▶ 0:19:25Chair Grassley: Good morning, everybody. We have today's agenda, two bills, seven nominations. Today we will vote on two U.S. attorneys, melissa holyoak of utah, phillip williams, jr. Northern district alabama. The two bills and remaining nominations will be held over until the next meeting.
▶ 0:19:54Chair Grassley: Before we vote on nominations, next week our committee will continue our bipartisan work to keep americans safe. In the last few weeks, our commute, our committee has advanced legislation protecting american communities reporting bills to protect children from predators who coerce them to physically harm themselves,
▶ 0:20:25Chair Grassley: Others, and even animals. We have reported a bill that would modernize sentencing guidelines for sexual abuse material for children. We reported a bill that penalizes the extortion and coercion of children using child sex abuse material, commonly known as sextortion.
▶ 0:20:56Chair Grassley: Just last week we reported a bill for americans who rely on atm's for catholic -- cash withdrawal for robbery and violence. As I said a few weeks ago at my town hall meetings in iowa, people always ask me why republicans and democrats cannot get along and why we don't speak to each other.
▶ 0:21:19Chair Grassley: While it is certainly true that we have our differences, our recent work demonstrates that this community can work together to tackle real problems affecting the american people. Next week, this committee is going to take another step in this bipartisan direction to consider a strong bipartisan bill sponsored by senator cortez masto, a democrat, to combat the
▶ 0:21:49Chair Grassley: Threat of illicit zine and other drug epidemic problems. Our bill will help to protect americans from a toxic sedative commonly known as "tranq," often mixed with fentanyl, leading to tragic loss of american lives.
▶ 0:22:18Chair Grassley: This bill does this while protecting its legitimate use by veterinarians, farmers, ranchers, and wildlife personnel. This bill, as I said before, is bipartisan. It has been a priority in both the biden and trump administration's and is cosponsored by 14 democrats and 15 republicans, including several members of this committee.
▶ 0:22:49Chair Grassley: In drafting this bill, our committee has heard from victims who have lost loved ones to fentanyl and xylazine. Just two days ago, just two days ago, we heard from a mother who lost her son to this poison. Her son will be forever 27. Her grief is palpable.
▶ 0:23:14Chair Grassley: We will never be able to return lost loved ones to their families, but we can work together to save other families from similar tragedy. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues once again in a bipartisan way to solve these problems for the american people. Just a few other matters.
▶ 0:23:38Chair Grassley: Regarding leadership changes at the department of human -- department of homeland security, I appreciate secretaries known -- secretary noem's service as secretary. As this oversight committee showed, improvements can be made and I look forward to senator mullin's nomination process and working with him as the new secretary.
▶ 0:24:06Chair Grassley: I would also like to quickly bring this committee's bipartisan hearing on nazis and swiss banks, where the witnesses included ubs, the simon wiesenthal center, and neil borowsky. The committee has done good bipartisan work on this historic matter, and my oversight continues full force.
▶ 0:24:31Chair Grassley: Accordingly, I'm considering calling a second hearing in the fall, if not earlier, to serve as another investigative update. Finally, due to the failure of ubs to fully answer this committee's questions for the record, I have kept the hearing record open for now. Senator durbin?
▶ 0:24:54Sen. Durbin: Thank you, Mr. chairman. On his first day in office the president issued a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to nearly 16 hundred rioters who stormed the united states I on january 6, 2021. These part rioters pose a clear and present danger to public safety.
▶ 0:25:17Sen. Durbin: Since the blanket pardon, they have gone on to violent -- gone on to violent crimes are violent crime sprees, particularly targeting police officers who defended the capital, and the prosecuting -- prosecutors who investigated them. Just last week, pardoned rioters jake lange was charged with threatening an officer who defended the capital.
▶ 0:25:42Sen. Durbin: He told metropolitan police commander jason bag shaw that he should "be put down like a dead dog," and "public execution is the only solution for the animals like you." last week, writer brian bettinger was arrested for assaulting a woman on a metro train in northern virginia. The latest in a string of arrests.
▶ 0:26:06Sen. Durbin: One of his earlier victims said that he has a long history of terrorizing wind -- terrorizing women and teenage girls. Another pardoned rioters is a self-professed white supremacist, photographed holding a confederate flag in the capital during the insurrection.
▶ 0:26:27Sen. Durbin: He said that he wanted to be "a lone wolf killer" running people over with a vehicle, killing people in the church." last week, rioters or andrew johnson was sentenced to life in prison for multiple child sexual abuse offenses.
▶ 0:26:46Sen. Durbin: Johnson, who called himself "an american terrorist and proud january 6er, molested a child under 12 and another under six last year after being pardoned. To make matters worse, he tried to silence one of his victims by saying that he would be compensated by the trump administration for a -- for being a january 6 offender and would put the victim and his will.
▶ 0:27:13Sen. Durbin: Meanwhile, the president continues to put forward extreme and unqualified U.S. attorney nominees who defend these january 6 rioters and embrace the big lie that the 2020 election was stolen. First, it was ed norton, who helped lead the so-called stop the steal moat movement to overturn the 2020 election.
▶ 0:27:34Sen. Durbin: He claimed that the insurrection was "like mardi gras," calling for "less judgment on somebody who would it a cop." he called the january 6 prosecutors "terrorists and despicable people." next, it was the wyoming U.S. attorney nominee, darren smith. Zero experience as a litigator.
▶ 0:28:00Sen. Durbin: It is hard to imagine a previous president of either political party putting a nominee forward for U.S. attorney, the head prosecutorial spot in that state, with a person who has no courtroom experience. None.
▶ 0:28:22Sen. Durbin: Let alone being on capitol grounds on january 6, making the reprehensible claim that police officers who risked their duck -- their lives that they were guilty of massive incompetence." calling the police massively incompetent on january 6. Today this committee will consider another maga extremist, phil williams, nominated to be the U.S. attorney of the northern district of alabama.
▶ 0:28:51Sen. Durbin: Is it too much for this committee and the senate to ask that nominees have at least darkened a court room in their past? Perhaps even served as a prosecutor, if they want to be the chief federal prosecutor of the state? Williams called the prosecution of january 6 rioters "salem witch trials on a national scale." this man is seeking to be U.S. attorney.
▶ 0:29:16Sen. Durbin: He specifically criticized the arrest of rider guy reffit, so let's take a look. He came to get in body armor carrying weapons and he threatened his own minor children before his arrest, saying "if you turn me in, you are a traitor, traders get shot." he said that to his own children.
▶ 0:29:47Sen. Durbin: Phil williams thought he was mistreated, nonviolent. This nominee is not ready for this job. Why is the president nominating these january 6 apologists? He wants to make the case that the 2020 election was stolen in order to justify interfering in the 2026 election, and he wants loyalist prosecutors who will help him carry out the mission. Consider the recent raid in fulton county, georgia, where the fbi seized truckloads of election materials.
▶ 0:30:17Sen. Durbin: Trump has been obsessed with fulton county since his failed attempt in 2022 pressure georgia officials to "find 11,000 votes to overturn the election." just this week we learned that the fbi seized election records in maricopa county, arizona, another swing state that trump lost in 2020. The endgame is clear, the president himself told us, "we should take over the voting.
▶ 0:30:49Sen. Durbin: Republicans ought to nationalize the voting." very transparent. This week he said he would not sign any other legislation until congress passes the so-called save america act, a bill that would disenfranchise millions of americans. Republican senators will not speak up against this authoritarian president, but the american people will chair
▶ 0:31:10Grassley: . I guild.
▶ 0:31:11Chair Grassley: Senator whitehouse?
▶ 0:31:16Senator Whitehouse: Since we are waiting for quorum and considering U.S. attorney's today, I wanted to draw a bit of attention to the situation with the U.S. attorneys in missouri, and in georgia, with respect to the affidavit that supported the search and seizure of the fulton county election records. Having been a U.S.
▶ 0:31:43Senator Whitehouse: Attorney, the way this ordinarily works is if you have a multistate investigation, the U.S. attorney running the investigation brings in the U.S. attorney for estate in which material is sought and in which a search warrant is going to be executed. That U.S. attorney then goes to their local judge, gets the search warrant, and then the materials go to the U.S. attorney leading the investigation. In this case, the U.S.
▶ 0:32:13Senator Whitehouse: Attorney from missouri cut out the U.S. attorney from georgia. So, if this case were to go to trial, or be charged, the defendant would have some interesting questions about why the department of justice didn't follow regular procedure. If they pursued that, they would find out that the U.S.
▶ 0:32:36Senator Whitehouse: Attorney from missouri who did this is riddled with election denial history from his previous career and his -- and is tied in with some of the worst election denial people in the administration, who talked to him about this. Opening a whole other avenue for a defendant, if charges are ever brought, to challenge what went on in that process.
▶ 0:33:03Senator Whitehouse: To make it worse, the local special agent in charge of the field office quit or was forced out just days before the search warrant, strongly suggesting that the local fbi office wanted no part of this and that he might even be objecting to it. Again, another avenue for a defendant to explore in the event that the charges were ever brought. Then you get to the affidavit itself, which is weird and at least two respects.
▶ 0:33:34Senator Whitehouse: First, it left out a lot of information about the credibility of anonymous witnesses who were cited in the affidavit. There was enough information about the so-called anonymous witnesses that it isn't hard to figure out who they were and once you know that, it's not hard to figure out that the affidavit left out significant information about the role in the election denial conspiracy in georgia.
▶ 0:34:01Senator Whitehouse: Why wouldn't fbi agent leave out the information that goes to the credibility of those witnesses? Again, if you have a defendant, that's a question the defendant is to explore and it won't make the search look good. Why open that avenue? Then it left an explicit out in which the agent said maybe there is no crime here. That's very uncommon language in a search warrant affidavit predicated on the investigation of crimes.
▶ 0:34:31Senator Whitehouse: Lastly, there were some very strange officials present, including a very senior department of justice fbi official, and the director of national intelligence. I am aware of no occasion in which the director of national intelligence has ever attended the execution of a search warrant. It is exceedingly bizarre.
▶ 0:34:56Senator Whitehouse: More than being bizarre, it opens up a challenge for any ultimate defendant. Because any person who shows up at the execution of a search warrant is a witness to the execution of the search warrant and is amenable to discovery, to examination by defendant. That's why when I was the U.S.
▶ 0:35:17Senator Whitehouse: Attorney in rhode island, attorney general in rhode island, I made a point on going to the sites of the execution of a search warrant, because I would have made myself a witness as to the execution of that search warrant, and there's no need for that. It's bad practice to have unnecessary people at the execution of a search warrant.
▶ 0:35:40Senator Whitehouse: With respect to the director of national intelligence, she's also the coordinator of something called the weaponization task force. The weaponization working group. I call it task force because it's wtf, I mean seriously.
▶ 0:35:57Senator Whitehouse: Why would you want to have the person who started and is a key part of this so-called weaponization group that works secretively within the trump administration exposed to the examination of a defendant if charges are coming? Why would you want to open all of that up? It makes no sense.
▶ 0:36:21Senator Whitehouse: So, when you add it all up, you are faced with the question, is this the most incompetent search warrant ever? Do they really not know what they are doing enough that they make rookie error after rookie error after rookie error to expose the government to considerable examination by a defendant? Is that what that was? Or was it something worse?
▶ 0:36:54Senator Whitehouse: Was it that they never expected that there would ever be a defendant? So, all of these holes in that search warrant affidavit, in that search warrant process, in that search warrant execution, would never be explored, because there would never be a defendant.
▶ 0:37:15Senator Whitehouse: If they expected that there would never be a defendant, than the big lie in the search warrant affidavit is that they were pursuing evidence of a crime. It suggests very strongly that they were not pursuing a criminal investigation by opening up those avenues of challenge, rather all they wanted to do was get their hands on that election information, which they had tried to do over and over again civilly, which they had failed and doing, and
▶ 0:37:45Senator Whitehouse: Maybe this was their last desperate effort to fake a criminal investigation to get their hands on election information so that they could monkeywrench georgia elections with that information in the future. That is as plausible of an excellent nation as to what took place as many other -- any other , in fact a good deal more plausible. As we are considering U.S.
▶ 0:38:08Senator Whitehouse: Attorney's, it's worth paying attention to the mischief being done by this department of justice and I guess director of national intelligence using regular processes of the department of justice, not following the proper procedures for those processes, and having an ulterior motive that in this case may very well be to add to election interference in georgia by faking a criminal execution with a fake criminal search warrant, with a fake criminal search warrant affidavit behind
▶ 0:38:40Senator Whitehouse: It. Thank you very much.
▶ 0:38:41Chair Grassley: Before senator warner, we want to get -- what? [inaudible] senator warner?
▶ 0:38:51Senator Warner: I just had a question for, I just had a question for the ranking member. I have heard other people say this, I heard him say it this morning, the save america act will disenfranchise millions of americans. The legislation requires proof of american citizenship and photo id to vote, so I don't understand how it could disenfranchise millions of americans. Maybe you can explain?
▶ 0:39:19Sen. Durbin: I'm happy to. All of us should be aware of the fact of what is required by this act when it comes to registering to vote. You have to present identification, correct? But your drivers license, which most people use in the course of business of a day, is not acceptable. What is acceptable as a passport. 50% of americans do not have a passport.
▶ 0:39:45Sen. Durbin: Those who want to obtain it to vote will pay $186 and wait for weeks. Second, you can use a birth certificate. Any person who has changed their name as a result of marriage or hyphenation, relationship, has to find not only the birth certificate, but one with a correction that proves they are eligible to register to vote. It is estimated that 9% of voters in america do not have the identification required by this bill.
▶ 0:40:16Sen. Durbin: It means that ultimately those people will not be voting and I think that that is the ultimate goal of this administration.
▶ 0:40:22Senator Warner: One last question, those are all matters that could be addressed by amendments to the bill itself if we get on the bill, correct?
▶ 0:40:31Sen. Durbin: When was the last time we had an amendment? >> parliamentary inquiry, do we have a quorum present?
▶ 0:40:40Chair Grassley: I think that we ought to let lee speak. Then we will vote.
▶ 0:40:50Senator Lee: I'm happy to report to my dear friend and colleague, senator durbin from illinois, you are in luck. We have taken care of that. When you read the bill, you will discover that we made special accommodations for those who don't have documentation, for those who cannot find their birth certificate, their house burned down, dog ate it, whatever.
▶ 0:41:13Senator Lee: When all else fails, if you don't have documentation establishing the information on your birth certificate, passport, or otherwise, the bill contains a provision requiring each state to allow an alternative mechanism by which someone can purchase at the station, issuing a sworn statement establishing the critical facts underlying their citizenship.
▶ 0:41:39Senator Lee: It then puts the onus on the state to follow up on that and to determine the authenticity of it. States have access to their own records, states have reciprocity with other states were able to achieve verification of it. We have taken care of that problem and I'm sure you'll be elated to hear that and we look forward to your affirmative vote when we vote on the save america act. We took great pains to go out of our way to make sure that no american, no american would be left in the dark.
▶ 0:42:07Senator Lee: This will not costing them a dime. No one will be excluded if they cannot find the documentation.
▶ 0:42:12Sen. Durbin: This is such a scourge on the american political scene that in the last 20 years there have been 24 identified cases of non-americans trying to vote. 24 people in 20 years. The president said that we would not consider any other legislation until we consider this bill.
▶ 0:42:29Chair Grassley: We will now consider the nomination for melissa holyoak to serve as the U.S. attorney from utah. The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. graham? >> aye. >> Mr. cornyn? >> aye. >> Mr. lee? >> Mr. cruz? >> aye. >> aye. >> Mr. hawley? >> aye. >> Mr. tillis? >> aye. >> Mr. kennedy? >> aye. >> Ms. blackburn? >> aye. >> Mr. schmitt? >> aye. >> Ms. britt?
▶ 0:42:59Chair Grassley: >> aye. >> Ms. moody? >> aye. >> no. >> Mr. durbin? >> no. >> Mr. whitehouse? >> no. >> Ms. klobuchar? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. coons? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. blumenthal? >> no by proxy. >> Ms. hirono? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. booker? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. padilla? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. welch? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. schiff? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. grassley? >> aye.
▶ 0:43:24Chair Grassley: The majority supported the nominee, it shall be reported. Philip williams? Of the northern district of alabama question mark senator durbin?
▶ 0:43:35Sen. Durbin: As the chiefs federal law-enforcement district they serve as air -- a political fair-minded prosecutors protecting victims and holding bad actors accountable. This administration has repeatedly nominated unqualified extremists like ed martin and lindsey halligan to carry out the trump retribution campaign. Philip williams bears many unfortunate similarities to ed morton.
▶ 0:44:04Sen. Durbin: Neither had any prosecutorial experience prior to the nomination. Instead, Mr. williams main qualification appears to be his podcast and social media posts, from which he spouts tranq from which he spouts trmaga, claiming that january 6 riders were hunted down by law enforcement who he accused her prosecutorial abuse many times over.
▶ 0:44:34Sen. Durbin: He also minimized of the attack on the capital, stating that "it was certainly not an insurrection." we know the truth, the mob of colin mcdonald -- the mob of maga faithful attempted to stop the certification of a legitimate election. He claimed without ebony evidence that federal judges that rule against donald trump are attempting to set him up.
▶ 0:45:03Sen. Durbin: He applauded trump's deal to send migrants to el salvador as there was no intention of rehabilitation or release, and said that the humane treatment of migrants is exactly what we voted for and that he is not fit to be U.S. attorney.
▶ 0:45:24Chair Grassley: The clerk will call the role. >> Mr. graham? >> aye. >> Mr. cornyn? >> aye. >> Mr. lee? >> aye. >> Mr. cruz? >> aye. >> Mr. hawley? >> aye. >> Mr. tillis? >> aye. >> Mr. kennedy? >> aye. >> Ms. blackburn?
▶ 0:45:41Chair Grassley: Sorry, I missed you, >> aye by proxy. . >> Mr. schmitt? >> aye. >> Ms. britt? >> aye. >> Ms. moody? >> aye. >> Mr. durbin? >> no. >> Mr. whitehouse? >> no. >> Ms. klobuchar? >> no. >> Mr. coons? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. blumenthal? >> no by proxy. >> Ms. hirono? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. booker? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. padilla? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. welch? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. schiff? >> no by proxy. >> Mr. grassley? >> aye.
▶ 0:46:17Chair Grassley: The nomination is favorably reported. Senator britt?
▶ 0:46:21Senator Britt: On behalf of senator tuberville, I wanted to speak briefly in support of the nomination of phil williams to be U.S. attorney for the northern district. Senator tuberville and I believe that his legal career spans over two decades during which he has appeared in court over 700 times and tried over 30 cases to verdict.
▶ 0:46:43Senator Britt: He is a decorated veteran who served his country in the military for 30 years, retiring in 2017 having reached the rank of colonel. His career in the military included two combat tours, in afghanistan and iraq. He also served his state as a member of the alabama legislature. Out of respect for time, I will not be able to respond to everything, but I think it is important to note that Mr.
▶ 0:47:13Senator Britt: Williams has been publicly and consistently clear that violence, including the violence of january 6, is unacceptable, stating "I don't believe the violent acts of january 6 were worthy of support. I don't think anyone should have broken windows, pushed or shoved the law enforcement officers, there never should have been things broken in the capital, people should not be climbing on walls or bum rushing their way into member offices, they shouldn't have done that, I don't support that.
▶ 0:47:43Senator Britt: Violence is never -- support that." violence is never acceptable, whether we are talking about back then or the violence against ice today. I think it's clear that Mr. williams believes that and thank you Mr. chairman for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of senator tuberville and myself and I look forward to seeing Mr. williams nomination on the floor.
▶ 0:48:06Chair Grassley: On the same subject I would like to enter into the record six letters supporting the williams nomination, including letters from the alabama attorney general, representatives in the alabama state legislature, two state judges, the former commissioner of alabama ethics commission, and a former U.S. army judge advocate. The meeting is adjourned.