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▶ 0:19:29>> today we have three items on the agenda, the nomination of john eisenberg and brett schoemaker -- shumate. Obviously we held over. This is the second meeting with the nomination of patrick davis to serve as assistant attorney general for the office of legislative affairs today.
▶ 0:20:03And that we have several members to vote on the davis nomination. In regard to Mr. davis, I won't keep my introduction from the searing but will simply say I support him. Mr.
▶ 0:20:29Davis used to work for me and he takes seriously the obligation to work with congress to serve the american people and the effective public servant. He should be responsive to committee members requests and continuing our excellent working relationship.
▶ 0:20:53I want to address one other matter that has long been committee practice that we don't hold hearings on U.S. attorney's nominations, however last week my friend senator durbin raised a number of issues of the nomination of ed martin to be U.S. attorney for the district of columbia. He initially said that he wanted a vote today on whether to hold a hearing on the nomination.
▶ 0:21:23It's my understanding that he's agreed to wait until he receives written responses from the nominees, from the nominee before he makes that request. Esther martin has received over 500 questions for the record from senators on this committee which is far more than normal. I've submitted questions to Mr. martin as well.
▶ 0:21:51I believe the nominee is entitled to respond in writing under our normal committee practice before the committee takes further action. So if I'm right about what senator durbin said, I thank him for working with me on this.
▶ 0:22:06Senator Durbin: You are right and I'm looking forward to the responses to the questions that people sent to Mr. martin. And forgot the substance of the hearing, I want to take a moment to acknowledge a member of my staff was asked day is tomorrow, michael may. He served as professional staff and head researcher for nomination 2022. He's worked on more than 200 nominees who come through the committee. If you are confirmed as a federal judge, U.S. attorney, U.S.
▶ 0:22:35Senator Durbin: Marshals 22, there's a good chance that michael has read everything you've ever posted on social media. In addition to his thorough work, he is much appreciated for his quick wit, willingness to translate gen z speak for the rest of my staff. In all seriousness, he's a real professional anti-sub this committee fulfill its constitutional duty.
▶ 0:22:58Senator Durbin: Our loss is the gain of uc berkeley school, senator padilla, so he is headed out to california, his home state to begin law school this fall. Please join me in thanking michael for his service to the committee. [applause] Mr. chairman, I want to thank you and my colleagues for considering my errands regarding the nomination of ed martin to serve as U.S. attorney for the district of columbia.
▶ 0:23:28Senator Durbin: He is seeking to be the lead prosecutor for the department of justice and the district of columbia, a substantial assignment. I understand that chairman grassley has submitted questions to Mr. martin in response to the issues that were raised in the previous meeting. We take our responsibility to advise and consent very seriously. I understand Mr.
▶ 0:23:52Senator Durbin: Martin will submit responses during the april recess so that we have the opportunity to review them before we hold a hearing on his nomination. Mr. martin has a long record of statements and conduct. I would like to take a few minutes to reflect some examples to my colleagues. Mr.
▶ 0:24:12Senator Durbin: Martin has repeatedly attacked law enforcement officers who kept us safe as members of the senate and staff during the january 6 riot emily sisson U.S. attorneys who were assigned to prosecute the rioters brutally attacked police officers. Mr. martin is that day when he posted social media and I quote "like mardi gras in the seat today, love, faith and joy. Ignore fake news.
▶ 0:24:42Senator Durbin: Mr. martin had the audacity to call a 20 year veteran of the metropolitan police department who was nearly killed on january 6 "a fake cop. When leaders of the oath keepers and domestic violent extremists groups were prosecuted for seditious conspiracy for their role in planning january 6, Mr.
▶ 0:25:05Senator Durbin: Martin responded "oath keepers are all of us." he is calling for less judgment on someone who if the top. Top law-enforcement official in the nation's capital.
▶ 0:25:29Senator Durbin: He's repeatedly attacked prosecutors assigned to work on the january 6 case calling them terrorists, and stating when I see these prosecutors, I shun them, I ostracized and socially. I say about them they are despicable people who decided to do something wrong." we also need to hear from Mr.
▶ 0:25:50Senator Durbin: Martin about his close relationship with timothy hale koo cinelli, the january 6 rider and antisemitic racist nazi sympathizer. I will not repeat the vile things he has said about jewish people. Black people, and other minorities. These slurs are well documented and extensive.
▶ 0:26:14Senator Durbin: At a time and we are expelling students from the united states for participating in protests where the question is raised as to whether their statements are anti-semitic, and a time when we are basically deciding that this committee to think of some of the things that Mr. martin has done for his panel, is outrageous. Mr. martin is well aware that Mr. hale koo cinelli's record.
▶ 0:26:46Senator Durbin: In fact he has excused him for dressing up like hitler. " he was just goofing around." just last year, Mr. martin presented him with an award. Where was the award presented by Mr. martin? At the trump bedminster club in new jersey.
▶ 0:27:08Senator Durbin: This places were martin said "an extraordinary man, an extraordinary leader." this man u dresses up like it off hitler. He continued "it's one of the goals of many of us to make sure that the world and especially america hears more from tim hale because he is so extraordinary." just last month while serving as interim U.S. attorney, Mr. martin attended an event.
▶ 0:27:37Senator Durbin: Members of the oath keepers and other january 6 offenders including some of these cases. He compared the prosecution of january 6 riders with internment of japanese prisoners during world war ii. This false equivalency is alarming, harmful, disrespectful and disgusting.
▶ 0:28:00Senator Durbin: Another speaker at this event was douglas mackey, who has said "women are children with the right to vote ." and another quote "black people will believe anything we read and we let them vote?
▶ 0:28:14Senator Durbin: Why?" at the event endm, ed martin praised him as "a leader of people who sees what happens and wants to do something about it." I am describing defends and -- friends and political and professional acquaintance of the man who wants to be the chief prosecutor for the U.S. department of justice and the district of columbia. Mr. martin must answer for these offensive comments he has made.
▶ 0:28:41Senator Durbin: Recounting his tenure at cnn, he said "I got fired because of the crazy black ladies on cnn that demanded I be fired because I didn't take their nonsense." the fact that Mr. martin feel the need to note the race and gender of individuals across him speaks volumes about his temperament and character.
▶ 0:29:01Senator Durbin: Just last year he said in an interview and I quote "you show me a jewish american who feels good about the democratic administration, I'll show you someone who is not really jewish." how dare Mr. martin pass judgment on someone else's religion. Ed martin sister raises serious questions about whether he should ever be given the authority of the U.S. attorney of the district of columbia.
▶ 0:29:26Senator Durbin: One of his first official acts after his appointment was to fire numerous prosecutors simply because they were assigned and handled january 6 cases. Less than a month into his tenure, he sent a threatening letter to georgetown university law center planning that the school "continues to teach and promote dei." the dean of the law school rightfully responded and I quote "given the first amendment's protection of the university's freedom to determine its own
▶ 0:29:56Senator Durbin: Curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the university's mission as a jesuit and catholic institution." the top prosecutor in the nation's capital should be focused on fighting crime and terrorism, not monitoring the curriculum of local law schools. I will continue to review his record.
▶ 0:30:19Senator Durbin: I can't wait for his answers to the questions and I hope that members of this committee on both sides of the table will take it seriously when we made that bipartisan pledge to do our best to stop antisemitism and look honestly at the record of ed martin. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:30:35Chair Risch: I hope our members can get here so we can vote on the nomination. >> thank you very much, Mr. chairman. I joined my colleagues in calling for a hearing on ed martin's nomination, and it's bad enough that he praised a white supremacist and nazi sympathizer, but we know that he wrote in an email to his office that he agrees that prosecuting january 6 insurrectionists with
▶ 0:31:08Chair Risch: A certain obstruction charge was, and I quote "the greatest failure of legal judgment since japanese internment." I am just so speechless and appalled that he'll even make such a comparison, and we use the japanese term for this kind of comparison. Basically, bs.
▶ 0:31:34Chair Risch: Plain and simple, nearly every convicted january 6 insurrectionist, 96% of them were convicted of other crimes as well, not just for obstruction. And many of them attacked members of law enforcement. We saw the pictures, let's not believe what we see with our own eyes, and by contrast, I hope by now every member of this committee knows the japanese-americans who were interned during world war ii did nothing wrong.
▶ 0:32:04Chair Risch: Campaign uric -- comparing january 6 insurrectionists to americans jailed. Their lives were ruined. I hope some of you have read some of the stories of the 125 japanese-americans were interned having their livelihoods and their property taken. Their lives destroyed because of their race is spitting on the memory of these men, women and children. So we need a hearing on Mr.
▶ 0:32:32Chair Risch: Martin, and he needs to read some history books because based on his statement regarding japanese internment and his praise for a nazi sympathizer, ovale he has no idea what happened during world war ii or he chooses to ignore these facts. I would like him to come before this committee so we can ask him these questions.
▶ 0:32:59Chair Risch: I seriously question his temperament, his judgment, his character. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a japanese-american citizen's league statement of april 9, 2025 condemning Mr. martin's comparison.
▶ 0:33:22Chair Risch: So ordered. -- chair grassley: so ordered. Senator coons, let's vote on this nomination and then I will call on you. >> Mr. chairman I asked consent to put a statement in the record about Mr. davis'nomination.
▶ 0:33:46Chair Risch: I would only add that you have been very fortunate to have multiple letters that the department of justice responded to, I've had none. I stood by you when we were in the majority in the said that this is a bipartisan request to the committee, I hope you will do the same.
▶ 0:34:01Chair Grassley: I do the same and I want to remind you in february 2017 when the first trump administration said that you didn't have to respond to letters only from committee chairman. I spoke both here and before the house, I don't know which committee and the house I spoke with.
▶ 0:34:25Chair Grassley: It is the right of all 535 members of congress to have their oversight letters responded to. The clerk will call the role on the nomination.
▶ 0:34:53Chair Grassley: [calling role] >>
▶ 0:35:28Chair Grassley: Mr. davis will be reported. Now, senator coons. >> thank, Mr. chairman, for the chance to speak to Mr. davis's nomination. Since president trump's inauguration, my colleagues and I have sent the department of justice 8000 oversight letters and have not received a single response. A letter to attorney general bondi about why the pardon attorney was fired, no response.
▶ 0:35:57Chair Grassley: A letter about the use of signal to share sensitive information about war plans, no response. A letter to attorney general bondi about whether the deputy attorney general perjured himself during the nomination hearing before this committee, no response. In letter to attorney general bondi about the department's role in issuing pardons to the convicted felons were assaulted police officers on january 6, no response. Several of our letters went to doj, and they remain unanswered.
▶ 0:36:28Chair Grassley: Mr. davis said in his response to my bed and questions he thought oversight letters should be responded to and I quote "in a matter of days or weeks, not months." but we've been waiting more than two months for these responses. When I asked Mr. davis what he would do, if Mr. trump, president trump asked him to do something illegal or unethical, he refused to respond saying he rejected the premise of the question.
▶ 0:36:54Chair Grassley: I also urge this committee and I joined with several colleagues to hold a hearing on ed martin's nomination to the U.S. attorney for the district of columbia for the reasons my colleagues have already said. He is not fit in this critical position. Chairman grassley, I applaud you taking the time to think through this question, your leadership here is noticed and appreciated. Martin is uniquely unqualified. But I want to raise another possibility which is that this body should have a hearing for an martin, would have hearings for all nominees in the future for U.S.
▶ 0:37:24Chair Grassley: Attorney for the district of columbia. These are the two most powerful U.S. attorneys offices, southern district of new york and district of columbia. They deserve extra scrutiny. But all of the U.S. attorneys must receive --. They don't hearings typically but we know that because of the blue slip process, there's been some oversight. Federal judges in D.C. don't have loose lips, but they did before this committee. That means the U.S.
▶ 0:37:52Chair Grassley: Attorney attorney for the district of columbia is the only U.S. attorney or federal judge that either member oversight or hearing, so it's change that. Let's make sure that going forward, nominees named by presidents of both parties have a hearing before this committee. I am deeply concerned that Mr. martin's record and they want a chance to hear from him undergrowth, and I want other D.C. attorneys in the future to have to appear before this committee underwrote as well. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:38:21Senator Schiff: I fully support ranking member durbin's request that we have a hearing on the nomination and I appreciate you taking that into consideration. I want to address something related. Ranking member durbin talked about some of martin's incendiary comments about january 6 and the effort to reinvent what happened that day.
▶ 0:38:52Senator Schiff: Among the most significant efforts to reinvent what happened that day were of course the presidents pardons of 1550 people including hundreds of those who violently attack police officers. But the most recent element along those lines was the decision by the justice department to seek to foreclose the collection of restitution ordered by courts for people who broke into this building, assaulted police officers, vandalize the capital, the
▶ 0:39:22Senator Schiff: Justice department is now taking the position that that court ordered restitution should not be paid. And basically what this all means is if you come to the capital and you engage in violence, you get a pardon by the president as long as you are engaging that violence on his behalf.
▶ 0:39:41Senator Schiff: If you come to the capital and you want to vandalize the capitol building and the senate offices, if you want to trash the speaker's office, and you are convicted, and the court orders you to pay restitution for the damage that you do, but the damage is being done in the presidents name, then your obligation to pay restitution for that damage will be void by the justice department. How is that justice?
▶ 0:40:12Senator Schiff: How would that any encouragement to further violence, further vandalism for an administration that claims to the administration about crime and law and order. They are pardoning violent criminals who attacked cops, they are trying to appoint a U.S. attorney who attacked cops, and they are now seeking to do away with any restitution being paid by people who attacked cops and vandalize this building.
▶ 0:40:43Senator Schiff: I think that is just shameful. Thank you, I yield back.
▶ 0:40:47Chair Grassley: Senator klobuchar.
▶ 0:40:50Senator Klobuchar: Of course I agree with senator durbin. I didn't want to just note as well as senator schiff's comments, I didn't even know about that, about the restitution. That is obviously absurd.
▶ 0:41:10Senator Klobuchar: There is one other absurd thing that happened yesterday that I think it is important for us, the president issued an extraordinary order directing the justice department to investigate chris krebs, someone I know, and I know many on this committee no, who had a very important job during the trump administration, and he was in charge of making sure that our elections were safe, that they
▶ 0:41:41Senator Klobuchar: Weren't affected by foreign adversaries. He did a very good job during that time. I remember working with him in -- 20 nonpartisan basis. He had been appointed by a republican president. This is of course in the wake of what had been attempted in 2020. People remember with the russians trying to get into election infrastructure. So here he comes in charge. He did his job, he worked with all different agencies, and did his job to protect those elections.
▶ 0:42:10Senator Klobuchar: And so now out of the blue, many years later he gets fired by president trump after the election last time. He gets fired by president trump, and he then has been out there as a private citizen.
▶ 0:42:28Senator Klobuchar: So now the president has directed the justice department to investigate him, click claiming that he falsely and faithfully denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.
▶ 0:42:42Senator Klobuchar: In fact, trump's own attorney general at the time, william barr later testified in a deposition, I believe, that that election was not stolen, and he had made many comments to the fact that the 2020 election, there was nothing wrong with the 2020 election, something chris krebs has said. I remember after the election he said it was one of the safest in history in terms of foreign interference. So let's get this straight.
▶ 0:43:11Senator Klobuchar: Here is a guy doing his job appointed by president trump, does his job, accident nonpartisan basis, makes sure elections are safe, just like the attorney general and says elections are fine, they were not rigged, there was no interference. He gets fired for it. I think maybe that is enough.
▶ 0:43:31Senator Klobuchar: He gets fired for it, but now the president once the department of justice to launch an investigation because chris krebs told the truth that the 2020 election infrastructure was secure. I just want to point out for the record that is wrong. It is chilling, and this is what we have come to expect from this president.
▶ 0:43:53Senator Klobuchar: But our job is oversight, our job is to step in when we think people are actually violating the constitution or the justice department is not doing their jobs and is not peeping with the law. Certainly ed martin's nomination is an example of that, but this order and what will come of it is something that we cannot just let be on a pile of order that no one even noticed.
▶ 0:44:21Senator Klobuchar: They literally are asking the justice department to investigate a guide simply telling the truth and being the job and I hope that our republican colleagues will join us at point in condemning this.
▶ 0:44:34Chair Grassley: Meeting adjourned.