▶ 0:15:01Chair Grassley: Good morning. Obviously, I want to welcome everybody that is here today. We are meeting to consider the nominations of todd blanche to serve as deputy attorney general and gail slater to serve as assistant attorney general for antitrust. Congratulations on your nominations to both of you. And, thank you for your willingness to serve.
▶ 0:15:33Chair Grassley: Before I turn to my opening statement I will explain how we do business today. I will give my opening remarks. Senator durbin will give his, and I will call on representative samson and senator moody to introduce the nominee is. After that, Mr. brent -- Mr. blanche and Ms.
▶ 0:15:55Chair Grassley: Slater will give statements and after we will go through a single round -- a single seven minute round of questions. I will ask that they adhere to the time limits. In three hearings I've only had one person abuse that. And I think everyone for their cooperation.
▶ 0:16:22Chair Grassley: We are here today to consider the nominations of todd blanche, gail slater to serve in a very senior position in the doj. Mr. blanche and Ms. slater, thank you for serving and you will not hear that too many times and you've heard it from me at least trot -- at least twice. You are nominated to serve an important roles, the department of justice.
▶ 0:16:53Chair Grassley: And you both have impressive qualifications. Many people do not realize how intense the committee vetting process is. It took a lot of work for both of these nominees to be here with us today and we are looking forward to hearing from you and answering your questions.
▶ 0:17:16Chair Grassley: I would like to say thank you to your family and friends for both groups for being here to back you up and obviously being very proud of your appointments. I will note a special guest in an audience today is chairman ferguson of the fdc, coming to watch the proceedings.
▶ 0:17:44Chair Grassley: We all know the ftc and the justice department worked together to enforce the antitrust laws and so, chairman ferguson has been -- has a keen interest in the hearing. He used to sit behind me in hearings like these, so I hope he enjoys the different perspective today.
▶ 0:18:07Chair Grassley: Public trust in the department of justice is very low and our legal system has been weaponized by partisans under the previous administration. And under the obama administration.
▶ 0:18:28Chair Grassley: We know that the justice department and the fbi -- fbi were prime movers for turning our law enforcement agencies into political weapons. Our new attorney general, bondi has promised to turn things around, and I know that both of you will work with her as she restores confidence and faith in the justice department. Mr.
▶ 0:18:53Chair Grassley: Blanche, you are particularly well-suited to serve as the second and demand -- second in command of the justice department. You're very strong background in criminal litigation coupled with your firsthand view of a weaponized legal system makes you the perfect choice, if anything, your exposure to jack smith's lawfare will serve as an example of what not to do.
▶ 0:19:23Chair Grassley: Mr. blanche is no partisan. Instead he has a serious lawyer with a history of nonpolitical service. He went to law school at night and clerked for judges appointed to that district courts of president clinton and president bush and elevated to a second circuit by president obama and trump. After clerking, Mr.
▶ 0:19:48Chair Grassley: Blanche landed a position in the southern district of new york. We all know that is a highly respected U.S. attorney's office.
▶ 0:20:00Chair Grassley: Through your hard work, confidence and through decency, you earned a stellar reputation for being a fair prosecutor, more than 100 of his for me -- former colleagues at the southern district of new york described his reputation in a letter of support to the committee and I quote from that letter, he puts the core values of the department of justice,
▶ 0:20:31Chair Grassley: Independence, impartiality, honesty, integrity, respect, excellence and a fair -- fierce dedication to fairness under the law into practice. They also said "todd is fundamentally good and decent man." after a long period of government service, Mr.
▶ 0:20:56Chair Grassley: Blanche worked for two prestigious law firms including the oldest law firm on wall street. Of course, all of these achievements are not what he is known for, he put his reputation on the line and his career on the line to represent one of the most famous defendants of our time, president trump. Mr.
▶ 0:21:25Chair Grassley: Blanche then, a registered democrat, and a partner at a large law firm made the brave decision to stand up to jack smith and district attorney bragg's rampant lawfare.
▶ 0:21:48Chair Grassley: He handled these cases with professional excellence and built -- and took a personal cost for his decision. And, can you believe this, Mr. blanche was actually forced out of his law firm because he chose to represent president trump. Now there is something wrong with that law firm. Mr. blanche is a lawyer's lawyer.
▶ 0:22:15Chair Grassley: He had a long career in criminal -- as a criminal litigator and stellar reputation and the whole country has seen him do the right thing, even when unpopular. Mr. blanche is exactly the kind of partner bondi needs to help restore faith in the justice department. Now, Ms.
▶ 0:22:45Chair Grassley: Slater, I have a little short view of you, it does not mean anything. You have not been involved in all the controversy that Mr. blanche has been involved in. That might be to your benefit getting through this committee. She also has an impressive record and resume and the right qualifications to run the antitrust division.
▶ 0:23:12Chair Grassley: She spent several years practicing antitrust law in private practice, and then, a decade, a full decade at ftc, handling antitrust investigations and litigation. In those roles, Ms. slater got a firsthand view of antitrust enforcement.
▶ 0:23:43Chair Grassley: She also understands antitrust and economics from a policy perspective. She spent several years working in house for a trade association and for private companies. She also served in president trump's first administration on the national economic council and served now vice president pence as his economic policy advisor and a member of his senate staff.
▶ 0:24:08Chair Grassley: She has numerous accomplishments in the antitrust space, and I have high hopes for an antitrust division under her strong leadership. I am not the only one who thinks that Ms. slater has impressive qualifications. She received a letter of support from nine previous heads of doj, antitrust division appointed by presidents of both political parties. These officials wrote "Ms.
▶ 0:24:38Chair Grassley: Slater has the experience, intelligence, judgment, and leadership skills necessary to serve as an excellent assistant attorney general for the antitrust division." in short, the two nominees before us today have excellent credentials and, most importantly a history of public service. I look forward from here -- to hearing from both of them today. And now, senator durbin.
▶ 0:25:06Sen. Durbin: Thank you chairman. I continue to appreciate your commitment to bipartisan standards for vetting presidential nominees. We might have our differences about first rounds and second rounds and the like but I have always enjoyed working with you. I had an interesting meeting yesterday. I've been in this committee over 20 years and my meeting was with the additive is a key -- the advocacy group for the fbi agent. It was a first time I met with them. Two women came to see me.
▶ 0:25:38Sen. Durbin: One had a history of service of 17 years with the fbi, the other, 22 years. Both of them, their fathers before them. You can see it as a commitment to law enforcement. They told me what is going on today at the federal bureau of investigation is something that they never dreamed of. You see the fbi is not just a series on television, it is a real-life criminal investigative agency that we count on to keep us safe as a country.
▶ 0:26:09Sen. Durbin: The men and women who serve their risk their lives for america and I appreciate it. Historically, they have been nonpolitical. Totally nonpolitical. Only one political appointment in the entire federal bureau of investigation, the director. The rest of them felt that they were over and above the world of politics. They are going through an experience that they never dreamed of.
▶ 0:26:32Sen. Durbin: For example, the new administration, the trump administration has asked all of those who worked on the files on the january 6 assault on the U.S. capitol to identify themselves. 5000 agents and staff personnel were involved in those criminal prosecution, which is one of the largest in the history of the department of justice.
▶ 0:26:56Sen. Durbin: These people representing the agents and senator, do you really want to have us disclose our identity to the public? Do you think it keeps them safe? Some of the people that were involved in the january 6 demonstration here at the capital have vast and extensive criminal records.
▶ 0:27:17Sen. Durbin: The president gave them all a blanket pardon to those who committed those crimes on january 6, and included among them were people with 38 previous criminal convictions. Do we want to disclose the names of the fbi agents so they and their families can be vulnerable to those sorts of people now on the loose across america?
▶ 0:27:38Sen. Durbin: One of the people released who was involved in january 6, got into a gun confrontation in the state of indiana and lost his own life when he pulled a gun on a policeman, after he had been pardoned to come out into society. So is it any wonder they say to me honestly, how political is this?
▶ 0:28:00Sen. Durbin: Our agents are saying this has never happened before that we are being asked about political backgrounds involving prosecutions. They say, if we got involved in the january 6 prosecution and an investigative capacity for one of the 5000, what will happen four years from now when there is a new person if there is one. I believe there would be under the constitution.
▶ 0:28:25Sen. Durbin: What happens if a new president said how many fbi agents were involved in trump's immigration procedure. This is unheard of at the fbi, in the history of the fbi. So why are we going through this political process? That is the thing we keep asking. For the people who are being nominated here determined to do a good job under the constitution and the laws of this country, or are they out to settle a political score?
▶ 0:28:53Sen. Durbin: If they are out to settle a political score I am not voting for them. I think that my colleagues -- I hope that my colleagues will think twice about that. What is going on sadly is confirming some of the concerns that many of us felt about the situation before us. President trump vowed to use the department of justice to advance his own interests to seek " retribution" against the enemy within.
▶ 0:29:19Sen. Durbin: And in the first few weeks of his administration his cabinet is already bringing these threats to fruition. The trump administration has purged dozens of senior career leaders at the department of justice and the federal bureau of investigation. As I said, his agent said it is unheard of and it has not happened before. It is happening now.
▶ 0:29:43Sen. Durbin: The administration has forced career law enforcement officers to retire, resign or be fired for executing tasks assigned to them. These are nakedly partisan actions. In a memo firing a dozen career justice department prosecutors the acting attorney general wrote "given your significant role in prosecuting the president, I do not believe that leadership at the department can trust you in implementing the president's agenda faithfully."
▶ 0:30:14Sen. Durbin: We are going to some testimony in a few minutes from Mr. blanche. He and I talked about this issue when he visited the office and I thank you for that. Many people were assigned, they did not choose them. They were assigned to do investigative and prosecutorial work. That is not uncommon and it does not mean that they are traders who cannot be trusted.
▶ 0:30:34Sen. Durbin: This appears to be acorn aided effort throughout the department of justice and the fbi and it does not just stop at cases in -- directly involving the president. Ed martin, who president trump installed as an interim U.S. dirt -- attorney has fired dozens of prosecutors and investigators simply for working on cases stemming from the january 6 insurrection. Some of us were here that day and will never forget it as long as we live.
▶ 0:31:03Sen. Durbin: You've seen the videos and you cannot escape them. They are on television constantly on the mob that beat up on the cops, the people who protected you and your families as you came into this building today. They stood by us and many of us took a beating -- and many of them took a beating. Mr. martin was the leader of the stop the steal movement who is himself at the U.S. capitol on january 6. He is now the interim U.S. attorney for district of columbia.
▶ 0:31:32Sen. Durbin: He moved to dismiss all charges against january 6 the defendants. This includes a defendant who Mr. martin was still representing as an attorney, a clear violation of professional ethics. There are many members on the democratic aisle expressing feels -- fears that pam bondi would put her loyalty to the president ahead of everything else and they have been realized.
▶ 0:31:57Sen. Durbin: On her first day, pam bondi issued 14 memos to the department of justice staff that reflects the most extreme of president trump's priorities including far white project -- right project 2025 policies. She established a weaponization working group which is a clear effort to investigate the investigators.
▶ 0:32:18Sen. Durbin: This works -- this reports to review the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority over the last four years. This breathtakingly broad mandate is a smokescreen for retaliation. Sadly and january 6 offenders -- it includes january 6 offenders.
▶ 0:32:41Sen. Durbin: The claim that it is rooting out politics cannot be taken seriously, given president trump's own comments at her swearing-in. Here's what the president said. "she will lead the democrats right down. I am supposed to say that she will be totally impartial with respect to democrats and I think she will be as impartial as a person can be.
▶ 0:33:05Sen. Durbin: I am not sure if there is a possibility of totally." given the political retribution being carried out with the blessing of the president at the justice department, Mr. blanche's nomination merits heightened scrutiny. It confirmed he will serve as second -- second in command overseeing the day-to-day operations with Ms. bondi's unyielding loyalty disclosed we must -- we must ask ourselves whether Mr.
▶ 0:33:33Sen. Durbin: Blanche would be willing to act as an independent voice within department leadership. I enjoyed meeting with you in my office and it was a good meeting. You told me that your loyalty is to the rule of law and that is the right answer from my point of view. I'm afraid we would need to ask you more to conclude that you will be able to rise to the occasion, which is likely to present itself. You served as a criminal defense lawyer and you acknowledge that you feel loyalty to the president and I understand that. He was your client.
▶ 0:34:06Sen. Durbin: You describe the investigation and prosecutions of his behavior as lawfare, which is new for me but that has become somewhat common. I think we have an important responsibility. Ms. slater, I thank you for your willingness to come before us but honest-to-goodness, what is happening at the federal bureau of investigation should give republicans and democrats pause. That is entrusted with the safety and security of the united states of america, and making it political does not help.
▶ 0:34:35Chair Grassley: Thank you senator durbin. And now we invite representative simpson and after simpson, senator moody. You can stay where you are to introduce these nominees. So please, proceed.
▶ 0:34:51Rep. Simpson: Thank you. Chairman grassley and ranking member, members of the committee, it is an honor to introduce abigail slater for her confirmation as assistant attorney general. She has an amazing invitation -- individual and incredibly intelligent.
▶ 0:35:10Rep. Simpson: The committee has seen her accomplishment record in the antitrust and tech field from her role in the private sector like the internet association, roku, fox news corporation being vice president pence's policy advisor and president trump's tech policy advisor at the national economic council during his first term. Her experience and expertise makes her the right person to enforce antitrust laws and I am pleased that president trump nominated her.
▶ 0:35:39Rep. Simpson: And yes, senator durbin, I believe she will faithfully execute the law of antitrust. I first met gail 23 years ago in the backyard of my then chief of staff's, lindsay slater. Two years later we traveled to dublin for the thanksgiving wedding. It has been an honor to know her all of these years, we have shared many memories and dinners at the home and many professional and personal milestones.
▶ 0:36:11Rep. Simpson: Everyone on this committee will understand when I say that staff and their families become our families. And to have gail and lindsay in the extended family has been a gift. I have also had the opportunity to be part of their family so walking their first son -- welcoming their first son into the world and then sending them off to college. Their second son is a freshman at gonzaga high school in washington and is with us today.
▶ 0:36:38Rep. Simpson: Even though she retired as my chiefs of staff I stay in close contact with the slater's. And when I needed expert in the tech world there is only one person I turned to, to gail. If any of you wonder about her intelligence or where she got her intelligence or her character or anything else, you should have had the privilege is I have had to have dinner with her mother and father, andrea and oliver. Andrea is here today. Great people and you would understand where she comes from.
▶ 0:37:10Rep. Simpson: President trump made a smart choice and the right choice and nominating gail for this position. She is extremely qualified and will uphold the laws of the united states. Mr. chairman and senators I want to thank you for allowing me to address the committee and I hope her confirmation go smoothly because she has deserved it and earned it. Thank you.
▶ 0:37:29Chair Grassley: Thank you. You can leave if you want to or stay if you want to. Senator moody.
▶ 0:37:36Sen. Moody: Thank you. Today I have the honor and privilege of introducing Mr. todd blanche, the nominee to be deputy attorney general who I am proud to say is also a constituent of mind of the great free state of florida. I have had the opportunity to get to know Mr. branch got -- Mr. blanche and examine the materials. He is eminently qualified to fill the mission critical position of deputy general and I voice my full support for his nomination.
▶ 0:38:05Sen. Moody: As we all know, it will take days and unwavering in termination -- determination to make sure that the american public that the department of justice is focusing on protecting them and respecting the otani oven vegetable states. It will take a type of person that can complete an ironman, which is 140.6 miles of biking, running, and swimming and he has completed two of them.
▶ 0:38:36Sen. Moody: Mr. blanche has earned a reputation as a smart, serious and hard-working lawyer while also being an attentive husband to his wife, a father of two wonderful adult children and a grandfather to baby blake, who I just met and is tolerating all of this with earphones. I am sure many want to put those on.
▶ 0:38:58Sen. Moody: He has held significant roles in public service in private practice and has showcased his ability to uphold the rule of law while working on both sides of the courtroom navigating complex and difficult litigation. His character that values public service and his work ethic were evidenced by his service as a paralegal for the U.S. attorney's office in the southern district of new york while putting himself through law school at night at brooklyn law school. I daresay many of us could not have done that.
▶ 0:39:28Sen. Moody: For my colleagues where we will hear many questions regarding his independence, it is important to remember that he has not had -- that he has had a respectful career as a federal prosecutor serving during george w. Bush and president barack obama. He also served as a law clerk to judges are appointed by republican and democratic presidents. From prosecuting violent gang members to handling bank and wire fraud and racketeering cases, Mr.
▶ 0:39:58Sen. Moody: Blanche gained extensive first-hand experience at complex federal prosecutions, experience that will undoubtedly prepare him to tackle some of the most serious challenges we face as a nation. As a private attorney he defended numerous high-profile clients including some of those that were -- that other lawyers refused to defend.
▶ 0:40:21Sen. Moody: I was impressed and inspired by his passion for the assurance that our justice system is respected and remains a place that those -- that it is a place of fear resolutions based on law and nothing more. Like me he understands that a commitment to that is fundamental and essential to ensure that this great experiment of the united states, a free people governing ourselves and succeed. Mr.
▶ 0:40:49Sen. Moody: Blanche believes every individual deserves competent represented whether the full -- when the full weight of the government is against them. It does not just take resources but individuals who will step up like john adams once dead. It was during his defense work that he saw the danger of prosecutor oil -- rusted -- prosecutorial excess.
▶ 0:41:14Sen. Moody: As the wife of a law enforcement officer and a prosecutor myself and a judge for over a decade we discussed and I know he felt that every time the credibility of one of our institutions that should have been respected and revered was attacked it felt like a gut punch. And I am sure you had a client that was attacked and I also -- it was also the credibility of the system as a whole that affected you as a lawyer but of a person with convictions that knows what it takes for a free democratic society to survive.
▶ 0:41:46Sen. Moody: When most people would have turned away in the face of overwhelming adversity or personal risk Mr. blanche stood up for what he knew was right. Regardless of the pressure that he faced, or the criticisms he received in the media, he had the integrity to fulfill his duty not only to president trump, but fulfill what he believed was the promise of our nation.
▶ 0:42:10Sen. Moody: And, as everyone witnessed, his counsel was robust and showcased his talent as an attorney and convictions as a person. What began with defending president trump in a single case became an impression -- impressive effort against the surge of lawfare.
▶ 0:42:39Sen. Moody: He announced his attention -- his intention, built on the trust and confidence that Mr. trump has in Mr. blanche's legal acumen and personal experience. At a time where americans faced danger from organized crime, drug traffickers and when americans' trust in the judicial system is at an all-time low.
▶ 0:43:02Sen. Moody: I believe he has the strength and integrity to steer the department of justice in the right direction and the perceived rep denies asian of the government -- weaponize asian of the government. And that is protecting americans and their white -- rights and restoring faith in the just decision. Do not just take my word for it. That would be enough. There is no one better that we could listen to or take the word for than those he worked with throughout his career.
▶ 0:43:29Sen. Moody: He was even at times from a different party and he served under different presidents, and I think we should listen to them. 100 southern district of new york alumni wrote to the committee -- to the committee to convey strong report -- strong support. They cover the gamut of intellectual, political and legal ideologies. But they were united in their support for him being the next deputy attorney general.
▶ 0:43:57Sen. Moody: From the earliest stages of his professional life he dedicated -- he demonstrated a love of and dedication to the department of justice, to do the right thing and do them the right way. We were fortunate to work with todd and shows how he puts the court values of --c core values of respect, excellence and a fierce dedication to fairness under law and practice. He is deeply intelligent and has excellent judgment.
▶ 0:44:26Sen. Moody: Most importantly he has a fundamentally good and decent man. Time and time again we saw him strive to be dashed strive to do the right thing. In one of his greatest strengths was well earned trust and confidence that he would help them make the right decisions. The motto of the united states department of justice is in latin but it says for who lady justice prosecutes. And I assure you that that is todd blanche.
▶ 0:44:55Sen. Moody: His allegiance will lie with lady justice and no one else. It is his belief in this country and the principles that it was founded on that guides him in everything he does and every decision that he has made over the entire course of his career. It will take a strong course of conviction to guide the day-to-day activities. It might just take an ironman, and I believe we have that man sitting with us today. I commend president for nominating him.
▶ 0:45:24Sen. Moody: Chairman grassley and ranking member durbin and colleagues, I am honored to advise the committee that he should receive a speedy consent to become the next deputy attorney general of the united states.
▶ 0:45:35Chair Grassley: Thank you senator moody. For the benefit of people on my side of the aisle. I want to announce that at 11:00 there are two votes. I'm going to go and vote at the beginning of the first vote and vote at the end of the second vote. So, whoever is here when I am not here in seniority basis, it is your responsibility to take over.
▶ 0:46:00Chair Grassley: Now I called to the table our two nominees. And do not sit down yet. Because, I would like to give an oath. Would you please raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony that you are about to give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? Then, please be seated.
▶ 0:46:32Chair Grassley: I will start with Mr. blanche and then Ms. slater. Before you give your statement, if you want introduce family and friends, that is a tradition in this committee.
▶ 0:46:47Mr. Blanche: Thank you. Thank you very much and good morning. Good morning to everyone, good morning chairman grassley, ranking member durbin and thank you senator moody for your kind introduction. Thank you all for welcoming me here today. This nomination is my american dream.
▶ 0:47:09Mr. Blanche: I am humbled by president trump's trust in me to execute the duties of the deputy attorney general in our nation's top law enforcement office. I have worked and will continue to work every single day to maintain the trust of those that I represent. As a prosecutor, I have held the trust of the citizens of the united states. In private practice I earned the trust of my clients.
▶ 0:47:38Mr. Blanche: If I am lucky enough to be confirmed, I will earn, protect and honor the trust of our shared constituency, the american people. The united states department of justice must protect the nation and its people and keep our communities safe and secure. We must secure our borders and we must protect all of our rights and freedoms. I would, senator and chairman like to introduce some folks here with me today.
▶ 0:48:09Mr. Blanche: I am joined by my wife and my daughter. And my granddaughter. My son and his girlfriend, alexis. My parents, pam and richard. I would say that the second ironman that I completed, my father did it with me at the age of 71 years old. My mother-in-law, regina and I have many friends and family with me as well.
▶ 0:48:34Mr. Blanche: And I think all of them for coming here for their support not only for today over the past several years. I also know that my older sister and my father are watching out for me from above and they have big smiles on their faces today. It has been mentioned but I do want to recognize the deals -- the two judges I was lucky enough to clerk four, judge danny chen and judge joseph f. Bianco.
▶ 0:49:05Mr. Blanche: They are very close friends of mine and I thank them for their mentorship and teaching me the foundational principles of how to be a good lawyer and a good person. I am definitely not a washington insider. My limited experience in this town is from when I attended american university, waited tables and worked as an intern at a -- in the department of justice and later as a paralegal back in the late 90's.
▶ 0:49:34Mr. Blanche: Soon after that, as it has been mentioned a few times already, I moved to new york with my wife and two small children to attend law school at night while supporting them. I worked during the day as a paralegal at the southern district of new york. And the first time I saw a federal prosecutor given opening statement back in may in 1999i knew that I wanted to be an assistant united states attorney.
▶ 0:50:01Mr. Blanche: To make that dream a reality I had to work hard and give it everything I had. I was a young father with two babies at home and I was reading law school textbooks on the train during my three hour commute every day. I know this is not the typical path to become this, but that is a beauty of this office in this country.
▶ 0:50:26Mr. Blanche: With hard work and focus anybody with any background has the opportunity to succeed. During my time as an ausa I prosecuted many different types of crime but my primary focus was prosecuting violent gang members. This work gave me a unique insight into the scourge of violent crime and violent gangs. They obliterate neighborhoods and instill fear and entire communities and they in store -- destroy lives.
▶ 0:50:59Mr. Blanche: This is especially true of transnational gangs that have exploited open border policies to expand their dangerous and murderous operations in communities across the country. These criminals operate with impunity to traffic women and children, kill innocent bystanders, flood our streets with illicit and deadly drugs and erode the fabric of law & order. President trump has repeatedly pledged to crush these gangs, and we will.
▶ 0:51:30Mr. Blanche: Indeed, I have watched with optimism and approval how the department of justice has shifted its priorities to focus on violence, transnational gangs, drugs feeling an epidemic of overdoses and the open borders that allow criminals to infiltrate our country. If terror -- if confirmed I continue -- I intend to continue the mission started on january 20 with a clear goal.
▶ 0:51:57Mr. Blanche: Gangs, terrorists, and those who aid and harbor them will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is important to remember, though, that while the department of justice can save lives it can also ruin lives. I will always keep this fact in mind. And politics should never play a role in the department of justice. But, recently in too many circumstances, it has.
▶ 0:52:27Mr. Blanche: Prosecutors in this country have predicated entire campaigns on targeting rivals. We saw cases like the one brought in manhattan against paul manafort in 2019, a blatantly illegal indictment filed by an elected local prosecutor which was thankfully and swiftly thrown out.
▶ 0:52:47Mr. Blanche: And more recently I have stood next to and defended president trump as partisan prosecutors and politicians abused our legal system in completely unprecedented ways to fulfill a political agenda which was prosecuting and attacking president trump. My faith in this country returned in full force on november 5 when the american people rejected this gross abuse of our justice system.
▶ 0:53:15Mr. Blanche: Partisan law fair wastes taxpayer money, makes communities left safe and ruins lives. They should never happen in america. America deserves better and it will stop now.
▶ 0:53:28Mr. Blanche: We will work to restore the american people's faith in our justice system, focusing the department of justice on the criminals who undermined our safety and destroy our lives and on protecting citizens rights and ensuring that the government can do the job that the voters chose freight to do rather than on scoring political points or pursuing political enemies. We will allow the justice department lawyers and law enforcement partners to go back to simply doing the right thing.
▶ 0:54:00Mr. Blanche: The justice department includes some of the very best of the very best. People who wake up every day with the singular goal of keeping our streets and borders safe and protecting our liberties. I am excited for the opportunity to lead them along with attorney general bondi. I love this country deeply and I love the department of justice. Thank you for the opportunity to be considered today for the position of deputy attorney general and I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:54:33Ms. Slater: Thank you chairman. Ranking member, and members of the senate judiciary committee. It is truly an honor to be here today and I look forward to looking -- to working with you and your staff should I be confirmed. I would like to pay a special tribute chairman glass -- grassley for iowa, which is well known for not letting snow get in the way of other people's business.
▶ 0:54:59Ms. Slater: I would like to knowledge my family, my husband lindsay slater, my sons liam and conor and my mother. Without them none of this happens. My father oliver and my siblings and my husband's family. My husband grew up on a rants -- ranch in oregon.
▶ 0:55:24Ms. Slater: My family has lived on capitol hill for 20 years this year and our community is well represented by my friends and former colleagues. I cherish them and thank them for being here, despite the snow. Finally, I would like to acknowledge and thank president trump for having the confidence in me to lead the doj antitrust division. This is my second tour working for the president and I look forward and playing a part in fulfilling the historic mandate for the american people.
▶ 0:55:53Ms. Slater: Senators, I am a proud and grateful american. As of such I have lived the american experience. -- experiment. If I've learned one thing it is that americans cherish liberty in a profound way. In our constitutional republic, american citizens can speak their minds, and invent new technologies free from unwarranted interference. These freedoms are not guaranteed in so many countries around the world. Quite the opposite.
▶ 0:56:23Ms. Slater: And so they must be cherished and offended by us all. For centuries, americans have stood for freedom from government interference, both at home and abroad. Online the kids call government interference tyranny.gov. Americans find themselves concerned about incursions on private liberty which something that the president and his family have experienced firsthand. As some has pointed out, while nobody wants tyranny.gov.
▶ 0:56:55Ms. Slater: Tyranny.com is not much better. When you have grown to appreciate the personal liberty and economic liberty are closely connected and in many ways they are two sides of the same coin. Americans have come to see that economic liberty often hinges on competitive markets. Fortunately, congress has faced this issue before. And we already have a solution to hand.
▶ 0:57:21Ms. Slater: As long ago as 1890, republican and democrat lawmakers understood this fundamental truth about the meaning of american liberty when they passed the sherman act. As republican senator sherman said, monopolies are inconsistent with our form of government. If we will not enter a king as a political power, we should not endure a king over the production, transportation and sale of the necessary parts of life.
▶ 0:57:50Ms. Slater: These gilded age lawmakers understood that free markets are not truly free without an effective backstop. And for them that was robust antitrust enforcement. I should also note that the senate passed the sherman act by a vote of 51-1. In meetings before this hearing, a number of you flagged your antitrust priorities with me.
▶ 0:58:16Ms. Slater: And you also asked me about my antitrust enforcement experience and philosophy should I be confirmed. As to my experience, I am fortunate to have a career that spans several decades and I am eager to bring this to the doj. I spent the first 15 years of my career practicing antitrust law in private practice and at the federal trade commission.
▶ 0:58:38Ms. Slater: For the past 10 years I have worked mostly in the private sector with two tours in government, first at the national economic council at the white house and more recently for vice president vance in the senate. The common thread in my common sector work -- I private sector work was technology. I will bring a deep understanding of the markets to the doj. Of course the doj antitrust division does not just focus on the technology markets.
▶ 0:59:09Ms. Slater: Rather the work includes investigating and when appropriate challenging both civil and criminal conduct across the U.S. economy. My work at the federal trade commission spanned many industries including pharmaceuticals, retail and several sectors in between. At the white house I work to support the wireless industry's efforts to deploy 5g and to strengthen wireless supply chains from foreign adversaries.
▶ 0:59:36Ms. Slater: There I saw firsthand the important role that private sector plays creating jobs, economic growth and national security for all americans. As for my enforcement philosophy , I would turn to president trump's truth social post nominating me last december. According to the president, "the goal of the doj antitrust division will be to ensure that the law is enforced both vigorously and fairly with clear rules.
▶ 1:00:05Ms. Slater: If we follow that formula we will have played a role in preserving the kind of economic liberty congress stood for when it passed the antitrust laws. In some, we will have progressed towards the goal to make america competitive again. Finally, I would also like to highlight the role played by each of your states in antitrust enforcement.
▶ 1:00:29Ms. Slater: As ag bondi emphasized, she will make it a priority to work with state law enforcement across all doj components. And I want to underscore this commitment from ag bondi as it relates to the antitrust division. This is an important point because the division has before it several cases to which both republican and democrat state ag's including most of your states are parties.
▶ 1:01:00Ms. Slater: I am excited to work with the state enforcers as well as the hard-working men and women of the antitrust division to deliver results for american consumers from california to florida and, I thank you for your attention and look forward to answering your questions.
▶ 1:01:37Chair Grassley: Fbi emails and other records to the public regarding arctic frost, the case against rump. Those records show that anti-trump fbi agent drafted, opened and advance the information that became the basis of jack smith's electoral case. The records further show that the work was done in violation of the fbi rules.
▶ 1:02:07Chair Grassley: The government is supposed to produce impeachment evidence to the defense counsels. So, did the government produce emails and records between d bowl and his team of agents to the defense counsel including the ones that I recently made public?
▶ 1:02:24Mr. Blanche: No, senator.
▶ 1:02:26Chair Grassley: Ok. You represented president trump against both jack smith's lawfare cases. During the course of those cases, the defense counsel raised issues involving doj and prosecutorial misconduct. Beyond that which is public already, are you able to share with this committee additional examples of alleged justice department misconduct?
▶ 1:02:55Mr. Blanche: Thank you. Yes. For sure. Two things come to mind. The first, and a lot of this is actually public. If you look long and hard, never reported. The first is that when president trump was indicted in florida, first.
▶ 1:03:16Mr. Blanche: The prosecutors in that case initially asked the court to not allow president trump the defendant in that case, to see the documents that he was charged with. To see the evidence against him. The initial submission said they did not think that the former president of the united states had a right to see the evidence against him. That is something that even terrorists get to see to some extent.
▶ 1:03:44Mr. Blanche: Secondly, three months later when president trump was indicted in D.C., the prosecutors in that case asked the judge to start a trial december 11 of the same year. Notwithstanding the fact that jack smith knew that he was producing over 11 terabytes of discovery to president trump and the defendants.
▶ 1:04:10Mr. Blanche: He also knew that president trump was going to be on a trial in new york, a civil trial brought by the ag in new york for much of the fall and that he already had a trial scheduled in manhattan to start nearly spring. He also knew that judge cannon had already scheduled an evidentiary hearing the same day in florida that they wanted the trial to start in D.C.. Notwithstanding all of that, that was their position.
▶ 1:04:41Mr. Blanche: Chairman, the frustration and if I am frustrating, I continue to be, is at the department of justice knew that that was happening and nobody stopped it or stepped in and said this is not the way we do things. They let jack smith do it.
▶ 1:04:59Mr. Blanche: There are other examples when the supreme court decided the immunity decision on july 1, jack smith went right back to the grand jury and removed nothing from the indictment and filed another charge. The department of justice stood by and let that happen. That I think was a gross miscarriage of justice, chairman.
▶ 1:05:21Mr. Blanche: Later on in september, once again, they filed a brief that has never been filed in any case in united states criminal department of justice history. They just filed something and there was no motion pending. They knew it was a month and a half before the election as a filed a brief that had no basis in the federal rules or criminal procedure. Apparently they got permission or clearance from the department of justice to do that.
▶ 1:05:52Mr. Blanche: So, those are the two examples that come to mind when asked about what happens and to this day, I think that was a travesty of justice.
▶ 1:06:02Chair Grassley: Ms. slater, so I can get a couple questions to you, answer this first one, fairly short. Although it is important for another longer answer. If confirmed, what will be your top priority in the antitrust division?
▶ 1:06:22Ms. Slater: Thank you. As the president said, the task is to apply the antitrust laws vigorously and fairly with clear rules of the road for all.
▶ 1:06:35Chair Grassley: I am very concerned about the rising cost of prescription drugs and I believe the consolidation in the health care industry and anti-competitive practices by both branded and generic drug companies as well as pharmacy benefit managers contribute to these high costs. I hope that I can count on you to address the anti-competitive practices of these industries.
▶ 1:07:03Chair Grassley: The three biggest companies have 85% and most of them are owned by insurance companies. It seems to me that there is something anti-competitive there. I will not ask you for a commitment but I will ask you to look at that, and you will take company that she will take steps to make sure that those rules are abided by. I would like to get back to Mr. blanche.
▶ 1:07:32Chair Grassley: The " new york times" said that many people in the legal community ask "why would he ever take the case?" meeting the trump case. So, and we know that you suffered, you got kicked out of your law firm as what I understand. What did you learn from your representation of president trump?
▶ 1:07:58Mr. Blanche: Well, representing president trump was the greatest job I have ever had. I think if I am confirmed, my new job will surpass that. It is a greatest job I ever had. It is an honor and I learned a ton. It opened my eyes what happens when politics takes the place of justice. And both you and the ranking member talked about this.
▶ 1:08:24Mr. Blanche: I could not agree more that politics should never pick -- play a part in the department of justice. I saw with my own eyes with the manhattan case and I saw in the georgia case and both of jack smith's prosecutions and elected officials trying to keep president trump off of the ballot. It opened my eyes to something I had not seen when I was just a prosecutor in new york trying to put gang members in jail.
▶ 1:08:48Chair Grassley: Thank you both.
▶ 1:08:49Sen. Durbin: Thank you senator grassley. Mr. blanche, have you seen videos of the january 6 2021 assault on the united states capitol building?
▶ 1:08:59Mr. Blanche: Yes.
▶ 1:09:00Sen. Durbin: Have you seen instances where the crowd that was trying to break its way into the capital assaulted our police officers?
▶ 1:09:08Mr. Blanche: Yes. I have seen some of those videos.
▶ 1:09:12Sen. Durbin: Have you seen indications that one police officer they were trying to crush in the doorway that was shown over and over again?
▶ 1:09:20Mr. Blanche: I am sure it has. It does not come to mind.
▶ 1:09:24Sen. Durbin: You saw perhaps the demonstrators crashed through the window with some sort of shield to gain entry into the U.S. capitol?
▶ 1:09:33Mr. Blanche: Yes. I believe I have seen that one.
▶ 1:09:37Sen. Durbin: So as a former prosecutor, when you saw those scenes did it cross your mind that they should be investigated?
▶ 1:09:44Mr. Blanche: Absolutely. Assault of law enforcement, any sort of assault by anybody should never be tolerated and should be investigated.
▶ 1:09:54Sen. Durbin: What is your opinion of the federal bureau of investigation?
▶ 1:09:59Mr. Blanche: What is my opinion? I think the federal bureau of investigation is one of the greatest law enforcement offices in the world.
▶ 1:10:08Sen. Durbin: If you are going to have a federal prosecution of the people who assaulted the capital it would be understandable that you would turn to fbi agent to conduct the investigation. True?
▶ 1:10:19Mr. Blanche: Yes.
▶ 1:10:20Sen. Durbin: Of course, during the course of conducting the largest criminal investigation in the history of department of justice, it is no surprise that some 5000 agents were called out of assigned duties to investigate the crimes?
▶ 1:10:35Mr. Blanche: A lot of fbi agents is my understanding. They were part of that investigation.
▶ 1:10:41Sen. Durbin: Do you understand what is going on now? They are asking for the names of all of the agents engaged in that investigation be disclosed. Are you aware of that?
▶ 1:10:51Mr. Blanche: I am not.
▶ 1:10:53Sen. Durbin: Well, it is fact. And the defendants in the situation, the fbi agent's attorneys have asked them to this -- to suppress the disclosure of that information publicly.
▶ 1:11:07Mr. Blanche: I have read I suppose I sent -- the same articles and memos that you are speaking about. I do not believe disclosure is on the table. Providing the names was requested by the department of justice, which the fbi is a component agent of.
▶ 1:11:23Sen. Durbin: Why?
▶ 1:11:24Mr. Blanche: I am not there. According to the memos that I have read that have now become public, it is to better understand what went wrong. Because in president trump's view, something went wrong in that investigation.
▶ 1:11:39Sen. Durbin: Something went wrong in the capital too. As we had to vacate the senate chamber, as the secret service pulled the vice president out of his chair in front of all of us as we were executing our constitutional spots ability to count electoral votes. The president certainly focused on the investigation, but what about the mob that stormed the capital.
▶ 1:12:05Sen. Durbin: I am just wondering, in this situation, how you can justify disclosing the identities of these individuals, many of whom were given an assignment. Didn't you tell me that when you are the U.S. attorney you do not have the luxury of picking the cases you were just told that is what you will do.
▶ 1:12:25Mr. Blanche: That is true.
▶ 1:12:26Sen. Durbin: Do you believe it was different from the agents investigating january 6?
▶ 1:12:32Mr. Blanche: The only thing I am questioning is the word disclosure. I am not aware of an effort by the department of justice or anybody to disclose those names to the public. I am not there. From what I have read, the requirement and the ask was to provide information to the department of justice.
▶ 1:12:51Sen. Durbin: Are you familiar with the president's decision for a blanket pardon for those who were convicted of crimes on january 6 at the U.S. capitol?
▶ 1:13:01Mr. Blanche: I am aware that he pardoned everybody paris -- pardoned everybody, or commuted some sentences.
▶ 1:13:08Sen. Durbin: All of them. The first defendant to stand trial on charges related to the capital insurrection. Sentenced to 87 months in prison for bringing a firearm into the capital that day. His 19-year-old son jackson turned him into law enforcement after the attack. Jackson indicated that he had been threatened to that he had threatened to shoot him our his sister.
▶ 1:13:33Sen. Durbin: After receiving the pardon from president trump, he attended kash patel's nomination hearing and here's what he posted afterwards. "present and in support of kash patel as the leftist commies spew their lies, misinformation and disinformation.
▶ 1:13:55Sen. Durbin: My man, clean house kash." can you understand why the fbi agent would be let -- reluctant to disclose not only their names but the locations of their families? In an effort to justify keeping their jobs if this kind of person is on the loose?
▶ 1:14:12Mr. Blanche: I am not aware of that being asked of any fbi agent or their families.
▶ 1:14:17Sen. Durbin: Let me lay it on the table. If you are prepared to say that if your nomination is approved that you would stop any effort to disclose this information that might jeopardize the safety of fbi agent's?
▶ 1:14:29Mr. Blanche: The safety of the agents is important. I cannot sit here and commit to anything around or beyond that statement that we will never do anything to put the lives of the family or the agents of the federal investigation in danger.
▶ 1:14:45Sen. Durbin: Meeting with the agent representatives it is a real fear on their part, this political system is being used to purify the fbi by the president.
▶ 1:15:04Mr. Blanche: That is not my reading of what is happening. I was not part of the memo or discussions.from what I read , it is not a purge. It is collecting info so what happened doesn't happen again.
▶ 1:15:24Sen. Durbin: It has never happened before. These agents have given their lives to the agency. What if the next president disagrees with president trump's immigration policy? Are we going to be held responsible again to disclose our names?
▶ 1:15:45Mr. Blanche: It has happened before. The fbi is a component of the doj. The doj is seeking information about an investigation. I agree with you, there has never been an investigation as large as the one for january 6 but that the doj doesn't have oversight of the fbi, I can't believe this is the first time
▶ 1:16:18Mr. Blanche: The doj has asked for names.
▶ 1:16:18Sen. Durbin: 5000 agents involved in this investigation. I don't think there is any person, the impact on morale and operation of the agency will not benefit the safety of americans.
▶ 1:16:38Chair Grassley: Senator lee.
▶ 1:16:41Sen. Lee: Thank you. You had a distinguished career as a federal prosecutor. At doj you received an award for superior performance for your work on united states versus lead. Prosecuting a gang for narcotics trafficking, armed robbery and murders.
▶ 1:17:11Sen. Lee: Over the last four years, we've seen a crime wave, a violent crime wave across the country. If confirmed, how would you address these issues?
▶ 1:17:25Mr. Blanche: To empower U.S. attorneys around this country, to work with federal agencies, fbi, dea, atf, state and local partners, inner cities and rural communities combating violent crime can work. We have a lot of money, great agents, prosecutors who want to work.
▶ 1:17:52Mr. Blanche: Going into a city and cleaning it up, some of those cases will go to state, some federal. Working with state and local partners, empowering U.S. attorneys to do the job is the shortest, easiest way.
▶ 1:18:10Sen. Lee: You spent much of your career doing that from a different level. Antitrust enforcement. There's often a comparison in which people view antitrust law through the lens of regulation or enforcement.
▶ 1:18:36Sen. Lee: Strong enforcement of antitrust can often obviate the need for regulation, but proactively deterring companies from taking actions that would otherwise run them afoul of the law. Your distinction between enforcement and regulation on antitrust?
▶ 1:18:58Ms. Slater: Important point. From my standpoint, regulation is often necessitated by a high concentration in certain markets. That's when regulators step in. I trust enforcement, but to a we used to stop those markets from tipping into the need for regulation.
▶ 1:19:25Ms. Slater: If I could compare them to tools, antitrust enforcement is a scalpel. Regulation is a sledgehammer. It applies to entire industries all at once whereas antitrust is a scalpel, targeted enforcement and requires evidence of anticompetitive conduct in harm to consumers.
▶ 1:19:49Sen. Lee: By embracing enforcement, we can achieve better outcomes, compliance and overall end up with lower enforcement costs by the government?
▶ 1:20:01Ms. Slater: 100%.
▶ 1:20:04Sen. Lee: Mr. blanche, private practice, representing a variety of clients, individuals, entities -- the experience, you have interacted with somebody who serves as the mouthpiece of the government, therefore of the
▶ 1:20:36Sen. Lee: Client. As a lawyer, you are always acting as a client. One of the important features involves learning how to tell a client no when the answer isn't there and when the answer is no, guiding the client to the best resource, approach under the law consistent with principles of the sound practice of law.
▶ 1:21:04Sen. Lee: How will this guide and inform your work if confirmed?
▶ 1:21:08Mr. Blanche: If you are in a room with a client or lawyer, you always yes that person, you are not doing your job. Private practice, the same is true. You are not going to agree with your client on everything. They are not going to agree with you on everything. The goal is to counsel them to achieve best results.
▶ 1:21:37Mr. Blanche: That's what I learned over the past 10 years as a defense attorney. That will help me if I am confirmed.
▶ 1:21:45Sen. Lee: Makes sense. The same principles apply in meaningful ways. During president trump's first term, doj and ftc launched investigations into big companies including google, apple, meta and amazon for anticompetitive conduct.
▶ 1:22:08Sen. Lee: The biden administration continued those cases which had bipartisan support, certainly within the senate, and the house. Those cases are ongoing. How will you continue to hold big tech accountable when it comes to antitrust?
▶ 1:22:28Ms. Slater: There is a through line in many big tech cases between first trump and today. Being handed over to me at doj, specifically are two cases involving google. I don't have the file in front of me. It is pending litigation.
▶ 1:22:53Ms. Slater: However, intention is in good faith to visit with staff, get up to speed and take it from there. Resources are important in antitrust litigation. In taking cases further, it is complex and costly. That would be consideration. Intention is once I get there to read into all the open litigation.
▶ 1:23:23Sen. Lee: You have borne testimony today based on personal experience and others observed. What has happened with the politicization within the doj, the deployment of lawfare, to try and imprison the then incumbent president's obstacle to another four years in the
▶ 1:23:53Sen. Lee: White house -- what would you do to end that dangerous precedent?
▶ 1:23:58Mr. Blanche: Politics will play no role. . Full stop, period. Cannot happen. What we saw the past several years was something inconsistent with that concept. The country sought. I saw it firsthand.
▶ 1:24:20Mr. Blanche: The damage it did and I think it continues right up until november 5 was hard and it will take a long time to grab credibility back but the way is to have politics played no role.
▶ 1:24:41Sen. Whitehouse: My questions are for Mr. blanche. We have seen at doj secret opinions so shoddy that when they came to light they had to be withdrawn by the doj.
▶ 1:25:02Sen. Whitehouse: As the deputy attorney general, will you countenance secret olc opinions so shoddy that when they come to light they have to be withdrawn?
▶ 1:25:14Mr. Blanche: I am aware what I believe you are speaking about. Olc is powerful. They have an important role.
▶ 1:25:24Sen. Whitehouse: I have short time. I appreciate it if you answer the question as quickly as possible.
▶ 1:25:32Mr. Blanche: I cannot comment on what I will possibly do. I do not think olc opinions should be shoddy.
▶ 1:25:44Sen. Whitehouse: It's a pretty good sign that they were when the department has to withdraw them?
▶ 1:25:50Mr. Blanche: I cannot speak to -- Sen. whitehouse: we have seen doj efforts to fire U.S. attorneys for refusing to do political prosecutions, a standoff that led to the resignation of attorney general gonzales. Will you countenance efforts to fire or discipline attorneys for refusing to do political prosecution?
▶ 1:26:11Mr. Blanche: Political prosecutions should never happen.
▶ 1:26:15Sen. Whitehouse: There is a context policy that has existed for decades between the white house and doj limiting who can talk to each other about ongoing cases, took a very few, senior officials on both sides. Will you maintain and enforce that policy?
▶ 1:26:38Mr. Blanche: I am aware of the policy. I have not discussed it with the attorney general. I am aware of the benefits of it and I will discuss it with general bondi. I don't see any reason why you would not continue.
▶ 1:26:55Sen. Whitehouse: Recently at the environment of natural resources division, multiple section chiefs were reassigned away from environmental enforcement to sanctuary cities stuff. Evidently other lawyers in that division have been put on leave without explanation.
▶ 1:27:26Sen. Whitehouse: Can you think of a reason why somebody who was expert in environmental law, adds value to a sanctuary cities legal effort?
▶ 1:27:37Mr. Blanche: I know nothing about what happened or why. I will not speculate, if it happened.
▶ 1:27:44Sen. Whitehouse: Whether the government can commandeer municipal efforts, federal government, -- does the clean air act figure into that, the clean water act, endangered species act, does that figure in any way?
▶ 1:28:06Mr. Blanche: I don't know. I cannot answer that question --
▶ 1:28:12Sen. Whitehouse: It's hard to think of a way?
▶ 1:28:16Mr. Blanche: I will not agree on something I literally know nothing about.
▶ 1:28:21Sen. Whitehouse: Here is why am asking you. The fossil fuel industry has on record contributed $100 million to trump's political campaign in the last election. That's just what we know. The dark money side is nothing but question marks. The number could be five times that.
▶ 1:28:51Sen. Whitehouse: To me, there is no plausible reason for adding environmental law experts to a sanctuary cities workforce. What it looks like is what is being done here is that the environmental cops are being cleaned out so polluters have way more ability to push doj and get away with pollution.
▶ 1:29:16Sen. Whitehouse: I would like to hear from you what you think the role of the doj is in pursuing environmental crimes and whether you will see to it there is a continuing robust effort to do that?
▶ 1:29:30Mr. Blanche: I will commit to following the law to the extent there is polluters violating the law, they should be investigated.
▶ 1:29:42Sen. Whitehouse: Fine in theory. But when the people who know this stuff best, when the division that those this work has effectively been decapitated and the remaining legal workforce has to some degree, not clear yet, cannot get straight answers, been put on leave, what it looks like is that the doors have been opened at doj for big polluters to come through and pollute without
▶ 1:30:13Sen. Whitehouse: Consequence because the cops who stand on that beat have all been moved away. I would urge you to keep an eye on that. I can promise you I will be keeping an eye on that. You represented president trump. You have obligations to him. Lawyer.
▶ 1:30:32Sen. Whitehouse: I will not ask you to respond to this, you will almost certainly disagree but the narrative developed around here that the reason president trump was prosecuted was because of a massive fraud and corruption effort in the fbi and doj. In my view, not the most plausible explanation.
▶ 1:30:56Sen. Whitehouse: The other possibility why trump was charged with crimes is because he committed crimes and in fact he's been convicted of committing crimes in every case that was allowed to go to judgment, as best I can keep track.
▶ 1:31:15Sen. Whitehouse: Before this narrative of corruption, weaponization gets completely out of control, I do want to make the point there is another possible explanation and it is that the guy committed crimes.
▶ 1:31:35Mr. Blanche: I very much disagree.
▶ 1:31:37Sen. Whitehouse: As I expected you would, as his lawyer.
▶ 1:31:41Mr. Blanche: Not just as his lawyer.
▶ 1:31:44Sen. Whitehouse: Time is up. >> let me give you a chance to do some talking. We are living through a wave of concentration in industry, 2000 5-2020, concentration released by 50% accelerating post-covid. From an antitrust perspective, is this something to be concerned about?
▶ 1:32:12Ms. Slater: I haven't seen this chart before but I have no reason to disbelieve its accuracy and I would agree it is troubling.
▶ 1:32:21Sen. Hawley: We have seen industry concentration in pharmaceuticals, meatpacking, important in my state to our ranchers and farmers, and other aspects of agriculture. Would you agree, it doesn't matter which industry, concentration to monopoly in any industry is a cause for concern?
▶ 1:32:46Ms. Slater: Yes.
▶ 1:32:48Sen. Hawley: That would include the tech sector. Concentration in tech, the standard doj uses to measure concentration now has that level as high as it has ever been as of '23, the 99th percentile. He spoke eloquently about the dangers to personal liberty from the concentration of economic power.
▶ 1:33:20Sen. Hawley: Is that true in the tech sector? The concentration of power is a threat to personal liberty?
▶ 1:33:27Ms. Slater: Yes. There are a growing number of people who see the exercise of private power as connected to the economic power of the companies involved.
▶ 1:33:44Sen. Hawley: Why economic concentration in the hands of private monopolies can be a threat to personal liberties?
▶ 1:34:00Ms. Slater: Example, the business of de-thanking and de- platforming, in the banking and the tech sector is something we have seen with increasing intensity in the past five years. I could provide concrete examples. You are aware of them, probably everyone in the room.
▶ 1:34:30Ms. Slater: A lot of people see that as a function of there may be only two players in a given into street -- in a given industry.
▶ 1:34:42Sen. Hawley: If you have a concentration of power in three hands, the agenda the monopolists wants to pursue and related to price-fixing, gouging or whether an agenda with a political valence, maybe they will say if you have particular ideological commitments, that becomes quite acute when you don't have any other choices?
▶ 1:35:10Ms. Slater: Yes. You are beyond a layman in antitrust. Another practical application of the kind of conduct is, is this just to de-politicize the issue? This is a growing concern. It prevents workers from switching jobs easily.
▶ 1:35:39Ms. Slater: That is quite prevalent in markets that are highly concentrated.
▶ 1:35:41Sen. Hawley: Any reason to think concern over the concentration in tech and its effect on personal liberty would be diminished in the age of ai?
▶ 1:35:54Ms. Slater: We are in the early stages of ai. It is nascent. I wouldn't want to make that call yet. There are commentators who see the emergence of highly concentrated markets, can parts of the ai technology stack.
▶ 1:36:19Sen. Hawley: I'm concerned about it, about what the emergence of ai and monopoly power in ai will mean for american consumers. Senator blumenthal and I worked for the past two years hearing from people like sam altman.
▶ 1:36:38Sen. Hawley: Issue after issue, whether the ability of parents to protect their children's personal information, virtually impossible in the age of ai when these companies are scooping up every piece of data and there is nothing a parent can do to stop it, whether the creation of deepfake pornography, you get someone's picture off the internet, a child's picture off facebook and use it to create pornographic images, nothing that a parent or victim can do to stop it, nothing that any of
▶ 1:37:11Sen. Hawley: Us can do to protect their personal data at all and where is this power concentrated? In the hands of people who control ai. Sometimes we hear stories about ai will come down to the benefit of workers. I hope that is true. Who it is were downing to the benefit of right now for sure is the monopolists who largely control this sector.
▶ 1:37:33Sen. Hawley: Broadly speaking, what can antitrust enforcement do when it comes to protecting personal liberty?
▶ 1:37:43Ms. Slater: One outcome is it can deflect the need for regulation -- I liken antitrust to a scalpel and regulation a sledgehammer -- often, certainly it will lead to more competition and for your markets, that in turn will drive new entry and
▶ 1:38:14Ms. Slater: Increased innovation.
▶ 1:38:16Sen. Hawley: You got this right. Preventing power imbalances where three monopolists control all the info, they stifle competition. They can impose increased cost and harms on consumers. There's a massive power imbalance between these companies and average working americans.
▶ 1:38:40Sen. Hawley: I see what you are going to do important in antitrust enforcement which helps align concentrations and gives more power to americans. Allow me to editorialize. It is vital this body do everything we can to put more power back in the hands of individual americans. You talked about how enforcement suits could be a scalpel. Why not put the scalpel in the hands of everyday americans?
▶ 1:39:11Sen. Hawley: Why not open the court doors against these tech and ai companies to allow normal americans to bring suit against them to defend their rights and their personal information and their children's information? It is such a common sense solution. When sam altman sat where you are sitting and he said under oath, wait a minute. Are you saying a tech company cannot be sued?
▶ 1:39:40Sen. Hawley: I had to walk him through the fact that there is a massive shield that congress has given them. Special privileges no one else gets. Talk about enshrining a group of robber barons at the expense of the people. This has got to change. We have to get power back to individual americans to protect their rights. Antitrust enforcement is a critical part.
▶ 1:40:05Sen. Klobuchar: Very good. We have worked together on a number of these antitrust issues and I appreciated your comments and also about following the rule of law which I hope everyone watching this on c-span will also listen to in terms of following judges orders.
▶ 1:40:35Sen. Klobuchar: I appreciated our meeting and discussions and how you spoke with admiration for your colleagues at the southern district, new york's office as well as law enforcement. You served as the president's personal lawyer. The president has lawyers in the white house counsel's office that representing their.
▶ 1:41:06Sen. Klobuchar: Is the deputy attorney general the president's lawyer?
▶ 1:41:07Mr. Blanche: Now. -- no.
▶ 1:41:11Sen. Klobuchar: Last wednesday the attorney general issued a memo who said doj lawyers must be zealous advocates for clients interest and "to do otherwise deprives the president of the benefit of his lawyers." that concerned me, as it did my colleagues. She referred to the lawyers at doj, the president's lawyers as the president's lawyers. You were a prosecutor.
▶ 1:41:44Sen. Klobuchar: You said you were there on behalf of the U.S.?
▶ 1:41:45Mr. Blanche: For the government yes.
▶ 1:41:48Sen. Klobuchar: When you served in the southern district of new york during the bush and obama administrations, did you see yourself as their lawyers?
▶ 1:41:58Mr. Blanche: I did not.
▶ 1:41:59Sen. Klobuchar: Doj lawyers take an oath to the constitution. Isn't it true their client is the people of the U.S. and not the president?
▶ 1:42:11Mr. Blanche: True.
▶ 1:42:13Sen. Klobuchar: That's a guideline for both of you if confirmed, you have to ask yourself time and again. We talked about the work of the local U.S. attorneys and I told you about our minnesota U.S.
▶ 1:42:32Sen. Klobuchar: Attorney's office that through many presidents have functioned well and taken on the biggest cases in the country, recently led by andy lugar, who stepped down but the office has been instrumental in combating violent crimes, some of the major white-collar cases including the second-biggest case in the country. Fentanyl off the streets, human trafficking.
▶ 1:42:58Sen. Klobuchar: There's been an upsurge in the number of trials taken, making sure each one of them goes to court. Talk about how much of a priority it is to make sure we have good relationships and support for prosecutors in case agents.
▶ 1:43:16Mr. Blanche: Absolutely. The real work the department does that helps citizens that we work for is done at the U.S. attorney level, especially in violent crime. Empowering U.S.
▶ 1:43:32Mr. Blanche: Attorneys to work with federal agents, state and local partners to eradicate violent crime, the drug problem, it's not just a new city problem, it's rural communities, it's everywhere, should be a high priority. I agree with it.
▶ 1:43:53Sen. Klobuchar: Ms. slater, I am happy to geek out at any moment but first, do you agree antitrust enforcement should be free of political considerations or influence including from the white house?
▶ 1:44:13Ms. Slater: Yes.
▶ 1:44:15Sen. Klobuchar: I know you have made this pledge but I'm not confident the trump administration will not attempt to use antitrust -- you will be the one that will help make this decision as will Mr.
▶ 1:44:36Sen. Klobuchar: Blanche and I want to make sure they are not kidding involved as I believe happened in the last administration when donald trump was in charge to use their position as leverage regarding companies that oppose its agenda. The antitrust division should protect consumers and preserve competitive markets.
▶ 1:44:58Sen. Klobuchar: If you are asked to open an investigation or file a lawsuit for any reason other than legitimate enforcement purposes, can we count on you to rebuff those requests?
▶ 1:45:09Ms. Slater: I wouldn't disagree with the premise of the question. I don't anticipate.
▶ 1:45:17Sen. Klobuchar: Ok.
▶ 1:45:19Ms. Slater: I will follow the context that will be set in place by due course by senior leadership at doj.
▶ 1:45:29Sen. Klobuchar: I cannot tell you how important that will be. There is bipartisan support for the case is ongoing including google, wide nation, ticketmaster, apple. I asked ag bondi to commit to continuing these cases and she said yes. Will you commit to continue to process the antitrust cases moving forward?
▶ 1:45:57Ms. Slater: Subject to confirmation, not being in the building, my number one priority will be to read into the docket that is somewhat historic.
▶ 1:46:13Sen. Klobuchar: Very good. I worked with senator grassley to update corporate merger fees for the first time in 20 years. Before this went into effect, there were fewer employees, 350 fewer, working in antitrust than there were in 1979. I want to make sure you will continue to advocate for more resources for the department.
▶ 1:46:42Ms. Slater: Yes. That will be my job to be the lead advocate for resources for the doj antitrust division.
▶ 1:46:51Sen. Klobuchar: I have heard good things about your work from people on both sides of the aisle. I appreciate that. I think you know under the original trump administration -- these cases, big major cases to get at these monopoly problems and consolidation senator hawley and I focused on, I want to make
▶ 1:47:22Sen. Klobuchar: Sure you continue to have that commitment to carry through on that. We have such an opportunity to finally do something about this, if these cases are handled well. Where you carry through on that commitment?
▶ 1:47:34Ms. Slater: Yes, subject to confirmation, to having access to the file.
▶ 1:47:40Sen. Klobuchar: Very good. Thank you. >> appreciate you being willing to go through this today. We have looked forward to what you will bring to doj using your extensive careers to benefit the people and those institutions.
▶ 1:48:02Sen. Klobuchar: Antitrust is sometimes not a dinnertime conversation around america but many don't realize how that area of law and enforcement of law can affect everyday citizens and their pocketbooks. Antitrust is meant to ensure america has a free market and is meant to protect consumers?
▶ 1:48:33Ms. Slater: 100%.
▶ 1:48:35Sen. Moody: Each of our states has antitrust division of our own. Florida, we have an extensive division. We look at proposed mergers as you would as it would affect the competitive markets of our states.
▶ 1:48:56Sen. Moody: Like many things we scratched our head over the last four years, some things in the antitrust space caused us concern after rededicated time and effort to thoroughly reviewing proposed mergers and how it would affect our market. Your opinion about the jetblue/spirit merger. After that was announced, our state looked at that.
▶ 1:49:26Sen. Moody: We were concerned with the continuity of one of those entities. We saw the warning signs. We looked at data. We worked in advance to ensure using more routes, assurances about number of flights, how that would affect competition, what the interest was to compete with larger airlines -- all of that, we worked with them to assure we could provide a competitive market in florida.
▶ 1:49:55Sen. Moody: After that, federal government decided to object to that merger, take them to court. Not soon thereafter, one entity declared bankruptcy. Are you from the? -- are you familiar with that?
▶ 1:50:14Ms. Slater: Yes.
▶ 1:50:16Sen. Moody: Just what we feared would happen. The sixth and seventh largest airlines trying to combine to compete with the big four. I may get the exact numbers wrong but that was the aim, to provide more competition to consumers and members of our states in being able to travel. As a result, that anticipated ability to compete with larger airlines may not happen, do you agree?
▶ 1:50:45Ms. Slater: Yes.
▶ 1:50:46Sen. Moody: How do you view doj's working relationship with antitrust divisions within states and how do you believe we might work together to cooperate and communicate to ensure something like that doesn't happen ain?
▶ 1:51:04Ms. Slater: Communicate communicate communicate. It is my hope and belief antitrust enforcement is best in partnership with state attorneys general to extend in cases where relevant when you have local markets for example impacted by mergers, so on. It's very important.
▶ 1:51:35Ms. Slater: The state ag's bring to the table a different mindset. They are first responders often and see conduct in the marketplace before the feds in D.C. they play an important role. You have my commitment going forward we will be communicating hard with state ag partners. I am in touch with some of them.
▶ 1:51:59Sen. Moody: Your assurance to examine ways we could ensure remedies, other alternatives before we charge in and go to court to determine if we can assure competition without blowing up deals that may in fact result in more competition?
▶ 1:52:18Ms. Slater: Fair comment. Often remedies if done right and robust, the best assures for example -- to vested chairs for example, can allow mergers to proceed.
▶ 1:52:34Sen. Moody: Some other concerns. Americans were horrified watching the last four years as many areas in our nation, certain states have leadership, whether mayoral, county commission or lead prosecutors, some would call themselves top cops, deciding which laws shouldn't should not be enforced, which in many areas led to an explosion of crime.
▶ 1:53:04Sen. Moody: What is your opinion on how the federal government should step in, supplement, help areas where citizens suffer as a result of that agenda driven leadership? What are your ideas for how doj might be able to help citizens needing dedication to rule of law?
▶ 1:53:26Mr. Blanche: 100%, we have seen in major cities a lack of enforcement against violent crime. That has led to massive problems in the drug space where we have hundreds dying from overdoses, much less the violent crime with that industry. The federal government has a lot of power and laws. With that comes responsibility.
▶ 1:53:59Mr. Blanche: We have to work with state and local enforcement to help them do what they are empowered to do. That doesn't mean every case should go federal. To the contrary, most should not. If local enforcement feels they have a partner with us so when the right case comes around, whether a apartment complex or project that needs federal attention because of drug or violence problems, or an individual defendant who needs to be targeted because of the
▶ 1:54:30Mr. Blanche: Violence he is enacting in the community, that is what we should be doing. It is not necessarily hard. It's empowering U.S. attorneys to work with enforcement and local and state partners to get it done.
▶ 1:54:45Sen. Moody: Thank you. >> thank you for your commitment to public service. Mr. blanche, we talked yesterday. I'm convinced you are committed to the impartial and objective enforcement of the law and that ether those of the doj.
▶ 1:55:15Sen. Moody: You are going to be the one -- there will be times the president will ask you to do things that are illegal or immoral and I need to be sure you are willing to say no to the president of the U.S. when he does it.
▶ 1:55:33Mr. Blanche: I reject the premise. I don't think president trump will ask me to do anything illegal, tomorrow.
▶ 1:55:41Sen. Hickenlooper: If he does you would say no?
▶ 1:55:44Mr. Blanche: I will follow the law. Period. I have spent thousands of hours with president trump. I don't say that flippantly.
▶ 1:56:03Mr. Blanche: >> others have said the same thing and then been confronted by president trump with requests, orders, demands that they do things that were illegal or immoral. I welcome your commitment that you will follow the law.
▶ 1:56:21Mr. Blanche: Four people nominated by president trump to top roles at doj where his personal attorneys like yourself, attorney general bondi served on his legal team during his first impeachment, your law partner emil, has been appointed to be your principal deputy if confirmed and john slurve, argued the immunity case in front of the supreme court last year.
▶ 1:56:53Mr. Blanche: You will be the linchpin of defending the rule of law. A decision recently made by attorney general bondi, she expanded the foreign influence task force at fbi which combats efforts by foreign adversaries to interfere in american democracy. I was deeply disappointed she made the decision.
▶ 1:57:21Mr. Blanche: It reverses the 2017 decision of the trump administration to establish that foreign influence task force at fbi. Her disbanding it and announcement that she is going to scale back efforts to pursue lobbying efforts in her first day in office I also found discouraging.
▶ 1:57:52Mr. Blanche: Shouldn't we be ramping up enforcement of fara and countering foreign influence in this country? Which we have seen heightened during the past couple elections?
▶ 1:58:03Mr. Blanche: I don't know the reasoning behind ag bondi's decisions. I don't know -- I quibble with ramping up.
▶ 1:58:19Sen. Blumenthal: Intensified, increase because of the threat of misinformation and disinformation from iran, russia and china aimed at dividing our democracy?
▶ 1:58:32Mr. Blanche: I agree those are important issues the department handles. I'm not prepared to say they should be ramped up.
▶ 1:58:43Sen. Blumenthal: Because of the announcement yesterday, federal workforce will be diminished in number, are you prepared to defend the doj against the executive order if applied to doj that they doj that t vacancies not be filled and that workforce be cut by a quarter or more?
▶ 1:59:11Mr. Blanche: I will do everything in my power to make sure doj fulfills its mission. I don't believe that requires defending an executive order issued by the president of the U.S.
▶ 1:59:26Sen. Blumenthal: You don't think defending the doj's workforce is necessary if an executive order trashes the agency that you have served in the past and come to admire and revere?
▶ 1:59:44Mr. Blanche: The words you are using defending and slashing, I don't agree that that is what the executive order said.
▶ 1:59:53Sen. Blumenthal: Let me take the antitrust division. Ms. slater, you need attorneys and staff to pursue antitrust?
▶ 2:00:05Ms. Slater: Yes.
▶ 2:00:06Sen. Blumenthal: What if the executive order means a one quarter cut in resources available? Want that undermine your efforts? -- won't that undermine your enforcement efforts?
▶ 2:00:20Ms. Slater: I am not in the building.
▶ 2:00:23Sen. Blumenthal: You know from having worked with that division have deeply resources matter. I have enforced antitrust statutes as ag of connecticut, antitrust is one of the resource intensive prosecutions in the government.
▶ 2:00:44Ms. Slater: Agree. I think what this discussion has opened is an opportunity for me to talk about the merger, finding fees, modernization, legislation --
▶ 2:01:01Sen. Blumenthal: My apologies. My time is limited. I will yield to the chairman if he wants to give me more time. Egg prices and groceries in the cost of food. We have seen a rampant rapid increase over the last year, the past years and the prices of food in the U.S.
▶ 2:01:28Sen. Blumenthal: The result of rampant rapid consolidation in meat, dairy and eggs. This most recent increase in egg prices is not the first but a culmination of gradual increase which has produced rising profits in that industry and other food related industries from processors to agricultural industry, it has squeezed
▶ 2:01:59Sen. Blumenthal: Farmers, processors and consumers. Will you do about it?
▶ 2:02:04Ms. Slater: With regard to eggs, it's important to understand and see we have had a supply-side shock in the form of aid. Broadly --
▶ 2:02:16Sen. Blumenthal: Pit is one factor but not the most important. What are you going to do about the consolidation of the industry?
▶ 2:02:24Ms. Slater: We have already been tasked by the white house via presidential memo to look closely at the ways in which we can work to reduce consumer prices. It is a pressing issue. I agree. That is and his friend -- that is an administration wide memo. I will focus on that.
▶ 2:02:47Sen. Blumenthal: I want to see you focus on the industry, not the memo. I want to see you take a tough unyielding aggressive approach to crack down on consolidation and monopoly power and the misuse of that power in the industry. That is the reason consumers are frustrated and furious. It's not only consumers, is farmers and small businesses.
▶ 2:03:19Chair Grassley: I think you wanted to say something?
▶ 2:03:24Ms. Slater: Center, you will find yourself in an unusual situation because the president agrees with you on all fronts. The tax for me is to make america competitive again, to vigorously enforce antitrust laws.
▶ 2:03:41Chair Grassley: Senator tillis.
▶ 2:03:45Sen. Tillis: I will let senator schmitt go.
▶ 2:03:48Sen. Schmitt: Thank you for being here and congratulations. You are clearly qualified and your record demonstrates a motivation to take on the tough fights and make sure markets are not distorted there, is a phrase often use that power corrupts, can. I think power reveals. In concentrations of power, we see those abuses.
▶ 2:04:20Sen. Schmitt: We saw that with this unholy alliance between federal government and some of the biggest companies in the history of the world, big tech, to censor americans. I saw it firsthand as ag of missouri. The discovery was shocking, regardless of a red jersey or blue jersey, the idea that silencing americans because they had a point of view about the efficacy of masks or whether the vaccine prevented
▶ 2:04:51Sen. Schmitt: Transmissibility, and this orwellian newspeak, shut down millions of voices. We have never seen anything like this in the history of our country. I have deep concerns big tech hasn't gotten the memo yet.
▶ 2:05:09Sen. Schmitt: There are some signs maybe they are embracing free speech again but the abuses of government in working with big tech companies to collude and coerce them will go down as some of the worst first amendment violations in history. Do I have your commitment to work with me if we see those abuses again?
▶ 2:05:29Ms. Slater: Yes.
▶ 2:05:30Sen. Schmitt: In that vein, antitrust law makes it a crime for companies to band together and separate. Price-fixing.
▶ 2:05:45Sen. Schmitt: Would you agree if a group of advertisers colluded in a campaign to fix a price that zero, as in boycott a specific conservative news site, that would be illegal under antitrust law?
▶ 2:06:02Ms. Slater: Hypothetical. If I could ground it in what we have seen from the garment report, this came out of the house judiciary committee last summer.
▶ 2:06:18Ms. Slater: What was evident was a pattern of conduct involving a trade association which for and on behalf of national brands and international brands and selectively stopped advertising dollars are canceled dollars to certain companies. The reason that was important was because the brands involved account for 90% of ad spend domestically.
▶ 2:06:48Ms. Slater: That's a big number. It is fair to say, certain amount of collusion went on via this trade association. That pattern of conduct is troubling. That is what the report concluded. It is not hypothetical.
▶ 2:07:06Sen. Schmitt: Sadly my question was not hypothetical. Thank you. I want to visit with you Mr. blanche. Good to see you. This is not the first time we met. We met in a new york courtroom in spring.
▶ 2:07:25Mr. Blanche: We did. He wasn't a client.
▶ 2:07:29Sen. Schmitt: I was not. I was there to witness a perversion of our legal system. Books will be written about this.
▶ 2:07:43Sen. Schmitt: The coordinated effort between the white house and doj and even local prosecutors to jail their chief political opponent will go down as one of the great abuses and a stain on merrick garland and joe biden's records forever. Let's have the debate and the election. The american people delivered their verdict. They didn't want to see us become a banana republic.
▶ 2:08:13Sen. Schmitt: You were front and center. What did you see? You were in the front row. I saw the objections being made. They were overruled. It was a circus. What did you take from the experience? How can you use that to make sure this never happens again?
▶ 2:08:37Mr. Blanche: Great question. I think about it a lot. My take is how powerful law enforcement is at state and federal level and how much responsibility we have as prosecutors to make sure we don't use that power -- it is corrupt.
▶ 2:09:07Mr. Blanche: When you have a judge knowing there is another trial scheduled on the same day with the same defendant, refused to discuss moving the trial date knowing the defendant in this case president trump would have to prepare for separate criminal trials at the same time he is on trial across the street in a case brought by the attorney general of new york to try to destroy his business -- that is power.
▶ 2:09:37Mr. Blanche: That is corrupted power. We have a lot of power. We are prosecuting cases civil or criminal, we have to do the right thing.
▶ 2:09:53Mr. Blanche: It cannot be because of politics or because you don't like something he said or you ran on a campaign that said I'm going to go after president trump and you should elect me because I am the only one that has successfully gone after --
▶ 2:10:09Sen. Schmitt: As a former prosecutor, I agree. The restraint you need to have is important. That was lost on this. Jack smith is known as someone who is overcharging, and a henchman, disgusting. One of the worst abusers, the mount rushmore of the lawfare disaster we saw.
▶ 2:10:40Sen. Schmitt: Matthew calendula left his position as the number three person at doj to go prosecute a state law on a bookkeeping error in new york. Why would he do that? It is clearly a step down from the role he had at the oj. -- doj. It is all part of this coordinated effort.
▶ 2:11:12Sen. Schmitt: Will you commit to not leave your post to take a low-level prosecutor position that would allow you to prosecute a political opponent?
▶ 2:11:21Mr. Blanche: I commit. >> senator hirono.
▶ 2:11:28Sen. Hirono: Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any harassment?
▶ 2:11:45Mr. Blanche: No.
▶ 2:11:46Ms. Slater: No.
▶ 2:11:47Sen. Schmitt: Have you ever faced discipline for entered into a settlement on this kind of conduct?
▶ 2:11:54Mr. Blanche: No.
▶ 2:11:56Sen. Hirono: There has been enormous tough people -- upheaval. Last week, the fbi provided doj list of 5000 of those who worked on january 6 matters. Why do you think they asked for this?
▶ 2:12:27Mr. Blanche: I wasn't part of the decision. I read about it.
▶ 2:12:33Sen. Hirono: You think it should be routine to ask this information?
▶ 2:12:39Mr. Blanche: Depends on why the info was requested.
▶ 2:12:43Sen. Hirono: Why do you think? It had a chilling effect, don't you think? Pitt led to people being very concerned about their names being released. You don't know. Once confirmed, you will end up with all these names. Not just the fbi. You will have doj people. What do you intend to do with that?
▶ 2:13:10Mr. Blanche: I believe president trump was clear, in an executive order, he expected the doj to investigate what happened over the past several years with the goal of making sure it never happens again. Not to somehow do damage to the agents or their families --
▶ 2:13:28Sen. Hirono: Excuse me. What are you going to do with these names? Are you going to investigate these investigators? With the thousands of names you will be provided when you are confirmed?
▶ 2:13:47Mr. Blanche: We will investigate what happened and why, certainly understanding the number of agents involved, why they were ordered to do what they did, why they did what they did is part of our job.
▶ 2:13:57Sen. Hirono: Instead of the fbi protecting our country,, citizens your turning your attention to what is going on within your soon own department. In the past few weeks, dozens of nonpolitical career officials in the national security division and elsewhere have been demoted or reassigned to areas outside their expertise.
▶ 2:14:28Sen. Hirono: The doj is doing that. Why would the department want to purge these experienced nonpolitical expert prosecutors?
▶ 2:14:38Mr. Blanche: I don't think it is a purge from what I have read.
▶ 2:14:42Sen. Hirono: When you get there will you reverse these moves?
▶ 2:14:47Mr. Blanche: I am not going to commit to any decision that will be made before consulting with the folks there already.
▶ 2:15:01Sen. Hirono: The doj consists of thousands of investigators and many have been shifted to doing other things. Many can surmise there is a reason for the names being disclosed.
▶ 2:15:19Sen. Hirono: The fact, so many career people are being sent off to do other things rather than protecting the american public from lawbreakers -- that includes white-collar crime by the way.
▶ 2:15:43Sen. Hirono: Violent crime is going down and doj will be turning its attention away from white-collar crime and the way people in our country are being taken to the cleaners. Not content with gutting the fbi and doj from what I can see of experienced nonpolitical leaders, the trump administration has also halted all hiring at doj, across-the-board freeze.
▶ 2:16:14Sen. Hirono: A lot of people across all departments, people on probation, and the spaa, small businesses have already been fired. Several hundred of them. What is going to happen when you take over? Are all of these people on probation, doj going to be fired?
▶ 2:16:39Sen. Hirono: Then they will not be and then they will not be replaced, because there will be a hiring freeze. Is that what will be happening under your watch?
▶ 2:16:50Mr. Blanche: I don't know. I'm not there.
▶ 2:16:58Sen. Hirono: Well, people have already been fired, and you have a lot of people on probation in the justice department. Let me just turn to one area that I am concerned about. You talk about the criminals, going after criminals.
▶ 2:17:20Sen. Hirono: Well, doj child exploitation that protects children by prosecuting those who create, distribute, and post child sexual abuse materials. I think everybody on this committee believes we need to protect kids, but this section, like the rest of the doj, subject to a hiring freeze, and they will be fired.
▶ 2:17:51Sen. Hirono: Mr. blanche, can you think of any reason to reduce the number of prosecutors in the doj's child exploitation?
▶ 2:18:02Mr. Blanche: Virtually all of them are done by the 94 officers. I personally did prosecute those cases, as did people who worked with me. I'm very confident that the laws protecting our children --
▶ 2:18:20Sen. Hirono: So you will make sure that this section of the doj will have the full complement of investigators and --
▶ 2:18:29Mr. Blanche: I don't know what full complement means.
▶ 2:18:33Sen. Hirono: Before the hiring freeze, because this is an area of prosecution and investigation that needs to happen. You testified that you would follow the law, that there's no place for politics in the doj. The thing is, though, we have a president who thinks that the doj is his law firm and that all the lawyers in the doj work for him.
▶ 2:19:02Sen. Hirono: So when you testified you don't think he's going to do that, pretty much defies belief, because in the 26th executive orders he issued on day one of his, I should say, regime, a lot of those are being challenged, and some I would say are illegal, restricting the attorney general's to say you should not issue this, like the one trying to prevent, he tried to stop money that had already
▶ 2:19:37Sen. Hirono: Been appropriated by congress. There is a law that prevents a president from doing that, yet the doj did it by executive order. All of you testified that you will follow the law. Again, it is the law as president trump sees it. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 2:19:55Mr. Blanche: I do not agree with what you say, senator, respectively.
▶ 2:20:03Sen. Tillis: In place of the chair, I will give you a moment to explain why.
▶ 2:20:09Mr. Blanche: Thank you. The senator referred to the president of united states as part of a regime. That's absolutely not true. He's the duly elected president of the united states. He has a tremendous amount of power given to him, not by me come about by the american people, so to the extent that I say I will follow the law and I have confidence that president trump will never ask me to do something illegal or in violation of the law, it is, again, based upon my experience with him and my respect for the
▶ 2:20:40Mr. Blanche: Office in which he resides.
▶ 2:20:41Sen. Tillis: Thank you. On behalf of the chair, I recognized senator tillis. Oh, that is me. [laughter] Mr. blanche, I'm going to come to you for the bulk of my seven minutes, but I would like to start with miss later. I've heard stakeholders in the biden politically motivated cases were tracked by the doj, and actions not taken because they were proper or necessary for the pursuit of justice.
▶ 2:21:14Sen. Tillis: I've got something else here. I feel like the biden administration and antitrust division was trying to get some work done out the door. Can I get your commitment that we can look at whether or not those political kind of "getting the last things in," any decisions taken were appropriate? When you are confirmed, I will be supporting your nomination.
▶ 2:21:35Ms. Slater: Thank you, senator.
▶ 2:21:41Sen. Tillis: I think it might be worthwhile. It appears at least from stakeholders in north carolina, two things will being brushed on the way out the door to prevent things for the transitioning administration. In your case, the antitrust division was actually mentioned, I think, as well. Mr.
▶ 2:22:02Sen. Tillis: Blanche, you caught my ear when you said 11 billion terabytes of data, in your opening statement, you said something to the effect that there were 11 terabytes of evidence or data. When you go back to that real quick? Yes, I was talking about the --
▶ 2:22:27Mr. Blanche: Yes, I was talking about the, you know, the media and the courts, saying all we were trying to do is delay, delay, delay fit in just the two cases by jack smith, there were more than 11 terabytes dropped in.
▶ 2:22:44Sen. Tillis: 11 terabytes is probably hard for most people to conceive of, and less you were a records management geek early in your career, which I was. 11 terabytes, single spaced pages. If even assuming that we print on the front and back. Do you have any idea how many pages that that represents?
▶ 2:23:06Mr. Blanche: I can't say that I do, senator.
▶ 2:23:09Sen. Tillis: Single spaced, that would be 3.6 billion pages. 3.6 billion pages, and people say that the president was slow rolling? When you get that dropped on the door, it's like, folks, just to give you an idea, it's more than can fit in this room. They were trying to expedite it. Political motivations on the part of the administration.
▶ 2:23:35Sen. Tillis: And also l'affaire, I heard it referred to as a new term that actually had its roots back in 1975 and again in 2001, how l'affaire was being used by various countries to manipulate international courts and actually used against democratic nations.
▶ 2:23:55Sen. Tillis: We are using at a little bit differently now, but I think there is no question that it was used. Will you commit?
▶ 2:24:09Mr. Blanche: Absolutely.
▶ 2:24:11Sen. Tillis: No matter the circumstance, we have the opportunity to end the political physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I want people there prosecuting people of any political strife, not just one. I've got your commitment, there will not even be a waste of -- whiff of an investigation that appears to it.
▶ 2:24:37Mr. Blanche: I commit to that.
▶ 2:24:39Sen. Tillis: The january 6 rioters here, the people who entered police officers, I've said it before, and I will state again, they were thugs who attacked capitol police officers who protected every single one of us and every staff, and they all got hurt. I don't have a problem having a difference with the president on what I consider to be the pardons that should not have occurred. It is a redline for me.
▶ 2:25:10Sen. Tillis: Nobody can change my mind, not even my wife! But I do -- it is almost an insinuation that you may be thought it was a good idea, were you consulted by the president on the pardons, the blanket pardons?
▶ 2:25:25Mr. Blanche: I was not, no.
▶ 2:25:27Sen. Tillis: As a future member of the doj, what would be your position on anybody who does violence against police officers come in the past or in the future?
▶ 2:25:37Mr. Blanche: They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
▶ 2:25:41Sen. Tillis: Do you agree with me that anyone who was convicted or pleaded guilty to violence against a police officer owes a formal, written apology to whoever they heard in the process?
▶ 2:25:52Mr. Blanche: That is something I think they should certainly consider doing.
▶ 2:25:56Sen. Tillis: I guarantee you if they come to this capitol grounds, I will track them down and make them feel like some of our members dead on january 6. There's no place for it -- members dead on january 6. There's no place for it. If you were ever advised to provide a pardon for anyone who committed violence against a police officer, what would your recommendation be to the president?
▶ 2:26:24Mr. Blanche: I want to be careful. I very strongly believe the power to pardon lives with president trump, not with me.
▶ 2:26:30Sen. Tillis: What I am saying is you are going to be in the world's most prestigious justice department that also has the world's gold standard for law enforcement. I believe that with the fbi.
▶ 2:26:48Sen. Tillis: The leaders of the fbi or the doj always have the law-abiding police officers' backs, period, end of story if you don't want to send a message to whoever advises the president on january 6, those who pleaded guilty or were convicted in a court of law for entering a police officer, -- injuring a police officer, that will not be a fact pattern you will be part of in the
▶ 2:27:24Mr. Blanche: Future. Violence against a police officer is not something that should be tolerated.
▶ 2:27:26Sen. Tillis: I hear it time and time again, everyone is coming for the committee. But it is a false narrative. Anybody who comes before the doj, in any capacity, better answer the same question. Thank you. On behalf of the chair, I will give it back to the chair.
▶ 2:27:44Chair Grassley: Thank you for taking over. Senator coons.
▶ 2:27:51Sen. Coons: Thank you, chair grassley, and thank you to our nominees for your public service and to your families. I suspect this has been a long day. Mr. blanche in particular, thank you for your work in the southern district of new york, and the attorney's office fighting violent crime, and miss slater, for your long service at the ftc, and forcing our nation's antitrust laws.
▶ 2:28:13Sen. Coons: You both been nominated to take senior leadership positions in the department of justice that I view as being currently in crisis. Career prosecutors have been fired because president trump did not like the cases they worked on. Dozens of senior doj leaders have been pushed out or reassigned.
▶ 2:28:30Sen. Coons: Fbi agents fear mass purges for their work, simply because they were assigned to cases related to january 6, a day, as my colleague, senator tillis, was just reminding all of us, when law enforcement officers were just attacked -- brutally attacked.
▶ 2:28:49Sen. Coons: And attorney general bondi called the doj attorney's "the president's lawyers." I need to know as I consider your nomination that you will serve with independence and integrity, and I am concerned about some of these recent developments. Ms. slater, if you will just answer a question I've asked many others, who does the doj antitrust division work for?
▶ 2:29:15Ms. Slater: The american people.
▶ 2:29:18Sen. Coons: Thank you. Do you consider the assistant attorney general for antitrust to be one of the present's lawyers?
▶ 2:29:25Ms. Slater: No, senator.
▶ 2:29:27Sen. Coons: Thank you. I think it is both important that you maintain the clarity that the attorney general mentioned, that you work for the people of the united states, not for any particular president. Mr. blanche, if you are confirmed, and one of the prosecutors comes to you with an airtight case, satisfy the burden of proof is to take to a jury come up with the president asks you to drop that case, for reasons unrelated to that investigation, would you? It's not a hypothetical.
▶ 2:29:58Sen. Coons: We just saw it on the front page.
▶ 2:29:59Mr. Blanche: I do believe it is a hypothetical, senator, and when you describe the case as "airtight," as a former prosecutor, I don't know what that means.
▶ 2:30:09Sen. Coons: What was the basis for banning the case against the mayor of new york?
▶ 2:30:13Mr. Blanche: I have no idea.
▶ 2:30:16Sen. Coons: The press is widely reporting that he pledged to cooperate with deportation, not that there was concern or question of the foundation of it. If you are asked by the white house to initiate a prosecution that you do not believe is legally justified, would you?
▶ 2:30:32Mr. Blanche: I would follow the law, period.
▶ 2:30:36Sen. Coons: And it's in your view the law does not support the prosecution?
▶ 2:30:41Mr. Blanche: It's not just my view, it is law. I will tell you that I will follow the law. I don't believe what the media says, just as a matter of practice, so to the extent of the media reports something about mayor adams or about other things that are happening.
▶ 2:31:02Sen. Coons: The prosecution against him, the case has been dropped.
▶ 2:31:06Mr. Blanche: What I was referring to is your statement about why it was dropped from a basin with the media is reporting. I don't accept that.
▶ 2:31:14Sen. Coons: Let me move forward. President trump signed an executive order, accusing officials of bribing foreign officials. The law that our president unilaterally decided does not need to be enforced as the foreign corrupt practices act. In 2024 alone, doj and the sec brought in more than $1 billion in fines and penalties, and total sanctions over the 50 years since it was an act to come over 30 billion dollars.
▶ 2:31:42Sen. Coons: Does the president have the authority under the constitution to choose which laws passed by congress will be enforced, or which laws will have their enforcement suspended?
▶ 2:31:51Mr. Blanche: I don't believe that that is what the executive order said, senator, it directed the attorney general to pause and to take a look at how investigations were being investigated, how prosecutions were going along, and then to report back to make sure those investigations and prosecutions are being done in a consistent way with the president's agenda.
▶ 2:32:14Mr. Blanche: That is not saying, "don't follow congress' directives about laws that have been passed." it's saying, "it's in a journal, take -- it is saying, "attorney general, take a pause, figure out what we are doing and how we are doing it."
▶ 2:32:32Sen. Coons: I think it is 180 days, and I think it sends a message about enforcement trajectory and priority. Let me move to another issue that I think is also quite correct. Last month, president trump fired more than a dozen inspectors general. This committee, both parties, have strongly supported whistleblower some oversight, and inspectors general. Just yesterday, president trump fired the a.g.
▶ 2:32:58Sen. Coons: At usaid, making it more likely that funds will be diverted to terrorist groups. In 2022, commerce passed a law, not a suggestion, not a note, a statute, a law saying at least 30 days before the removal of any inspector general, the president must provide congress with, and I quote, a substantive rationale, including detailed
▶ 2:33:30Sen. Coons: And case specific reasons. President trump provided no notice to congress and no justification. You are a lawyer. How many days has the president been in office?
▶ 2:33:38Mr. Blanche: Since january 20.
▶ 2:33:40Sen. Coons: Which is how many days of fewer than 30?
▶ 2:33:44Mr. Blanche: I am a lawyer, not a math guy. But fewer than 30.
▶ 2:33:48Sen. Coons: Is a matter of mathematical impossibility for the president to have all of the statute and provided us with the required notice, correct?
▶ 2:33:56Mr. Blanche: I don't know.
▶ 2:34:00Sen. Coons: He has not been president for 30 days. How could he have given us 30 days notice, as required by the statute?
▶ 2:34:07Mr. Blanche: He obviously did not.
▶ 2:34:09Sen. Coons: He obviously did not. Do you think he broke the law by firing these inspectors general?
▶ 2:34:15Mr. Blanche: As I was saying before, I don't know, I was not part of the decisions that he and the white house counsel have made in making that decision. I don't want to speak to whether the president broke the law. I just don't know.
▶ 2:34:28Sen. Coons: But you know that he has not been president for 30 days.
▶ 2:34:32Mr. Blanche: Yes.
▶ 2:34:33Sen. Coons: And I'm telling you that the relevant statute for the removal of any inspector general requires prior notice of congress which -- with specific reasons. Ms. slater, you are a practicing attorney. Does it seem to you on the face of this instant that the president broke the law, firing a dozen inspectors general without dooley required notice to congress? -- duly required notice to congress?
▶ 2:35:03Sen. Coons: The next time we have both of you in front of us, I hope you are familiar. I recognize there are differences of views about exactly what has happened, in the past or who made what decisions, but you are in front of us for two of the most important positions in the department of justice, and we have come on a bipartisan basis, long stood up for oversight and inspectors general as exactly the people who keep federal agencies on the straight and narrow.
▶ 2:35:27Sen. Coons: And at the moment when there is a whole lot of noise about usaid being corrupt and full of fraud, exactly the person responsible for oversight of a.I.d. Was just fired yesterday, without the required notice or justification to congress. President trump broke the law, and I need to hear that you recognize that.
▶ 2:35:47Mr. Blanche: Senator, I'm not going to give you the answer you're looking for them. I refuse to talk about something not familiar with and give an answer you just before you want it. I'm not going to do that.
▶ 2:35:58Chair Grassley: Before I called on senator blackburn, to make a point about the discussion you just had. Number one, the president could abide by the law by putting the person on administrative leave and writing as a y he is doing it, and the law would be abided by.
▶ 2:36:17Chair Grassley: The second thing is, if you look at all the corruption that is going on in usaid and all of the waste of taxpayers' money, this guys should have been fired. Before you go, we have a letter from 74 department justice official supporting Mr. blanche's nomination. It reads in part, "Mr.
▶ 2:36:43Chair Grassley: Blanche is a special nominee in that he brings decades of experience, both as a prosecutor and defense attorney, as a rule of deputy attorney general, blanche is a deep respect for and familiarity of the department of justice, the principles of the united states of constitution. Mr.
▶ 2:37:04Chair Grassley: Blanche has experienced, professionalism, and deep expertise make him a perfect candidate." I will put in the record without objection.
▶ 2:37:16Mr. Blanche: Mr. chairman, you said that the president could have followed the law --
▶ 2:37:22Sen. Coons: Mr. chairman, you said that the president could have followed the law --
▶ 2:37:30Chair Grassley: It did not happen, I'm just trying to make the president's job easier.
▶ 2:37:35Sen. Coons: And in the case of inspectors general, which we all find critical and valuable, he did not comply with the law.
▶ 2:37:40Sen. Blackburn: Thank you, Mr. chair pete I appreciate the recognition, and welcome to each of you. I appreciate the time that you gave me. And I will also talk about issues that are so important to all of us and to our nation. And I appreciate that senator coons brought up the weaponization of the doj. We have lived through four years of this.
▶ 2:38:06Sen. Blackburn: We have watched the doj sit quiet, we have watched our colleagues say not a word when they knew joe biden was not making the decisions, when they knew full well things that they were parroting were not accurate, when they do that there were two tears of justice, two tears of treatment, two tears of access, and they said not a word.
▶ 2:38:39Sen. Blackburn: And now they are trying to say, oh my goodness, look at what is happening. The american people gave a mandate to president donald trump to straighten this mess out and end it and to get this bureaucracy under control.
▶ 2:39:01Sen. Blackburn: That is why we have doge, that the american people are cheering , because they are tired of this, they are tired of paying for a government that is not responsive to the needs of the american people.
▶ 2:39:20Sen. Blackburn: So, yes, indeed, they watched the doj be weaponized, show favor to some and disfavor to others, like parents that were going to a pta or school board meeting, or going after tabloids who are pro-life, and they are tired of what the biden administration gave them. So, yes, cleaning up?
▶ 2:39:50Sen. Blackburn: You better believe it. Is it time to clean house? You better believe it. Is cleaning house going to continue? Absolutely, and it should, because the american people voted for that, they want that, they deserve that, and I am pleased that we will have each of you over at the doj. Let's stay with this. Mr.
▶ 2:40:16Sen. Blackburn: Branch, on the two tiers of justice and the weaponization, so there must be some bipartisan concern over that. So tell me, what are some things you can do day want to make certain that we end this two tiers of justice. I know it is a priority for general bondi, and I appreciate that she went to work day one on this cancer tell me what you do.
▶ 2:40:45Mr. Blanche: I think the first thing I can do a support the memos that the attorney general's office wanted put out on day one, and the biggest issue that has to stop, and it already has stopped, and it cannot ever happen again, is outside influence, especially political outside influence, having any role in the decisions the department makes to prosecute a case. Just can't.
▶ 2:41:09Mr. Blanche: And if it does, then that is not a righteous, that is not a just prosecution, period.
▶ 2:41:17Sen. Blackburn: I appreciate that. I know senator lee talked to you about violent crime feud we seen such an uptick. Part of this is related to the gangs coming into the country illegally. We had a raid take place in nashville yesterday. Eight were indicted. Two were tren de araguas.
▶ 2:41:51Sen. Blackburn: This is soft on crime policy has not served our nation. We've had ada over there that just will not prosecute these crimes and bring them forward. We know that in president trump's first term, there was a decrease in crime, violent crime, 17%.
▶ 2:42:22Sen. Blackburn: The difference was soft on crime policy. And president trump had a policy in his first term that federal prosecutors, and I'm going to quote, should charge the most serious, readily provable offenses. And I think that is something we need to return to. So will the department returned to that policy for their leadership, under general bondi?
▶ 2:42:49Mr. Blanche: I believe it already has, yes, ma'am.
▶ 2:42:53Sen. Blackburn: Well, in the american people are ready to see it. We have a bunch of security alums across the country, and they are sick and tired of their kids trying to get to an event, going shopping, or going to school, and getting carjacked or mugged when they are out at night. Ms. slater, I will come to you.
▶ 2:43:21Sen. Blackburn: I had conversations when I was in the house, before I came over here, the box act, and it prohibits ticket scalpers from using software us buying high-volume tickets. And the sec sat on their hands on this legislation for four years. And they have taken only one enforcement action. Now, to a lot of people, they may say, why are you so worried about ticket scalpers?
▶ 2:43:49Sen. Blackburn: Well, in nashville, tennessee, this is a problem, and we want to make certain that fans are able to get these tickets. And we've also got the main events act that senator lujan and I have done, which would strengthen the box act.
▶ 2:44:16Sen. Blackburn: But I know that you cannot get into specifics because of the ongoing ticketmaster lawsuit that you will inherit, but I would love to talk about some of the issues that you have observed, and steps that can be taken to clean this up.
▶ 2:44:36Ms. Slater: Senator, thank you for the question. I know it is hugely important, for your stay, but for all consumers, frankly. I totally acknowledge that. As with many pocketbook issues, we seen prices go up and not down, and some markets.
▶ 2:44:57Ms. Slater: Regarding the box act, I had the good fortune to have sitting behind me the chairman of the ftc, and I will be working in close partnership with him not just on this matter, this legislation, but hopefully in all cases across the board, because coordination is really important. I would also like to visit with your staff to better understand the issues with the box act.
▶ 2:45:24Sen. Blackburn: We need enforcement here we have had an ftc that chose not to enforce. Thank you pure in my time has expired.
▶ 2:45:32Chair Grassley: Thank you. >> thank you, Mr. chair. I want to pick up where senator coons left off. Not to be repetitive but because the issue is too important. When the presidency violates the law, it is important to call it out.
▶ 2:45:55Chair Grassley: And let me underscore, this is not when the president of united states strays from historical -- not when the present is different than what's been better practice for private presidents. I'm talking about when the president of the united states violates the law.
▶ 2:46:17Chair Grassley: On the issue of inspectors general, folks watching at home are not exactly sure what inspector general's do or purposely serve, inspectors general hold to hold executive branch agencies accountable. They work to prevent corruption and make sure agencies spending money as it should be by identifying fraud, abuse and so much more.
▶ 2:46:44Chair Grassley: Congress has taken steps to ensure the independence of inspectors generals, when our gym and senator grassley work of senator peters in a bipartisan fashion, to advance the inspectors general independence act which requires a president to give written notice and reasoning of their decision to dismiss or transfer and inspector general at least 30 days prior.
▶ 2:47:16Chair Grassley: It's been established president trump has not been in office even for 30 days. When you walked into my office, he repeatedly told me you would always follow the law, your words "full stop," and you repeated the same message here today, is numerically and mathematically impossible for president trump to have abided by the law in dismissing inspectors general, yes or no?
▶ 2:47:40Chair Grassley: >> plans remains the same, I am not going to comment on whether the decision made by the white house counsel did -- >> I'm not talking about how they reached their decision. This is not a hypothetical. He did not give congress 30 days notice. He violated the law. You are failing to acknowledge that. Let me move on.
▶ 2:48:03Chair Grassley: As senator blackburn referenced a minute ago in part of her comments, we are concerned about violence in this country. Especially concerned about gun violence in this country. As I hope you have learned, the department of justice plays a key role in enforcing federal firearms laws, prosecuting, gun trafficking and defending regulations in court.
▶ 2:48:34Chair Grassley: Mexican president sheinbaum has stated president trump agreed to work on reducing the flow of guns into mexico as part of the recent deal to delay tariffs for a month, as deputy attorney general, how do you plan to a bold that commitment -- uphold that commitment? >> it is extremely important to keep guns out of the hands of folks I cannot have them. Especially criminals and armed robbery, drug dealing -- in armed robbery, drug dealing.
▶ 2:49:04Chair Grassley: >> specific strategies on how to do that? >> empowering with U.S. attorneys and working with state and local law enforcement to make sure that when there are crimes committed, they belong in federal court -- that they go to federal court, they belong in state court, they go to federal -- stay quick. It can be done again.
▶ 2:49:24Chair Grassley: >> am I hearing a commitment to prioritize enforcement against illegal gun sales and trafficking particularly in light of the rising concerns on ghost guns? >> those concerns. I was talking about violent crime often times used with guns. Not always. In our cities. Isn't one we focus as much energy as we can on fixing that.
▶ 2:49:51Chair Grassley: -- it's important we focus as much energy as we can on fixing that. >> shootings in communities, rural, urban, and all in between. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have taken issue with us voicing our concern about president trump filling the top rings of the justice department was his friends -- with his friends and allies and personal attorneys.
▶ 2:50:22Chair Grassley: I can only imagine how they would have reacted a democratic president installed his own personal criminal defense attorneys as attorney general and deputy attorney general and principal associate, deputy attorney general. Senator blumenthal raised questions about conflicts of interest earlier.
▶ 2:50:54Chair Grassley: If your understanding of the law differed from president trump and department of justice -- the department of justice. When asked what she would do, in that hearing she repeatedly said she would follow the department of justice portable.
▶ 2:51:19Chair Grassley: In case you're not familiar, protocol would be to have the deputy attorney general step into hercules -- into her place. Except if you are confirmed,, that would not be the case. You have served presidential than capacity as well. -- in that capacity as well.
▶ 2:51:47Chair Grassley: Your deputy would also be in that conflict scenario. Can you tell me how far down the line under president trump's department of justice do we have to go until we have someone who was not conflicted because they served as president's personal attorney? >> I don't agree with the premise the same conflicts that apply to me will apply to attorney general bondi.
▶ 2:52:14Chair Grassley: I don't believe she was his personal attorney. He represented him in the past administration. I agree with what general bondi said, there are smart people that will make sure we are doing the right thing when it comes to recusals but I don't think it has to go far down. >> I know my time is just about up, yes or no, are you aware of any administration history with a similar degree of cascading conflicts of interest?
▶ 2:52:44Chair Grassley: >> I don't think there's cascading conflicts of interest in this administration. >> thank you. Thank you, Mr. chair. >> senator britt. First just a comment on the ig's -- because I'm in the middle of it.
▶ 2:53:07Chair Grassley: I would like to remind people when I complained about the firing of ig's in the previous administration, I did not get any help from the democrats on that. I have a letter in with senator durbin in a bipartisan way to try to get some answers on this issue and make the point the law is not being abided by.
▶ 2:53:28Chair Grassley: Also I would like to enter into the record a letter from over 100 alumni of the southern district of new york who worked alongside the gentlemen. The people cover the gamut of intellectual and political ideologies, tax experience, character, openness to dialogue and long-standing love of doj
▶ 2:54:00Chair Grassley: Making qualified to serve as attorney general as a southern district ausa and supervisor, todd and body -- embodies those bridges and understands how essential they are to the administration of justice, without objection, this will be included. No objection. Go ahead, senator britt.
▶ 2:54:23Senator Britt: I want to add to the list of things senator blackburn pointed out that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle failed to point out the last four years, you had president biden who said the supreme court tried to block me from relieving student loan but they did not stop me. I'm going to keep going. I just relieved student debt for over 5 million americans after the supreme court said something totally different.
▶ 2:54:50Senator Britt: Additionally we can't forget that at the end of the time he tried to add an actual amendment to the U.S. constitution --in addition to the list you gave, there are more examples. I want to turn first to Mrs. slater, congratulations on your nomination and welcome to your family, you are all very proud to have him in his position -- in this position. Setting up your I can tell you is not just you that service but your entire family so thank you for your willingness to be a part of this.
▶ 2:55:19Senator Britt: I really enjoyed our conversation -- I want to touch on an issue that we did discuss in our meeting. As the daughter of two small business owners, I constantly look at what's happening in our country and think, how does this affect the little guy? And it would mature mainstreams can drive -- how do we make sure mainstream's can thrive? ? China can build ships at 230 times the speed of america.
▶ 2:55:52Senator Britt: Making sure small businesses and adjuvant was have an opportunity to thrive and create and innovate, not only living their american dream but providing such an important pillar of our entire society, I think is really important. I would like to know how you view the antitrust division's role with respect to ensuring these small businesses and entrepreneurials can thrive and compete in today's economy. >> thank you for the question. I really enjoyed meeting with you as well and thanks for your kind words. Family is very important.
▶ 2:56:22Senator Britt: In broad strokes, the role of the antitrust division if done right is to keep markets competitive. If we can do that and play a role in ensuring, because markets are competitive, the barriers to entry are relatively low and there's opportunities for small businesses to enter and scale up online and expand brick and mortar, that is a really important function we can serve in that regard.
▶ 2:56:52Sen. Britt: To have your commitment to continue to look for ways to ensure those barriers are removed and so people can be part of the american dream? >> yes.
▶ 2:56:58Sen. Britt: Thank you. Mr. blanche, like to discuss an issue on the executive office for immigration review. Overseas are nation's immigration support doj. During the biden administration, the court club grew from 1.4 one million in fy 21 all the way to 3.5 one million in fy 24.
▶ 2:57:31Sen. Britt: There seems to be a sort of culture that was fostered of not completing cases. If you look at the numbers from fy 21 to 24, immigration judges failed to adjudicate over 340,000 asylum claims -- I want to put that in perspective, if you took the previous six fiscal years combined, that is 26 times higher than all of those put
▶ 2:58:02Sen. Britt: Together. During the first trump administration, who seldom actually put in a more effective system to look at ways to ensure we were establishing a matrix-based system for these immigration judges and looking to reduce the abusive case continuances. It made a difference unfortunately the biden administration did not continue that.
▶ 2:58:26Sen. Britt: You are going to oversee the day-to-day operations of doj and I would like to know if you will commit to looking at this, taking a look at what is not working and looking at what the trump administration did previously and figure out how we can get this done contract? >> of course.
▶ 2:58:42Sen. Britt: Will you also commit to reevaluating the biden administration's decision policies that have encouraged the use of this administrative closure of aggression cases can return this eoir to the posture of actually adjudicating and completing these cases? >> yes. I will work with attorney general bondi and look at that.
▶ 2:59:05Sen. Britt: In a similar vein, I wanted to know that I was heartened to see attorney general bondi's memo directing doj to the extent allowed by law to end the funding for sanctuary cities that flout our nations immigration laws. The memo also stated doj will take appropriate legal action to challenge century jurisdictions -- the laws and policies and actions around the country.
▶ 2:59:33Sen. Britt: Teasing sanctuary jurisdictions and reckless policies undermine the safety of all americans and they have no business receiving taxpayer dollarss and should be hello -- held accountable for their decisions to violate the law. I just wanted to say thank you. You have my full support. Lastlym I want to raise one more issue that I have also raised with attorney general bondi but I think it's really important.
▶ 3:00:00Sen. Britt: I along with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have experienced doj's total lack of responsiveness when it comes to congressional oversight in recent years. I had a letter to attorney general garland regarding the failure to enforce section 1507 at the home of her supreme court justices and it went unanswered for over a year.
▶ 3:00:27Sen. Britt: As you remember after the leaked dobbs decision, they allowed them to picket and parade -- 1507 says you absolutely cannot do that with the intent to influence and outcome. When I finally received a response, I did not include any actual answers to the questions I raised, it did not even attempt to answer them. We had slides from where U.S. marshals were directed and discouraged to making arrests.
▶ 3:00:57Sen. Britt: Will you commit to me that doj under the new leadership will not follow the same pattern over the last four years and will instead work to be responsive to congressional oversight and efficiency in a timely manner and get to the bottom of what happened and why section 1507 was not followed the way it should have been? >> yes. >> senator welch.
▶ 3:01:25Sen. Welch: Thank you. I want to thank both of the nominees. Mrs. slater, first of all, julie, the fcc commissioner, things you are great. You have got something going for you. Inflation is just a wicked challenge for everyone trying to pay their bills.
▶ 3:01:52Sen. Welch: And it popped again today twice as high as the last month. My view is the rule -- role you would play would have a major impact on whether we can deal with the market consolidation that is allowing entities to have enormous amounts of pricing power and abusing that power at the expense of the folks at all of us represent. I want to ask you a few questions about that.
▶ 3:02:21Sen. Welch: Health care, incredibly expensive. Private equity is now getting into health care. Not to deliver services but monetize the profit and take it for shareholders that we invested in the health care system. I will give an example.
▶ 3:02:35Sen. Welch: Stuart health care in massachusetts is a catholic health care system with six hospitals -- private equity purchased stored in 2010, they purchased it for the real estate and ran it into the ground, they go out of business and folks that thought they had an appointment to take care of their sick child suddenly found out the hospital's closed. And those guys got out of town. Stuart just wrecked it. That is my view.
▶ 3:03:03Sen. Welch: What's the role of private equity and health care, when they don't reinvest, they just squeeze and turn it into real estate play and leave high and dry folks in a lot of areas who want to get health care? >> I agree with you that health care markets are crucial and I do commit to keeping a close eye to the extent -- >> please do that.
▶ 3:03:32Sen. Welch: We've got to have the health care system be about health care. Not enriching wall street. Allright? Ag is a big deal in vermont. They love nothing more than working the land to feed vermonters and americans. Grocery store chains -- six grocery store chains have 65%. Paltry at 60%. For beef, between 80% and 85%.
▶ 3:04:00Sen. Welch: Using the consolidation in the agriculture industry and food process industry has something that is a factor that increasing prices so people have sticker shock when they check out of the grocery line? >> there are many variables that go into pricing. Competition or lack of competition is certainly one of them. >> so you will stay on that. I appreciate that. You are a qualified guy Mr.
▶ 3:04:25Sen. Welch: Blanche, you started out with nothing and you did not go to the ivy league schools and you ended up with this extramarital career at major law firms, years past would never have looked at a guy like you, there is so much to admire. By the way I was a public defender. I defendant better people. I got assigned to those cases -- bad people. I got assigned to those cases. I assume you respect the fact that I took the assignment. >> absolutely.
▶ 3:04:55Sen. Welch: >> you would never hold it against a public defender that they were defending in the court of law a person who was accused of a serious crime. >> I would not. >> my view on the fbi is, it is the same thing. I support the fbi. I so admire those folks, the men and women.
▶ 3:05:16Sen. Welch: If an fbi agent -- if I am assigned to a case by my boss, is there any reason in the world that I should pay a price because I did my job as assigned? >> no, and I don't think this was happening. I'm not there -- I saw the same memo and articles. >> I know you were not there. But we've got to stand up for those folks. And you will have a major job.
▶ 3:05:43Sen. Welch: And my hope -- I don't want to get in an argument, I respect you a lot -- but my hope is that you will defend the men and women of the fbi who just did their job. >> the men and women of the fbi who adjusted their job, of course, absolutely. >> and getting assigned to a case is one. You were in the southern district. I was a young lawyer. I remember looking around for jobs.
▶ 3:06:07Sen. Welch: I worked -- I noticed some of the places you worked -- kind of fancy. But nothing better than the southern district. That is the crown jewel of the federal prosecution. Has it not been tradition in the southern district -- actually the whole U.S. attorney system that there is independence in those local offices? There's a chain of command but there's a lot of independence, correct?
▶ 3:06:35Sen. Welch: >> I agree with what you said, there's a chain of command and independence, is. >> -- yes. >> what I just saw with the dismissal of the adams charge, that was directed by D.C., mayor adams. >> it appears it was.
▶ 3:06:56Sen. Welch: This is the concern. That all of us have. We are hearing from my colleagues about organization. We heard from you and the experience he had with -- you had with president trump. It is an effort to erase something that really happen. That was january 6. The apprehension a lot of us have his -- is the issue here of welfare and weaponization is just still continuing.
▶ 3:07:24Sen. Welch: You have the president saying my justice department and telling his agents, let's dismiss the corruption charge against the mayor of new york city. I just want to put that out there to let you know there's good faith concern on both sides about this use of the term weaponization and the use of the term lawfare. I don't know if you have time for one extra question.
▶ 3:07:55Sen. Welch: I just wanted to ask Mr. blanche, when he goes on that triathlon, I guess you want with you and your father-in-law? >> my dad who was right -- is right there. A full ironman, senator.
▶ 3:08:12Sen. Welch: The only person I can join you is senator grassley. [laughter] I yield back. >> and the great movie "casablanca," we encounter the phrase I am shocked to find gambling here.
▶ 3:08:31Sen. Welch: I have to say sitting through this hearing and listening to our democrat colleagues saying I'm shocked anyone would think there is weaponization of the department of justice for the fbi, it makes me wonder where my democrat colors have been the last four years. We've had 47 presidents. Of those 47 presidents, how many not named donald trump have been indicted? >> 0.
▶ 3:09:01Sen. Welch: >> many not named donald trump have been prosecuted? >> 0. >> how many not named donald j. Trump have had fbi agent arrive at their home and rifled through their home? >> 0.
▶ 3:09:17Sen. Cruz: Throughout four years of the brazen weaponization of the department of justice and the fbi, senate democrats stand by meekly and mutely -- understand president trump is not indicted once or twice, not three times, four separate times. By partisan democrat prosecutors that were terrified that the american people would vote to reelect him.
▶ 3:09:43Sen. Cruz: You heard a minute ago my friend from vermont ask you to defend the good men and women of the fbi. I agree you should defend them and I will tell you heard from fbi agents were horrified -- are horrified at an institution that builds integrity being cheapened to be a political weapon to attack the opposition of the
▶ 3:10:15Sen. Cruz: Democrat white house. The single biggest thing you can do to protect the good men and women of the fbi is to restore the integrity of the fbi and end the weaponization that has caused the country to not trust what used to be the premier law enforcement agency. -- agency in the world.
▶ 3:10:39Sen. Cruz: For four years, we saw the biden justice department happily weaponize that agency to go after their political opponents. We saw mark h., a pro-life protester who faced a pro-abortion protester who screamed and shoved aside and he pushed the man back.
▶ 3:11:05Sen. Cruz: In response for pushing the man bacchus parade at his -- screamed at his 12-year-old son, the haida department of justice and fbi sends an army of fbi agents to the crack -- to his house at the crack of dawn machine guns drawn. To arrest him in front of his seven kids. He offered through his counsel to turn himself in.
▶ 3:11:33Sen. Cruz: In your many years as a prosecutor, have you ever sent an army of fbi agents to arrest someone who would turn themselves in peacefully? >> no.
▶ 3:11:46Sen. Cruz: Yet no one at the department of justice seemed troubled by that, they happily authorize that, and not a single democrat in this committee has ever asked one question about it.
▶ 3:12:04Sen. Cruz: On the national association of school boards sent a letter to joe biden complaining that parents were unhappy by the radical policies happening to children, within days, the white house set up to the department of justice and within days the attorney general sent a formal level to the fbi saying target parents, I want you to go after parents who are exercising their first amendment rights.
▶ 3:12:31Sen. Cruz: And we've had moms and dads all over the country with the gmen come knocking on their tour because they had the temerity to exercise free speech. Targeting moms and dads that go to school boards and engage in peaceful speech, is not a permissible use of law enforcement? >> in my view,. -- not in my view, senator.
▶ 3:12:56Sen. Cruz: You look at this election, there are a number of issues on which there is a clear and unmistakable mandate, there is an unmistakable need to secure the border. For years, they defied the law. Illegal immigrants were apprehended shabbily obtained -- shall be detained and deported. Is shall typically mandatory?
▶ 3:13:27Sen. Cruz: >> it is.
▶ 3:13:28Sen. Cruz: What joe biden did is something the president and the history of our country has ever done, he refused to follow the law and released millions of illegal immigrants into america. He released murderers, rapists, child predators, venezuelan gang members.
▶ 3:13:46Sen. Cruz: If joe biden and the democrats have been willing to follow the law, had been willing to follow the law, lincoln riley would still be aligned set of -- instead of being murdered by a criminal illegal alien released by joe biden and the democrats. Jocelyn in my hometown of houston, beautiful 12-year-old girl, raped and murdered by two illegal immigrants, venezuelan gang members, joe biden had them in custody and released.
▶ 3:14:18Sen. Cruz: No president has ever done what joe biden and the democrats did. Not one of my democrat colleagues to the best of my religion ever asked one question about why the department of justice was refusing to follow the law. Mr. blanche, is the department of justice doing its job if it refuses to follow the law and defies federal immigration law? >> not in my view. It is not.
▶ 3:14:47Sen. Cruz: We have a clear and unmistakable mandate of the voters who will secure the border and stop releasing criminals and rapists and child molesters into our community and there is a clear mandate we will end department of justice department of justice the weaponization of the and fbi, does this committee have your commitment that you will be faithful to the law and you will bring integrity back to the department of justice? >> absolutely.
▶ 3:15:13Sen. Cruz: One final question. Mrs. s.ater, we talked about how the biggest threat to free speech is big tech censorship. Please give this committee your views on the relevance of antitrust law to stopping big tech censorship, silencing the free speech of american people and one other conceivable array of tools and remedies under the antitrust laws? >> did indeed talk about this.
▶ 3:15:43Sen. Cruz: I think we also agree there are other tools available beyond antitrust. Anybody's viewpoint can be quickly throttled or surprised -- someone can be disappeared from the internet quite easily when there are only two platforms providing the as for example to the american people.
▶ 3:16:09Sen. Cruz: So the remedies are potential remedies? >> as with any antitrust enforcement matter, it is up to us to put together a case and bring it before the course and then we can have a remedies discussion before a judge in the case of the doj. >> thank you. Welcome.
▶ 3:16:35Sen. Cruz: I have some common friends who speak highly of you and take issue with Mr. welch, the degree to which it sounds like you are representing donald trump as his lawyer, your criticism of the department for
▶ 3:17:09Sen. Cruz: Example, the superseding indictment and the january 6 prosecution after a supreme court case, so the indictment will conform with that opinion, is the kind of thing I would hear from a defense lawyer, not a deputy of the attorney general. Let me ask you, if you have not been confirmed yet, are you still donald trump's lawyer?
▶ 3:17:28Sen. Cruz: >> yes, my attorney-client relationship with president trump remains, yes, the cases I was representing him on to the extent that there's anything going on like the appeal of manhattan, I'm not part of the.
▶ 3:17:43Sen. Cruz: But you are still representing him as you sit here today. >> there's no active matters.
▶ 3:17:48Sen. Cruz: But you're still his lawyer. >> have an attorney-client relationship with president trump.
▶ 3:17:53Sen. Cruz: Even if you are confirmed and you are no longer representing him as a criminal defendant, even then you will still have continuing moral obligations as a member of the border legal obligations to your former client, correct? >> like everybody I think department of justice will former client.
▶ 3:18:14Sen. Cruz: So you have loyalty and confidentiality when it comes to his communications. >> yes. >> Ms. bondi as attorney general established the orwellian sounding weaponization working group.
▶ 3:18:32Sen. Cruz: In her memo and says -- it says the work of this group will be supported by the office of the attorney general, the office he will occupy. Would you agree that it would be latent conflict of interest as his criminal defense lawyer and someone who has a continuing legal obligation to him as a former client for you to participate in any of the work of that group as it pertains to
▶ 3:19:03Sen. Cruz: The january 6 case he represented him in northern are level case you represent him, you would agree that would be a blatant conflict of interest? >> no. There will be a conflict of interest potentially but the word blatant -- >> but is it not a clear conflict of interest, he represented him in these cases, you acknowledge still have a contingent obligation in these cases, how could you possibly
▶ 3:19:38Sen. Cruz: Oversee an investigational review of the prosecutors and these cases when you handle them? I was not the most conflict of interest -- how is that not the most conflict of interest? >> yes, there a blatant conflict of interest. >> can your knowledge of your are asked to supervise cases involving your own cases, that that would be a interest? >> is a very different hypothetical. >>>> it's not hypothetical.
▶ 3:20:10Sen. Cruz: You want to support that working group, they will look at the january 6 cases in the mar-a-lago case, the cases you worked on. Can you acknowledge it would be a conflict for you to oversee that work? >> what I am not acknowledging is the broad strokes you were getting at, there will be complex and I will not violate my ethical obligations. >> let me ask you with great specificity, will you recuse yourself from overseeing the january 6 case, the mar-a-lago case and the alvin bragg case?
▶ 3:20:43Sen. Cruz: Will you recuse yourself from the working groups' supervision of those investigations? >> I will follow the rules as told to me by the experts and career prosecutors in the department. >> I have heard that. >> but it's true. >> may be true in the abstract. Here's the thing which you well know, you may very well get some opinion of an ethics lawyer appointed by the administration.
▶ 3:21:19Sen. Cruz: They tell you you can exercise your discretion. If you believe it's a conflict, and if you don't, you can participate. I ask you how you will exercise that discretion. Will you recuse yourself from overseeing an staycation into matters where you were his lawyer? That should not be hard. >> just give a purely hypothetical. -- >> you just gave a purely hypothetical. >> it is not hypothetical.
▶ 3:21:46Sen. Cruz: I hereby establish the working group, supported by the office of the deputy attorney general. This is what you will be asked to do. If you are given the discretion of overseeing cases in which you were his lawyer.
▶ 3:22:23Sen. Cruz: >> we are talking about hypotheticals. If the career justice department attorney's estimate, you do not have to recuse yourself, I'm not going to sit here today and say that I will still say yes. >> that answers my question. You don't think it is a conflict of interest sitting here today that you would tell me -- >> no, I got it. >> I find it remarkable where we are, that you feel there is any world in which you could somehow participate in an investigation of people where you represent the president.
▶ 3:22:50Sen. Cruz: If you are not willing to commit to recusal, that means you're willing to entertain supervising that word. That tells me something. Let me move on. I think you've made your position clear. Let me ask you very specifically about the mar-a-lago case, the justice department formally recommended it be made public, part two of the report be made public, do you support it? >> no.
▶ 3:23:19Sen. Cruz: >> do you commit to preserving the evidence? >> I can say for law and the rules. >> but you will commit to preserving -- will not commit to preserving the evidence in both those cases. >> I commit to following the long. >> if you can't commit to preserving the evidence in those cases in which you were the defense lawyer, that speaks of the conflict of interest that you have as the president's defense lawyer. >> did not commit to a po but I said I would follow the law. -- >> I did not commit to it.
▶ 3:23:53Sen. Cruz: I said I would follow the law >> I asked you a simple question on whether you will preserve evidence and you cannot say yes. >> I hope every single doj attorney political career or anybody would say they would follow the rules. >> I would hope any doj attorney will say I will always preserve evidence. There is no circumstance in which I will destroy evidence. That's what I would hope. Mr. chairman, yield that -- I yield back.
▶ 3:24:22Sen. Cruz: >> do you want to see we were trying to say or do you want me to move on? >> you can move on, senator, thank you. >> for some follow-up -- >> first of all I would like to enter into the record an article by jim jordan written for the daily wire yesterday. The article's title, why todd blanche is the right man for deputy attorney general.
▶ 3:24:47Sen. Cruz: Then I want to say that, for everybody's information, written questions can be submitted for the record until 5:00 p.m. Tomorrow. So for both of you, it is very important that you get these answers quickly and return them. Until you do, we cannot schedule the five days ahead of time that we need to consider your nomination.
▶ 3:25:13Sen. Cruz: So if you do that, I think you folks have done a good job, and I think if you are confirmed, you will carry out the responsibilities in the nonpolitical way that you should. Meeting adjourned. >> thank you.
▶ 3:25:58Sen. Cruz: [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]