim is deliberately plotting against the white race. As attorney general, i am deeply interested and concerned about the rise of these clubs, threats of violence and actual violence and they want to know if you are familiar with these activities and what your department is doing to counteract them. Im not familiar with the specifics and i will certainly look into what the department has been doing in that respect. Very soon after i came into the department, i saw a spike in hate crime threats that were being made and actual acts of violence. I directed the department to develop a strategy for responding to that and 30 days later, that was pretty much coincident with congresss passage of the covid nohit act and we have now fulfilled all of the obligations under that. We have taskforces set up to investigate and prosecute hate crimes as hate crimes and where they satisfy the requirements as Domestic Violence extremism and terrorism. We have brought dozens of cases against people who have made these threats, as well as those who have attempted to carry them out. As you know, we have a prosecution pending in buffalo with respect to the horrendous killings of americans in the Grocery Store by a white supremacist. Thank you very much and your efforts in this regard. On a different subject with my last 45 seconds, North Carolina also saw the impact of cybercrimes the Colonial Pipeline and i would like to know how your office is counteracting any Cyber Attacks and dealing with people. We are vigilant to the risk of these Cyber Attacks. In that case, these were communal gangs affiliated in russia and a resident in russia and fortunately, we had an available intelligence from section 702, which we were discussing earlier today. That is one of the principal sources of our ability to fight these Cyber Attacks. Whether they are criminal or launched by a nationstate or whether they are attempting to get a ransom or simply trying or also simply trying to exfiltrate our information. Whether they are trying to prevent computers from working at all. The Justice Department has established a Cyber Task Force for this purpose and rent somewhere task force. We are recently working on cryptocurrency in the same way. Time has expired and we want to move quickly. We have both and the majority conference. I thank the chairman. Welcome and my friend and colleague from colorado outlined your biographer a and i thought very well, but he left out two points that i would like to mention. One is that not only did you lead the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing case, but in that case, the Previous Administration<\/a>. No. That didnt happen on Previous Administration<\/a>. You keep saying this happened on the Previous Administration<\/a>, but lets talk about this for a moment. You keep saying, i dont know what happened, but i will opine when it happens. You see the fallacy and inconsistencies . I dont know what happened, because im not involved, but it happened under the Previous Administration<\/a> station. That is logically fallacious. Im not following. , you are not following. You got one of your deputy u. S. Attorneys calling the attorney saying, we are going to go to these two places and in the next couple of days and ultimately the search warrant is called off. Is it consistent to call up people where you know that they have boxes of information or you suspect they have boxes of information, which is why he will go look and you give them a heads up, seek and move that information. Would that be consistent with doj policy . You are asking me to comment about allegations in a particular case. No, im not. Im asking if that is consistent with your overall policy. Forget delaware and what they did and that they actually did that. Lets just talk about generic policy. I thought you were asking about maralago. I may not have understood. When we are talking about this and your general policy, is it your policy is it acceptable when you suspect that there are movable items to call and say that we will be there to look . There is no policy. The strategy and tactics to preserve evidence left up to the investigators and offices on the ground. Sometimes, it can be a serious mistake at the call up. Once again, you dont know what happened in the hunter biden case, because that is someone else doing it, but you can be sure of the timing of when this took place. That is one of the biggest oddities of your testimony today. I yelled back to the gentleman from colorado. Time has expired. The chair recognizes the pennsylvania. Thank you. Thank you for your decades of faithful service to our country , constitution and rule of law. Thank you for putting up with this today. The American People<\/a> are watching. They know whats going on here. This is a gross misuse of your time, teams time and our time. It is a shameful circus. It has a goal. The goal is to spew lies and disinformation and ultimately to tear away at the confidence of our independent institutions in your case, which are very Important Department<\/a> of justice. That is the exact ml of a former president. Turned away at the confidence of our independent institutions, whether it is our electoral system, department of justice, judiciary and independent news media. The American People<\/a> are watching , but its not just a circus. It is dangerous and you know that. You have mentioned that. I believe these fictions and fantasies are dangerous. They are dangerous for you and the 115,000 Public Servants<\/a> with whom you work. Dangerous for National Security<\/a> pretty dangerous for communities security. Dangerous for the rule of law and our constitution. All at the same time of a looming shutdown. The other side of the aisle cannot govern, so they have this hearing, which was supposed to be oversight and use it as a big distraction, because they are failing to govern. Imagine if we go into a shutdown. What does that say to your members of your department . What does it say to our servicemembers . U. S. Troops who would be training, fighting without pay. Without confidence in this countrys governing ability. It is a great distraction. Let me pivot to something i care about and i know you and your Department Care<\/a> about. It is recovery month. For families like mine with a member in recovery, every month is recovery month. I thank you for what you are doing on the fentanyl crisis and the overdose crisis that has claimed 110,000 lives in a single 12 month period. 300 souls a day every day pretty souls who have died while we are in this hearing every day. What is the department doing to combat the trafficking and the amount of fentanyl on the ground. There is enough on the ground to the entire population multiple times over. Tell us about your work. Let me begin by saying that i share your personal concern and grief over this. I met with the families of children and teenagers and elderly people who have become addicted to fentanyl and have died. Everything you are saying is correct. It is a catastrophe for the country. As a consequence, the Justice Department<\/a> has poured its resources particularly from dea with fbi assistance, as well and fugitive arrests by the Marshall Service<\/a> and with gun tracing by the atf into the entire process by which fentanyl reaches the less. We have sanctioned the companies in china and we have indicted some of them for their violations. We have arrested some as far off as in fiji and brought them back to the u. S. We have traced the precursors to mexico where they are made into the fentanyl pills and fentanyl costs about . 10 to make and it can be sold on the street in the u. S. Between 10 and 30. You can see the enormous profit motive is here, so we must stop the cartels themselves. As i said to my travel to mexico twice in order to work with our counterparts in the military and Law Enforcement<\/a> there. Thank you for that. I want to put it once and i want to do anything i can to partner with you on this issue. So that we stop losing people. I traveled with the Foreign Affairs<\/a> committee and i met with the extraordinary folks in the top prosecutor and his able team. They were very complementary on the department of justice and your work. Can you tell us about your Important Role<\/a> or americas portable Important Role<\/a> in war crimes, especially in light of your powerful history. Im happy to. Ive traveled to ukraine twice to meet with the prosecutor general there and i will meet with him again this week here and he has met with me several times. The Justice Department<\/a> is pursuing war crimes from russias unlawful and unjust invasion of ukraine to help investigate war crimes over which we have jurisdiction to help the prosecutor general in ukraine investigate those prosecutions. The International Criminal<\/a> court of justice to meet with chief prosecutor to talk about our cooperation and respect to the investigations they are doing. I have assigned a Justice Department<\/a> prosecutor to the body that has been set up for the crime of aggression and she is now working with the icc and i have assigned prosecutor to our embassy in kyiv turk with the prosecutor generals office. I appreciate you for allowing that to go on, because it is important. Americas indispensable. Time has expired. General from wisconsin recognized. Do you support the consent that was put in place in the city of minneapolis. Do you support the Consent Decree<\/a> put in place with the Police Department<\/a> of minneapolis . By the federal government, yes. Do you support fewer cops on the street . Do i support . Fewer cops on the street. No, i dont. Thats whats happening as a result. I dont think that is a consequence of the Consent Decree<\/a>. They have been losing Police Officers<\/a> for many years. To support more crime . No, i dont. There was a hearing in minnesota of minneapolis this last week where they were just beside themselves with the amount of crime that continues the riots of 2020 and i would point out to you that i had an officer in my district where i live across the border in wisconsin where my district begins and a Police Officer<\/a> was shot to death as a result of a crime prosecutor in st. Paul and minneapolis minnesota. He served only four years for a violent crime. Do you think that is a problem . And officer shot to death is certainly not an appropriate sentence. Thats outrageous. We are doing everything we can to assist minneapolis. We have a very aggressive u. S. Attorney with a number of cases. Let me continue. Have a short period of time. In regards to disrupt drug networks, why do you think there is so much fentanyl coming into the country . Because it costs . 10 to make and it can be sold for 30. Arizona sat right where you are at a few months ago and under oath he said that the reason there is such a drastic increase in fentanyl coming in is because on january 20 of 2021, open border policies were announced. Have you expressed concern about those open border policies that have led to the rapid increase and amount of fentanyl coming in . I cant associate myself with the conclusion reached by sheriff, but i can certainly commiserate with the concern. The sheriff is incorrect . The cartels in mexico are bringing this causing this to be transmitted into the u. S. Terrific. We are doing what we can to illuminate. You are not going to do it. Just so we are clear, this is the same answer we received from secretary a couple of months ago when he was in denial about a sheriff who lives one of the most reparable shirts will find in the u. S. Of america sitting down there on that southern border. He sees it every day. He saw it working in 2020, because he told me when i was down there and now he says that it is not working. You are not, because the borders are wide open. Do you believe will shift to combating gun violence . You believe that a prohibited person that requires a gun illegally and disposes it in a dumpster where a criminal or innocent child could gain access to it should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law . This is no longer hypothetical, but a specific case, which is now in judicial determination before court of law and not appropriate for me to comment on that case. For the record, lets understand that the same prosecuting attorney who is now the special counsel gave a sweetheart deal to that person. Yes, you are correct. We are referring to the president sun. He got a sweetheart deal and the judge was smart enough to smell a rat when she saw it and said, go back to the drawing board. That same special counsel is in charge of the investigation. Isnt that correct . I will close quickly with this. There was a bike ride in Madison Wisconsin<\/a> just a couple of months ago and i sent you a letter two months ago asking if you had a problem with that, because it exposed a 10year old girl by the race organizer to paddling around Madison Wisconsin<\/a> naked to think that the problem . Why did you not answer our letter two months ago . I will ask the office of legislative affairs to get back to you . Does it typically take two months . It sounds like you are asking about state and local Law Enforcement<\/a> and we get hundreds of letters. I will ask office of legislative affairs where the leader is. We were hoping you would ask. I yelled. Yields back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you again, attorney general for joining us and your patience with this questioning i am honored to represent a Diverse Community<\/a> in North Carolina<\/a>. They have worked to welcome people of all backgrounds, ethnicities and religions. The growth and success of my district in the Research Triangle<\/a> depends on our commitment to celebrating the many cultures that contribute to our community. Unfortunately, over the past few years, these very communities that have contributed so much to my state and district have found themselves under attack. Jewish leaders have received threats to themselves and their synagogues as recently as last month. Hbcus across our state have locked down in response to bomb threats. Asian americans in North Carolina<\/a> and throughout the country have found themselves facing slurs and threats in large part by the racialized language about the covid pandemic. The Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a> reported in late 2020 that the number of White Nationalist<\/a> groups grew 55 between 2017 and 2019 noting that the rise in attacks coincide with the growth of the White Nationalist<\/a> movements. The Antidefamation League<\/a> relatedly found that white supremacist propaganda incidents occurred over 13 times per day on average in 2020 with a total of 5125 reported cases and nearly twice the number of cases reported in 2019 and the highest number that they have other ever reported. This trend has continued in the last few years and has included as active clubs have been increasing in the number and prominence. These clubs started popping up in late 2020 and are a network of White Nationalist<\/a> groups that see themselves as fighters in training for an ongoing war against a system they claim is deliberately plotting against the white race. As attorney general, i am deeply interested and concerned about the rise of these clubs, threats of violence and actual violence and they want to know if you are familiar with these activities and what your department is doing to counteract them. Im not familiar with the specifics and i will certainly look into what the department has been doing in that respect. Very soon after i came into the department, i saw a spike in hate crime threats that were being made and actual acts of violence. I directed the department to develop a strategy for responding to that and 30 days later, that was pretty much coincident with congresss passage of the covid nohit act and we have now fulfilled all of the obligations under that. We have taskforces set up to investigate and prosecute hate crimes as hate crimes and where they satisfy the requirements as Domestic Violence<\/a> extremism and terrorism. We have brought dozens of cases against people who have made these threats, as well as those who have attempted to carry them out. As you know, we have a prosecution pending in buffalo with respect to the horrendous killings of americans in the Grocery Store<\/a> by a white supremacist. Thank you very much and your efforts in this regard. On a different subject with my last 45 seconds, North Carolina<\/a> also saw the impact of cybercrimes the Colonial Pipeline<\/a> and i would like to know how your office is counteracting any Cyber Attacks<\/a> and dealing with people. We are vigilant to the risk of these Cyber Attacks<\/a>. In that case, these were communal gangs affiliated in russia and a resident in russia and fortunately, we had an available intelligence from section 702, which we were discussing earlier today. That is one of the principal sources of our ability to fight these Cyber Attacks<\/a>. Whether they are criminal or launched by a nationstate or whether they are attempting to get a ransom or simply trying or also simply trying to exfiltrate our information. Whether they are trying to prevent computers from working at all. The Justice Department<\/a> has established a Cyber Task Force<\/a> for this purpose and rent somewhere task force. We are recently working on cryptocurrency in the same way. Time has expired and we want to move quickly. We have both and the majority conference. I thank the chairman. Welcome and my friend and colleague from colorado outlined your biographer a and i thought very well, but he left out two points that i would like to mention. One is that not only did you lead the prosecution of the Oklahoma City<\/a> bombing case, but in that case, the Death Penalty<\/a> was asked for and received. Timothy was executed. Not exactly a democrat priority to seek the Death Penalty<\/a>, but you did so because of the rule of law and you did so because of the facts and law demanded. He follow the facts and law in that situation. The other issue i want an example in my file that i want to point out is my understanding that in your conference room, you have a portrait of elliott richardson. The reason is because he demanded that the department of justice stay independent from the administration. He had the backbone to stand up to the president of the u. S. And make sure that the department of justice would not become the governments lawyer. He put that portrait there soon after you became attorney general, because it was a signal to the world that you wanted to be known in the same way that others that had come before you were known. Frankly, one of the reasons i respect him so much is because after january 6, he made the very difficult decision to walk into the office until the president that the election was not stolen and that we have looked at this. For that reason, he resigned before january 20 when power was turned over. You are unable to answer some questions. What would people say if you had asked for u. S. Attorney weisss resignation when you became attorney general . They would have said that you were obstructing the hunter biden investigation and that you are firing a republican appointee, so that you can appoint a democrat to slow walk the investigation and lose leadership of that investigation. If you would have made the same decision a year later, because were frustrated that it wasnt moving fast enough, they would have said that you are interfering. If he asked to become special counsel angie made the decision then to appoint someone else to special counsel, then people would have criticized, because he would have been taking someone out of the investigation that you the facts and could lead the investigation and put someone in who wouldve had to come up to speed on the investigation and made those loud decisions to be made until they come up to speed, so in different opportunities where you could have acted, you would have been criticized either way, whether you acted or did not act in that situation. Far from slow walking, really wants the Trump Administration<\/a> decided that that was the person leading the investigation, your hands were tied and you didnt have the opportunity to make a decision on the leadership of that investigation. Speaking of slow walking, i appreciate your reference in your opening remarks to the department of justice strongly supports efforts by congress to promote competition in Digital Markets<\/a> by passing legislation to prohibit certain anticompetitive practices by dominant online platforms. You cant say who they are, but i can. Apple, amazon, facebook and google are monopolies and they have been harming the country and competition in that particular market for years. In congress for five years they have been investigating and operating bills on that subject. They spent 250 million according to reports in the last congress to defeat those bills. Now, we do nothing in this congress to try to deal with that serious issue. In fact, there are efforts i am told and i use the effort and senate very carefully in the same sentence, but their efforts in the senate to take 50 million in funding for the department of justice and i trust the division and it would be an 18 cut and to move that money to the General Department<\/a> of justice Operations Fund<\/a> to try to further cripple the efforts going on in court. The state attorney generals antitrust division and federal trade commission are doing a great job jointly in trying to combat these monopolies. My question is, will you make sure that the trust division is properly funded and continued this effort from stopping monopolies from harming the children and competition and further strengthening chinas position in this area. I absolutely will and one of the first things i did and budget opportunity we had was to ask for more money than had ever been given the quite a long time. And, to ask for the fees that are paid for purposes of analysis be given to the trust division directly rather than go into a general fund. Left the truck administration on december 23, and 2020 and not between generation x. With that, and recognize. Mr. Chairman, im sorry, but since you mentioned, can i enter into the record of this article about the mastercard visa duopoly by proactive and the target of a bipartisan bill to reform this monopoly. Can i insert that . Accepted. General for missouri and recognize. Thank you for being here, attorney general garland. We are here to make clear what it means to promote equal justice for every person in this country. Attorney general garland, you often speak about your commitment to supporting civil rights and rule of law. I have concerns about whether the department under your leadership is doing the absolute most they can to advance these goals. In the limited time i have, i want to share my concerns about specific issues with you directly and to make clear about what i believe that the Department Needs<\/a> to take. First off, as the hearing has shown, a small number of the departments cases get an outside level of attention in politics. The reality is that you preside over most of the federal system of mass incarceration and every day in courtrooms around the country including st. Louis, prosecutors who ultimately report to our continuing to disproportionately prosecute and disproportionately black and brown people for disproportionately low immigration and narcotics and arm offenses. Under your watch, the federal incarceration rate has increased for the first time in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, corporate crime enforcement is lower than it was during the Trump Administration<\/a>. The Department Needs<\/a> to rethink its entire approach to prosecution, but let me also say that i thank you for what you are doing with the insurrection. I urge you to take specific steps towards ending mandatory minimums and prosecutorial misconduct waivers. Use of clemency power and reporting on disparities in federal prosecutions director peters is not doing enough to address the limpid issues of abuse and mismanagement, which affects both directional staff and people in custody. It is shameful that solitary confinement and during the biden administration, despite the president claiming that he supports ending it. We need to see more from the department across on that bureau prisons. You should implement the president s commitment to end the torturous practice of solitary confinement once and for all. I am also incredibly disheartened that the department continues to pursue the Death Penalty<\/a> despite the president s pledged and it. I urge the department to reverse course. The federal Death Chamber<\/a> in indiana and advocate for the commutation of everyone on federal death row. I am also still waiting to see any meaningful progress and attorney general announced in june 22 around the enforcement of title vi and safe streets act. I am going on and on, but im taking my time. I would like an update on when the department will respond to the Oversight Committee<\/a> democrats letter from june 2021 about the memo and issue about the Trump Administration<\/a>s and office of Legal Counsel<\/a> concerning the equal rights amendment. The deeply flawed memo is preventing the archivists of the u. S. From publishing the equal rights amendment as the 20th amendment. I know that they issued a short clarification after you took office, but the water was not clear. I urge you to really withdraw the trump olc memo, which is baselessly obstructing constitutional gender equality for all. Finally, i cannot overstate how shocked i am by the targeting of protesters opposing construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center<\/a> and i urge the department to investigate these obvious violations of civil rights. This may seem like unrelated issues, but to mikes to joints, and people most directly impacted, they are interconnected and speak to whether department under your leadership will advance justice or simply Pay Lip Service<\/a> to it. Given the time we have, i dont expect you to comment on all of the issues, but i have a question. Will you commit to working with me and my office on these issues, including having your staff promptly by writing your position and sending that to us and reaching out to us about all of the issues we spoke about . We happen to have legislative affairs work with your staff and i want to say that i could not be more proud of the civil rights record of this department. It is the fundamental basis for why the Justice Department<\/a> was founded and we have a history of also being involved in the 1960s. Im not disagreeing with any of that. I just want you to understand where im coming from. I dont mean to cut you off, but i need to reclaim my time. Finally, i want to remind everyone yet again that this is what good faith oversight looks like. Not the republican playbook of running interference for twice impeached and four times indented white supremacist demagogue would rather overthrow our democracy than admit he lost an election. Thank you and i yelled back. Gentleman from texas recognized. Thank you for being here before us today. On october 21, 2021, asked about mr. Scott smith. Question the of his daughter in the public school. He said at the time that you are unfamiliar to the case, are you now . You sent a memo directing the fbi and u. S. Attorney officers to address harassment and School Boards<\/a>. Yes or no . Sent a memo to address violence and threats of violence in connection with school personnel. At School Boards<\/a> . Directed at school personnels and administrators. Throughout the country, priority for the federal government . That followed a letter on september 2920 21 for the National School<\/a> Board Association<\/a>. Emails from the National School<\/a> Board Association<\/a>. The white house asked for specific threats. One of the examples was scott smith. Subsequent to our hearing, 26 states left the National School<\/a> Board Association<\/a> and enslavement resigned. Last week, mr. Smith was pardoned by governor yudkin. Do you think the governor was correct . I dont know the facts of the case, so im not in the position. Have you resented the issue in 2021 . Have you resented the memo, yes or no . Does the memo still exist is it still billing . Has it been resented . The memo is intended to have meetings within 30 days. Has it been resented . The 30 days have finished and nothing has happened. It has not been resented. It has not been. White house official discuss this with the doj more than a week before the letter was sent and have you apologized . Yes or no . I testified seven times since the original memo. This is the first time you are back here. This is the first time you are back here in front of us. Have you apologized for putting it out that implicated scott smith as a domestic terrorist something the governor of virginia has no pardoned from all of these accusations . The memo said nothing about him or parents being terrorists. Nothing about attending School Boards<\/a>. It has not been resented and you havent apologized. Labeling an american citizen and domestic terrorist and referring to it and a memo that is built on the back of that, but we have compliments being driven to the civil rights commission. Lets talk about pennsylvania and a father arrested with heavily armed federal and local Law Enforcement<\/a> in front of his wife and children. This is after the lawyer said he would appear voluntarily. Local authorities investigated and found no case. He was arrested by the fbi for consent violations. The jury met for an hour and he was acquitted. Now, when i was in federal court, i dont remember that being the result very often. I told him that at all. Did you investigate this or question the u. S. Attorney and why they wasted resources for an obvious result . Can you explain that it was a good use of the department of Justice Authority<\/a> . The Justice Department<\/a> respect the verdict, decision and it was made by agents and prosecutors on the ground. Are you concerned that the act has been biased by prolifers and protesters 126 to 4 by our count . We are asking information to be able to track down the information of prosecutions, but 126 times against pro lifers versus four times for people who dare to question the issue of life. I will leave that out there to say that it is the civil rights division. Meanwhile, we have the very liberal progressive groups being targeted, as well. Sent a letter asking for information about how the ei had gone into the liberal groups prolife meeting and we didnt get any response from you, so i would ask if you would respond to a letter that we sent back in march asking about fbi infiltrating a meeting. I dont know what you are referring to, but i will ask the legislative affairs to look into it. Are tax cases require approval by main justice no matter the district. Yes or no . Does it approval by main justice . Yes or no . It depends on the circumstances and example. Is it generally speaking yes . Main justice runs tax division, yes or no . Doesnt run tax division . I am sure. Thats not what im asking about. I havent mentioned his name. Asked a very simple question. Two task cases require approval . As a general matter. Most of the time, but not when the general has granted authority to his attorney to do what he thinks is best. Tax division. Mr. Chairman, court reporter. I recall my colleague having one minute and a half of additional time. Time has expired. Chernow recognizes the general lady from texas. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Attorney general garland, first and foremost, Public Service<\/a> and dedication to justice. I am delighted to see you here. Thank you for appearing before us. I represent el paso, texas. A community right on the u. S. mexico border and we have been witnessing firsthand the abuses at the hands of Governor Greg Abbott<\/a> operation lone star, which began in 2021. Governor abbott had the resources and Texas National<\/a> guard members to the states border with mexico and operation lone star has created Border Management<\/a> challenges and it has resulted in countless humanitarian and due process violations for migrants. It has harmed guardsmen assigned to the mission. It has cost the state billions of dollars and it has completely undermined the federal Government Authority<\/a> over immigration. I sent you a letter, my colleagues and i, from democratic colleagues sent you a letter in july about his floating barriers. I know that the case is going through appeal. We have also learned that the National Guard<\/a> shot at a Mexican National<\/a> across the rio grande. In september, i sent you a letter. Asking about the doj investigated. We also know we learned from whistleblowers that he has ordered National Guard<\/a>smen to prevent migrants from turning themselves in and has ordered that they push people back into mexico. Mr. Chairman, i would like unanimous consent to enter into the record and El Paso Times<\/a> article from earlier this week. Texas National Guard<\/a> orders hundreds of Asylum Seekers<\/a> on u. S. Territory back into mexico. Objection. This in addition to Governor Abbott<\/a> separating fathers from their children and families is egregious what is happening on the border via operation lone star. Attorney general garland, are you able to speak to any responses that the department has had to Governor Abbott<\/a>s blatant undermining of federal Immigration Authority<\/a> . I can speak on the buoys question. We brought suit under the rivers and harbors asked for interference with water. That is still under the district court. I understand. There are other issues and they want to make sure i flagged them, but also would like for your folks to take a close look at the investigation that i requested and i will be sending a followup letter after what we learned this week from the El Paso Times<\/a>. Switching gears, i want to offer you an opportunity for some rebuttal, because what we have seen from some colleagues on the other side of the aisle is pension for performance for twitter and other news programs. Mr. Attorney general, we have heard a lot of accusations regarding some u. S. Attorneys offices not partnering with mr. Weiss and hypotheticals about what that means. Can you explain the difference between partnering with the u. S. Attorneys office and acting as a special attorney or counsel . I can talk about it in the abstract and theoretical. It is a normal process of department if prosecutors from one area of the country has a case that has significance in another to speak with the u. S. Attorney and other district to find out what the policies are and practices to see how judges and district react to different kinds of charges. Sometimes the decision is made to partner together in those investigations and sometimes a decision is made for the u. S. Attorney from the other district to have his or her own people bring those cases. I have personally been involved in three of those cases during a period when i was a assistant u. S. Attorney and over my entire career, i have been given by 15 authority twice myself for this purpose and it is a mechanical question of what courts require in order to make an appearance. Thank you so much, mr. Garland. Appreciate your Public Service<\/a> to the American People<\/a>. I yelled back. Gentleman from alabama recognized. Thank you for being here today. Every time im in my district, constituents are concerned about the weaponization of government and they happen to be conservatives. I think on your watch, the doj actually is a mid30s percent approval rate. Every time they go after trump, he goes up in the poll and i think they start to wake up to whats going on and i think its fairly obvious. The first question i have is that i understand that thanks to the whistleblower, the fbi received information on americans from bank of america and specifically bank of america sent the fbi a list of customers who made transactions on and around january 620 21. My question is, did the department of justice require any location data from january 120 20 two december 31 2021 . Did you say locational data . I believe everything that was done with respect to geo locational data was disclosed in the public filings and january 6 cases. I dont have that at my fingertips, but this is a matter of public record. Hing rt were looking for, mr. Attorney general . The right to maybe buy a firearm. Thanks did they may be by a firearm . I dont heknow anything abou the purpose, i understand the location data was to determine whether people claimed they e werent inside the capital and actually were inside the capital. I guess the question is, the geolocation data from external entities or th organizations, to your knowledge, did you receive e th from external sources or are you buying that data . I dont know the exact answer in general but i believe with respect to january 6, the o results of subpoena as issued to Telephone Companies<\/a>. You subpoenaed the Telephone Companies<\/a> and got the data it was requiring orders authorized by the court. Does it concern atyou that h said that the fbis activities were somewhat sobering, does that were you on your watch that the activities have been called sobering now . I didnt understand, who calls it sobering . John durham. I did read the report, all of those events had to do with the crossfire hurricane investigation. That was a part of it, yes, sir. Were you concerned when he said it was sobering with the fbi le was doing . I just want to make sure everybody understands, mr. Durham thanked me for not interfering with the investigation, i promised he would be able to go forward without interference, just as i promised mr. Weiss. I did not interfere with his ms report. His report reported a lack spofm analytical vigor and a number of other problems with respect to the investigation, i think both the Inspector General<\/a> made a similar comment and director ray has made the same. Thank you, i dont have a lot of time and i will yield a little bit to the chairman, but is it a crime in the u. S. To question an election . My fault, i cant hear, to request what . It is a crime for the u. S. Citizens to say we want to ask about this election and we want to look into the election, is that a crime when citizens just question an election in america now . I think you are asking something specific. I think this is just general, ri elections are being questioned for decades, is that now a crime in america . To ask questions about an election. To question the results. It is not a crime to d question the election. And io there are a lot of people in america, they questioned the tw weaponization of government attacking american citizens. You have an issue with the trustworthiness of the American People<\/a> and with congress at this point. I will yield 36 seconds. Did you consider anyone else, when david weiss requested special designation on august 8th . Mr. Weiss asked to be made y special counsel and i did not consider alternatives, of course to put in an alternative, but greatly disrupted the investigation that was already ongoing. Just to be goclear, he was already the one undergoing, it was going to be the guy who proceeded of the investigation for the past five years. I thought veabout what the l consequences would be both of not appointing him and finding somebody else at the time. And you eyhad no concerns, t whistleblowers have brought forward all kinds of concerns, earlier you said those were allegations, i think they stand up well, but there were two fax that can be questioned. Two o about the investigation o hunter biden, fact number one, they let the statute of ed limitations expired and fact number two, the plea deal fell apart, so i wanted to make clear that the guy who presided over all of that was the only guy under consideration for special counsel designation. Mr. Weiss is a person known for high integrity, or great experience in the prosecutorial realm and for his appointed president. Thats fine, i understand be what you are saying. I have no doubts about his abilities. He was the only one under consideration . The question was whether to appoint someone and i will say, what the consequences would be of trying to switch horses of midstream but i did not consider any other person. Senator graham said i had discussions with departmental officials, he said, and i dont know, who did he talk with then . Im sorry, youre talking about the letter he sent again, im not going to get mr into internal deliberations. Is there one person who is the appointed person for david weiss as he is functioning as a special counsel in this investigation mr. Mark subject to the special counsel regulations, which require urgent reporting under certain circumstances, requiring him to consult with numerous places within the Justice Department<\/a>. Fine, you follow the statute, that is what is supposed to happen, but who wa does he report to . Again, im not going to get into it. Is that you . Mr. Weiss did not have to report to anybody, he was the supervisor and decisionmaker in these matters. Okay, we have votes on the floor, we have to take another break esther attorney general, and we will get back as soon as we can and we will begin with the democrats","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801401.us.archive.org\/9\/items\/CSPAN3_20231018_161200_Attorney_General_Testifies_on_Justice_Dept._Oversight_Part_3\/CSPAN3_20231018_161200_Attorney_General_Testifies_on_Justice_Dept._Oversight_Part_3.thumbs\/CSPAN3_20231018_161200_Attorney_General_Testifies_on_Justice_Dept._Oversight_Part_3_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240703T12:35:10+00:00"}