Come to order. The gentleman from maryland is recognized for five minutes. Next thank you, mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, general, how are you . Very well, i thank you. I want to point out three things that you said today, i want to emphasize these for the Committee Going forward. One, you said we will not back down, we will not be intimidated, and the other thing you said, too, was the way to not interfere with an investigation is to not investigate the investigation. Now, i thought that was particularly apropos here, because this committee has been doing exactly the opposite. We have been, under the chairmans leadership, investigating prosecutors all over the country in the middle of criminal investigations, and sometimes postindictment, sometimes preindictment. I think in an effort, frankly, to derail the prosecutions in those cases and i will start with the one, this is a alvin bragg effort. A chairman and two other Committee Chairs sent a letter, i think two actually, that d. A. Brad at the time, he was still investigating former President Trump for potential prosecution. And then after he was indicted, they raised the issue again. And the concern i had on that front was multiple. One was one of the letters that the Committee Chairs sent was demanding information that potentially would have violated state law in new york, similar to the federal grand jury secrecy laws that we have in some of the matters that you got. If he had complied with what the committee had demanded, but more importantly, i thought it was pretty clearcut that it was an effort to undermine and derail d. A. Braggs investigation. There was a similar investigation to that with d. A. Willis. What the gentleman yield for just a second . And not at this point, although i would be willing to make your letters a part of the record at the end of this. D. A. Willis in georgia faced similar cause. In fact, there are a number of prosecutors across the country, frequently in blue jurisdiction city is in red states, where they face pressure from usually estate officials to curtail the way they are doing investigations, and in some instances, the state ags have stripped them of their authorities, even though they have been duly elected by citizens in those states. And with respect to the jack smith investigation, at the beginning of the hearing, the chairman brought up trump did everything the doj asked him to do. This is with respect to the search warrant. And i was appalled at what was said. Frankly, as the record bears out, both in the indictment and frequently in statements made by mr. Trump himself, there were multiple efforts by the department of justice to reach out through the attorneys that represented mr. Trump and have him comply and turn over documents, he refused to do so. In fact, the allegations are he in fact moved documents and tried to hide them, so the department of justice couldnt get them. And i also led to the issue where mr. Trumps lawyers ended up having to provide information and testimony about what has happened, which is highly unusual, but this scenario is highly unusual, and we know that is the case, but former Vice President pence and current President Biden had similar issues, but they complied with the request by the department of justice, turned over the documents, so you didnt need a search warrant. But the news here is i guess, if you dont comply with subpoenas from the department of justice, they will go get the information they will get a search warrant and go get it. And i know that because i have seen that in multiple cases in my career. There is no surprise and no justice with respect to what was done in that instance. In fact, the fact that they took so long to do it, i think is based entirely on the fact that he had been president. And with respect to mr. Weiss, because this is the most recent version, and i get why theyre doing it, they want to try and build a case to impeach President Biden, the weiss angle seems to be one of the ways they are trying to do that, but as congressman buck said, everything that the department had with respect to mr. Weiss was correct. Because the Biden Administration had removed him when it came into power, there would have been house from the republican side that you were derailing the investigation because weiss was already on it, and if you brought in somebody new, they would have to start over again. And in fact, the senate republicans, as you testified earlier, sawyer assurances that he would let him continue Going Forward and as you testified to make me have done exactly that. So, i want to be clear, i know the committee is talking about bringing mr. Weiss the testimony, they brought all these other people to testify who were part of an active investigation, but it is a horrible precedent to be bringing in prosecutors in the middle of an investigation that is about to go to trial and has already been indicted, that is not the way this committee should be doing business. We should allow prosecutors to move forward. If weve got questions after the fact, we can raise them, as you pointed out. Mr. Weiss is going to issue a report at the end. Lets let them do their jobs and stop politicizing these cases. With that, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield the chairman to clear the record. My friend from maryland said they will get a search warrant and go get it, unless it is hunter biden. Then they tip off the defense counsel. We know that happened. Second, relative to mr. Bragg, mr. Bragg sued me and it went to court, and guess what the court . They said we were right, and the guy we wanted to talk to, one of his prosecutors, came here and testified in this room. So, the court was on our side there. I yield back to the gentle lady from indiana. I didnt get to my question, sorry. Attorney general, you had a very moving statement about your grandparents coming here from belarus to live in the country without fear of prosecution. I grew up in a very similar country, ukraine now, and when i came here as a young person, i believed in the value as an american not to be afraid of my government. But i wanted to tell you and i want to share with you and get your thoughts on that, are you aware that a lot of americans are now afraid of being prosecuted by your department . Are you aware of that . I just want to know if you are aware or not. I think that constant attacks on the department and saying not attacks, let me give you an example. Talk about january 6. There probably were some people that came on january 6th here, had bad intent. But a lot of Good Americans from my district came here because they are sick and tired of this government not serving them. They came with strollers of kids, and proper security wasnt provided. You did not stop the debate after people broke into the capitol. But these people came, they were throwing smoke bombs into the crowds with strollers of kids. Fbi agents showed up to peoples houses. You have in my district and my time, fbi phone numbers all over, police call them. People are truly afraid. I just want to make sure. This is a big problem, people are afraid of their own government. We are talking about justice. You are probably not a bad person, i dont know you. But you are head of the department and people now feel you have a nice playbook. First, lets have a special counsel, and then you dont have to answer any questions here. Then an investigation on hillary clinton, on hunter, you are very quick on donald trump. By the time the investigation expired and all of the agents nobody recalls anything. You should probably have as part of your hiring policy. So no one is held accountable, which was egregious what happened in that report. I cant believe it happened in the United States of america. This is my frustration, i will be honest with you. Its very interest in, you know, people in the Obama Administration raise concern. Do you understand . Obama administration didnt do anything about it these people are dying right now and americans dont trust this president. So, i dont need answer because i know you are not going to, but i think you are probably a Good American and you care. And a lot of these people cover up the stuff in your department because they are embarrassed with what we became as a country, to say what our department of justice began. That allows russians and chinese to destabilize our country, that is danger to our republic. It is significant danger. I have just one more question for you. I agree on corporate crimes, even with democrats, we need to do a better job. One more question for you, do you believe you talk about rights to vote, but do you believe that only u. S. Citizens should be voting in this election, and doing anything to make sure that only eligible people vote in the election . Yes, and yes. I would like to see that is what you do. Thank you, yield back. The lady from vermont. A general garland, thank you so much for being here today, i know it has been a long day for you. I am relatively new to the committee and i am still getting my feet under me, but as far as what i can tell, what we are doing here today is talking about a lot of conspiracy theories and it is frustrating and tedious for those of us in the committee, but i can tell you, it is absolutely maddening for my constituents back home in vermont. We have so much important work to do to keep the government open, we are days away from a shutdown. I just want to remind folks that we are in this situation because my colleagues across the aisle are going back on a deal that majority of the conference meet with her speaker, thats why we are in this situation. If they are six us all in shutting down the government, seniors who rely on Social Security benefits will be impacted, thousands of medicare recipients will be impacted, veteran services will be curtailed. Those are the grim consequences from republicans inability and unwillingness to govern. I needed to start with that. Lets do some level setting here. Now, lets get to the real work of the doj and how congress can help the agency better serve this mission. Gun violence continues to plague our nation. We see the records every day on our television sets, our computers, and our communities. As a member of the Gun Violence Task force, this is important to me and so many of my constituents. Now, i believe there is actual room for bipartisan action on gun violence. At least in some areas. One of those areas, red flag laws. It is a great place to start. Vermont is one of 21 states that was able to pass red flag laws, these laws are working to keep guns out of the hands of people who are in crisis. And yet, many states do not even apply for funding from the bipartisan saver communities act to better implement red flag laws and to raise awareness about the program. In june 2021, doj published model legislation to help states craft their own extreme risk protections order. Now, republicans continued to make unfounded accusations that these laws violate civil rights by taking guns away from americans without any due process. Can you explain the due process protections that are put into place and a model legislation that doj proposed . I would start by saying, of course, there is room for a bipartisan agreement. That is a very good example. And that includes the ability to have funding for states that want to craft and put into place red flag laws. The requirements include due process protections. So, i dont know every element of the model legislation, but the general idea is relatives or friends of the person have to go to a court and get some kind of adjudication that the person is a danger to themselves or to others. This normally relates to Mental Illness problems, it may relate to some others. And so, if a gun is taken away under the circumstances, there is then a right to appeal. If they have a full hearing, in order to adjudicate the question. I cant say i know every technicality, but i think thats about it. I appreciate that. It is especially important to states like mine, rural states that have real issues with the silent killers, Domestic Violence and also suicide. And so, these are instances in which a red flag laws can really make a difference. Shifting gears here, i along with senator warren and 20 of our colleagues recently submitted a comment letter applauding the Draft Guidelines and urging agencies to finalize them. Corporate concentration remains a pressing problem for the u. S. Economy, and i fear that we are falling behind in this area and American Consumers continue to feel the pain because of this how does the Department Plan to ensure that future mergers and acquisitions do not stifle competition or harm consumers . Because that is often the pushback that we get. Obviously, the intention of merger guidelines is to set forth the enforcement policy of the department. Different generations of the guidelines, which i hate to say it, go all the way back to the time when i was in law school. Has been adopted and or been helpful to generations of judges. I have seen at least two or three of merger cases myself where we have used some of the learning and the merger guidelines and the current guidelines reflect really an adjustment to the current technology. That simply did not exist at the time the merger guidelines were passed. Guidelines. Thank you, attorney general. Just briefly, in closing, last year, you spoke on the subject and said the dojs enforcement against corporate crime has waxed and waned, but its waxing again. That is news to my ears. Thank you so much for your service. Lady yields back. Gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Garland, what is a confidential human source . Well, its a, a, its an fbi term. I dont know all the technicality. Is in your own policy here. An individual who is believed to be providing useful and credible information to the fbi for many authorize Information Collection activity, and from whom what the fbi expects to obtain additional, useful, and credible information in the future, all right . And whose identity information relationship with the fbi once confidential handling. So these guys are individuals, you pay them 42 million a year, did you know that . The ig said youre paying the sources 42 million a year. Did you know that . Its 42 million a year. So you do you believe that theyre credible, theyre valuable, the fbi is using these guys, were paying them a lot of money. Would you agree with that . Were paying them a lot of money, you got a lot of them out there. So let me paint the picture for america. Hunter biden, george charisma, in 2014, perez mike, very very corrupt Ukrainian Energy company. He has no experience in oil and gas. He admits it. I dont have any experience. I know i am there. I have a dad. I have with me a document called the sd 1023. Have you seen this . Youre familiar with that . Okay, its used by the fbi, everybody in america. Its used by the fbi. It is a confidential human source reporting document dated june 2020. Youre familiar with it . In this document, the fbis confidential human source says, boersma, now the corrupt company, needed to keep hunter on the board so everything would be okay. And according to the human source, they hired hunter biden to, quote, or to us through his dad for all kinds of problems. Mr. Garland, does that concern you . Okay, it should. I got limited time. Remember, your sources are credible, trustworthy, honest, and valuable. Are you familiar with Viktor Shokin . Who was mr. Viktor shokin . I got three minutes left. You want me to answer that . Yeah, Viktor Shokin, who is he . Okay, hes the prosecutor, folks, hes the prosecutor that was, he oversees all the corruption in ukraine. We know theres corruption over there. For the American People watching, after few months, a few months after hunter biden joined the burisma board, Viktor Shokin was named prosecutor general for ukraine to target corruption. At one of his investigations was into burisma. In this fd 1023 document, the human source clarified that burismas ceo, the man in charge of burisma, said he has many Text Messages and recordings that show he was coerced to make such payment to ensure Viktor Shokin was hired. Matter of fact, there was 17 of them. Mr. Garland, its clear, joe biden wanted shokin fired so he would stop looking into burisma, where hunter was on the board. Would you agree . All right, lets let the American People decide. Play the clip. Play the clip. Remember going over, convincing our team, to convince that we should be providing for loan guarantees. And i went over, i guess, the 12th, 13th time to kyiv, and i was supposed to announce that there was another billion dollar loan guarantee. And i got the commitment from poroshenko and from pay attention, sir, please and they did. So they said, they were walking on the press conference, i said, were not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. Youre not the president. The president said. I said, call him. I said, im telling you, youre not getting the billion dollars. I said, youre not getting the billion. Im going to be leaving here, i said, im leaving in six hours. If the prosecutors not fired, youre not getting the money. Well, son of a. He got fired. There you go. Mr. Attorney general, what you just saw, that was joe biden in his arrogance and role as the Vice President of this country saying, if you dont fire shokin, the United States isnt giving the 1 billion loan. Why would joe biden say that as the Vice President . Why would he say such a thing . Was it policy . With our policy at the time . Yes or no . It wasnt. I have documents here. Interagency policy Committee Data is the gentleman ever going to let im on my time pipe down time belongs to the gentleman from texas. Hes made significant reforms, choking appeared matteroffact, john kerry says he was impressive. And you know, within a few months after shogun was fired, they appoint a prosecutor that said, were not going to look into burisma anymore