These other Television Providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. Attorney general Merrick Garland on Justice Department oversight. The special counsel brought to criminal indictments against former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department appointed a special counsel in the investigation into Hunter Bidens tax case. On oversight of the department of justice, the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california to lead us all in the pledge. Would you please stand . If you will please face whichever flag is most appropriate for your direction. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Chennai recognizes himself for an Opening Statement. Even with the indictment last week of hunter biden, everyone knows that x is in. Or. 5 years the department of justice has been investigating mr. Biden in an investigation run by david weiss. An investigation that limited the number of witnesses agents good interview. An investigation that prohibited agents from referring to the president is the big guy in any of the interviews they did get to do. An investigation that curtailed at times to interview biden by giving a heads up. An investigation that notified the defense counsel about a pending search warrant and an investigation run by mr. Weiss, where they told the congress three different stories in 33 days. They told this committee on june 7th, david weiss said i have ultimate authority to determine when, where and whether to bring charges. 23 days later, june 30th, he told this committee i can only bring charges in my u. S. Attorney district, the district of delaware. To further confuse matters, july 10th he told senator graham i have not sought special counsel status but had discussions with the department of justice. An investigation run by mr. Weiss that negotiated a plea deal that the Federal District court declined to accept. A plea deal so ridiculous that the judge asked this question. Two times that have nothing to do with the charges being diverted . The response from the doj lawyer, i am not aware of any, your honor. A plea deal so ridiculous that the judge also last, have you ever seen a diversion agreement where the agreement not to process it was so broad that it encompasses a different case . The response from the lawyer, no, your honor, we have not. The investigation run by mr. Weiss that not only had a sweetheart deal rejected but according to the New York Times there was an even sweeter deal, an earlier deal, a deal in which he would not have had to plead guilty to anything. 4. 5 years, all that, and now we get a special counsel. Now we get a special counsel. Who does the attorney general pick . David weiss, the guy who let that all happened. He could have selected anyone, picked anyone inside government, outside government. Could have picked former attorney general, former special counsel, but he picks the one guy that he knows will protect joe biden, he picks david weiss. Here is what the attorney general says in his august 11th announced of david weiss as the special counsel. Quote, i am confident that mr. Weiss will carry out his wrist wants ability in an evenhanded and urgent manner. Urgent manner, every witness we have talked to. The two fbi whistleblowers that came forward, the two fbi agents on the case have all said this thing was anything but urgent. The f i said they were frustrated at the pace. Ms. Holly said she was frustrated at the pace. Of course, the irs agents said the investigation was slow walk. Evenhanded. They limited the number of witnesses that could be interviewed, tipped off the defense counsel about us at tina. They said the plea deal was a joke and thats just half the story. There is one investigation protecting President Biden. There is another one attacking President Trump. The Justice Departments cut both sides of the asian covered grid look at the classified documents case. Spring and early summer of last year, the department of justice asked President Trump to turn over boxes of documents. He does just that. In the process, he finds 38 additional documents. Does that department of justice. The fbi comes to his home and he turns them over. The department of justice asks the president to put any box as he brought in the white house to his home in a storage room and secure it by locking it. He does that, as well. Everything they asked him to do, he did. What does the Justice Department do . August 8th last year, they rated his home. According to the fbi agent, the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field office, the search was a complete departure from standard protocol. When we interviewed mr. Dan tuan out, he said first the field office did not do the search. He said there was no u. S. Attorney assigned it to the case and that it was run by d. C. Now on the special counsel team. Said the fbi didnt get the councils approval before they did the search. He told us he had recommended that when the fbi got to mr. Comes home, they contact the council, wait for him to get there and do the search together. Of course, the doj said no. Who does the attorney general name as a National Counsel and that case . Jack smith. The guy who, a few years ago, was looking for was to prosecute americans. In the irs, looking to prosecute the very victims of the weapon is government or the weapon eyes irs. Jack smith, the guy who prosecuted governor mcdonald only to have the Supreme Court overturned that prosecution in a unanimous decision. That guy that the attorney general of the United States select as special counsel. You wonder why four out of five americans believe there are now two standards of justice in our great country. I anticipate a number of westerns on these two investigations. Later in the hearing i expect republicans will also get questions about the many other concerns the American People have with the department. The school board memorandum, the catholics memo that said prolife catholics are extremists. The fifth circuit decision. A decision centering censoring american speech and defying the law for reauthorization this year and how the process has been abused and infringes on the privacy rights of the American People. America is believed today in our country there is unequal application of the law. They believe that because there is. Republicans committed that change committed to making that change. With that i will yield to the gentleman from new york. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Two comments. Just about every assertion you made in your Opening Statement has been completely refuted by witnesses who have testified before this committee. Two, far from being favored, many commentators have noted that people accused of simple gun possession while under the influence of a drug, the gun was not used in the commission of a crime are rarely, if ever prosecuted. The way hunter biden is being prosecuted. One of these important duties is conducting oversight to the department of justice. Called upon to ensure that the doj uses an enormous amount of power granted in a fair just manner and civil rights. Overseas issues affecting the lives of each and every american. Violent crime, drug trafficking, civil rights, National Security and environmental times all under the purview. Regularly appearing before this committee to see about the work the department is doing for the welfare of the country. This is how we ensure the department is accountable to the American People. If it were up to the republicans, americans would hear nothing about any of these issues today. They would hear nothing about the rise of domestic terrorism and what the Justice Department is doing about it. Nothing about what the department is doing to stop hate crimes and prevent gun violence. Nothing about how the department is disrupting efforts by russia, china and others to interfere in our elections. Extreme republicans have poisoned vital oversight work, ignored legitimate oversight responsibilities and use the power for one political stunt after another. Wasted countless taxpayer dollars for baseless investigations into President Biden and his family, desperate to find evidence for an absurd impeachment and desperate to distract from the mounting legal peril facing donald trump. They have worked tirelessly to stop efforts for foreign actors to influence and manipulate americans through social media. Attempted to bully state and local Law Enforcement officers. They publicized the names of witnesses who did not further their Political Goals, leading to threats of death and physical violence against those witnesses and their families. Caused any number of private institutions and Companies Millions of dollars of legal fees and ridiculous and overbroad requests for informations and transcribed interviews. They have not made meaningful attempts to get the information they seek by consent. They have levied low baseless personal attacks on any prosecutor to bring charges against donald trump for the or the january 6 writers written investigators who were not hard enough on his political opponents. They have supported those involved in the deadly attack at the capital january 6th in an attempt to overthrow an election. Justifying conduct that we all know to be wildly illegal like classified materials and encouraging violence. Rather than trying to unite the country or solve the problems that affect us all, exploiting divisions for cynical, personal, political gain. That is their goal, division. They want to divide this country and think our government appear like it is broken. That is when the broken Political Party thrives. Today i implore the public to see through the sham. I have no doubt that you will hear a deluge of conspiracy theories and baseless accusations. From socalled whistleblowers who have been broadly discredited art contradicted or they will viciously attack adderall Law Enforcement, tell you that all 91 criminal charges against donald trump are part of a conspiracy despite overwhelming evidence of each of these crimes. They will attack special counsel weiss. Not being hard enough on hunter biden. Republicans will continue doing what they have done for years, discrediting anyone who does not serve their Political Goals at any cost. The shame of it is that in this hearing room, on the house floor , we are barreling towards the Government Shutdown while my republican colleagues call each other names. We could be working together to put people over politics and solve any number of problems affecting the American People. More than 30,000 americans have died from gun violence so far this year alone. Guns have become the leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 17, surpassing car accidents. Domestic violence, extremism, White Nationalism are all on the rise. We are seeing active clubs and other white supremacist groups pop up around the country. Am i antisemitism is at an alltime high. Actors like russia, china, iran and north korea are attempting to influence our elections and political rhetoric causing threats against Law Enforcement officials to skyrocket. Our Immigration Court system is in desperate need of reform. Election workers receiving Death Threats from experience Conspiracy Theory driven extremist. This list goes on and on. We the people in this room are in a position to do something about it. It is our duty to do something about it. We were sworn in as members of congress. We could work with the members and attorney general Merrick Garland to fix problems facing the American People. Instead, House Republicans will use their time today to talk about long discredited conspiracy theories and Hunter Bidens laptop. They will do it because they care more about donald trump than they do about their own constituents. I hope my colleagues will see reason and at least attempt to work with the attorney general in good faith. Sadly, on the other side of the aisle, reason and good faith seem to be in short supply. Thank you for your testimony and thank you in advance for your patience. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. All Opening Statements will be included in the record. We will introduce todays witness, the honorable Merrick Garland, attorney general of the United States, sworn in on march 11, 2021. We welcome our witness and thank him for appearing today. Would you please rise and raise your right hand . Do you swear, affirmed under penalty of perjury that the testimony youre about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief, so help you god . The witness has answered in the affirmative. Your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety. We ask that you summarize this. I want to thank you again for being here. You are welcome to give your Opening Statement. Have been here before. Again, thank you for being here. You we is this working . You got lcomit. Thank you. Distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity. On behalf of the more than 115,000 employees for the department of justice. Since the Justice Department was founded it has been tasked with confronting some of the most challenging issues before the country. Today we are handling matters of sick thicken Public Interest that carry great consequences for our democracy. A lot has been said about the Justice Department, about who we are and what we are doing, about what our job is and what it is not. And about why we do this work. I want to provide some clarity. First we are made up of more than 115,000 men and women in every state in the Community Across the country and around the globe. Fbi, dea, atf agents, United States marshals who risk their lives to serve their communities. Prosecutors and staff who work tirelessly to enforce our laws. The overwhelming majority are career Public Servants, meaning they were not appointed by the president of any party. Second, i want to provide clarity about what the job of the Justice Department is and about what it is not. Our job is to help keep our country safe. This includes working closely with Police Departments in communities across the country to combat Violent Crime. Today we are announcing results of a recent u. S. Marshals operation conducted with state and local Law Enforcement. The operation targeted violent fugitives and resulted in 4400 arrest across 20 cities in just three months. Also includes combating drug cartels that are poisoning americans. Last friday, we extradited a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel from mexico to the United States. He is the son of el troppo, one of more than a dozen Cartel Members we have indicted and extradited. Seeking justice for survivors of child smuggling and Human Trafficking including Democratic Institutions like this one, by Holding Accountable others criminally responsible for the january 6th attack on the capital. Our job is also to protect civil rights. This includes protecting our freedoms as americans to worship and think as we please and to peacefully express our opinions, our beliefs, and our ideas. It includes protecting the right of every eligible citizen to vote and have that vote counted. It includes combating discrimination, defending reproductive rights under law and deterring and prosecuting acts like hate crimes. Our job is to uphold the rule of law. We apply the same laws to everyone. There is not one set of laws for the powerful and another for the powerless. One for the rich and another for the poor. One laws for democrats and another for t rich and another for the poor, one for democrats and another t the gravity of the matters that are before the department. But singling out individual career Public Servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous, particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of Public Servants and their families. We will not be intimidated. We will do our jobs free from outside influence, and we will not back down from defending our democracy. Third, i want to explain why we approach our job in this way. The Justice Department was