▶ 0:17:04Chair Grassley: Good morning. I like to welcome everyone to this hearing considering the nomination for terrance cole to serve as administrator of the drug enforcement administration, and gadyaces serralta to serve as director of the united states marshals service.
▶ 0:17:29Chair Grassley: Each of the nominees before us have been -- impressive qualifications and we are looking forward to hearing from each of you. I would like to thank your family and friends for coming today, and I'm sure all the family and friends are proud of these two nominees. Mr. cole, you have an impressive background in law enforcement.
▶ 0:17:51Chair Grassley: You started your career as a police officer for your alma mater, rochester institute of technology, before serving several municipalities. You then entered the dea and served there for 20 years and some challenging places like colombia and afghanistan, having excelled as a special agent, you advanced into da leadership,
▶ 0:18:22Chair Grassley: Taking supervisory positions and several components of the dea including special operations division. By the time you left the dea, 2019, you are assistant regional director of the dea in mexico city division.
▶ 0:18:38Chair Grassley: After a brief stint in the private sector, governor youngkin of virginia appointed you to serve as secretary of public safety of homeland security beam and while there, you took the fentanyl crisis facing your state head-on with great success.
▶ 0:18:56Chair Grassley: Your experience in law enforcement is accompanied by glowing letters of support from many individuals including sheriffs and chiefs of police from around virginia and colleagues from your time at dea. Mr. cole it is clear you have vast experience addressing the plague of illegal drugs facing our country.
▶ 0:19:23Chair Grassley: Dea desperately needs strong, experienced leadership after president biden's administrators fumbled -- funneled taxpayer dollars to friends, filled positions with unqualified contractors, and stood down on key cartel arrests because of intra-agency rivalry. I'm looking forward to hearing your vision for dea. Mr. serralta, you are also well suited to serve as director of U.S.
▶ 0:19:53Chair Grassley: Marshals service, and one of the marshals in the state of iowa urged me to consider seriously voting for you. You begin your career with the miami-dade police department as an officer in 1990. In 2015, you left as a major. In that time, you demonstrated sound management of skills and cap -- kept your area safe.
▶ 0:20:26Chair Grassley: We confirmed you as marshal for the southern district of florida. You did that in the unusual fashion today of a voice vote. As the southern district of florida marshal, you conducted several successful initiatives. One example, in 2020, you let operation bbb, a 30-day operation focused on reducing gang and violent crime that resulted in 150 arrests, the
▶ 0:20:56Chair Grassley: Seizure of 45 firearms, and six kilograms of narcotics. Mr. serralta, your distinguished career as a police officer and marshall demonstrates your strong leadership and experience that will serve you well as director of the U.S. marshals service. I look forward to hearing from you today as well. Senator.
▶ 0:21:17Sen. Durbin: Thanks, Mr. chairman. Congratulations to the nominees and their families. Before we hear from the nominees, I want to say a few words about president trump administration of the justice department and the federal judiciary during his first 100 days in office.
▶ 0:21:38Sen. Durbin: Immediately after president trump returned to the oval office, the justice department began reallocating its resources away from critical national security and public safety efforts toward the president's mass deportation agenda. Trump appointees have fired dozens of career law enforcement officials with hundreds of years of experience protecting our country. These actions have destabilized the justice department and made our country less safe.
▶ 0:22:09Sen. Durbin: Career prosecutors and law enforcement agency -- agents, including those in the dea and marshals service have been diverted from their mission and conscripted into immigration enforcement. Today we will hear from the nominee to be the director of marshals service. I need your help helping to pronounce your name correctly. Gadyaces? Close. Serralta.
▶ 0:22:40Sen. Durbin: Good. I'm deeply concerned at the agency that you are hoping to lead. Beyond directing marshals for their mission which include providing judicial security and executing court orders, the marshals service has reportedly deputized members of unelected copresident elon musk's private security detail.
▶ 0:23:02Sen. Durbin: As a result, these private security guards have some of the same rights and protections of law enforcement age and -- agents which typically includes the ability to make arrests and carry weapons on federal grounds. Equally, the director of the marshals service is actually downsizing the agency.
▶ 0:23:25Sen. Durbin: At a time when threats to our judges are rising, it is baffling that more than 5000 employees of the marshals service received letters asking them to consider to resign. 5000. Judges appointed by republicans and democrats, including those appointed by president trump have expressed fear that this administration will withdraw this protection, critical life-saving protection from judges and their families.
▶ 0:23:53Sen. Durbin: Two decades ago, the mother and husband of federal judge joan lesko, a federal judge from my home state of illinois, were tragically murdered by a disgruntled litigant. We have tried ever since on a bipartisan basis to put more resources into the protection of our judges, and we needed now more than ever.
▶ 0:24:16Sen. Durbin: Just a few years ago, new jersey district judge esther salas, targeted by a disturbed individual who came and shot and murdered her, her husband and her only child. In the past few months, this administration has supporters that have repeatedly attacked individual federal judges by name simply because they had the audacity to rule against president trump. The rhetoric puts the lives of judges and their families in danger.
▶ 0:24:46Sen. Durbin: Recall when there was a demonstration in front of the home of justice kavanaugh. This committee, I believe, made it clear, weak and any attempt at violence or anything near it, whether it came from the right or the left, republican or democrat. Now consider this.
▶ 0:25:05Sen. Durbin: Recently, hundreds, hundreds of pizzas have been delivered to the homes of judges and their families, including at least 10 sent in the name of daniel and her role, the murdered son of judge salas. Subtle, right? Many of these judges who received pizzas were presiding over legal challenges to trump administration actions. Hundreds of pizzas to the homes of these judges.
▶ 0:25:32Sen. Durbin: As judge salas notes, the goal is to signal, I know where you live, I know where your kids live. You want to end up like judge salas? You want to end up like her son? Subtle. Mr. serralta must commit, if he's going to get my support to be confirmed, he will not withdraw or reduce judicial security, period.
▶ 0:25:55Sen. Durbin: We will also hear from terrance cole, nominated to lead the dea, whose mission is to "combating criminal drug networks bringing harm, violence, overdoses, and poisoning to the united states." it is surprising the administration is shunting the expertise of dea agents away from this critical mission to go after immigration enforcement. This is not the only attempt to gut the dea.
▶ 0:26:22Sen. Durbin: Last month, a deputy attorney general todd blanche issued a memo. How would a smaller workforce and a smaller budget help effectuate the mission that critical life-saving missions of these two agencies? This administration may claim this proposal is to make government more efficient, but it will only make america less safe. I look forward to hearing from Mr. cole on whether he supports these coding changes to the agency he would like to lead.
▶ 0:26:55Sen. Durbin: These first 100 days of this administration have thrown america into chaos. While president trump and elon musk are intent on dismantling the justice department, americans are feeling the consequences.
▶ 0:27:08Chair Grassley: We will go on to senator moody to introduce Mr. serralta and then senator cornyn will introduce mystical. If he doesn't come, I will introduce his statement for you in the record.
▶ 0:27:26Sen. Moody: As the wife of a dea agent, I could help you make the introduction. It's my honor to be here as part of this committee to introduce president trump's nominee to be the next director of U.S. marshals service, fellow floridian gady serralta. We had the pleasure of meeting when I was the attorney general and he served admirably in that role in the southern district of florida.
▶ 0:27:53Sen. Moody: I think you will hear today many times where they try to in some way insinuate that this man will engage this role in a partisan way. As I go through this introduction, I challenge anyone to pick anything out of this introduction that in any way shows that he cares nothing more than protecting his community that he loves, serving the judiciary, making sure he is putting bad guys behind bars, and delivering in service to his fellow floridians, and now americans.
▶ 0:28:25Sen. Moody: As florida's attorney general, I can say with confidence he is fully supported by law enforcement, not just within our own state but nationally. They have watched him over his career served admirably. I want to note, not a part of my formal introduction, but he knew he wanted to be a cop as a young man when he was in school. He has done nothing other than his professional career than wear a badge, take the oath, and serve our public.
▶ 0:28:52Sen. Moody: I will go through a highlight of his career but I want to say, when we spoke and got to know each other, it was abundantly clear, out of all of his achievements, his greatest pride is his family. As the wife of a law enforcement officer, it is our job, too. So thank you for being here. Now I will get serious and stop choking up. You've had a distinguished career that began three tickets ago serving in the miami-dade police department.
▶ 0:29:20Sen. Moody: He served as a patrol officer and started working primarily with the criminal street gangs unit and organized crime section and then as a lieutenant in charge of robbery intervention and narcotics detail before assuming the position of a major. He also served as police chief or the palmetto bay policing unit in the city of palmetto bay, florida. This is all important background because he will be working with locals to go after and arrest those with performance. We have many taskforces. He will be overseeing those across the nation.
▶ 0:29:50Sen. Moody: That experience will be crucial to delivering on your responsibilities. 2018, he was nominated by president trump to serve as the marshal for the southern district of florida. He was confirmed by the senate in august 2018 and for the past seven years under president trump and president biden, he has served as marshal in the southern district of florida.
▶ 0:30:14Sen. Moody: He is responsible for management administration and director of operations throughout the southern district which consists of nine counties, seven courthouses, and a districtwide population of more than 7 million residents. In his various roles of the miami-dade police department and as he was marshal, he worked closely with local law enforcement and they were able to accomplish very important broad public safety goals. He hosted operation we will find you, which was combating human trafficking schemes and crimes.
▶ 0:30:44Sen. Moody: 2020, he led operation triple beam, an operation to reduce gang and violent crime, resulting in 150 arrests and the seizure of 45 firearms, six kilograms of narcotics. Mr. serralta increase the southern district's oversight of judicial security and threat investigations, overseeing investigation that lead to eventual prosecutions that threatened federal judges and their staffs. So he has that experience. I know he will continue to draw upon that in his new role.
▶ 0:31:16Sen. Moody: These are examples of just a few of the accolades and things he has focused on as marshal. I know given his extensive experience and expertise, I have no doubt he will excel in his role as a director of the U.S. marshals service. With that, I say I am proud to support your nomination, not just as a fellow floridian, but a former attorney general, wife of a career law enforcement officer. You are exactly what we need at the helm of this agency.
▶ 0:31:44Sen. Moody: I think you and your family for stepping up to serve this great country.
▶ 0:31:46Chair Grassley: Thank you, senator moody. Without objection, I will insert senator cornyn's introduction of Mr. cole. Would you two people rise for the oath please? Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god?
▶ 0:32:16Chair Grassley: Both have nodded their head in agreement. Now we will start with Mr. cole. For both of you, it is tradition in this committee, if you want to talk about your family and friends, any support that you have before you give your statement. That is ok. Mr. cole, go ahead.
▶ 0:32:39Mr. Cole: Mr. chairman, thank you. I want to welcome my wife joy here along with my son nicholas, who flew in from coronado to be here for this event today. To the many supporters from the governor's cabinet that are here my friends from dea, retirees, some active folks, appreciate them here supporting me during this amazing day. Thank you, sir.
▶ 0:33:07Chair Grassley: Thank you.
▶ 0:33:09Now Proceed Mr. Cole: Good morning, chairman grassley, ranking member durbin, members of the committee. I'm honored to appear before you today and deeply grateful to the president for nominating me to serve as the administrator of the drug enforcement administration, dea. Also want to thank my wife joy, our four children, rachel, lauren, nicholas, dominic, for their unwavering support throughout my career in public service.
▶ 0:33:39Now Proceed Mr. Cole: United states faces a deadly and unprecedented crisis every day. We lose nearly 300 americans to drug poisonings. Primarily due to illness and fentanyl flooding across our borders. If confirmed, my number one priority will be combating this crisis with urgency and resolve. My extensive law enforcement experience has given me a unique perspective on cartel-driven devastation affecting our communities.
▶ 0:34:06Now Proceed Mr. Cole: My career has taken me across the country and around the world where I have witnessed firsthand how cartel seek to expand their power through deep-rooted corruption, ruthless violence, and relentless drive to profit from human suffering.
▶ 0:34:22Now Proceed Mr. Cole: While assigned as a dea special agent in colombia and afghanistan, and as the assistant regional director in mexico, I saw the cartels coercion of government institutions, intimidation of law enforcement, and their brutal enforcement of control over entire communities.
▶ 0:34:41Now Proceed Mr. Cole: Domestically, I've served as a dea special agent throughout the united states and most recently as secretary of public safety and homeland security for the commonwealth of virginia, where I have witnessed the toll of these illicit drugs have on our communities. And I have taken concrete action to decrease the violence and the fentanyl poisonings in the commonwealth, leading the nation with a 41% decrease in overdose deaths in virginia.
▶ 0:35:11Now Proceed Mr. Cole: Throughout my career, I've successfully worked with foreign, federal, state, tribal, and local counterparts to whom it and strategic initiatives aimed at dismantling cartel operations. These efforts have led to the extradition of high-profile cartel leaders, the arrest of key fugitives with transnational criminal organizations, and seizures of vast amounts of illicit narcotics and cartel assets. I have overseen these efforts to collect and disseminate intelligence across the U.S.
▶ 0:35:43Now Proceed Mr. Cole: Government, ensuring law enforcement agency that every level have the tools and information necessary to combat these threats effectively. Our efforts to dismantle these cartels however has just begun. These cartels have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to adapt, evolve, and relocate their operations to effectively combat them, united states must deploy every available resource.
▶ 0:36:09Now Proceed Mr. Cole: Law enforcement, intelligence, financial sanctions, and diplomatic pressure to ensure we are targeting these networks at every level. From their leadership to their financial infrastructure, to eliminate them and prevent their splintering into new organizations. Designated cartels like sin alone and others as foreign terrorist organizations is a necessary and overdue step in this fight.
▶ 0:36:36Now Proceed Mr. Cole: And the recent extradition of high-profile cartel leaders including rcq and the members of the zeta cartel represent another positive step in our fight against transnational organized crime. Special agent henrique camarillo's family has waited 40 years for justice. We are one step closer to getting that justice for his family. The fentanyl crisis is not a partisan issue. It is a national security emergency.
▶ 0:37:06Now Proceed Mr. Cole: I am committed to working with this committee, with congress, law enforcement agency that every level, with our international allies to ensure we take the fight directly to the cartels and protect american lives. The men and women of the dea are among the most dedicated professionals of law enforcement. If confirmed, I will lead them with the same commitment to mission and integrity that has defined my career. We must act decisively, we must act now.
▶ 0:37:36Now Proceed Mr. Cole: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:37:45Mr. Serralta: I you, senator. I will like to thank all of the family members I have here is in today. I also have a number of U.S. marshals service that flew in to support me. Back at every district, the 94 districts in the united states, there are deputies, supervisory deputies, chiefs, assistant chiefs that have sent me a bunch of well wishes and prayers. I would like to thank them for that.
▶ 0:38:18Mr. Serralta: I would also like to mention that yesterday marked the first year, the one-year anniversary of four law enforcement officers who lost their lives in north carolina. I would like to mention joshua ire, officer alden elliot, officer sam bellucci, one of our own U.S. deputy marshals, thomas weeks, was gunned down and assassinated by a violent criminal.
▶ 0:38:55Mr. Serralta: Express gratitude and remembrance to these officers and their families. Thank you, Mr. chairman. Thank you, ranking member durbin , senator moody, for your kind introduction. I'm honored to appear before you today as president trump's nominee to be director of the united states marshals service.
▶ 0:39:20Mr. Serralta: I am deeply grateful for the trust and confidence the president trump and attorney general bondi have placed in me to lead one of the most storied, respected, and vital agencies within the united states government. Being considered for this esteemed position is truly the honor of a lifetime. I'm also deeply honored to have my wife of 25 years, monica, right behind me, as well as three of my seven children, sarah, kayla, olivia.
▶ 0:39:48Mr. Serralta: I would not be in this position without monica's unwavering support and love as well as the encouragement of my children. My family support has been a constant source of strength throughout my journey. Regrettably, my daughter hannah is unable to join us today, as she and her husband are eagerly anticipating the arrival of my newest granddaughter rebecca. Additionally, my sons isaac and levi are unable to attend. They are under the care of my oldest son adrian and his wife cynthia.
▶ 0:40:18Mr. Serralta: Adrian and cynthia have been a great blessing to me and my family. They have given us three grandchildren, angelina, archer, and charlie. I would like to take a moment to share more about myself and give context to my career and life experience. I bring 35 years of law enforcement experience to this position. I began my career at the age of 20.
▶ 0:40:45Mr. Serralta: Jonah now what is miami-dade sheriff's office after several years of patrol duties, I transitioned into a roll of gang unit detective. I spent 10 years addressing criminal street gangs, and for eight of those years I was assigned to the specialized gang task force operating out of the states attorneys office, focusing on utilizing the states rico statute to disrupt, dismantle the most violent and dangerous criminal street gangs.
▶ 0:41:14Mr. Serralta: Subsequently, I served for eight years in the major cases narcotics section what I was involved in emerging drug trends. Additionally I supervise squaws dedicated to money laundering, kidnapping, and domestic interdiction. Toward the end of my career, I returned to uniform services, ultimately achieving the rank of major. I was appointed as chile's chief for the village of palmetto bay.
▶ 0:41:39Mr. Serralta: In 2018, I had the distinct privilege of being nominated and subsequently confirmed as united states marshal for the southern district of florida, a position I have proudly held for nearly seven years. Leading the men and women of the southern district of florida has been an exceptional honor. The dedication, professionalism, commitment demonstrate by united states marshals service employees is unrivaled, and it remains the greatest honor of my career to serve in that capacity.
▶ 0:42:08Mr. Serralta: If confirmed, my foremost priority will be to ensure our deputies received the necessary support to successfully carry out their missions. You have my unwavering support, commitment -- I'm sorry, I lost my place. You have my unwavering commitment that every decision I make will be guided by their needs and well-being.
▶ 0:42:39Mr. Serralta: The position I'm not admitted for today represents the only role capable of surpassing the honor of serving as an appointed united states marshal. If confirmed, I pledged to honor the 230 five-year legacy of america's oldest federal law and agency every day of my service. In conclusion, I would like to take a moment to share a few words about my parents. My father who passed away nearly two years ago at the age of 95 was a man of great strength, character, and faith.
▶ 0:43:07Mr. Serralta: My mother, who was a year younger, is still with us, thanks in large part to the care, support of my brother-in-law and my siblings and I who take turns caring for her. In 1960, my parents fled cuba seeking a better life in america. My mother, an elementary school teacher, my father, an engineer, arrived with four children, the youngest of which was only six months old.
▶ 0:43:37Mr. Serralta: And went on to have five more children in this country. My unique first name gadyaces is actually a spanish acronym. It translates to glory to god and to jesus as savior. My parents named all nine of my siblings with biblical acronyms. With the exception of one, the firstborn in the united states.
▶ 0:44:02Mr. Serralta: She was named celeste a victoria because because my parents being able to come to this country and settle here and succeed with nothing short of a celestial victory. The gratitude for the opportunities provided by america were imbued into me and my siblings and is a source of my calling to dedicate my life to public service. On behalf of my family and myself, I extend my aches my sincere appreciation for your consideration and look forward to answering your questions.
▶ 0:44:35Chair Grassley: From cnn, yesterday, referencing anonymous sources who suggested you are responsible for the ambush of a colombia police unit in 2006, although the cnn reports anonymous sources with no firsthand knowledge of the events, numerous dea officials directly involved came to your defense on the record and said you did nothing wrong.
▶ 0:45:07Chair Grassley: I want to give you the opportunity to explain whatever you want about what actually happened.
▶ 0:45:13Mr. Cole: Senator, thank you for the question. The incident they reference in 2006 was an operation that was conducted by the colombia national police. Dea had no involvement. Dea was not on the ground. Dea did not provide intelligence .
▶ 0:45:32Mr. Cole: In the colombia national police operate within a system of complete sovereignty in their country and were following through on information that was developed by the colonial national police to serve a search warrant that was authorized by the colombian prosecutor. Upon arrival, the colombia national police were ambushed by the global military.
▶ 0:46:00Mr. Cole: The colombia military was being paid by the north cartel at the time to ambush this value group. The trial showed in colombia that the soldiers who ambush the police officers were responsible for war crimes, and they are still in prison to this day. So I would like to state there was no dea presence on the ground. I was not involved with this case.
▶ 0:46:29Mr. Cole: There was no dea intelligence pass to colombia. This was an independent investigation being conducted by the colonial national police.
▶ 0:46:38Chair Grassley: Further referring to the cnn report, referencing mass killing's by the brothers, violent leaders of the zeta's cartel, anonymous critics with no firsthand knowledge of even quoted by cnn suggested that intelligence from mexican authorities may have led to the killing.
▶ 0:47:08Chair Grassley: Your supervisor at the time said that you did nothing wrong. I have a few questions and hopefully you have a short answer to each one. Was there ever a determination by dea that the intelligence leak led to the killing?
▶ 0:47:22Mr. Cole: No, sir.
▶ 0:47:24Chair Grassley: Did you directly transfer the intelligence to the mexican authorities?
▶ 0:47:29Mr. Cole: No, sir I did not.
▶ 0:47:31Chair Grassley: Did you follow all dea policies and give all proper supervisory approvals regarding the handling of the intelligence?
▶ 0:47:43Mr. Cole: Yes, sir, we did.
▶ 0:47:46Chair Grassley: Were you ever investigate or even accused of any wrongdoing?
▶ 0:47:50Mr. Cole: No, sir, I was not.
▶ 0:47:53Chair Grassley: Is there anything else you want to say, bearing in mind the case involving the brothers remains ongoing?
▶ 0:48:00Mr. Cole: Just that this is an active investigation, and most recently both zeta 40 and 42, the brothers were extradited from mexico to the united states based on drug dealing cartel activity and they have been involved with killing hundreds of thousands of americans through the poison that they distribute into this country.
▶ 0:48:25Chair Grassley: Thank you. Mr. serralta a come as a sitting U.S. marshal, you are in the best position to know the details about challenging -- that challenges the agency that you might head. What are the most pressing challenges facing the marshals service, and how would you solve those problems?
▶ 0:48:48Mr. Serralta: Thank you, senator for the question. I would say the top three priorities for me are judicial security, ensure that we take a top to bottom look at the division to ensure we have the appropriate resources allocated.
▶ 0:49:10Mr. Serralta: I would like to look at the technology we are using as well to make sure that we are maximizing our efforts in the detection of threats. The second issue that I think the marshals service needs to look into is the sex offender investigations branch, as well as the missing child unit. Those are two missions that are very near and dear to my heart.
▶ 0:49:42Mr. Serralta: I believe it affects america, affects america's children, is something that we need to ensure that we have maximum effort workings in that direction. Lastly is the regional fugitive task forces.
▶ 0:49:59Mr. Serralta: Regional fugitive task forces, district task forces are the way that the marshals operate missions against the most violent criminal -- the most violent criminals in america, to ensure that we are doing our part in capturing these individuals.
▶ 0:50:23Mr. Serralta: That is something that also needs to be well staffed throughout the districts, all the district taskforces.
▶ 0:50:31Sen. Durbin: Thanks, Mr. chairman. Let me say at the outset, I welcome you both. You both have extraordinary backgrounds in law enforcement. I'm sorry that you are both on the same panel because you each, I believe, have very important jobs you are seeking. I wish we had more time so that we could do a fair and ask people questions. I will focus my questions on Mr. serralta.
▶ 0:51:01Sen. Durbin: Mr. cole, that does not diminish the importance of the dea in my mind. I hope you understand that. We just have limited time. Mr. serralta, I want to start by saying, as the son of an immigrant, when you told me your story, told this gathering your story, it's a heartwarming story. The family that came to the united states and made this nation better. Immigrants make america better. This notion that they are all rapists and terrorists and murderers and mentally unstable does not the reality of america.
▶ 0:51:34Sen. Durbin: Your family has given much to this country and I'm sure will continue to. I want to salute you in that regard. I'm going to ask you a question because the marshals service is the lead agency charged with executing and enforcing judicial orders from federal courts. I want to ask if you are willing to commit under oath to enforcing all judicial orders if you are confirmed to lead the marshals service.
▶ 0:51:58Mr. Serralta: Thank you, senator. The primary role and mission of the marshals service is to provide safety for and obey, enforce, and execute all lawful orders of the federal courts.
▶ 0:52:15Sen. Durbin: That was clear. Thank you. Now let's get to the issue of judicial security. You identified that as your first priority. I am sure it is not in any way to deflect on your other priorities, but let's talk about that for a moment. You have been somewhat extraordinary witness because you served under both democrats and republican presidents. You are a holdover. That speaks well of you and the fact that you are considered a, at least in my mind.
▶ 0:52:48Sen. Durbin: Do you feel the challenge of judicial security continues to grow in intensity?
▶ 0:52:53Mr. Serralta: Senator, thank you for the question. Not only am I apolitical, but the U.S. marshals service is apolitical. Threatening a judge is a serious, serious crime, and something that we have always been a part of investigating it and holding folks accountable. Threats have been coming at judges for years.
▶ 0:53:22Mr. Serralta: The entire six years I've been here, as well as I'm sure in the future. We will continue the intensity and the tenacity of investigating each and every threat and taking it to the extent of the law, working with the various united states attorney's offices in each district.
▶ 0:53:42Sen. Durbin: My staff, I have asked them, what is the size of the staff of the U.S. marshals service nationwide? They estimate there are 5600 employees. We now know that doge, the elon musk inefficiency task force, whatever they call themselves, has sent letters to 5000 out of your 5600 U.S. marshals service, inviting them to resign. I want to ask you at the outset.
▶ 0:54:13Sen. Durbin: 5600, is that number about right?
▶ 0:54:14Mr. Serralta: Senator, I think it is lower than that.
▶ 0:54:18Sen. Durbin: Do you feel you have adequate resources to meet your responsibilities in protecting judges and their families and those part of the court system?
▶ 0:54:26Mr. Serralta: Senator, that will be my top priority, to make sure that we keep our judges safe. I have done so for the last six years in the southern district of florida and will continue to do so. As far as the human resources, that is something I would have to study. I would have to look at where we have our folks. If I do need more human resources, I would absolutely take it up with the department of justice and ensure that we make the ask.
▶ 0:54:56Sen. Durbin: So you have 5000 of the 5600 employees by my estimation here who have been invited to resign. If that happens in any substantial number, are you concerned it would diminish the knowledge, experience, seniority of the current marshals to serve in the future?
▶ 0:55:15Mr. Serralta: Senator, I believe you are talking about the drp, the fork. That is particular to the folks who can afford to retire, those that have the time in. I certainly am one that, if someone has earned their stripes, has put in their entire career, and they would like to retire, then that is their right.
▶ 0:55:41Mr. Serralta: However, I can tell you there are a number of marshals that seek extensions in order to work longer and don't want to retire. They can retire but don't retire.
▶ 0:55:50Sen. Durbin: I will ask a simple question. My time has retired -- expired here. Will you commit under oath that you will fight for the resources to protect judges and their families under the threats that they are now receiving like this pizza episode?
▶ 0:56:05Mr. Serralta: Yes, sir.
▶ 0:56:07Chair Grassley: Before I call senator graham, senator moody will cover for me while I am 10 or 15 minutes down at finance. Senator graham, go ahead.
▶ 0:56:18Sen. Graham: Thank you to both of you and your families, thank you for your distinguished service, willingness to serve at the highest level in your field. Mr. cole, you mention something that most americans probably need to. 300 americans die every day -- did you say that from fentanyl poisoning?
▶ 0:56:38Sen. Graham: Fentanyl comes across the U.S. mexican border, is that correct?
▶ 0:56:43Mr. Cole: Yes, sir, it does.
▶ 0:56:46Sen. Graham: The precursors from fentanyl come from what country mainly?
▶ 0:56:50Mr. Cole: China.
▶ 0:56:52Sen. Graham: Do you agree china has done little to combat the precursor problem that exists in china?
▶ 0:56:57Mr. Cole: I would agree, yes, sir.
▶ 0:57:00Sen. Graham: Do you believe china is complicit in the fentanyl poisoning of america?
▶ 0:57:05Mr. Cole: Yes, I do.
▶ 0:57:07Sen. Graham: Do you believe the chinese communist party, if they had more will, could do a better job?
▶ 0:57:13Mr. Cole: Yes, sir.
▶ 0:57:15Sen. Graham: Great witness. Mexico. You say mexico is your biggest problem. Seems like it is. Briefly, what are the tools you need to combat the problems you see in mexico that you don't have?
▶ 0:57:29Mr. Cole: Thank you for the question, senator. I enjoyed our discussion yesterday that started with talking about the border and keeping the border secure in the southern part and northern part, and we dove into talking about the cartels and their drive in mexico. Not only their drive in mexico but the corruption associated with the cartels from the government to the financial institutions.
▶ 0:57:51Sen. Graham: Are the parts of mexico that are pretty much governed by cartels?
▶ 0:57:55Mr. Cole: Yes, sir.
▶ 0:57:58Sen. Graham: What percentage of the country of mexico is dominantly governed by cartels?
▶ 0:58:03Mr. Cole: I would say a majority. I left da in 2019 from mexico city and saw the dominance the cartels had at that time. Cjg controlled 20 four of the states in mexico.
▶ 0:58:20Sen. Graham: Let's slow down for a second. I believe you, you have been on the front lines. You are telling us our neighbor in mexico, when it comes to law enforcement and other activities, is pretty much controlled by cartels?
▶ 0:58:35Mr. Cole: They work hand-in-hand, yes, sir.
▶ 0:58:38Sen. Graham: Wow. To our friends in mexico, that is on acceptable. That's unacceptable. What can we do to change that dynamic?
▶ 0:58:48Mr. Cole: We need to build capacity, similar to what we did in colombia in the 1980's. Build the capacity with a judicial wire intercept program. In colombia, we started with 50 phone lines to conduct targeted investigations against cartel leaders. We need to move that to mexico. Currently in mexico, we don't have the process of a judicial wire intercept program which allows both governments to share information.
▶ 0:59:17Sen. Graham: My time is running out. Give me a list of what you need that you don't have. Do you think mexico is willing to embrace what they have to do to change this dynamic?
▶ 0:59:27Mr. Cole: Due to the tremendous diplomatic pressure from the president as well, they will have no choice. Because too many americans are dying every single day.
▶ 0:59:37Sen. Graham: Sounds good. Are you familiar with ms? 13
▶ 0:59:43Mr. Cole: Yes, sir.
▶ 0:59:45Sen. Graham: Briefly what are they?
▶ 0:59:47Mr. Cole: They are a terrorist organization.
▶ 0:59:50Sen. Graham: They have been designated a terrorist organization. Drugs, fentanyl.
▶ 0:59:57Mr. Cole: Extortion, intimidation, money laundering.
▶ 1:00:01Sen. Graham: In your time in the dea, do they have membership cards?
▶ 1:00:06Mr. Cole: Not necessarily membership cards but they are well recognized based on tattoos, different --
▶ 1:00:13Sen. Graham: Do you have a photo that our office provided to you? Can you give this? This is a photo of tattoos of Mr. kilmar garcia, much attention has been paid to his case. I think he is in venezuela. Can you see the photo here?
▶ 1:00:42Mr. Cole: Yes, sir, I have a copy of it.
▶ 1:00:46Sen. Graham: Based on your time and experience and expertise in the dea, what does that photo, those marketing suggest to you?
▶ 1:00:55Mr. Cole: They suggest he is in ms 13 member, those are his markings, his brand. Not only my time at the dea but currently --
▶ 1:01:05Sen. Graham: Start with the leaf, what is that a sign up?
▶ 1:01:11Mr. Cole: Marijuana.
▶ 1:01:13Sen. Graham: The next one is.
▶ 1:01:15Mr. Cole: Smiley face.
▶ 1:01:17Sen. Graham: The next one is.
▶ 1:01:19Mr. Cole: I believe it is a 1, but it is blurred out. The other is a three backwards.
▶ 1:01:26Sen. Graham: Based on your time as an agent in the field particularly in mexico, these tattoos are consistent with ms 13 associations?
▶ 1:01:37Mr. Cole: Yes, sir, that is correct.
▶ 1:01:40Sen. Graham: Do you know of any other set of combination that would suggest any other organization this represents?
▶ 1:01:46Mr. Cole: With this particular one, no, sir.
▶ 1:01:50Chair Moody: Senator blumenthal.
▶ 1:01:55Sen. Blumenthal: Thank you, senator moody. Mr. cole, I want to give you an opportunity to clarify something that you said a couple moments ago with respect to the government of mexico and the cartels. You said they were side-by-side. Is that correct?
▶ 1:02:17Mr. Cole: Sir, we see in instances where the cartels and government working hand in hand together.
▶ 1:02:23Sen. Blumenthal: And in hand?
▶ 1:02:26Mr. Cole: Yes, sir.
▶ 1:02:28Sen. Blumenthal: That is a pretty serious accusation. In effect, you are saying the government of mexico is even complicit, aids and abets the cartels, provides active assistance to them?
▶ 1:02:41Mr. Cole: Based on my experience, yes, sir. That is what I'm saying.
▶ 1:02:45Sen. Blumenthal: Do you have evidence of that claim?
▶ 1:02:49Mr. Cole: I think there is consistent evidence based and case files, cooperating defendants, along with information currently being adjudicated. Yes, sir.
▶ 1:02:59Sen. Blumenthal: Who, in the mexican government specifically, is working hand-in-hand with the cartels?
▶ 1:03:07Mr. Cole: We have seen traditionally the military working hand, police officers working hand-in-hand with the cartel members.
▶ 1:03:20Sen. Blumenthal: Have the dea or any other american law enforcement tried to stop or quell that kind of relationship in my view -- in your view?
▶ 1:03:32Mr. Cole: There have been arrest made relating to the corruption working with narco traffickers. The most high-profile arrests recently was garcia luna, the federal director of the federal police, who was recently convicted in I think the eastern district of new york for his involvement with drug trafficking and money laundering.
▶ 1:03:53Sen. Blumenthal: Are you claiming that the current government of mexico, the leadership, including the president is aware and complicit?
▶ 1:04:04Mr. Cole: I am claiming that during my time, when I was in mexico, we saw that type of activity taking place. Currently, I think the president of mexico has a lot of goodwill faith and is trying to change based on some of the leadership roles she has appointed, specifically the director of security, with combating the cartels. I am encouraged by this stance that mexico is currently trying to take.
▶ 1:04:34Sen. Blumenthal: But you think the influence of the cartels is still strong in the government of mexico.
▶ 1:04:41Mr. Cole: Yes, sir, I do.
▶ 1:04:44Sen. Blumenthal: What would you do as head of the dea to stop or stymie that kind of influence?
▶ 1:04:51Mr. Cole: I think there are numerous steps we could take but initially we need to go back and look at the debriefings that have been conducted, not only of drug traffickers currently in custody in the united states, but there are also a bunch of defendants, corrupt officials here in the U.S. serving prison terms, and map out these networks.
▶ 1:05:13Mr. Cole: It's critically important we hold people responsible for their actions especially when 100 thousand americans continuously die every year from this poison that is produced in mexico.
▶ 1:05:23Sen. Blumenthal: I agree totally on the need for urgent and effective action against fentanyl. Frankly, somewhat surprised by your claim that the influence of those cartels is so rampant and powerful, even in the current government in mexico.
▶ 1:05:54Sen. Blumenthal: Let me just move on to a topic that senator grassley asked about earlier. There is a report -- and I'm sure you have seen it -- from cnn. A couple of internal documents that have not been released regarding the incident in colombia. Would you have any objection to dea releasing those documents?
▶ 1:06:22Mr. Cole: Senator, I'm not aware in reference to their cologne though, any documents that dea may have. I would ask people to go back and look at the case that the colombia attorney general prosecuted against the military because it was complete, sufficient to hold them accountable for killing those colombian police officers.
▶ 1:06:48Sen. Blumenthal: Would you agree that we should have access to whatever documents would provide more insight into what the facts are there?
▶ 1:06:56Mr. Cole: Yes, sir.
▶ 1:06:59Chair Moody: Thank you. Senator hawley.
▶ 1:07:04Sen. Hawley: Congratulations to the nominees, thank you for being here. Mr. cole, nice to be with you yesterday, good to see you both here. Mr. cole, I want to go back to the subject of china which I think you've talked about already in today's hearing. As you know, official estimates put chinese response ability for the fentanyl in the united states at about 90%, a staggeringly high number.
▶ 1:07:29Sen. Hawley: This is very personal to me because fentanyl is a leading cause of death in my state or any individual over the age of 18. I could say as a formal law enforcement official in my state that you can go to any community in the state of missouri, rural, urban, doesn't matter, you will find all of our communities are awash in drugs that are coming from across the southern border largely and many of than the precursors at least coming from china. Let me ask you about what needs to happen with regard to our efforts with china.
▶ 1:08:01Sen. Hawley: Aware of the press reports, you are, too, that the dea closed two field offices in china last year. My question is what are we going to do to reverse the trend of retreating dea operations in china? What do we need to do to send this in the other direction so we stop the massive flow of fentanyl, fentanyl precursors ultimately to this country from their?
▶ 1:08:25Mr. Cole: Senator, thank you for the question. Appreciate the discussion as well. It is paramount that we reengage with china with diplomacy but also with strict sanctions and diplomatic pressure if they don't adhere to it. The other thing of note that we briefly spoke about yesterday was the amount of chinese influence in mexico as well.
▶ 1:08:47Mr. Cole: Where they are sending their chinese membership into mexico, into jalisco, to be representatives and first-line brokers. That needs to stop immediately. The mexican government needs to cooperate and identify who those people are and allow us to conduct legal, judicial cases against them.
▶ 1:09:08Sen. Hawley: Say a little bit if you would about the scale of the growing chinese influence in mexico. I was not aware until you and I talked about the scale of the issue. I bet most members of the public are not aware. Educate us, what are we talking about?
▶ 1:09:22Mr. Cole: When I was there in 2018, it was common knowledge that you could see the influence in mexico city. We would walk out of the U.S. embassy and walk over across the street and see the influence of tour buses with chinese nationals coming in and out of mexico city.
▶ 1:09:42Mr. Cole: Some of the biggest money laundering cases conducted in mexico city were of chinese nationals picking up bulk load cash in mexico based on the transaction they had with the cartel leadership in mexico. This is extremely disturbing. This has been going on for years. It has not been reported. It has not been properly investigated. We need to build his multi coalition of federal law and, U.S.
▶ 1:10:10Mr. Cole: Federal law with judicial tools, to reach deep into mexico, target them, and bring them to justice because they are killing too many americans every single day.
▶ 1:10:19Sen. Hawley: What do we need to expect from our mexican partners in this regard? What do we need to say to them, we need your cooperation with xyz?
▶ 1:10:29Mr. Cole: The dea and other federal agencies involved in the law enforcement are interested in building that capacity, showing them what good looks like. Bring in, showing them with the roadmap was 25, 30 years ago. Was it perfect then? No, but they have an amazing police force currently in colombia. They went from monitoring 20 phone lines to have the capacity to 18,000 phone lines and above today.
▶ 1:10:58Mr. Cole: We need that same cooperation in mexico. This needs to stop. We need to quit losing american lives to this poison that is coming from mexico, fueled by the chinese.
▶ 1:11:09Sen. Hawley: You and I also talked about the growing chinese influence in canada, which is also underreported and probably not well understood at all. Tell us about that, what do we need to be on the lookout for their, and what does dea need to do in order to reverse the same trends we are seeing?
▶ 1:11:26Mr. Cole: We've seen an increase in the population not only coming across the northern border, what with the ports in vancouver and other key critical staging ports to receive bulk cargo of shipments of precursors and other goods, it is a key stakeholder for the united states to have more of a presence in canada, more of a bilateral agreement with canada, and more of an urgency to stop not only the killing of united states, but they are losing
▶ 1:11:56Mr. Cole: Significant canadian citizens due to fentanyl. Your country.
▶ 1:12:03Sen. Hawley: Some say when it comes to canada and fentanyl, canada is not a significant source of fentanyl. Canada is not a security threat to us in any way. The president has used national security authorities to impose tariffs and other measures citing fentanyl and other national security concerns. You are saying today we need to be concerned about what is happening north of the border. The canadian need to be concerned about what is happening with their own borders. Is that fair to say?
▶ 1:12:31Mr. Cole: It is fair to say, yes, sir.
▶ 1:12:35Sen. Hawley: Your background is outstanding, your vision at a critical time for this agency. I will have some questions for you for the record, Mr. serralta. You are probably pleased about that. With that, Mr. chairman, I will turn back to you.
▶ 1:12:53Sen. Hirono: Welcome to both of you and your families. To ensure the fitness to serve of any nominee for -- in any of the committees I sit on, I asked the following two initial questions. I will ask them with you. We will start with Mr. cole and then Mr. serralta, you can answer. Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?
▶ 1:13:21Mr. Cole: No, senator.
▶ 1:13:23Mr. Serralta: No, senator.
▶ 1:13:26Sen. Hirono: Ever faced discipline or entered into a agreement for this kind of conduct?
▶ 1:13:32Mr. Cole: No, senator.
▶ 1:13:34Mr. Serralta: No, senator.
▶ 1:13:36Sen. Hirono: The trump administration has pushed the marshals service and dea agents to assist with immigration actions. Obvious mission drift for these important agencies. Marshall's should be focused on judicial security, as you noted, Mr. serralta, apprehending fugitives and executing federal court orders. Dea should be focused on fentanyl and the overdose crisis, as you indicated is a priority. Mr.
▶ 1:14:04Sen. Hirono: Serralta, are you concerned about stretching already limited resources and possibly thousands of your employees taking early retirement away from judicial security, where the threats are increasing against judges and apprehending fugitives?
▶ 1:14:23Mr. Serralta: Senator, we will never stop focusing on the threats to judges. That is our primary mission and role. That said, marshals service has always had a footprint in immigration. We produce prisoners that have holds from former federal partners.
▶ 1:14:53Mr. Serralta: We deal with them at all times. In my district I can tell you focused our efforts on the criminals. >> yes. Any immigration aspects, the marshals service is not responsible for apprehending what we would call low-level nonviolent immigration. Is that so? >> that is not our usual mission.
▶ 1:15:16Mr. Serralta: >> so meanwhile, do you have a concern about having the resources that you need in view of the offer to 5000 of your employees that they should take retirement? I know that my colleague senator durbin ask you about that. >> in nine district, it had no impact.
▶ 1:15:46Mr. Serralta: I would need to look into it nationwide, but in my district it has not had an impact at all. >> I think that the day is young for that because the fact of the matter is that we have an administration that is really decimating so many programs and offices including for emple social security office, where millions of americans rely on the services of the questions answered relating to those kinds
▶ 1:16:21Mr. Serralta: Of customer service elements are being cut dramatically. This is affecting every sigel department except for the dod. Similarly, I've heard about how important programs like a high intensity drug trafficking area program is for local partners, yet under this administration, they are putting da agents from programs like this and instead having them help arrest low-level immigration offenses.
▶ 1:16:50Mr. Serralta: How does this diversion of resources help us fight drugs in our communities? Dark out senator, thank you for your question. I'm not currently at dea but I do understand your question and that the dea has been given authority to help and assist ice, but I would like to point out recently the raid that occurred in colorado springs with dea along with all the federal agencies.
▶ 1:17:18Mr. Serralta: Although it wasn't immigration, it produced ms 13 members, criminal elements that were taken into custody. Drugs were seized, weapons were found. I anticipate that type of push into the violent criminal illegals if we are asked to assist. >> I think that we do expect the dea to go after the violent criminals, but that is not necessarily what is happening as far as I understand.
▶ 1:17:51Mr. Serralta: Considering that for example, you have said certain things about mexico that it is a failed state, the cartels pretty much control what is happening in mexico. How do you intend to work with the government of mexico with those kinds of views as to their capacity to assist in the fentanyl crisis?
▶ 1:18:16Mr. Serralta: >> as I pointed out earlier, the new security director is a friend of the united states. Somebody who is willing to work with the united states. He has made, in a short amount of time, significant seizures in reference to fentanyl and methamphetamine. So I am encouraged not only by his work, but his appointment to be the head of security for mexico. >> thank you, chairman.
▶ 1:18:46Mr. Serralta: Senator hawley pointed out fentanyl is the leading cause of death. In fact, fentanyl is the leading cause of death in the united states. It is by far the leading cause of death in americans aged 14-45.
▶ 1:19:06Mr. Serralta: So china, in their efforts to send precursors a fentanyl for mexico and the cartels, surging those over the border over the last administration has caused devastation to our nation, our families, stability.
▶ 1:19:27Mr. Serralta: And it was shocking to me as this was occurring at the president of mexico at the time said that the drug crisis, and we know there's over 100,000 people a year -- which to put in perspective, when nancy reagan said just say no, we lost 3000 a year. It is an american problem. Why would be help, we are mexico first.
▶ 1:19:54Mr. Serralta: And immediately thereafter the president of the united states, joe biden said mexico was a great partner and it is refreshing to have a president now in office that recognizes they need to use tools, not only accurately, but the tools available to them, tariffs and otherwise to strengthen that order and get back to assist. We have shut down that border almost 100% difference from this time last year.
▶ 1:20:24Mr. Serralta: But I think it is refreshing to hear someone with first-hand experience talk about the challenges of dealing with mexico not only in how they address the problem and whose it is, but how they oversee and hold accountable their own personnel, and I think you would be hard-pressed to find any law enforcement agent that works with mexico that says that they do not have a real problem with corruption.
▶ 1:20:53Mr. Serralta: And anybody that assumes otherwise or doesn't know enough to talk about that intelligently that is in leadership really needs to dig in the history of law enforcement and cooperation with mexico. Do I have your word moving forward that you will use all the tools at your disposal to ensure that mexico not only assists us with cleaning up and addressing the criminals that are here that shipped drugs here, continue to terrorize our communities, will you demand vocally and without
▶ 1:21:24Mr. Serralta: Administration that we hold the mexican government as well as the cartel accountable?
▶ 1:21:29Mr. Cole: Yes senator, I will. >> diva agree that the cartels are in fact foreign terrorist organizations?
▶ 1:21:36Mr. Cole: Yes, senator, they are. >> did you hold that belief emphatically before president trump had the courage to designate that by executive order? >> yes I did. >> and you believe that will go a long way to ensuring we can not only determine who is in our country right now who shouldn't be, also in tackling the opioid and
▶ 1:22:03Mr. Cole: Yes sena,
▶ 1:22:05Mr. Cole: Yes senat
▶ 1:22:05Mr. Cole: Yes senas
▶ 1:22:06Mr. Cole: Yes senan all hands on deck approach as we stated yesterday to save every american citizen we can. It is critical. >> and do you also believe it is a priority, and I'm sure you did under the last administration, played with the last administration to declare the cartels foreign terrorist organizations which it refused to do? Thankfully, right away, this president did.
▶ 1:22:29Mr. Cole: Do you believe that identifying members of these organizations and getting them out of our country as soon as possible will go a long way toward fighting this crisis of fentanyl killing americans, many of them unsuspecting they are even ingesting fentanyl?
▶ 1:22:43Mr. Cole: Yes, senator. >> another problem that is wreaking havoc within so many of our states and cities around the nation is the idea of rogue and radical prosecutors that campaign and get elected that they are going to fight violent crime and so many times violent crimes decide to drug trafficking and that because of the partisan agenda and their pro-criminal approach, they refuse to prosecute certain crimes including drug crimes.
▶ 1:23:12Mr. Cole: Do I have your word, and do I also have your word, sir, that you will use every resource at your disposal to help those communities where their top law enforcement officer has abandoned them and dropped the ball and refuses to prosecute some of the worst in those communities in an effort to achieve some partisan agenda? Will you come in and bring the cavalry and the federal resources at your disposal to put away violent and dangerous criminals?
▶ 1:23:37Mr. Cole: Senator, we will deploy every tool available. >> same, senator. >> senator klobuchar. Thank you. >> thank you to both of you for your willingness to serve. I'll start off with you. Appreciated the questions on fentanyl, important issue for all of us.
▶ 1:24:05Mr. Cole: And one of the things that is a specific concern of mine is the kids were actually getting exposed fentanyl online. I'm often reminded of devon noren, a teenager from hastings, minnesota who bought a pill on snapchat that he thought was percocet for tooth pain. He had no idea it was laced with fentanyl. He died shortly after taking the pill.
▶ 1:24:30Mr. Cole: Didn't have a history of fentanyl, and as his mom once told me, she was here for one of our hearings, all the hopes and dreams we as parents had for devon were erased in the blink of an eye and no mom should have to bury their kid. Recently the dea found that one third of drug cases had direct ties to social media.
▶ 1:24:53Mr. Cole: The former director of the dea once said publicly that the cartels in china and mexico had harnessed the platforms in the way they were allowed to sell on those platforms. Marshall and shaheen are leading the act named after the kid I just mentioned. I have long been a cosponsor.
▶ 1:25:21Mr. Cole: Could you talk about stopping drug trafficking on social media? In light of the fact that senator cruz and I just passed through the senate earlier and the house yesterday our bill, the take it down act on nonconsensual porn, both ai created an actual. Over 20 kids have committed suicide over this. The first lady endorsed it, it went over to the house, and it is now going to be signed into law.
▶ 1:25:51Mr. Cole: So this is the first time we'd successfully been able to take on any of this. The same thing can be said for the sentinel advertisements. Now that we opened the door on something that is bad, this is equally bad. Could you talk about everything could be made with regard to social media and fentanyl?
▶ 1:26:09Mr. Cole: When I took the position in the commonwealth of virginia at the secretary of public safety, I made it my mission to call two fentanyl moms a day to find out exactly what happened. And part of their concern is exactly what you just voiced. We need to find a way to come together and hold these social media distributors accountable.
▶ 1:26:37Mr. Cole: I will work with parents, with communities, with this committee to find a way to save as many youth as we can. And I think you've seen through what we've done in the commonwealth of virginia under operation free, we've made tremendous strides by working together and breaking down barriers.
▶ 1:26:56Sen. Klobuchar: There is that one pill can kill education effort that our sheriff in my county has undertaken. Maybe a different iteration of the d.a.r.e. Campaigns that had ended in some schools. Could you talk about the importance of public education to let these kids know what they are getting online?
▶ 1:27:21Mr. Cole: I would like to push into the public aspect more. I would like to do more educational things because so many of these kids are dying for the simple reason that they don't have the information. Their parents don't have the information, and I want to find a way to bridge the gap, to allow those parent and those kids to have access to that information.
▶ 1:27:44Sen. Klobuchar: Mr. sirota, just one question. I know that senator durbin asked you about the rising threats, something I've focused on in the past so I'm not going to go over that at the end. In my state, we have a long tradition of law enforcement working collaboratively to address crime and public safety. With our federal law enforcement agencies including the U.S.
▶ 1:28:14Sen. Klobuchar: Marshall, often tied into how they work with the sheriff, how they work with local police, data enforcement. Can you talk about how critical it is to have the U.S. marshals work directly with their state and local partners in order to perform their jobs?. Mr.
▶ 1:28:30Serralta: Thank you senator. State and local partners are the backbone of the marshals service regional fugitive task forces. We have 4300 task force officers more or less. That represents about 180 that also work with us and 1800 local police departments and sheriff's office.
▶ 1:29:02Serralta: We can't do it without them, they are great partners. We look forward to continuing that partnership and increasing in areas that we can. Thank you. >> senator tillis, if you're ready.
▶ 1:29:18Senator Tillis: I am. Mr. serralta, I will be supporting her nomination, that is the good news. Better news is I may not even have time to ask you any questions because I've got a few here. These are friendly questions. I think we've talked a bit about the marijuana growing operation in the eastern part of the cherokee.
▶ 1:29:47Senator Tillis: First off, for disclosure, the whole patchwork of state laws around legal matter want to, medical marijuana, it's very confusing. The federal government to set boundaries. It's pretty clear to me that most states are going to legalize it at some level, so this is not intended to be a message about the future of marijuana but it is about the present of marijuana.
▶ 1:30:18Senator Tillis: In the state of north carolina, I have the eastern band of the cherokee who have made it legal to sell and dispense marijuana inside the boundary, but there are states where everything is illegal. So one thing I'd like to show you, this is a marijuana-growing operation in western north carolina. It is outside of the boundary.
▶ 1:30:43Senator Tillis: So unless they are using teleportation, it's not clear to me how they can grow it here and sell it in the boundary without having gone through a territory that is illegal. I just don't get it.
▶ 1:31:00Senator Tillis: So we sent a letter last year, march 24 asking a lot of actions about the legality of it, the sustainability of it, the fact the marijuana had ranges of potency, that there was no consistent testing.
▶ 1:31:19Senator Tillis: We also have the other challenge that people are buying it there, forcing them to empty out their pockets and attest to the fact that they don't have any, they are transported across state lines in some people are getting arrested. It's not a sustainable situation.
▶ 1:31:36Senator Tillis: More broadly, when you are confirmed, I believe you will be confirmed, can I get your commitment to look through the mechanics of this operation and give me a definitive answer to questions that have been outstanding for a year now?
▶ 1:31:51Mr. Cole: Yes sir, you have my commitment. >> and I think the other question, some general questions I have that are in the letter, at what point would moving massive amounts of marijuana through a jurisdiction to another place, at what point would that constitute trafficking when you are talking about buying? You have any opinion on that?
▶ 1:32:20Mr. Cole: I would have to consult with the U.S. attorney's office and chief counsel at da to confirm to see how we could address those issues, yes or. >> at the end of the day, again, I feel like we should get to a better place to allow states, if they choose to have medical marijuana dispensed for medical purposes or recreational
▶ 1:32:52Mr. Cole: Purposes, does it make sense to you that we've really reached a point where it is confusing for the population, it's confusing to law enforcement. Have we reached a point where we should assess the ability for us to create a framework that deals with protection? It is sort of a tobacco framework. I'm not suggesting that in the case of the cherokee, but a lot of illicit inputs in the so-called legal streams.
▶ 1:33:23Mr. Cole: We got variance in potency and reports now that some of these so-called legal non-marijuana derivatives are less or more potent than the legal marijuana, it's very confusing. But does it make sense at some point for law enforcement purposes that we should come up with rules of the road so there is consistent application of the 50 states?
▶ 1:33:43Mr. Cole: I think this is definitely worthy of the working group because to your earlier points, we need to stay ahead. >> and I think we are getting behind. And the concern that I have if we don't act, there is going to be a race for potency. They are already trying to do it with the isolation and amplification of molecules, but what happens when they run out of gas and the need to add thing else to it?
▶ 1:34:09Mr. Cole: We don't have a national framework to make sure that is not fentanyl or some other substance that differentiates a product from going a little bit further. I think it is a looming public health crisis and also a law enforcement challenge that we need to work on. I look forward to supporting your nomination and also look forward to getting your response back on some of these matters that the biden administration absolutely gave me a nonresponse to. Thank you all for supporting the nominations. >> senator welch.
▶ 1:34:41Senator Welch: I tried to visit yesterday and applaud you for your incredible experience and your family history in law enforcement. Love the story about your grandfather. A lot to be proud of.
▶ 1:34:57Senator Welch: One of the things you talked about was about the harm to folks who unknowingly take and get addicted to fentanyl, the folks peddling it to see if people who think they are getting one thing and they are getting another and then doom awaits them. Senator booker and I have a bill that would help address this, I think.
▶ 1:35:27Senator Welch: It is called expanding nationwide access to test groups act and would help prevent drug overdoses and deaths by allowing access to testing by encouraging use of test strips that detect fentanyl. There seems to be a lot of bipartisan support for it. I'd like your thoughts about the benefits of making these test strips available.
▶ 1:35:49Mr. Cole: Thank you for yesterday, thank you for the cheese. I might swing past later to grab another one. I would definitely be interested in continuing the conversation. The commonwealth of virginia, we have something similar so I would love to learn that about it.
▶ 1:36:08Sen. Welch: Essentially you can kind of test what it is you're are taking. There are some four to think it is permissive and encouraging, but there's also I think a majority of folks who appreciate the point you made, and that is that if you think you're getting x but it is y which is much more lethal and has that potential to kill you, parents would much prefer their kids know what it is they are doing.
▶ 1:36:38Sen. Welch: Any thoughts, any reaction to that? >> I would enjoy that discussion.
▶ 1:36:46Sen. Welch: I don't want to have a discussion, I want to pass the bill.
▶ 1:36:50Mr. Cole: I would have to learn more to fully dive in. I'm not familiar totally with the bill but I would like to continue that discussion.
▶ 1:36:57Sen. Welch: Thank you. Mr. serralta, I know ranking member durbin asked you about this question of a court order, the order of the justice department. That is relevant these days, regrettably because it is a matter of constitutional order that court orders have to be obeyed.
▶ 1:37:23Sen. Welch: I just want to go back to that because of not quite certain exactly where you landed when you were being questioned by senator durbin on following in order by the court that directed you as a U.S. marshal vs. A conflicting order that might be given to you by the justice department. What do you do?
▶ 1:37:47Mr. Serralta: Senator, thank you. I'd like to state that following orders has been relevant for the marshals service for 235 years. It's been relevant to me for 6.5 years, not to mention I followed orders my entire career as law enforcement spanning 35 years. That being said, I think it is a hypothetical you are bringing up.
▶ 1:38:14Sen. Welch: You get a court order, you follow it, right?
▶ 1:38:20Mr. Serralta: Yes sir.
▶ 1:38:22Sen. Welch: But then you get a call from, let's say the attorney general that says disregard it. What do you do?
▶ 1:38:30Sen. Welch: It's hypothetical because --
▶ 1:38:33Sen. Welch: Is not hypothetical.
▶ 1:38:34Mr. Serralta: I think it is a hypothetical. Just my --
▶ 1:38:40Sen. Welch: You're making me nervous.
▶ 1:38:42Mr. Serralta: My six years -- the president himself has actually said that the administration will follow orders. So I think it is a hypothetical. I can tell you that it is our priority, it is our mission to follow the lawful orders of the courts, all federal courts.
▶ 1:39:05Sen. Welch: All right. Well I hope you are not put the test but if you are put to the test, I hope what you just said is what you do, so thank you for that. Mr. cole, you and I talked a little bit about mexico, there's been a lot of discussion about that. They have a new president.
▶ 1:39:30Sen. Welch: Do you have a view on whether that new president of mexico is going to be cooperative as a partner in the effort to stop the fentanyl export from mexico to the U.S.?
▶ 1:39:45Mr. Cole: I'm encouraged by the initial steps. I'm encouraged that the minister of secretary right now, because he has worked with U.S. federal law enforcement before and has been cooperative.
▶ 1:40:00Sen. Welch: Thank you, I yield back.
▶ 1:40:07Senator Padilla: Thank you, Mr. chair. Appreciate your knowledge and your passion for the work of the dea. I want to ask you because you've been very vocal in your testimony and here today about combating the fentanyl crisis and I agree it is indeed a crisis. You spoke eloquently and passionately. Do you believe interdiction alone will help us solve the fentanyl crisis? >> is one of the steps.
▶ 1:40:37Senator Padilla: >> what other elements of a more comprehensive or sustainable and effective strategy do you think we need to be discussing and considering?
▶ 1:40:46Mr. Cole: The success we've had in virginia, it is an educational piece. It is a prevention piece, and it is an enforcement piece. And I think that when you bring those pieces together under what we call bold blue line violent crime reduction strategy, we've been extremely successful.
▶ 1:41:13Mr. Cole: I would like to see that amplified along with we have operation cease-fire in virginia that tackled the violence associated with weapons. We have one pill can kill that the dea has had for years. The first lady of virginia has it only takes one. It is a multifaceted approach with clergy, churches to get the word out.
▶ 1:41:34Mr. Cole: >> time relieved to hear you say that because in california a lot of experts, those that experience suggesting that these more comprehensive solutions that include education as you mentioned, prevention initiatives, treatment initiatives, harm reduction initiatives make our efforts more effective and the results more sustaining.
▶ 1:42:01Mr. Cole: Do you believe the dea should play a role in supporting some of these demand reduction strategies, including access to treatment, for example, and overdose prevention?
▶ 1:42:10Mr. Cole: I think federal law enforcement in general should use every tool available to save american lives. I think that the one reason we have been so six excellent and yet is we've broken down so many silos. Not only information, but silos of communication where people are working hand-in-hand to save lives. And I think the 2020 for year end numbers have decreased, decreasing 41%, noted by the cdc is something to strive for.
▶ 1:42:41Mr. Cole: >> I do have a question for you to terms of agencies working together. What are your views on the dea proposal scheduling of marijuana, and what role do you see yourself playing in ensuring the process goes forward responsibly?
▶ 1:43:01Mr. Cole: It's confirmed it would be one of my first priorities to see where we are in the administrative process. I'm not the million with exactly where we are but I know the process has been delayed numerous times. It is time to move forward. >> the process that is undergoing us to move marijuana to schedule three under the controlled substances act. Maybe somewhere in the process you could commit to seeing it to fruition.
▶ 1:43:27Mr. Cole: >> I would need to understand more where they are and look at the science behind it and listen to the experts. >> we know where we are, we know what the directive is. Are you committed to seeing it to fruition? >> I haven't seen it.
▶ 1:43:43Mr. Cole: So you are leaving the door open to changing course.
▶ 1:43:47Mr. Cole: I'm leaving the door open to studying everything that's been done so far so I can make a determination. >> I'm hearing no answer to that particular question. Back to the other departments and agencies. If confirmed, how would you ensure that the dea remains focused on drug enforcement and that the mission of the agency and the personnel are not undermined by the administration's current session
▶ 1:44:18Mr. Cole: With immigration enforcement?
▶ 1:44:19Mr. Cole: Under title 21 the dea will stay focused on tackling the terrorists that are killing hundreds of thousands of americans every single year via drug trafficking. >> right. And when suggestions are made or orders come down to divert staff and resources away to assist the department of homeland security or anybody else, granted, they are entitled to have priorities, how would you resist those
▶ 1:44:50Mr. Cole: Demands on the precious resources and personnel that you need for this trip?
▶ 1:44:54Mr. Cole: If a request comes from another federal law enforcement agency, it is a custom for us to help and apply support to those agencies. >> I understand not just with dea, but for a number of departments and agencies, law enforcement and otherwise that critical responsibilities of the federal government are being put on the back burner as personnel and resources are being shifted
▶ 1:45:26Mr. Cole: To different priorities. Fentanyl crisis, this committee, both sides of the aisle have been consistent for years now to focus attention and prioritization. And I hope that you would resist the pulling away of personnel and resources to other areas. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. I want to speak with you on some questions that the ranking member asked.
▶ 1:45:54Mr. Cole: As you know the marshals service core mission is enshrined in law and is clear and unambiguous. The law states that the marshals service primary role in the mission is to provide for the security of federal judges and to obey, execute and enforce all orders. That is orders of the federal courts. Even those of the president may disagree with. At the same time, the U.S. marshals operate within the justice department under the authority and direction of the attorney general.
▶ 1:46:22Mr. Cole: Throughout our nation's history we've largely avoided conflict between these two authorities. The statutory obligation for the U.S. marshals service to enforce court orders while at the same time being under the authority of the attorney general. That is because we can a nation of laws governed by the rule of law and the segregation of powers. That constitutional balance is now at risk and you may be thrust in the middle of that crisis. I know you've responded that Mr.
▶ 1:46:51Mr. Cole: Welch's question is hypothetical, what if you are asked or ordered by a court to enforce something against the justice department, justice department orders you to refuse. But only part of it is hypothetical. We have seen already the supreme court of the united states ordering the administration to facilitate the return of someone they improperly rendered to a prison in el salvador. We see the administration refused to facilitate that person's return.
▶ 1:47:21Mr. Cole: We seen in a related case a federal judge issue in order to show cause where the administration should not be held in contempt. If that judge rules the administration is in contempt and issues in order to effectuate her ruling, will you enforce that court order?
▶ 1:47:41Mr. Serralta: Senator, the U.S. marshals service, myself if I am confirmed, every deputy who has ever sworn in over to the marshals service will enforce all lawful orders issued by a federal court. >> so if a judge holds the ministration in contempt and issues in order to either see someone from the administration or effectuate the service of legal process on that, he would follow that court order. >> if it is a lawful order, absolutely.
▶ 1:48:12Mr. Serralta: We will enforce all lawful orders issued by a federal court. >> and you will rely on the legal counsel within the marshals service to give you advice on what is lawful for you to execute?
▶ 1:48:24Mr. Serralta: Yes, senator. >> one of the rules of the marshals is also to provide security for judges. So my question is, and this is a question frankly that was raised by a judge at a meeting of the judicial conference, what happens if the administration orders the marshals service not to provide protection to a particular judge who has issued an opinion that the president disagrees with, but nevertheless provide protection, and you can
▶ 1:48:56Mr. Serralta: Say that question is hypothetical and get only part of it is hypothetical. The president has ordered security for former officials of his own administration to be revoked. People like pompeo, for example. So he's already acted politically to remove people's security not based on whether the threat against them is diminished, but rather based on his personal agenda and political agenda.
▶ 1:49:23Mr. Serralta: Will you as required by law provide security for every judge whether they are favored or disfavored by the president?
▶ 1:49:29Mr. Serralta: I do think it is a hypothetical. I do not believe that president trump whatever issue it ruling like that, but I will reiterate that the marshals service mission and primary role is to provide safety for our federal judges, is to enforce and execute all -- >> I'm asking you simply and not hypothetical, will you commit to providing security for each and every federal judge?
▶ 1:49:58Mr. Serralta: For the last six and a half years, I have done so. If I am confirmed, I pledge to you that we will continue to keep all our judges safe. If it is a basic premise of the united states marshals service. It is the star in our badge. >> finally, are you aware of allegations that Mr.
▶ 1:50:21Mr. Serralta: Musk requested that the marshals service deputized him of his private security to effectuate the operations of doge?
▶ 1:50:33Mr. Serralta: I'm lightly aware of that based on social media or media reports. I don't have social media. >> and what crater it -- free. We do used to deputize anyone as a martial who does not occupy a federal position? What would your practice be?
▶ 1:50:52Mr. Serralta: There is a policy within the marshals service. I believe we were discussing a special dedication, which is primarily for protection. It does not encumber that authority to arrest powers, however when presented something like that, I would study it. I would need to see why and what the needs are.
▶ 1:51:22Mr. Serralta: It is a policy that I would want to get there, if confirmed, and I pledge to you that I would look into it. >> well I hope you will protect the marshals service from any abuse of the powers of deputy tatian -- dedication -- deput ation. Thank you, I yield back.
▶ 1:51:47Mr. Serralta: >> I would like to enter -- into the record. State attorney miami-dade county, florida. A colleague of Mr. serralta for 30 years. She wrote Mr.
▶ 1:52:05Mr. Serralta: Serralta has stopped in immeasurable number of crimes, he is a wonderful person and a great partner, works well with everyone. It is truly an honor to support his nomination. That objection that letter will be entered. Thank you, nominees, for being here today.
▶ 1:52:31Mr. Serralta: You will get written questions from us and answers as soon as you can because we have to have questions until may 7, 5:00 p.m. Meeting adjourned.