NEWS: Hawley Goes Absolutely Nuclear On Biden-Era Pardon Attorney

[0:00] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just on that note, Ms. Binsky, and for everybody who's here, all of the victims, thank you for being here. [0:07] Thank you for standing up and telling your stories. Ms. Boss, thank you for being here and for telling us about your daughter. [0:13] I'm sorry for what all of you have been through. So I want to say thank you and honor your voices and honor what you're doing. [0:18] Ms. O'Reilly, if I could just turn to you. You were President Biden's pardon attorney, is that correct? [0:24] I was the Justice Department's pardon attorney. [0:26] You recommended, you made clemency recommendations to the White House whether or not to pardon inmates. Is that correct? [0:31] My job was to make clemency recommendations. [0:34] And in that capacity, you recommended that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, grant clemency to all 40 federal death row inmates. [0:43] All of them. Clear them out. Correct? [0:45] Sir, as I told Chairman Grassley, I'm not free to discuss the recommendations. [0:50] Well, that's what your memo says. I mean, we have your memo. [0:52] Your memo of November 4th, 2024 says, and I quote, [0:57] disparity and undue severity of sentence, which are present in many, if not all of these cases, have been recognized as grounds for clemency. [1:05] And you went on to recommend in that memo and a series of other memos that are now recorded and public record, [1:11] that the President of the United States grant clemency to murderers, rapists, and the most horrible offenders, all of them, clear death row completely out. [1:19] I'm amazed you've been called here today. I'm absolutely amazed by it. [1:23] But let's just talk about the people who you recommended. [1:26] You talk about honoring victims. [1:27] The people who you recommended get clemency and live at the expense and sufferance of taxpayers for the rest of their lives. [1:34] Let's start with Dylann Roof. [1:36] Dylann was a neo-Nazi who murdered nine African-American worshipers at a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina, 2015. [1:46] Do you remember this case? [1:47] I do remember it very well. [1:48] I would hope you did. Here's his victims. You want to look at them? [1:51] There they are. Nine of them at a Bible study in a church killed in cold blood. [1:59] The DOJ knew from day one that he had decided, I'm going to quote from the prosecutors, [2:04] decided to attack African-Americans because of their race. [2:07] He further decided to attack African-American worshipers in a black church in order to make his attack more notorious. [2:15] More notorious. And yet you recommended that he be granted clemency, live at the expense of taxpayers for the rest of his life, [2:23] substitute your judgment for that of the American judicial system. [2:26] Do you stand by that recommendation today? [2:28] Sir, I'm not going to comment on the recommendations that I made, [2:31] but I can tell you that Mr. Roof is going to die in prison as... [2:35] Oh, he's going to live in prison for a very long time because of you, because of your recommendations. [2:40] And here's what you said in your memo of October 30th, 2024. [2:43] You said that actually Roof is not a compelling candidate for clemency, but you recommended it anyway. [2:48] Why? Because he suffered from anxiety, you said. [2:52] Right? He suffered from anxiety. [2:55] Did it ever occur to you that maybe the family of his victims might suffer a little bit of anxiety [3:00] because he marched into their church and murdered them in cold blood [3:04] because he was an incredible racist and he wanted to get on TV? [3:08] Sir. [3:09] Do you regret it? [3:10] I'm not going to comment on the recommendations that I made to the president. [3:13] Let's talk about Robert Bowers, a man who regularly spewed such vile hatred of Jews. [3:18] It's unlike anything I've ever seen. [3:20] He barged into a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and he shot everybody he could find, [3:26] killing 11 innocent people who were there to worship. [3:30] A federal jury in Pittsburgh unanimously recommended the death sentence [3:34] after finding him guilty on 63 counts. [3:38] Here they are. [3:39] They're his victims. [3:41] Take a good look. [3:43] You recommended clemency for this person who went in and killed these people just because they're Jews. [3:51] He killed, the other guy killed people just because they're black. [3:54] This guy killed people just because they're Jews. [3:56] A jury recommended that he be sentenced to death and you substituted your judgment for theirs and now he's going to live. [4:02] Are you proud of that? [4:04] Sir, what I am proud of is the fact that I took my job as pardon attorney extremely seriously. [4:12] Apparently not seriously enough. [4:13] You certainly didn't take the victims seriously. [4:15] Then there's Jorge Avila Torres, who wasn't just a murderer. [4:19] He was a serial killer and a rapist. [4:22] Here is who he assaulted and killed. [4:25] He sexually assaulted and killed eight-year-old Laura Hobbs and nine-year-old Crystal Tobias in a Chicago suburb in 2005. [4:35] And then four years after that, he committed another murder. [4:40] He slaughtered a fellow service member, Navy Petty Officer Amanda Snell, in 2009 while she was in her barracks. [4:47] That's what he did. [4:48] And you recommended clemency for this individual and now he'll live his life at the expense of taxpayers because you substituted your judgment for that of the American judicial system. [5:02] Jury judges the whole lot and yet you're here to tell us that you're somehow a victim? [5:07] I don't think so, Ms. Hoyer. [5:09] I think your judgment is astoundingly terrible. [5:12] I'm amazed that this side of the aisle has called you. [5:15] And I just ask my friends on this side of the aisle, do you agree with this? [5:19] Is this what you want? [5:21] Do you want these people to be pardoned and live at the expense of taxpayers for their whole lives? [5:26] Do you want to excuse the murders of African-American churchgoers? [5:30] Do you want to excuse the murders of Jews in their synagogues? [5:34] Do you want to excuse the murders of these children? [5:36] Because that's what she did. [5:38] And now she's online hawking products to try to make money off of it. [5:41] I see you've got your own website where you put your face on baseball caps and mugs, thelawyeroyer.com. [5:49] You're trying to make money on this? [5:51] This is unbelievable, Ms. Hoyer. [5:54] And yet you say you're a victim? [5:56] These are the victims. [5:59] And you helped victimize them. [6:01] And what you're doing is wrong. [6:02] I hope every member on this side of the aisle will repudiate what you have done and what you stand for. [6:07] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [6:08] Sir, I assume that your questions directed at me were rhetorical and that you're giving me speech. [6:12] They're not rhetorical at all. [6:13] I asked you to respond and you said you wouldn't. [6:16] So what I did is I read to you what you have said. [6:19] I quoted verbatim. [6:21] And I'm happy to keep doing it. [6:22] In fact, I'd ask now, Mr. Chairman, that this report, Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty Report, be entered into the record. [6:28] It contains information regarding Ms. Hoyer, her recommendations, and the track record of all of it. [6:34] The written records are here. [6:35] I ask to be entered into the record. [6:36] It will be Ms. Hoyer, take a minute to respond if you want to. [6:46] Thank you, Chairman Grassley. [6:48] I, under President Biden, just like under President Trump, had a job to do, which was to make recommendations to the President about how to best accomplish their clemency objectives. [6:57] I put the utmost effort into doing that in a way that was consistent with the interests of the justice system and all of its stakeholders, which includes crime victims, as well as defendants, as well as family members, as well as judges, as well as prosecutors, all criminal justice system stakeholders. [7:17] The process that I presided over was one that was beyond reproach. [7:23] What's happening now with clemency is an absolute disgrace. [7:26] And I'm sorry that I can't answer the questions about the specific recommendations in this public setting, but I would be glad to meet with any members of this committee who have concerns privately to discuss to the extent I can what your concerns are. [7:39] As you meet with the victims' families, here's the disgrace. [7:41] Senator Whitehouse. [7:46] Thank you, Chairman. [7:48] Mr. Ashcroft, welcome back to the Senate. [7:54] You knew Jim Comey?