▶ 0:36:26e e
▶ 0:37:26this subcommittee will come come to order without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time we welcome everyone to today's hearing on ending the weaponization of the justice department the chair now recognizes the gentleman from the great state of Alabama who is going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and then we will remain standing for a moment of silence I pledge
▶ 0:37:56aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all without objection Mr Hunt of Texas will be permitted to participate in today's hearing for the purpose of questioning the witnesses if a member yields time to him for that purpose
▶ 0:38:28I will now recognize myself for an statement welcome everyone to the first hearing of the subcommittee on oversight today we are here to shine a light on something that should be deeply concerning to every single American how our justice system was allowed to become weaponized against political opponents early in his presidency Joe Biden's hold a nation it's not my justice department it's the justice department former Attorney
▶ 0:38:58General Merck Gand promised the same thing that was their promise we now know it was a lie for the past four years it was not the people's justice department it was a political weapon used to go after anybody the Biden the B Biden Harris Administration felt needed to be attacked let me lay it out clearly case after case so there's no confusion on what happened let's start in the great state of New York Alvin brag
▶ 0:39:29ran from Manhattan da focused on only one thing targeting Donald Trump instead of cleaning up the many problems facing New York City after years of searching he revived a dismissed case with the help of former doj officials and used a shaky legal Theory to turn misdemeanor into felonies and it wasn't just brag New York's attorney general Leticia James also made it per mission to go after
▶ 0:39:59president Trump she campaigned on it prosecutors attorney generals they shouldn't campaign on politics they should campaign on Justice she campaigned on it and she promised voters she'd quote exact quote Trump before even seeing a shred of evidence and sure enough once in office she filed through twisting civil statutes into weapons for political
▶ 0:40:29gain targeting not just Trump but his entire family business in fton County Georgia Fanny Willis also campaigned on Prosecuting president Trump she coordinated with the partisan January 6 committee and the Biden White House from Georgia and hired her romantic partner as the lead prosecutor couldn't make this stuff up I guess off romances can sometimes take your places for
▶ 0:40:59Fanny Willis and Nathan Wade it was tropical destinations it was luxury hotels all on the taxpayers dime and while they were busy enjoying the perks the cases they were building against Trump were falling apart under the weight of conflicts and impropriety because it was pure lawfare I want to just note no one should run for da AG or
▶ 0:41:30any legal office Republican Democrat conservative liberal nobody should do this with the so goal of going after one political figure it's not what those jobs are about that's not Justice it's Vengeance our legal system isn't supposed to be about personal grudges or political payback it's about fairness it's about impartiality it's about the rule of law that's supposed to be the standard in America
▶ 0:42:00unfortunately under President Biden that standard wasn't just abandoned at the state level it was shattered it was shattered at the federal level as well Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed a special counsel his lead counsel pressured a defense attorney with the judgeship offered to flip a client so if the client flipped he'd get a judgeship Smith admitted to altering evidence in the Lago case evidence tampering at the highest and most important
▶ 0:42:31level pure political lawfare the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on Mor Lago the home of a for former president they ignored standard protocol they didn't wait for president Trump's lawyers to respond they didn't use a local field office and they bypassed all typical legal channels pure political lawfare the FBI also o targeted religious institutions you couldn't make this up again
▶ 0:43:01and parents they labeled traditionalist Catholic as domestic terrorists traditional Roman Catholics as domestic terrorists and considered spying on their churches on their priests on their parishioners think about that I really want everybody to think about it forget the politics for a minute the FBI was planning to spy on grandmothers clutching their rosary bre beads in prayer treating them as if they were a national
▶ 0:43:31security threat if they can do this to Catholic churches and this is the important part what's stopping them from doing it in any place of worship to Protestant churches to Jewish synagogues to Muslim mosques or to Hindu temples it was Catholic churches one day it could be any of those another day it could be you if you think that sounds far-fetched I want you to just take a look if you get a chance to what they did in my home state in
▶ 0:44:02New Jersey in New Jersey the FBI raided the largest Hindu temple in the Western Hemisphere home to some of the most PE peaceful and spiritual people on the face of the Earth Hindus bayan's FBI stormed the temple he invaded private quarters religious areas and held guns they held guns to the faces of swamis holy men some of whom were wearing nothing but their evening wear their night wear their
▶ 0:44:32pajamas these are individuals devoted to peace nonviolence and prayer yet they were treated like dangerous criminals in an aggressive show of force it's wrong it's unamerican and it didn't stop at places of worship the doj also turned its sight onto parents moms and dads grandparents who dared to speak who dared to speak up for their children at local school board meetings instead of seeing concerned citizens the Biden Administration saw
▶ 0:45:02a potential domestic threats they use counterterrorism resources to Monitor and intimidate parents simply for voicing their concerns about what's happening to their own children in their own classrooms the doj even weaponized the freedom of access the clinic entrance act the face act to Target prolife ad Vates this doesn't even matter if you're pro-life or pro-choice again it could happen to anybody take Mark Hal a
▶ 0:45:32peaceful pro-life activist and father of seven kids in a blatant show of force the FBI sent a SWAT team to his home raiding it and a pre pre- Dawn raid with drawn terrifying his wife and his children whether it's people praying in churches or parents speaking out at Schoolboard meetings the message from the doj from Biden's doj is clear if you practice your
▶ 0:46:03first amendment rights in ways they don't like you will become a Target could happen to any one of us this is pure political lawfare the justice department slow walked the investigation into Hunter B and allowing statutes of limitations to expire tipping off defense lawyers about search warrants and ultimately offering a sweetheart plea deal that nobody else would ever get meanwhile the doj was slow
▶ 0:46:33walking investigations that might make the president look bad the full force of the doj was aimed at president Trump and any even worse yet people that didn't sign up for this any of his allies just look at the Timeline after announcing his candidacy president Trump was indicted four times twice by partisan Das and twice by an appointed special counsel I'm sure my Democratic colleagues will say that it was not
▶ 0:47:03coordinated but it was and I'll say it was pure political Warfare what I've laid out is just the framework of what the Judiciary Committee this Judiciary Committee uncovered last Congress it was the work of this Judiciary Committee and our chairman Jim Jordan that did that my colleagues we will dig deeper into each case I pledge to you that this committee this subcommittee is going to dig deep and dig hard and find out the real truth
▶ 0:47:34and the reason is not because we want to rehash everything in that ugly ugly past the reason is we never ever want it to again it shouldn't matter it really shouldn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat or a liberal or conservative it could happen to you I want you to really think about it could happen to your church it could happen to your mosque it could happen to your synagogue it could happen to your temple it could happen to your
▶ 0:48:04school it h could happen to your cause whether on the right or the left it could happen to your beliefs it's unamerican it's wrong this should never happen again our justice system should be blind to politics blind to personal beliefs and focused solely on fairness and the law under attorney general Pam bondi's leadership this Administration this Congress and this subcommittee are working to restore Integrity
▶ 0:48:34to doj for everyone all of us we will ensure that never again will our justice system be used as a political weapon I thank our Witnesses all of you for being here today and I look forward to your testimon testimony I now recognize the ranking member m Crockett thank you so much Mr chairman this is my first time serving as a ranking member of a subcommittee during a hearing
▶ 0:49:05and I am grateful to be here today I look forward to working with you and the rest of this committee on behalf of the American people before I was elected to congress or to the Texas House of Representatives I was a public defender and civil rights attorney by trade I know about the the Department of Justice and what they're supposed to be doing I am also very concerned by a rogue doj
▶ 0:49:35or one that is not beholden to the American people I am very concerned about the doj being weaponized by the White House I am concerned about the FBI being used for purposes outside of our domestic security and maintaining peace at home so weaponization of the Department of Justice this phrase the weaponization of government is something that has been overly used and repeated by my Republican colleagues they use it as a war cry
▶ 0:50:05a battle call to justify dismantling federal agencies and the purging of thousands of hardworking dedicated Federal servants who sworn an oath to protect the Constitution and the rule of law if the purpose of this hearing today is to examine and expose the weaponization of government specifically the weaponization of Department of Justice then it is essential that we understand what exactly weaponization means fortunately history is kind
▶ 0:50:35to us last Congress the house Judiciary Committee held numerous hearings on this notion of weaponization and in those hearings Republicans described weaponization as quote corruption quote government abuse and political treachery having the Government Act quote against people who were innocent and did nothing wrong quote targeting people of one political persuasion
▶ 0:51:05and as one of my colleagues aptly described quote if you speak up about the abuses you are seeing excuse me or are sharing information that may not fall in line with the political narrative you will be suspended without pay have your security clearance revoked or your life will turned upside down it's pretty clear that the mo is if you don't comply they will retaliate if you don't agree with their
▶ 0:51:35political agenda you get suspended they do it in such a way to deter others from speaking up and speaking out these are not my words these are not the words of ranking member Rasin or leader Jeff these are the words of congressional Republicans this is what they believe and by weaponization I am the first to admit that I don't often agree with many things that my Republican colleagues say but wholeheartedly concur
▶ 0:52:06with their descriptions here what concerns me however is the inability of my colleagues on the other side to connect the dots that are in front of them while the rest of America is watching as this doj weaponization takes hold right before our eyes and to be clear what we are witnessing happening before us satisfies the descriptions used by my Republican colleagues corruption any lawyer with a good head on their shoulders will tell you that
▶ 0:52:36the recent attempt by Trump's doj to drop the corruption case against mayor Adams is ironically riddled with corruption itself this decision to try and drop this case was never about some flawed argument or approach by the doj in fact even acting deputy attorney general Emil B in his February 10th letter to the US attorney for the southern district of New York the office handling the case stated
▶ 0:53:06that the department of Justice's attempt to drop this was done quote without assessing the strength of the evidence or legal theories on which the case is based inherited instead it is trying to drop the case because Trump's doj is quote particularly concerned about the impact of the prosecution on mayor Adam's ability to support critical ongoing Federal efforts to protect the American people from the disastrous effects
▶ 0:53:37of unlawful Mass immigration and resettlement put differently the Department of Justice wants mayor Adams to give falty to Trump and also use him to execute Trump's immigration policy in New York City the blatant Corruption of this quidd proquo alone should warrant this subcommittee to investigate the current weaponization of this department of justice but this is far from the only example of weaponization occurring before us next
▶ 0:54:07government abuse and political treachery make no mistake acting Deputy attorney general Emil boet ordering Brian Driscoll the the then acting director of the FBI to turnover list of not just current but also former FBI staff who were assigned quote any at any time to investigations and or prosecutions related to the events that occurred at or near the US capital on January 6
▶ 0:54:37end quote it is a clear illustration of government abuse targeting employees they wrongfully claim are political adversaries in fact rather than utilize the FBI's time and resources to protect America from cyber attacks terrorism and other violent Trump's doj is choosing to spend resources to build loyalty to Trump if that is not government abuse I just don't know what is third The
▶ 0:55:07View that the government is acting quote against people who were innocent and did nothing wrong for those of you who may not be familiar when career prosecutors and staff at doj are assigned to cases they take these tasks on not because of power or politics but because it is quite simp simply part of the job it's rare that prosecutors get every case they want instead prosecutors and staff are assigned cases because of their capacity experience and expertise
▶ 0:55:38but where we see commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law the Trump doj sees reason for Retribution this has already taken shape in various forms but notably on January 27th Trump's then acting Attorney General James McKenry fired doj officials on those of who which um worked on Federal Criminal investigations into Trump let me repeat this they fired doj
▶ 0:56:08officials who did nothing wrong these officials simply did their jobs now finally quote targeting people of one political persuasion while I just briefly touch on this point I want to be very clear with the American people within the last 35 days Trump's doj has already sent inquiry letters to democratic members of Congress for speaking out and criticizing Elon Musk our task on this subcommittee today is to conduct real
▶ 0:56:38congressional oversight of the Department of Justice because this notion of weaponization is not simply a threat it is a reality the public is worried career attorneys are worried Congress is worried the world is worried every day that passes the Department of Justice is losing institutional knowledge and exceptional attorneys because of a blind arrogance and Vengeance we owe it to this country to come together to call out weaponization happening today to call
▶ 0:57:08out corruption government abuse attacks on innocent people and the targeting of people with different political views we owe it to everyone to speak the truth even if the truth is hard to hear we owe it to us all to preserve our country's rule of law the final point that I'll make is that there were a number of attorneys that were brought up in the Chairman's opening remarks attorney general
▶ 0:57:38Leticia James of New York as well as da finy Willis I do want to point that point out that each of these women are women that were duly elected in their states and finy Willis was just reelected that is not federal laware that is not weaponization of the federal government both of those women work on the state level the final point that I'll make is that while
▶ 0:58:09they work on state levels there were only a certain amount of cases that were able to be tried prior to the election any cases that did take place whether they were civil cases or federal cases I do want to point out out regardless of who brought those cases those cases ultimately at least the ones that did go they ultimately went to jues they went to juries that were full of American citizens
▶ 0:58:39juries that were not asked are you going to sit here and support Donald Trump and his agenda or do you have some agenda they were given an opportunity to hear the evidence and they were able to rule based on the evidence that was presented to them I am someone who misses the courtroom every single day as I practice for 17 years before entering into Congress and if we continue to pretend
▶ 0:59:10as if the voices of everyday American citizens don't matter when they have an opportunity to listen to both sides of a case and make a decision then we TR we really are in for a rude awakening in this country one thing that we should do as members of Congress is we should preserve our institutions and make sure we build them up to the point that people have trust and when you walk into a courtroom you have no idea who's walking in
▶ 0:59:40and who just decided that they would actually show up for jury duty and I am here to tell you that I still believe in that imperfect but beautiful system that we have in this country known as the jury system and with that I will yield thank you ranking member quickly point out that the president did ask his attorneys for a neutral venue and was denied during some of those cases and judge Marshon himself was very politically connected particularly through his daughter
▶ 1:00:11however I did want to make an announcement this room this is a one-time only appearance pretty much here uh kind of scheduling issues for now on for those who come regularly will be in the the other room that usually the Judiciary Committee is in I now recognize the great chairman of the full committee the gentleman from Ohio Jim Jordan for his I don't know about the great part but thank you Mr chairman they can never tell us who planted the pipe bombs on January 6 they can never tell us who leaked the do's opinion and they can never tell us who put cocaine at the
▶ 1:00:41White House but they sure had time for a lot of other things October 2nd 2021 they set up a snitch line to report moms and dads who have the nerve to show up at a school board meeting and advocate for their son or on September 23rd 2022 10 unmarked cars pull up to Mike Mark Hal's home arrest him in front of his wife and seven children and what did he do wrong what did he do wrong praying in front of abortion clinic
▶ 1:01:11and when some crazy guy comes up and starts yelling obscenities in his kid's face he makes sure he deals with that guy he went to court jury found him not guilty November 18th 2022 the chairman talked about this raid excuse me actually before that summer of 2022 raid on President Trump's home president Trump's attorney said you can come they were working with him no no no we got to a raid we had actually Mr stepen Deano head of the Washington field office tell us how wrong that was how they broke
▶ 1:01:41all kinds of protocol two months later Mr Garland appoints Jack Smith the special prosecutor and as the chairman pointed out in his opening statement the lead prosecutor Jay brat used the promise of a judgeship to try to pressure one of the defendants lawyers you're not allowed to do that we're going to talk to Mr Brad at some point in this committee we'll have him in for a deposition January 23rd 2023 FBI Richmond field office issues a memorandum where it says if you're a pro-life Catholic you might be a domestic violent
▶ 1:02:11extremist can't tell us it put cocaine at the White House but you can call Catholics extremists spring of 2023 two Brave whistleblowers come forward and tell us about the sweetheart deal that David Weiss was trying to do for Hunter Biden of course those guys those guys reward for coming forward as good Brave whistleblowers was to have their security clearances taken from them be retaliated again 6:01 a.m.
▶ 1:02:39March 2024 Brian malinowski Little Rock Arkansas highest paid official in the Little Rock government runs the Bill and Hillary Clinton 601 all these folks show up in the morning first thing they do is put tape in the doorbell C and they're coming after Mr M as a warrant search his home because they believed he had sold six guns that he wasn't supposed to 601 tape on the doorbell cam
▶ 1:03:0953 seconds later Brian malinowski shot in the head later dies they could have handled that so I mean the SWAT team and everything else just talked to his lawyers he would you could have all kinds of ways you could have handled that to avoid the terrible outcome we had Mr we had Brian malinowski's spouse here last Congress his lawyer testified tragic story because of this justice department previous justice department the way they handled things and don't
▶ 1:03:39forget December 12 2024 when the Inspector General told us about the 26 confidential human sources who were there on January 6 20121 17 went in restricted space which they were not authorized to do four went in the white or in the capital which were not authorized to do none of them were charged two of the four who went in the capital were asked to be there by the FBI we got all kinds of questions for about that incident about those confidential human sources all kinds of questions we W answered now thank goodness
▶ 1:04:10and the chairman referenced this as well thank goodness Pam Bondi Todd blanch cash Patel Dan Bonino are now going to be running the justice department where we won't have this kind of ridiculous focus on agencies being turned on the very people they're supposed to to serve we sent seven today seven subpoenas that we sent asking for information about all these issues we want every everything you got so the American people have answers maybe it's not as bad as I think
▶ 1:04:40but one thing I've learned in my time in congress with these investigations every single time the only thing we get wrong is it's always worse than we thought it is always worse than we thought so maybe I'll be proven wrong this time but we're going to get that information think the March 7th are supposed to have this information back to us I want to thank chairman and the good work I know he's going to do this Congress the great work he's done on our committee for having this hearing taking a look back at what we saw from this ridiculous previous justice department and the good work I think we're going to see
▶ 1:05:11from the folks who are now running that critical department and agency with that I yield back thank you chairman I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee Mr Rasin for his opening statement Mr chairman thank you very kindly um last Congress the the good chairman of the committee and uh the committee sent over 150 letters of inquiry and subpoenas to the doj and the FBI that's more than two inquiries a week for every week that we were in session all
▶ 1:05:41that breathless investigation didn't yield much evidence of weaponization any more than it led to the impeachment of Joe Biden which was the express objective of it all but I have good news for all of the weaponized sleuths and gum shoes uh out there on the committee um the Department of Justice and FBI are now filled with actual staggering corruption and weaponized lawlessness and we should get on it immediately
▶ 1:06:11it's only been 36 days since the beginning of the administration but we already have a thick report we're releasing today on the violations of law in the Constitution that have taken place the early misdeeds of the Trump administ ation doj it's true the federal courts have issued more than 20 temporary temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions to try to stop this governmental crime wave but we cannot maintain a demure legislative silence Mr chairman about the shocking
▶ 1:06:41weaponized corruption overtaking the US Department of Justice 10 days ago seven career prosecutors resigned in protest rather than carry out a corrupt and Lawless order from the acting Deputy attorney general and former Donald Trump private defense attorney Amil B he ordered prosecutors in the southern district to dismiss for totally political reasons a major public corruption case against New York mayor Eric Adams who had been charged
▶ 1:07:12by a unanimous grand jury in a 57 page indictment with five felony counts of criminal bribery and soliciting illegal contributions Trump ordered doj to withdraw the grand indictment after Adams traveled to maral Lago and agreed to back Trump's political agenda in return the interim us attorney Daniel Sassoon resigned rather than make her stored office a party to this
▶ 1:07:42profoundly corrupt bargain she refused to extend prosecutorial favoritism towards a politician who had been indicted for serious bribery and Corruption charges nor would she participate in Mr 's project to cover up the details of this dirty deal Masson is a republican with impeccable credentials in the conservative movement for anyone who might doubt it a member of the Federalist society and a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Scalia
▶ 1:08:12a jurist whom I know the chairman has repeatedly praised now in ordinary times we wouldn't have to raise this but here we do because we live in an atmosphere of political paranoia this is a very conservative us attorney who said she could not abide the corruption of the new Trump administration's Department of Justice her resignation triggered a Cascade of further resignations as six other veteran prosecutors refused in their turn to take part in this corrupt bargain
▶ 1:08:43the officials included the acting head of the Criminal Division several leaders of doj's public Integrity section and the lead prosecutor on the case from the southern district Hagen scotton a decorated veteran and another Republican with impeccable right-wing credentials who could not stomach the thought of joining this plot and said in a letter for the ages that I will submit to the record that it would take a fool or a coward to join this plot against Justice the next
▶ 1:09:14day an apparently exasperated Mr boet demanded that the career prosecutors in the public Integrity section volunteer one lawyer to sign this disra faceful dismissal order or there would be a mass firing of all of them one lawyer set to rec set to retire agreed to sign the dismissal to protect his colleagues from this outrageous threat of collective Mass punishment something that would be uh more appropriate to Stalin's Russia and the United States of America
▶ 1:09:45this eye popping sellout of public integrity and Public Safety in New York wasn't even a secret in a Fox news interview Tom homman the borders are sat next to mayor Adam Adams and explicitly referred to the corrupt bargain saying quote if he doesn't come through I'll be back in New York and we won't be sitting on a couch I'll be in his office up his butt saying where the hell is the agreement we came to Last Friday the judge in the case at least provisionally refused to honor this
▶ 1:10:15dirty deal instead appointing an independent monitor Republican Paul Clement to evaluate what should be done with the now orphaned 5count Criminal corruption indictment Mr chairman these facts are shocking blatant corruption coverup Mass resignations threats coercion this uh can you imagine what the Republican members of this committee would be saying if that happened under President Biden if Joe Biden had done that for the corrupt Democratic mayor of New York
▶ 1:10:45City my God uh this toxic sweetheart deal demands a committee inquiry where is it it's infinitely worse than any of the flatsome and jets them the committee examined with the brainy intensity of Lieutenant Columbo in the last Congress but the majori has asked no questions written no letters demanded no briefings issued no subpoenas on this Scandal why not why is the cat got your tongue well this Adams
▶ 1:11:15debacle provides just a whiff of the raw sewage already overp pouring the Department of Justice they sacked dozens of prosecutors with Superior credentials and evaluations simply for doing their jobs when they were assigned to work on the January 6th case these people must get their jobs back under the Civil Service rules which allow dismissal and discipline only for poor performance or misconduct but the majority is not uttered a peep wondering about how such an appalling violation of the
▶ 1:11:45law and professional ethics has come to pass why not last Congress you investigated the doj for allegedly hiring and fighting employees based on political ideology nothing came of it now doj has openly fired dozens of career prosecutors Republicans Democrats Independents for the sole reason that they were assigned to work on the January 6th Insurrection cases in other words for doing their jobs in a case that Donald Trump now considers uncomfortable for him how is that remotely
▶ 1:12:15acceptable uh even Trump said on January 7th in the wake of the vicious premeditated attack on our police and our Congress and our constitution that it was a heinous attack he said the demonstrators who infiltrated the capital have defiled the seat of American democracy to those who engage in the acts of violence and destruction you do not represent our country and to those who broke the law he said you will pay well the only people paying now after his pardons are the prosecutors and FBI agents they're
▶ 1:12:45going after for doing their jobs because Donald Trump think thinks it's too much truth in an act of orwellian revisionism that would make Jose Stalin plus Trump's team wants to punish hardworking prosecutors and FBI agents for doing the job they were told to do if this is not weaponization of the Department of Justice then what is Mr chairman it is far worse than the imaginary things floating around last Congress that led nowhere
▶ 1:13:16when will we have a hearing on what is taking place for real in the Department of Justice right now they've hollowed out the career leadership ranks that doj ravaging the offices that prosecute public corruption and terrorism now we meet Ed Martin the new US attorney in DC who's already proven himself to be to Legal ethics what Bobby Kennedy is to Public Health he's an election denier who participated in the insurrectionary mass protest of January 6 which
▶ 1:13:46he joyfully likened to Marty gr on the social media and until recently very recently in fact into his term of office he's been a defense lawyer of record in the courts for numerous January 6th criminal defendants after taking over the US attorney's office he fired dozens of prosecutors again for doing their jobs for prosecuting January 6 riers but doj ethics rules plainly require that he recuse himself because of this glaring
▶ 1:14:16conflict of interest created by his ongoing representation of private plaintiffs being prosecuted by the government now naturally the Trump doj forced out the senior ethics official Brad Weinheimer who would have ruled on the matter and replaced him with two inexperienced political appes who apparently think it's okay not just for the fox to guard the hen housee but for the fox to simultan simultaneously represent other foxes in court who have already ravaged the hen house Mr Martin has
▶ 1:14:46literally made filings on both sides of January 6th cases as defense counsel for participants in the riot and now as a prosecutor dis dismissing the charges against the same defendants he was representing when will there be a hearing on this this is taking place right now the list goes on we don't have time to go through everything that's already happened but I would encourage the chairman to please check out our report um the this hearing was entitled entering the Golden Age ending
▶ 1:15:17the weaponization at the Department of Justice a title that comes just in time to help us celebrate the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live Well perhaps the title is referring to a golden age for corrupt billionaires or Lawless oligarchs and violent white nationalists but it's no golden age for the Department of Justice which is now mired in corruption and lawlessness halting corruption prosecutions disbanding the anti-corruption task forces and purging veteran prosecutors and agents who are dedicated
▶ 1:15:47to Public Safety and have Superior performance evaluations but have run a foul of the new political correctness imposed on the department chairman Jordan has championed our power under article one to ensure that the Department of Justice upholds the rule of law for all without fear of favor good for him I don't need to quote his eloquent speeches for you on this subject we know them well so I ask this committee to be true to our own beautiful words let's not use our oversight power selectively let's
▶ 1:16:17in investigate these startling developments so dangerous to Justice in America and let's start with the dirty deal with mayor mayor Adams which has now put a giant worm in the Big Apple Mr chairman I would invite you to join us in sending this letter today to attorney general Bondi demanding specific answers on her shocking abuse of prosecutorial power the shocking abuse of prosecutorial power that has taken place at doj in the whole mayor Adams
▶ 1:16:47matter and I would think that the committee should move very quickly to have a hearing on this next week thank you for your Indulgence Mr chairman i y back thank you ranking member real quickly Pam Bondi will be here for the committee of the whole I'm sure and members uh also will meet some of our staff and uh ranking people they will be at this committee as well um I would maintain the attorneys were removed not because they were doing a great job because they weren't doing their job and they were involved in law fair and that's the point um with that
▶ 1:17:18um Mr Raskin I believe you want to enter something in the record yes please two things one is the letter to attorney general Bond and the other is our new report president Trump's New gild Age how Trump's Department of Justice is promoting political and corporate corruption to benefit loyal supporters without objection without objection all other opening statements will be included in the record we will now introduce today's Witnesses first Mr Chris
▶ 1:17:48scker Mr scker is a former FBI agent who retired as the assistant director of the Criminal inves investigations unit he served with the Bureau for 24 years it's a while he currently practices law in the great state of North Carolina Mr Jonathan fahe Mr fahe is a partner with Holtzman Vogal where his practice focuses on investigations and white collar criminal defense he previously served in various roles in the Department of Homeland Security and as
▶ 1:18:18a prosecutor in the US attorney's office for the eastern district of Virginia Mr Peter Breen Mr Breen is the Executive Vice President and head of litigation at the Thomas Moore Society a public interest law firm focused on constitutional rights Mr Breen successfully successfully defended Mark Hal a pro-life Advocate against face act charges brought by the Biden Administration Mr Brendan Belo Mr Belo is a former Federal prosecutor
▶ 1:18:49he served with the justice department for five years we welcome all our Witnesses today and thank them for appearing here we will Begin by swearing you in please rise raise your right hand would you uh do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury the testimony you about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief so help God okay you may be seated
▶ 1:19:20let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative please know that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety accordingly we ask that you summarize your tesy testimony in five minutes Mr scker you may begin good afternoon chairman and and uh ranking member and members of the subcommittee it is an honor to appear at this hearing today as mentioned I have over 42 years of active
▶ 1:19:50experience in the criminal justice system as a prosecutor as an agent and as an and that informs my testimony today I served under seven FBI directors seven attorney generals while attorney generals or cabinet appointments and politics goes with the position this should not be the case with the FBI director who has a 10-year term that was designed to insulate the position from politics indeed during my 24 years in the FBI I can attest that politics did not drive the initiation or conduct
▶ 1:20:20of any investigation and cases were not pursued for political purposes sadly that has not been the case at the doj and FBI since at least 2016 and I'm not here to convey my political views I know how Federal investigations flow however and I know the laws policies and procedures that govern FBI and doj operations I am familiar with the works of the committee this committee as well as the doj Inspector General Horowitz special councel Durham and
▶ 1:20:50all the relevant investigations from Crossfire hurricane to the mar Lago raid many official actions taken by doj and FBI in the last eight years were simply wrong and I share the goals with the subcommittee that these agencies should never again be used as political weapons the facts speak for themselves the US doj and its agencies have effectively been used as political weapons this has taken the form of selective and Hyper aggressive prosecutions of political opponents
▶ 1:21:20while slow walking and even sabotaging investigations of favored political figures fures there's been coordination with and even funding of state prosecutions of Donald Trump there has been use of some of the most intrusive techniques available against political opponents of Joe Biden an injection of personal animists and political views into investigations and prosecutions much of this weaponization was driven by an entrenched group of ideologues within the doj and FBI in perfect alignment with the Biden
▶ 1:21:51Administration that can't be chocked up to TW coin inid a well-known example is Crossfire hurricane a notoriously unpredictive investigation of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign tainted by four fisa surveillance orders based on deliberately false information contained in opposition research this was accompanied by an unprecedented infiltration of the campaign by multiple informants Hur cross hurricane further involved the potential entament of a cabinet level appointee
▶ 1:22:21based on the pretext of an introductory intelligence briefing and rather than Target the Russian influencers and protect the unwitting campaign operatives the FBI targeted the Trump presidential campaign through those operatives note that when similar information was developed about the Hillary Clinton campaign she was immediately afforded a defensive briefing undeterred by the misconduct identified in the doj uh IG Horowitz and special counsel Durham reports
▶ 1:22:52regarding Crossfire hurricane many of the same doj and FBI managers opened and pursued a classified documents case on the former president and presidential C candidate culminating in the dawn raid of his personal residence this was ostensibly to execute a search warrant and was conducted despite ongoing negotiations regarding the declassification and possible Return of documents after the raid it was disclosed that Biden had squired away classified documents himself in another example the inexplicably
▶ 1:23:23tepid doj control FBI investigation to the Biden family influence pedaling schemes despite the existence of over 170 Bank suspicious activity reports multiple Witnesses 20 offshore corporations 19 million in potentially illicit proceeds and Shadow uh from hostile and corrupt foreign governments oligarchs and shadowy international characters seeking official favors and a laptop full of evidence the investigation languished it doesn't take
▶ 1:23:53a Mena candidate to surmise that serious criminal activity was a foot that extend extended well beyond a garden variety tax and Firearms case the case was plagued by interference by doj attempts to slow walk the investigation pass the statute limitations and a deceptive effort to discredit the laptop it took an alert federal judge to Expos the clever attempt to implement a global plea bargain hidden in a plea agreement to a single Firearms charge the contrast with the multiple scorched Earth investigation targeting
▶ 1:24:23Donald Trump should be clear to pretty much anyone that's being objective since I'm running out of time I ask that you introduce my full statement into the record thank you and I want to also add I'm not here in any official capacity for the FBI as you mentioned I retired from the FBI so I'm here as a as a concerned citizen with some experience thank you Mr scker and without objection we will enter the full statement of all of you of all of you into the permanent record Mr Fay you may begin thank you good afternoon
▶ 1:24:53Mr chair ranking member uh members of the subcommittee I thank you for the opportunity to testify today my name is Jonathan fahe and I'm a partner Mr FY I believe your mic is not on oh okay is it on some folks might not like that but we want to hear you okay you didn't miss anything at the beginning um I'm I'm a partner of law firm of Holtzman vogle but most of my career practicing law I served as a prosecutor both as a state and
▶ 1:25:23federal level and during this time I had the opportunity to work with numerous hardworking men and women of law enforcement and fellow prosecutors and because of my experience I have immense respect for members of the law enforcement Community who every day make sacrifices on behalf of all of us and a lot of times things that go unnoticed and probably should be recognized More Often by and large I found that both state and federal law enforcement agents to adhere to the
▶ 1:25:53highest ethical standards to have an unwavering commitment to Justice and to Public Safety my work with fellow prosecutors was similar and I want to e basically Echo what Mr scker said I work with some of the finest Attorneys at the eastern district of Virginia we work side by side on cases big and small I worked as an assistant us attorney under President Bush 43 President Obama and president Trump and during these times even though some priorities would change I never saw
▶ 1:26:25poit politicization and often I didn't really know what the politics were of my colleagues other than occasionally in conversations I was extremely work proud of the work I did as a prosecutor and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to stand up in court to Advocate on behalf of victims and stand and you say my name on behalf of the United States I gained in addition to that I gained amazing professional experiences many friends in law en enforcement fellow
▶ 1:26:55prosecutors defense attorneys courtroom personnel and as an experience I wouldn't trade for anything one of the most important things I learned which I think is relevant here is the tremendous responsibility that comes from being a prosecutor with every decision you make and how many people can be affected by decisions sadly the last Administration I believe changed the prosecutor's role and instead of focusing on public safety issues they focus on political agendas and to advance the
▶ 1:27:25political agenda this manifested itself in many of the cases the chairman spoke about earlier um and it led to a severe distrust in the polit in the criminal justice system and the FBI meanwhile Americans became less safe because the focus was on political agenda rather than public safety issues one of the most egregious example that's been referenced a lot but I think it's important here is the investigation into the
▶ 1:27:55school boards or the the parents speaking out the school boards this came the timing of this is critical one it's towards the beginning of the Biden Administration so it sort of set the tone but the other part is this occurred in October of 2021 when the the election in Virginia as well as in New Jersey the most critical issue most important issue was school issues involving covid policy as well as curriculum with some information about threats that came in
▶ 1:28:25I think there's you know dispute about how it came in but a lot of a lot of information that may have come in from teachers unions and things like that the Attorney General of the United States created a task force for these parents that consisted of the Criminal Division of doj the Civil Rights division the National Security division the executive office of us attorneys the FBI the community relations service which I didn't know existed
▶ 1:28:55the office of Justice programs he also ordered the US attorneys each us attorney to convene meetings with local officials to supposedly learn more about these threats and this was within 30 days of his memo which was early October coincidentally the election with the biggest issue on the table was November of that year after all of this attention there was not a single federal prosecution that was brought as a result however the harm to the system and to the individuals
▶ 1:29:26was profound the Spectre of law enforcement investigating what you say at a school board meeting not only intimidated parents that have spoken up that may have wanted to speak up but also marginalize them so other people that might agree with their stance when they see them labeled as terrorists it would have a political impact so that is one of the things I think is most egregious about the weaponization I know my time is near but in all of these cases the Department of Justice
▶ 1:29:56had to make decisions whether it's January 6th whether it's the protest outside of Supreme Court Justice's homes whether or not where did you where to put your resources do you put them into public safety or do you prosecute the 1500 person that came in the capital on January 6 while carjackers were not being prosecuted while murderers were not being investigated fully and that's really the issue here the American people suffered during the last four years because crime was higher
▶ 1:30:27and it was higher in many respects because the attention was not focused on what affected the community going forward I hope this new Department of Justice will focus on issues from the bottom up to to not politicize anything to focus on what affects people dayto day on the street whether it's fentel trafficking gangs human trafficking other crimes of violence I believe if they do that the American people will be well served they will be safer and
▶ 1:30:57they will restore this restore credibility for the justice department and the justice system as a whole I thank you for your time thank you Mr Fey Mr Breen you may begin thank you Mr chairman ranking member members of the committee uh as noted ahead of uh I'm honored to lead the society's National litigation team our dedicated professionals work in States uh and federal courts across the country country to defend the uh uh constitutional rights and
▶ 1:31:28really the rights of every American the relevant to today's hearing is noted I'm proud to have led the defense of Mark Hal for the society and our team has represented dozens of other pro-life Americans against the unprecedented assault on them by the Biden Department of Justice numerous criminal prosecutions were brought civil cases across the country the Biden doj engaged in a systematic campaign to abuse the power of the federal government against pro-life Advocates while that same doj ignored hundreds of Acts of vandalism and violence against pro-life churches
▶ 1:31:58pregnancy help centers and other Advocates on behalf of our clients and the pro-life movement as a whole we're thankful to president Trump for his recent Pardons and to the members of this house who supported that that effort those pardons sent a powerful message to the country and especially to the millions of Americans in the pro-life movement that the federal government should not be weaponized against Americans because of their sincere beliefs in the sanctity of human life we're grateful as well for the actions of the Trump doj its Chief of Staff who issued the memorandum Direct the dismissal of the prosecutions and civil lawsuits against our clients and that that memo
▶ 1:32:28highlighted the fact that the Biden doj selectively prosecuted and enforced the law against our folks while ignoring uh the many acts on the other side you may have heard some of the stories of these Advocates there's Paul vaugh the Evangelical Christian father of 11 whose children were outside waiting to go to school when heavily armed federal agents rolled up held his kids at Bay as other agents then arrested their father Paul didn't even block access to a clinic he was there to give moral and spiritual support who did but still the doj charged him with
▶ 1:32:58a face act violation and a felony conspiracy against rights while he escaped prison time others did not because of that conspiracy against rights felony we've had numerous numerous clients who received multiple year prison sentences uh especially in Washington DC then you heard about Mark Hal and of course 20 federal agents at dawn directed their guns at him and his family took him away in handcuffs the thing is we offered to present Mark to the prosecution and had he been anybody
▶ 1:33:28but Mark Hal we would have been allowed to do so instead they spent those law enforcement resources created an incredibly dangerous situation on his front lawn outside of Philadelphia U now we did beat the Biden doj in the Mark Case winning that unanimous not- guilty verdict from the Philly jury and after that win the doj from under Biden did not prosecute another sidewalk counselor you see because at the same time you may not have heard the Biden doj was investigating numerous other sidewalk scuffles at abortion facilities Coast
▶ 1:33:59to Coast we had numerous clients contacted by the FBI in connection with those incidents and had we not won for Mark and won so definitively and publicly we are sure that there would have been a wave of H style prosecutions federalizing minor sidewalk squabbles across the country but now that the president has acted the doj's cleaned out and our clients criminal records are wiped clean was the matter concluded absolutely not uh because of the actions uh of the Biden doj which mirror to some extent the actions of the Obama doj
▶ 1:34:29sort of damle still hangs over pro-life Advocates there are long statutes of limitations on these federal laws so folks remain in fear that some future Administration will twist the law and come after them you know some of those Biden prosecutions were for actions under the first that were taken under the first Trump Administration and the doj's recent dismissals weren't were ordered on the basis of selective prosecution and did not necessarily recognize that the underlying laws don't apply to the conduct and so of course while we urge the Congress to repeal the face act
▶ 1:34:59which is selectively and illegally enforced uh we do have several other concrete steps that we would recommend uh first off as noted this committee is very much needed uh because you need respectfully to continue to investigate and expose the misuse of the FBI and doj over the past four years against pro-life Americans sunlight's the best disinfectant and this subcommittee has a lot of light to bring second we would urge uh ask the you urge the Trump Administration to bring to Justice those who committed the violence and vandalism you know if the face acts to remain on the books it should be enforced
▶ 1:35:30equally and third there are some very concrete things that the doj can do to properly Define the scope of the face Act and the conspiracy against rights statutes they can take formal written positions on those laws uh that will help to prevent this going going forward first off recognize that Congress intended the face act not to apply to sidewalk squabbles that was agreed to by Senator Ted Kennedy it's on the record from over 30 years ago they agreed to that as part of passing this act but it's been wiped away and ignored ever since that needs to be recognized
▶ 1:36:01second we need to make clear the face act's physical obstruction doesn't apply to Peaceable counseling activity that does not intentionally obstruct a patient or an abortion provider the Biden doj Advanced a contrary Theory which mirrored the Obama doj before it and the New York attorney general is continuing that action right now that needs to stop and again we had we had said third was that recogniz that face can't be applied to others who are not actually blocking the clinic without running a file of the fourth the First Amendment and fourth get rid of this conspiracy against rights statute
▶ 1:36:31application uh because its 10year felony Provisions cannot be applied to pro-life Advocates at all thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr Breen Mr beloo you may begin thank you as mentioned my name is Brennan Belo I serve for uh in the Justice Department's National Security and antitrust divisions and for two years was detailed to prosecute crimes stemming from the attack on the capital it's important to remember that approximately 140 police officers were assaulted by riers on January 6
▶ 1:37:012021 one officer told me that he feared for his life more that day than during his entire deployment to Afghanistan in 2001 another told me that he texted his family that afternoon because he expected to die the work we did was about getting Justice for those officers but Justice is only possible when Federal prosecutors have credibility and I want to explain how the justice department built that credibility over many decades and how it's being destroyed in a matter of weeks
▶ 1:37:32after Watergate in the Nix Administration Congress and the executive built protections to make it less likely that that the Department's Powers would be abused the offices of professional responsibility and Inspector General were recreated the department limited Communications with the White House and FBI officials began regularly testifying before congressional committees like this one investig into activists were largely ended and the department refocused its energy on public corruption in the past month the Administration has
▶ 1:38:02largely destroyed these reforms and refocused the department away from Prosecuting the corrupt and towards favoring friends and investigating enemies to give just a few examples most obviously the president pardoned nearly 1600 riers who stormed the capital and its grounds in the president's name including riers whom I helped prosecute who punched officers who dragged them into the crowd and who speared them with flag poles the acting DC us attorneys threatened investigations into various perceived enemies of the administration including Senate minority leader
▶ 1:38:32Chuck Schumer and former special counsel Jack Smith the department has largely stopped enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which prohibits bribery Prosecuting cases under the foreign agents registration act which prohibits secret work on behalf of a foreign power we pursuing the work of the klepto capture task force which enforced sanctions against oligarchs the administration also threatened to fire the attorneys of the public Integrity section who prosecute politicians now there's now an
▶ 1:39:03effort to draw a false equivalency between these actions over the last month and those of recent administrations either to argue that what is happening now is nothing new or that if it is it's deserved retribution this attempt at equivalence however is a mistake for two reasons first a weaponized justice department endang anyone involved in politics no matter their political persuasion since the president pardoned the capital riers FBI agents have been subject to personal and specific threats
▶ 1:39:33of violence but these threats have no party limits just this weekend at a conservative political conference speakers considered insufficiently loyal to the president were threatened and told that pipe bombs had been planted in the building second a weaponized justice department corrupts all of society it makes life harder and more expensive for people far from politics for instance the Wall Street Journal reports that Executives at Twitter recently demanded that a company adverti on its platform and intimated
▶ 1:40:03that the government might stop or slow a proposed merger if it did not this is an attempt to use the tools of the justice department to enrich one politically connected business and it's how an oligarchy is created the actions of the past month should concern us all largely ending foreign bribery and Corruption cases and threatening to fire public corrupt coruption prosecutors investigating political enemies while putting political friends Above the Law these are all efforts to return us to the time of Watergate and it harms you no matter
▶ 1:40:33your political beliefs the only people who will benefit from these actions will be billionaire criminals and for them this will be a buil a golden age thank you thank you Mr Blue we're now going to proceed under the five minute rule with questions and the chair will recognize the gentleman from Alabama Barry Moore Hey thank you Mr chairman I appreciate the witnesses being here today the bidis doj enabled hyperarcs
▶ 1:41:04in particular former special counsel Jack Smith to criminalize politics in America okay Smith's approach to prosecutorial process raised many concerns among experts related to what actions it would with what his actions would mean to the future of the doj in addition to his story investigations Smith personally LED he also coordinated with Fanny Willis to help with her politically motivated prosecution of President Trump Willis was also given disproportionate assistance from the January 6 committee
▶ 1:41:35receiving records simultaneously withheld from us in Congress and law enfor meanwhile Matthew Colangelo an attorney known for waging lawfare against Trump during his first term as president left the elite position at the Biden Harris doj to work with a Manhattan district attorney by the name of Alvin Bragg where he led the prosecution of President Trump Mr fah what are your thoughts generally on the investigations led by former special counsel Jack Smith generally
▶ 1:42:05they were you know I I would characterize them as heavy-handed in all respects and you know you look at this from you know which is sort of the point I was trying to make is when you're doing something um sort of you're doing when you're focusing on something you're not focusing on something else but it's also heavy handed to the way other cases are prosecuted by the justice department and I think the best example of the Jack Smith case is compare that to how Robert her handled President Biden you have just when you focus
▶ 1:42:35on MAR Lago you have President Biden who when he was in the Senate managed to get a hold of classified information that shows up at his house when he's vice president he left left office and managed to keep classified information he kept us in his home he kept us at the Biden Center I think there's one other uh location Robert her wrote a report describing all that more than ample evidence he described you know his cognitive deficiencies but he he didn't there were no heavy-handed measures
▶ 1:43:06taken that wasn't invest interview everyone until the calls come home and ultimately he came to a measur decision for conduct that arguably is more egregious than what president Trump had did because president Trump allegedly all of the Class A information that he allegedly had he was allowed to have it at the beginning President Biden at the time was never allowed to have this information he was also treated quite a bit differently when he turned in the information that when it first came about which
▶ 1:43:36was before the election of 2022 the justice department kept that quiet he turns it in through his lawyer and then he he proceeded to turn in more information over the period of the next couple of months I think until about December why that's important nobody raided his home home nobody did any heavy-handed moves they let him turn it in at his convenience at his leisure and ultimately he was a they did a consent search because it seemed like every time he turned around there's more classified information in his house
▶ 1:44:06so and then you compare that to president Trump with there were negotiating with Nara they were in a far more secure location than his garage and then you you you have and what and how was that treated they ran up in his house they're searching you know his wife's where she keeps her clothes and intimate clothing and things like that to to get items and it was always under the guise of this is so serious to get these items back because our national security is at risk but when it was Biden it was sort of like in the garage around the car
▶ 1:44:36and open boxes was fine yeah just swing it by when you have a chance you know yeah sure sure so are you familiar with the 2013 IRS scandal uh that targeted conservative nonprofit organizations you famili the lowest learner yes and then actually I am but not not intimately well I understand Jack Smith actually he encouraged the the uh Department of Justice to contact the IRS and and continue that process going after those conservatives wherever they may be and and Mr swacker I know you you served with the FBI for some time and I appreciate
▶ 1:45:07your service what about the raid to marago to you stood out I know we had some some other FBI officials testify and tell us what they thought and and so as we look through this process what about it to you stood out just the fact that that the fact that they did it at all I mean there's a lot of discretion in investigations there's a lot of discretion in prosecutions I was a prosecutor I've been an agent I I know it from both angles and I just think
▶ 1:45:37it it wasn't it was never in the best interest to the American public for them that during negotiations where there were a lot of issues that were being discussed between lawyers the information the documents were secure and they weren't going anywhere unlike Hillary Clinton's server which was the most least secure place you could ever store information is on a server anybody can get to and I thought it was interesting they handled it from the Washington field office rather than the Miami Field office and it his home and I kind of thought that was rather unusual highly unusual and that search
▶ 1:46:07was conducted over the objection of the assistant director in charge of the Washington field office that Mr chairman I'm out of time I'll yield back thank you Mr chair I do have a UC request okay um I'd ask for unanimous consent um I'd like to enter into the record the full transcript with Steven duno I may be saying that incorrectly um anano the assistant director in charge of um FBI's Washington field office without objection
▶ 1:46:38thank you so much I've got one more sorry I'd also like to introduce an article titled Donald Trump stored showed off and refused to return classified documents indictments without objection thank you so much the chair now recognize is the gentleman from Georgia for 5 minutes thank you Mr chairman and uh thank the witnesses for uh your today uh let's
▶ 1:47:16see you know Trump is purging experienced career civil servants and filling their rol with inexperienced sycophants who will do whatever they are told to do no matter how unlawful or unconstitutional they ask and the American people are focused on that real threat to our democracy and to the rule of law that is poised by this uh
▶ 1:47:46Trump Administration and so they they are too smart to be distracted by Republicans tired conspiracy theories and uh that is exactly what we're getting today now uh Mr Belo uh you're familiar with Danielle Sassoon are I am sir and you know her to be a federalist Society member she is a former law clerk to anonin Scalia
▶ 1:48:16she is anti-lgbtq rights anti-il rights uh a blazing right-wing extremist isn't that correct he was an extremely conservative jurist and uh no I'm talking about Danielle Sassoon I can't speak to miss sassoon's uh personal uh opinions about those specific legal issues she is as you described uh justice Scalia but um even she could not stomach
▶ 1:48:47uh the prospect of being a party to a quit proquo in the Eric Adams case could she no sir you know dropping charges for illegitimate reasons she didn't want to have a hand in that she was too principled to participate in that and uh because we know that when you drop charges against someone for a illegitimate purpose a
▶ 1:49:17quit proquo Eric Adams to force him over a barrel uh to uh carry out your uh deportation political agenda in return for dropping the charges against him eventually but hanging it over his head with a uh dismissal without prejudice she did not want to be a party to such a a uh an illegitimate bargain
▶ 1:49:48and we know that if you'll drop a charge you'll also Institute charges uh for political purposes for illegitimate purposes is that not the essence of weaponizing the justice department yeah the con absolutely sir you know the concern here is uh that criminal prosecutions would be used to achieve unrelated policy objectives uh in the case of the Eric Adams
▶ 1:50:19uh uh Scandal you know the reason that we don't do that is because the powers of prosecutors are so vast that once that happens uh people will follow government directives not because they want to or believe in it but simply because they fear retribution if they don't should have somebody com back thank you in your testimony you talked about how this Administration has corrupted the guard rails that existed in the Department of Justice with respect to
▶ 1:50:49reforms put in place after the abuse during the Republican Nixon Administration and you talked about how guard rails that would uh have been destroyed uh in so far as favoring friends of this Administration what did you mean by that specifically yeah well I think we're seeing this in the Wall Street Journal reporting about uh potentially ex or Twitter um uh trying to get advertisers
▶ 1:51:20back on their site unle and if they don't uh well then the government will investigate them and potentially stop emerging the co-president of the United States who by the way was unelected and hails from apartheid South Africa trying to leverage his position in the as co-president to gain something for his platform that spews Miss and disinformation publicly and when the government is used in that way it
▶ 1:51:50harms everybody far from politics because it increases prices and it interferes with the free economy yeah I can't think of a greater threat to democracy than a guy like Elon Musk set free or set Loose by a president Donald Trump who was duly elected but has outsourced now and privatized uh his administration uh to a oligarch billionaire
▶ 1:52:21and his B and his other the billionaire buddies so with that I'll okay I'm going to recognize myself for minutes Mr scker when did you first become aware of the FBI's memo targeting traditional Roman Catholics well pretty I don't know the exact date but it was when it hit the Press I mean as soon as it hit the Press I mean I I found out about it when everybody else did did you
▶ 1:52:51get the opportunity to review the memo you know that came from the Virginia field office did you take a look at it I did I don't remember all the details in it but it was it was a it was a very ill advised did it did it strike you yeah of course it did in a bad way I think it would strike anybody in a bad way I'm Catholic not that that matters but uh just singling out a religion and religious beliefs in the way that they did I mean I frankly though you know I don't know how much play that really got further up the food chain
▶ 1:53:21but it was an incred inedibly just demonstrated incredibly poor judgment you know we asked the then attorney general about it we asked the then FBI director about it they both in essence apologized but it said it was only limited to the Virginia field office then F fortunately there were other whistleblowers we got information it wasn't only limited this was starting to go throughout the country thank God we found out about it you know and as I said before my good Hindu friends men of peace that you know
▶ 1:53:51people human beings of Peace have never would do anything harmful if it happened to Roman Catholics and I happen to be Roman Catholic as well it can happen to anyone I think I think it does reflect that there were there were some idealogues deep in the in the you know it wasn't just a leadership in the bureau you can't believe otherwise I mean it just didn't make sense it was shocking for America do you believe the memo infringed on Americans rights under our constitution to some degree absolutely especially if they had followed through on it aggressively like they did
▶ 1:54:21other things let me read this I'm quoting now catalyzing events in which radical no I'm sorry regionally motivated violent extremists regionally motivated violent extremists and radical tradition traditional Catholics I'm not sure what the hell that means to be honest they were calling them domestic terrorists yeah I I I don't know I I try to go to mass when I can I I honest to God I don't see too many do I don't see any domestic terrorists
▶ 1:54:51there um and they said they might have a common Clause incl cause including legislation or judicial decisions in areas such as abortion rights immigration affirmative action and lgbtq protections isn't that their right and is it typical for the FBI to dig into something like that not not the FBI I served under and and I actually I mean I think Chris Ray made a lot of mistakes but he apologize for that one I think that's one that got away from you know should never even uh I I think they
▶ 1:55:21were even even shocked that they had that level of an idealog actually in it I know I believe that they were being sincere I know the Attorney General at the time almost cried um maybe he did a little bit actually do you think the FBI needs stricter controls over how these bulletins are created and distributed hopefully they will now I I do I mean it's a lot of it's judgment based and is and it's who you hire and and the examples that are set at the top of the in this case the FBI
▶ 1:55:52I mean you can't you can't there's no substitute for just good judgment as things I I've saw a lot of junk come out of you know out of a squad room you know reports and that sort of thing and you just you if you're super at the supervisory level you just cancel it out you selch it right there okay so I'm going to ask the three of you Mr scker Mr Fay Mr Breen some real quick questions something I'll always like to do I like to get to the point it's either yes or no not not a long answer on this and I'll start with you Mr swacker do you believe the J was
▶ 1:56:22weaponized against political opponents yes or no yes I think there's many examples of that Mr yes I do Mr Breen yes absolutely should federal law enforcement agencies surveil parents at school board meetings yes or no Mr smer no no was it appropriate for a doj official to pressure a defense lawyer with a judgeship offer yes or no Mr smer no if that happened no and it did we have yeah I I've heard information I just don't know definitively but yes outrageous
▶ 1:56:53is it acceptable for the FBI to categorize certain religious groups in the way that they did yes or no no no absolutely not I think everybody God help us agrees on that one even my friends on the other side of the aisle here might do you believe there is currently or was currently that there was a two-tiered system of justice in America yes or no yes many examples of that there's so many yes yes yeah we live thank you I think it makes our point I'm almost out of time myself
▶ 1:57:24Miss Crockett the ranking member oh I'm sorry Mr M musz um thank you Mr chairman I I appreciate it um thank you Gemma for coming to today's hearing entitled entering the Golden Age probably named it that because the price of eggs or the price of gold um but but here we are uh chairman Drew mentioned something he said the people's Justice dep Department I actually think that's very important
▶ 1:57:54unfortunately uh the DC us attorney Ed Martin disagrees with him because he calls himself Trump's attorney his own words and his own statements he doesn't say the people's attorney he doesn't say the Justice Department's attorney he said he's president Trump's lawyer and so seems to me that those two things are not accurate uh Mr swacker you think uh you as attorney is the president's attorney or the the department of Justice's attorney
▶ 1:58:25it's people's attorney the people's attorney okay the the president has a White House Council okay right okay so I just want to clear that up maybe someone should you know send a quick email to to Ed Martin maybe we can get someone in Doge to do that they like emailing people with like five things to do maybe like someone could say like hey Mr Martin have the five things to do number one make sure you know who your client is it's America not the president um you know he's also sending letters to members of Congress
▶ 1:58:56you are are you aware of that Mr fee yes I think if you're referring to the Chuck Schumer letter yes no he's sending letters to to member of the House asking him to clarify stat when he made those statements were which is weird because literally that same week he sent the letter like this committee literally held a whole hearing on Free Speech right right and then all of a sudden the the DC attorney is sending letters asking of Congress those are tricky situations the Schumer thing if that was not Chuck
▶ 1:59:26Schumer and just a regular person outside of the Supreme Court I believe that person would at least be investigated for threats whether or not it comes out and those are those are tricky but but I don't think those are so clearcut because there is you don't have a free speech right to threaten people threaten Justice no of course not so so it's I don't see I mean I see your point and and that may be how it breaks out but I don't think it's inappropriate to look a step further and those types of things you you know we're hearing a lot about weaponization
▶ 1:59:57weaponization and my my colleagues across the other AO I mean they're the bravado party like we can admit that right like the Republicans just have a lot more bravado than Democrats and I'm okay admitting that but they they seem to just not wanting to they're like koi on this one I mean they're not interested in ending the weaponization of the doj they want to continue it in fact the State gave them a bad idea and they're going to run with it and in fact not only they going to run with it man they're
▶ 2:00:28going to do it even better than the Deep State I mean they just hired pacifist Don banino right like he Dan Bonino he you know that that seems to be very against this idea that we want to end weaponization Dan who says Americans are having a cold war amongst themselves who says that the only that matters is power a system of checks and balances ha that's a good one that doesn't seem to be someone that wants to end the weaponization
▶ 2:00:58it seems someone who is going to be given power and wants to continue the weaponization I have a question will you gentlemen all come back in let's say a year and give us assessment of whether or not we have ended the weaponization I I like like we'll do like just like a quick like okay you're here now and then like a year later you'll come back and we'll be like by the way mission accomplished we'll get a big banner we'll fly a plane like and mission accomplished or or will you come back and admit like
▶ 2:01:29H you know it looks like it's continuing to go on okay that's I mean not all at once depending on the scheduling sure we don't have to pick a date now we'll get it we'll get it I thought it was a rhetorical question but yeah it was rhetorical okay fair I'm I'm someone is paying attention um so I I just like there's got to be at least one of my colleagues who who like can get in front of the camera and be the tough guy
▶ 2:01:59and just be like you know we're not ending the weaponization no no no you the Deep State started it man we're going to we're going to run with it because we've already seen that in in the appointments in the first couple of weeks um I I just I I you know I don't need honesty because we're in Congress but but what what what what I want is we already know like the American people know they know this right we don't need to hide just tell the American people what they know revenge tour is coming we're going to have tour dates we're going
▶ 2:02:29to show up we're going to play Arenas but the doj revenge tour is coming thank you okay uh two things I would love to have you back in a year let's try to make that a date it may not be exactly one year it could be 11 months it could be 13 months oh I think let me I think you scared him a little bit um I bet you you all would be willing to come including you Mr blo um secondly real quick Mr mosquit I love your sense of humor you got to always have a sense of humor as you go through things you're pretty good at it I
▶ 2:02:59agree m m Mr chair I have a a unanimous consent I'd like to introduce for the record the letter from the Department of Justice office of Inspector General related to the Richmond memo that stated we did not find evidence that any ordered or objected to find a link between racially motiv without objection okay um I'd also like to introduce an article title Jim Jordan's new myth in anti- Catholic FBI without objection and the final one I'd like to
▶ 2:03:29introduce is an article from Fox News noting that the FBI was absolved of malicious intent in the Catholic memo incident without objection thank you some people wrote a bad memo anyhow uh I now recognize a gentleman from the great state of Missouri Dr and thank you Mr chairman and thank you all for coming today um Mr Breen um on September 23rd 2022 the FBI re uh raid the home of your client Mark
▶ 2:04:00H following indictment um charging face act violations based on an alleged shoving incident that took place where he was defending his son um near an abortion clinic um Mr bre as I is if my memory serves right other prosecutors had looked at that at that cas case the how case prior to this SWAT team raid could you could you refresh my memory on that yes congressman and in fact
▶ 2:04:30it had been prosecuted through the state level system and the charges were dropped because the complaining witness refused to show up right in fact he' gone on vacation one time one time he actually went to the abortion facility to escort and when Mark arrived you know they they went to court he wasn't there mark arrived said did did you enjoy your morning at court guy was the complaining witness so that was that was looked through there but even on the federal side the the prose they had started in front of
▶ 2:05:00a grand jury and went follow it just stopped right but then the dobs leak hits all this and we watched it then restart up and they they get out an indictment so that it was clearly something that was related to trying to make a point on abortion not because he had actually committed a crime so dropped on the state level dropped on the the federal level and resurrected and then did did your client do something like violent or threaten someone or something to Meritt 25 SWAT officers that morning
▶ 2:05:30no and in fact so I can show you the email uh from my colleague who was a former Federal prosecutor 15 years in in Arizona he had corresponded with the uh with the local US attorney who had requested you know response said hey if you want we'll present him we're glad to he's represented certainly no need there wasn't a need to send you know 25 officers I mean for for heaven's sakes you send one or two to the door and knock on it if you really want to go arrest him right but I mean this was outrageous and we've seen video
▶ 2:06:01of it I mean or maybe talk to his lawyer and ask him to appear in court right well and and this was our thing our local lawyer said if this guy was anyone but him yeah he would have been brought in to present I mean they they let people that are much much more dangerous and violent present I Mark did something and and we found out after we went into the case we realized no one had had gone back into the legislative history of the face act Senator Kennedy and Senator durenberger literally on the floor of the Senate
▶ 2:06:31right cut a deal and said we are not getting in the middle of the sidewalk squabbles right and I got to tell he's a good Republican you know we don't like legislative history it's the thing for the Republicans I'm a former legislator I love legislative history and for heaven's sakes for you guys I mean you guys in the Congress did this so I think you should be asserting your rights to say stop it you are expanding this law beyond our intent right right and so if Mark H wasn't the kind of um defendant or the suspect that would Merit this kind of
▶ 2:07:01treatment this must have been the Department of Justice sending a political message on abortion main Justice sent people in to the eastern district of Pennsylvania and and look Philadelphia is a rough area right in fact our our trial judge who was a experienced prosecutor he's former Pennsylvania Attorney General he said I have no never in my time on the bench had main Justice send someone out to prosecute a case in the eastern district of Pennsylvania well let me talk about another another case of a
▶ 2:07:31very dangerous criminal defendant you might be familiar with Mr h on January 23rd um president Trump announced the pardon for 23 pro-life Advocates one of these was Eva Adel who at 89 years old faced a Char a sentence of up to 11 years in Federal prison Eva was a Soviet concentration camp Survivor who was charged with singing and praying from her wheelchair at the entrance to an
▶ 2:08:02facility um you know in 2022 at least 26 prif Advocates faced federal charges for face act violations the same year pregnancy research centers experienced serious attacks fire bombings and yet in to my knowledge did not face any face acted prose utions from the Biden justice department am I am I correct on that yes Congressman I I have I specifically in mind a client in Upstate New York firebomb their facility took him half a million
▶ 2:08:32dollars to rebuild it and that and they told them oh we can't figure out who did it and we can't get any answers from the police we couldn't even get our surveillance video back and it just it was outrageous when you look at the the amount of federal resources that are spent on our clients that they couldn't even find these these terrorists actual literal domestic terrorists so again aggressive aggressive prosecutorial action against pro-lifers none against actual arsonists domestic terrorists
▶ 2:09:02would that be a politi politicization of the justice department absolutely that's a politicization and it's one that can be fixed with the new doj and under the guidance of this Comm subcommittee thank you thank you thank you the chair recognizes the gentleman from the great state of Maryland Mr Rasin the ranking member and thank you very much Mr chairman um we've got Decades of excellent uh government law enforcement experience represented at the table unfortunately I've only got five minutes so I want to go
▶ 2:09:33very quickly I want to ask a few yes or no questions uh and I'll start with you Mr pla go down in in your time uh as a prosecutor have you been aware of any case where um prosecutors have been fired or otherwise disciplined in in office for having worked on a particular case that they were assigned to before January 6th not until the last month uh Mr fahe uh Mr B you were not a prosecutors okay Mr Fe in your years of government law enforcement were you
▶ 2:10:03aware of any prosecutors whoever were disciplined or demoted or fired because they'd worked on a particular case before January 6 for being assigned to a case or beyond that I know of people that may have been disciplined by their work on a case but by me I'm not talking about misconduct on a case but just by by being a just by virtue of being on a team I don't know of it okay Mr swacker did you ever encounter that in your many years on the FBI not not based on mere assignment of a case I will note that you know
▶ 2:10:33the at the end of administration US attorneys routinely submit their resignations and usually are but in terms of line prosecutors Civil Service lawyers you're not a or or FBI agents rather you're not aware of any and okay let me continue with you for a sec um have you heard of a case where particip as an FBI agent in a particular case is grounds for uh dismissal or demotion just for having worked on a particular case no absent misconduct okay Mr Blue
▶ 2:11:04back to you so um a number of attorneys around two dozen I think have been uh sacked just because they worked on a particular case even if they are civil service people which means you can't be fired for political reasons you can only be fired for poor performance or misconduct um but I think all of the Dozen attorneys who um worked for Jack Smith and a dozen attorneys were fired I think on the in the very first day because they had worked on the January 6 prosecution um will you
▶ 2:11:34describe what you think the lawfulness of that is and then also what effect that will have on morale and cohesion within the ranks of lawyers who work at the Department of Justice it certainly seems unlawful in that these people were being fired not because of misconduct but because because of Simply the cases that they were working on essentially Viewpoint discrimination you know the effect is profound you know these attorneys weren't just working on January 6 cases they were working on other cases within the DC us attorney's office so
▶ 2:12:04and it's not Viewpoint discrimination based on any of the viewpoints they had we have no idea what their viewpoints were it was viewpoints based on the people who've come into the office who think that somehow it's a a badge of stigma or shame to have worked on a particular case precisely there were 6,000 FBI agents who worked on January 6 which was the the most massive violent mob attack on the United States Congress and the peaceful transfer of power and the vice president uh in American
▶ 2:12:34history um what do you think about the idea that somehow um there's an attempt to demonize and vilify people for having done their jobs in working on it yeah I think it's I think if they are demonized if they're fired uh it's going to be devastating for the bi because these are folks that are working on counterterrorism counter Espionage and other cases yeah um so Mr F had one other question for you um
▶ 2:13:04do do you think that the idea of sacking all of these lawyers simply because of having worked on a particular case will promote Public Safety in the District of Columbia or undermine Public Safety in the District of Columbia if people are being fired just for the because I know I I know the hypothetical I don't know why individuals were fired and their's conduct or things are interrelated I think overall the morale is is going to be far higher because morale is Rock Bottom at doj Rock Bottom at the FBI
▶ 2:13:34under the prior Administration in the last four weeks I agree with you on that no no no during the pr Administration if you talk if you bring in some law enforcement AG we'll have a separate hearing on that we'll get back to in that one Mr you've got to talk to them because they all right we'll have you back I promise I would love nothing more Mr Blue let me come back to you uh that I've heard uh you know I was there January 6 so I know that was something that really happened uh officer briyan snik really died from Strokes that he had based on the violence visited on him being sprayed in
▶ 2:14:04the face with noxious chemicals he's buried to Arlington National Cemetery and I'll take anyone with the synik family over there to see him this is not some kind of uh a mirage this really happened 140 of our officers were smashed in the face with confederate battle Flags Trump Flags broken Furniture steel pipes you name it there were heart attacks traumatic brain uh injury I've got constituents who've never uh recovered from the wounds that took place there Sergeant canel
▶ 2:14:35had to leave the but when we talk about it then I hear about the prosecution and vilification of parents of mothers and fathers and hey I'm a father my kids went to public school that doesn't sound very good to me so I try to get to the bottom of this because I I've been hearing about it for 5 years now and I asked myself what are they talking about so I I get the memo which was from attorney general Merck Garland and it begins I can't I don't have time to read the whole thing there's been a disturbing spike in harassment intimidation and threats of
▶ 2:15:05violence against School administrators teachers board members and staff the word mother or father don't appear the word parent doesn't appear here there's all of this propaganda about some prosecution of parents is based on absolutely nothing this is um just made up out of thin air so I will submit this for the record the memo that all this goes back to Mr chairman thanks so much without that objection the chair recognizes I see I'm recognizing
▶ 2:15:35the chair recognizes Mr Schmidt from the great state of Kansas see I remembered that thank you Mr chairman we'll be on the exam at the end thank you very much Mr chairman thank you for convening this hearing thank you to the witnesses who I know have uh covered a wide range of subject matter today I had a couple of questions regarding the school board matter which I'm not sure has been focused upon uh perhaps as much as I might have thought it would have been
▶ 2:16:06this is of course the uh matter from 2021 where the National School Board Association um oddly in my view um requested that the president of the States initiate a federal law investigation of in effect parents who had shown up at a variety of school board meetings around the country in my view understandably they were distressed
▶ 2:16:37by some very difficult and I think ill-advised decisions that were made regarding masking regarding shouting kids out of school regarding a variety of other very unusual practices that occurred during the co per period and wanted to express their views on that to their locally elected officials who were making those decisions perhaps much as we're doing uh here in a different scale um it struck me as very odd that we had at the time that we had this private Association asking
▶ 2:17:07for a federal law enforcement investigation and that they directed their request to the president of the United States uh so much so that at the time I was serving as attorney general in Kansas and about 3 weeks after after that request came in and the Department of Justice had directed as I recall the uh some of the local offices to take certain actions in terms of I think responding to threats was their Top Line rather an odd assertion given that there weren't any actual threats
▶ 2:17:37asserted in the request um a group of a 17 I believe State Attorneys General wrote to the president and to the then us attorney general Mr Garland on October 18th and asked them in effect what are you doing and why are you doing it uh we expressed in that a concern that um they were being asked to intervene in what we called a quintessentially local issue which is the Public
▶ 2:18:08Safety in the room of a public governing body that was local uh and we asked that the president and the then attorney general and others under their Direction um take our point of view that local authorities were perfectly capable of handling uh any threats in these local meetings as they do each and every day all over the country uh without this sort of fanfare there were then some additional steps and uh School Board Association
▶ 2:18:38as I recall backed off a bit of what they had asked for and then about a week after that on uh October the 26 the smaller but uh still substantial group of 14 of us followed up with second letter to the president uh and to the attorney general asking that they take a look at the Schoolboard association's uh actions and how how those requests that were very odd had come to pass so a handful of questions for our Witnesses I'll start with Mr scker but perhaps also Mr fahe
▶ 2:19:09um in the course of all this uh it came to light that uh there had been conversations between people at the White House and the Schoolboard Association functionally uh Consulting on the drafting of this letter that then requested the federal law enforcement investigation in your experience uh is that ordinary for the White House to be involved with a third- party outside organization and asking that federal law enforcement engage on a matter I can't come come up with any examples of it during my tenure
▶ 2:19:39and I you know the the most disturbing thing about it was that it was rolled out as a national initiative it wasn't just an isolated instance where someone came in and said I'm going to you know set up a bomb in this meeting it was people just like City Council meetings and County Commission meetings and Boards of trustee meetings across the country that's where people exercise their first amendment rights and clearly this went way way beyond that as in the form of a national level initiative have you ever seen anything like it no Mr Fahy I've never seen anything
▶ 2:20:10like it and another thing that's striking about this if you look at doj and they put together task force on things like drug trafficking terrorism human trafficking it's usually major things and this was all of a sudden whatever information they had they they nationalized this with task force and every us attorney elevating it to a level and I'm sure you all know threats are fairly common I'm sure what you do and I I dealt with them all the time at the US attorney's office and they the idea that anything would have risen to
▶ 2:20:40this level was really it just shows it was political nature because as you know the issue of the day that November election both in New Jersey as well as Virginia was that educ educational issue did any federal prosecutions result from this use of resources my was none and and that's the other thing if you put that much resources into it the fact that you would come up with nothing it just shows that there there probably was nothing there to begin with Mr chairman thank you I just have a UC request
▶ 2:21:10yes without objection the there are four uh four articles one is Reuters school boards get death threats amid rage over race gender mask policies that's February 2022 uh quote I don't want to die for it school without objection school board members face Rising threats in New York Times November 5 2021 uh a transcript with a former doj official describing deadly threats and finally uh this note that appeared in the New York Times it's too bad that your mama is an ugly
▶ 2:21:40communist if she doesn't quit or resign for then Year we will kill her which was on the windshield of a school board member thank you Mr chairman I will will now recognize the ranking member from the great state of Texas Miss Crockett thank you so much Mr chairman um I just want to level set on a few things because my head has been spinning from some of the testimony that we have heard today so just to level set really quickly all of you have been involved with
▶ 2:22:11the criminal justice system in some way at some point in time in your lives as it relates to January 6 I just want to be clear if anyone was incarcerated because of what happened on January 6th they either went to trial or they enter pleas of guilty is that true or false I'll start with you Mr swacker I I really don't know okay that's fine Mr there would be yes or no Mr Fe I ain't
▶ 2:22:41got that time not a yes or no okay then I'll move were incarcerated I'm going to reclaim my time I'm going to a separate category but the people that were sentenced and in yes okay thank you Mr Breen yeah I'm assuming that that was the process although I understand the trials were not fair oh interesting okay Mr Belo every January 6 defendant who was incarcerated was charged or found guilty thank you so much it's it's interesting that we're
▶ 2:23:11not having a conversation around January 6 and we're talking about school boards and we're talking about people that never ended up being arrested we're talking about the process seemingly working because there were people that felt like there should be an investigation but ultimately they did not feel like there was anything that warranted going forward but I can tell you for sure that we as Americans watched in despair because we did not know what was going to happen on January 6th and as a result over a thousand people were arrested and
▶ 2:23:41or convicted but the first day the first priority that the sitting president had was to release these criminals so while we're talking about whether or not we're going to be safe I want to clarify these weren't little innocent folk that were running around and were persecuted as it was made out to be in fact we know that the day after one of those defendants got out he was rearrested on a firearm charge we know that soon after another defendant got out he was arrested for child
▶ 2:24:12solicitation we know that after another one got out he was actually killed by law enforcement in a confrontation and we know that after another one got out she was sentenced because of a fatal car crash that she caused so I want to be clear in this country we should believe in Law and Order and I am going to be honest because much like Mr Breen the only time that I ever entered a criminal Courthouse was in defense of someone in defense of the
▶ 2:24:42accused and it is because I believe in the Constitution I believe that everyone has the right to do process and as a defense attorney should show up ready and I am hoping that the system works but I say hoping because nothing on this Earth is perfect and one of the things that I actually used to take a lot of issue with was the fact that I did believe that there was a two-tier justice system this is not something that the black community somehow woke up and said oh this this is a new thing although we're talking about it
▶ 2:25:12and we're meaning it in different ways because all of a sudden you had somebody with more power than arguably anyone in the world and somehow Lady Justice found him too and I say Lady Justice somehow found him because it was grand juries that had to indict him and then ultimately he was found guilty of 34 counts of felonies at least in one Courthouse we know that the other cases never proceeded for various reasons
▶ 2:25:42we also know that when he entered into civil cour houses he was found liable for various things listen I I don't want to have the American people get it twisted I don't want them to be confused and believe that just because somebody is a prosecutor or just because somebody brings a case that somehow that is weaponization if they bring it forward and if the justice system works the way that it's supposed to be Mr B you talked about how your
▶ 2:26:12client was found not guilty and I'm guessing that you accept that jury's verdict certainly you you accept that jury's verdict for your client absolutely okay okay but I want I got to move on to a few other things really quickly Christopher Ray Mr Baloo do you know who that is yes was Christopher Ray appointed by Joe Biden no he was appointed by President Trump he was appointed by President Trump now Christopher Ray for those that don't know was the
▶ 2:26:42head of the FBI and Christopher Ray was he fired by Joe Biden just because Joe Biden was a Democrat that came in in No in fact Christopher Ray left the FBI when Trump threatened to fire him but Christopher Ray still had time on the clock didn't he he did so any prosecutions that took place they actually took place under the ray FBI department is that correct that's correct okay I and and the last thing I know Mr chair I'm running out of time just real quick the last thing that I want to ask because we've talked
▶ 2:27:13about the mayor of New York is he a Democrat or a Republican he's a Democrat and he was prosecuted under a democratic deal or a republican doj a democratic doj thank you so much and I will yo thank you so much Mr chair you're welcome ranking member you know real quickly if it wasn't for this committee and what revealed about parents happening to parents in schools and what happening to parishioners and churches by whistleblowers God knows what would have happened it was just through the work actually that we did here so the justice system again was not working at that time
▶ 2:27:44um with that I will yield to the chairman of the committee of the whole Mr Jordan from Ohio thank you Mr chairman Mr Scher how long were you at the FBI 24 years 24 years distinguished career I'd like to think so I think so too assistant director of the Criminal Division that's pretty darn important position you held in that time at the FBI did you ever deal with confidential human sources yes on regular basis yes what can you tell me well let's let's frame it this way 26 of them were there on January 6 2021 and we know at least 17 of
▶ 2:28:14them did something they weren't authorized to do is that typical uh I wouldn't say it's atypical I mean informants are generally in the criminal mix so they often find themselves in places where their crimes taking place yeah so it was okay for them to do something they weren't authorized to do on January 6th no there's a process for the FBI to authorize ordinary criminal activity and it has to be in you know they're they're very structured about how they handle informance if if an sa a special agent in charge authorizes ordinary criminal
▶ 2:28:44activity it's going to be in the file and Accord and you have you read the inspector General's report on these 26 confidential human Source not the entire uh report but according to the Inspector General they were not authorized to do so they were not authorized to enter the restricted space certainly not authorized to go in the capital right and we know 17 Ed restricted space four went in the capital yeah how does it normally work do you think these guys were I'm just asking as an expert 24 years assistant director of the Criminal Division you think these guys were paid for what they were involved with or what they did or what they witnessed how they informed whatever they did on the six
▶ 2:29:14do you think they were paid by by the taxpayers by the time they're fully vetted informance they generally are paid so certainly the so certainly the two or is it fair to say the two who were asked to be there by the FBI that particular day were probably on the payroll I I would say yes I think they were being paid by the taxpayer most likely being paid by the to be fair most likely being paid by the taxpayer and they went two of these four uh went into the capital who were being paid or who were who were asked to be there so they're asked
▶ 2:29:44to be by the FBI likely being paid and they did something they weren't allowed to do right and and why was it that every time Christopher Ray the director of the FBI came in front of the committee over the last several years and we would ask we'd have some Republican members would ask him about any confidential why was he so reluctant to just say yes they were there I think it was an embarrassing thing for the bureau to for the public to know that they had many informants on the premise no procedure nothing prohibiting from him telling us not going to we're not asking for their names we're asking to identify certainly we understand
▶ 2:30:14that's part of your your investigative techniques and tactics but there was nothing prohibiting Christopher Ray from telling us yeah there were confidential human sources there that day there was nothing prohibiting that that I know of but he went out of his way to make sure we couldn't get that information and then we didn't get that information frankly until after the election four years later they didn't need to wait four years to tell us what they knew on January 7th right well well actually they knew on January 6th because they asked him they asked some of these people to be there it it's pretty extraordinary because it my my mind
▶ 2:30:44goes to prevention if they had that many informants out there what were they doing and why weren't they reporting on what was going on ahead of time and why didn't the FBI take steps to prevent what happened because so if these guys were helping actually doing what they're supposed to do we might have prevented some of the things that took place that day is what you're saying absolutely yeah okay uh Mr fahe is it appropriate for uh uh the special counsel Mr J brat to say to a defendant's counsel to say that we didn't know you were a trump guy and we knew we thought you would
▶ 2:31:14do the right thing and we understand you're interested in this judge position is that appropriate behavior from from someone in the special Council saying to a defendants Council that would be highly inappropriate that is as bad as it gets isn't it that would seem I I don't recall anything even remotely comparable or even hearing of anything Stanley Woodward who this happened to and I know he and it it's shocking to me when I heard it and it was only until I heard it multiple times that it was like one of the many things that were shocking about this special C
▶ 2:31:44the idea that they that in the special Council case in Florida they mixed up this the the stuff that that they got they screwed it up and had to file with the court oh the the classified documents that we said Mr Trump uh that President Trump mishandled we actually mishandled they had to file that with the court didn't they yeah that sort of the irony of it all of holding one standard to you president Trump and a lower standard not only for them but also one last question for for the for the three of you uh why all the why all the preon rid
▶ 2:32:15what they did to Mr Hal what they did to Brian malinowski I mean let's assume even I'm not sure Brian malinowski did anything wrong let's assume he did had six Firearms sold six Firearms he wasn't supposed to sell why in the world would you knock on his door have 10 cars pull up coordinate with local police put the tape on the doorbell Cam and do what they did which resulted in his loss of life why would you do that we'll start with Mr Breen since you haven't answered anything yet thank you Mr chairman at it look the the outrageous thing
▶ 2:32:45too so so they overdo it and I got to tell you I asked for body cam footage from the feds they're not wearing the body cams they're not on the only people I could get was from the Pennsylvania State Police they gave me a full video of the yeah you're talking Mr H you're talking about Mark understand understand that you can't even figure out what are these folks doing you know they tape the ring doorbell well they did the same thing the point is the consistency and they did the same thing with Mr malinowski Mr Hal was acquitted by the jury found not guilty by the jury Mr malinowski wounded up dead cuz he thought he was being
▶ 2:33:15robbed and he defended his home and then was shot in the head and died died a few hours later it's terrible what what happened and you know the interesting thing about the malinowski case they were surveilling him for weeks they were all set to go do this raid pre-dawn still the week before and they found out he wasn't there they were going to get the Firearms he doesn't need to be there why in the world would you do that and jeopardize life and of course the worst thing happens I Mr swacker would you would you that's not how it's supposed to operate
▶ 2:33:45is it no you know most of the time you do a couple hours of surveillance you get the rou down you catch them walking out to the car when they're unaware you know maximum drama is the only thing that you could Sur the only the only only explanation could be that because they followed him and they could have went to the airport where he worked where everyone it was so ridiculous Mr chairman I thank you for this hearing and thank you and I yield yield back thank you chairman thank you chairman that concludes today's hearing we thank our Witnesses for appearing before us and the time they
▶ 2:34:15spent without objection all members will have five legislative days to submit additional written written questions for the witnesses or additional materials for the record without objection the hearing is adjourned I had two uc's I'm sorry go ahead let's do it thank you um I'd asked for unanimous consent to enter into the record um an article from Reuters FBI did not send undercover operatives to join January 6 attack says as well as an article from The New York Times FD FBI did not send
▶ 2:34:46um informants to encourage Capital RI without objection thank you so much the hearing is adjourned stand
▶ 2:37:48e e