Day 2 of Blanche nomination hearing to be Trump's AG

[0:00] hundreds of thousands of women nationwide the letter praised mr blanche and stated quote [0:08] mr blanche extensive experience proven character and wise judgment make him an outstanding pick [0:16] that the women i represent are proud to support waiting for two so i would just say go ahead and [0:27] do the witness introductions as i indicated to everybody in the audience everybody was supposed [0:46] to be here at nine o'clock and everybody isn't here and we don't have a lot of time to waste [0:52] so i would ask the witnesses if they would come to the table and i would like to introduce uh [1:00] read your introductions uh and then no we'll do that after we'll do that when we go okay [1:17] you uh please uh be seated and uh we won't be questioning you right away but i'd like to take [1:27] this time to introduce you first a person when he was in the united states senate a person that i [1:36] worked closely with uh john ashcroft you know he served as united states attorney general [1:47] under george w bush he led the justice department's anti-terrorism f efforts after 9 11. mr ashcroft [1:58] previously served for over two decades as missouri's attorney general governor and then senator he's [2:07] since founded a consulting firm and serves as distinguished professor at regent university [2:15] mr ashcroft understands how to lead the justice department free from political influence indeed [2:23] senator schumer once praised uh mr ashcroft quote fidelities to the rule of law end of quote i look [2:34] forward to hearing his perspective on mr blanche's qualifications to lead the department next i would [2:43] introduce uh jennifer boss miss boss is an angel angel mom a title that no mother should ever have to bear [2:55] she suffered an unimaginable loss miss boss's daughter megan was discovered in a dumpster belonging to an [3:05] illegal immigrant the man was arrested but within 24 hours he walked free the sanctuary city and soft [3:15] on crime policies of her home state failed to protect her daughter or deliver justice to the families [3:24] miss boss had no recourse until president trump learned of the case and ensured that the man was [3:31] detained by ice sadly miss boss knows firsthand how important it is to have justice department [3:41] that listens to victims pursues justice and works to protect communities miss boss i'm very sorry for your [3:51] loss i'm grateful for your testimony today we also have john edler president of the federal law enforcement [4:02] officers association foundation he was a first responder at ground zero on 9 11 and has decades of [4:13] experience in law enforcement for years he served as the chief firearms and tactical training instructor [4:21] of the southern district of new york while at that position mr adler met and observed mr blanche's [4:30] diligent diligent work firsthand mr adler previously served as director of the bureau of justice assistance [4:40] based on that experience in his decades in law enforcement mr adler uh now advocates for officers [4:50] officers in the field i look forward to learning here here's experience uh and perspective on mr blanche's [4:59] efforts to support law enforcement and now senator durbin would you please introduce your guests thank you [5:07] mr chairman let me say at the outset i'm at your request i'm trying to accommodate the attendance issue [5:13] which we both struggle with is you as chairman and me as ranking member uh and one of my witnesses [5:20] minority witnesses has not arrived yet she was told it would be a little bit later we would start that [5:25] so i'm going to introduce her and when she arrives she'll take to the table and be sworn in by you [5:30] okay okay all right thank you the first minority witness is danny benski i met her yesterday [5:37] miss benski is a choreographer and dance educator she's also a survivor of abuse by convicted sex [5:44] trafficker jeffrey epstein to whom she was trafficked when she was 17 years old miss benski will tell us [5:52] when she comes how due to the carelessness of the justice department graphic details of her abuse [5:59] as well as her identity were released many times despite her efforts to redact her information she [6:08] says that she quote won't stop fighting until the world is safer i thank her for her courage and i hope [6:13] she arrives soon because of the change in plans we've had some confusion my second witness the [6:20] second minority witness is elizabeth auyer thank you for being here she was the justice department [6:26] pardon attorney until march 2025. she oversaw the pardon office now run by the failed nominee and mega [6:35] extremist ed martin prior to service in the justice department miss auyer was an assisted federal public [6:42] defender in maryland and a litigation partner at mayor brown she's a graduate of harvard law school [6:48] and the illustrious georgetown university she will let us she will tell us our former office has [6:55] devolved into a pay-to-play operation with mega donors jumping ahead legitimate pardoned candidates [7:03] often without proper vetting the height of corruption how do we know this miss auyer was fired [7:10] by mr blanche just days after he took office for refusing to restore gun ownership rights to one [7:17] of the president's personal friends convicted domestic abuser and actor mel gibson i yield mr chairman [7:24] yeah now back to the work of our committee we have one more member to get here in the meantime [7:31] i want to enter into the record nine letters supporting mr blanche's nomination from major law [7:38] enforcement organizations combined these organizations represent hundreds of thousands of law enforcement [7:46] officers from around our country who work every day to uphold the rule of law the letters all praise [7:55] mr blanche's qualifications to serve as attorney general and his collaboration with law enforcement [8:02] americans to keep everybody safe one letter states this so i quote we believe mr blanche's leadership will [8:15] help ensure that the department of justice remains focused on public safety the rule of law and providing [8:24] unwavering support for law enforcement professionals who risk their lives daily to protect our families and [8:33] communities and communities and to quote without objection these will be entered in the record [8:41] then also i want to introduce into the record a letter supporting mr blanche's nomination from 23 [8:51] state attorneys general the letter praises the justice department's success under mr blanche's leadership [9:00] in combating violent crime enforcing our immigration laws ending race-based discrimination prosecuting [9:09] criminal enterprises and rooting out fraud against taxpayers the letter goes on to state quote at a time [9:19] when americans expect their government to protect communities from violent crime narcotics trafficking human [9:27] trafficking terrorism and organized criminal activity todd blanche has shown the ability to deliver real [9:36] results his record reflects a safety very enforcement of federal law and effective stewardship of the [9:46] department of justice end of quote without objection those letters will be entered into the record [9:53] would you like to make your speeches on judges now i only have one or two if you want you to go ahead [10:02] and do it okay we've got we've got to wait for tell us okay we're still waiting on one senator yeah okay [10:09] well this is a little out of sequence but i'm trying to cooperate on a bipartisan basis report that [10:17] say a word about daniel trainer nominated to be the u.s court of appeals for the eighth circuit [10:22] prior to his confirmation for district court justice judge trainer showed his true colors when it came [10:28] to mega issues after he was concerned he after he was confirmed he had a chance to show whether he would [10:34] be a neutral arbiter on the bench unfortunately he's not demonstrated that as one example judge trainer has [10:42] ruled in favor of the trump administration in all 28 cases on his docket involving challenges from [10:49] immigrants who've been detained by ice under the administration's illegal mandatory detention [10:55] policy that includes seven habeas corpus petitions trainer volunteered to preside over in the district [11:02] of minnesota following operation metro surge judge trainer is an outlier of the more than 17 000 cases in [11:11] which federal district judges have ruled on ice's mandatory detention policy at least 15 000 were rulings [11:19] against the trump administration including the vast majority of rulings by trump appointed judges [11:26] yet judge trainer's partisanship was apparent when he served as a contributing author and signatory [11:32] of a may 2024 letter from federal judges to the president of columbia university the signatories vowed [11:40] not the judges vowed not to hire anyone who attended columbia university beginning that year [11:46] but trainer denied a recusal motion in a case brought by columbia law school initiative for a just society [11:53] implausibly claiming he wasn't biased against columbia university just said he wouldn't hire anybody he went [11:59] to school there while he was comfortable taking a position on this controversial political question [12:05] judge trainer refused to answer questions at the hearing as to who won the 2020 election for the record [12:12] joe biden did by seven million votes it's very clear that judge trainer seeks to remain in good graces of the [12:18] president at the cost of his own independence i urge my colleagues to oppose him i'd like to [12:29] introduce into the record a letter supporting mr blanche's nomination this letter is from the american [12:36] center for law and justice the letter states quote mr blanche has demonstrated the experience [12:42] judgment leadership necessary to guide the department of justice at a time when the faithful [12:48] administration of our laws is a paramount importance his service as deputy attorney general and most [12:56] recently acting attorney general together with his distinguished career as both a federal prosecutor [13:04] and defense attorney has given him a broad understanding of the department's responsibility [13:11] and the constitutional principles that must guide him in his work without objection this will be entered in the [13:18] the record uh now we'll have 77 former department of justice official writing a letter in support of blanche [13:32] so i'll enter this in the record and i want to quote from uh this letter todd blanche understands that the [13:42] department's mission is to deliver justice not to serve political interest and entrenched bureaucracies [13:51] he has shown the courage and institutional knowledge to restore the focus on public safety law enforcement [13:59] support and the rule of law his career path from paralegal to prosecutor to second highest position in the [14:08] department gives him a perspective few others possess he knows what work what works because he has lived it at [14:18] every level so without objection the uh department or the letter from 77 former doj officials [14:29] will be inserted we have a letter the first liberty institute uh the nation's largest legal organization [14:47] dedicated solely to defending religious letter liberty the letter states quote every attorney general faces [14:57] despite the most difficult decisions that will inevitably generate disagreement the proper question before the senate is not whether members agree with [15:08] every future judgment but whether the nominee possesses the character experience legal ability [15:16] and commitment to constitutional government necessary to faithfully discharge the office mr blanche's career [15:26] demonstrates those qualities without objection that will be entered into the [15:31] record. Is he here? Okay, okay. Now turn to the nomination. I have one other letter to enter into the record by [16:29] Rabbi Jacob Teitelbaum. He praised Mr. Blanche's legal acumen and character, stating, and I quote, [16:41] on more than one occasion, I witnessed Mr. Blanche's continue to provide first-race [16:52] representation after learning that a client was facing severe financial hardship, often taking on [17:01] cases on a pro bono or substantially reduced fee basis. It was evident that to him, practicing law [17:10] was not merely a profession. It was a calling rooted in fairness, dignity, and compassion. [17:19] These are precisely the qualities that I believe our nation needs in its next attorney general. [17:25] Firmness to the pursuit of justice, joined with mercy and respect for every person who enters the law, [17:35] end of quote. Okay. We'll now turn to the nomination of Daniel Traynor to be circuit judge, [17:45] U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit. Clerk will call the roll. [18:08] No. No. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. [18:23] No by proxy. No by proxy. Aye. The nomination will be favorably reported. Now we go to Angela [18:37] Monero, judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District, Texas. Clerk will call the roll. [18:48] Aye. Aye. No. No. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. [19:15] No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. Aye. The nomination will be reported. Now we have [19:31] Kasteen Mitchell, judge, District Court, Northern District, Texas. Clerk will call the roll. [19:40] Aye. Aye. No. No. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. [20:09] No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. Aye. Mitchell will be reported to the Senate floor. [20:24] Now we have the nomination. Now we have the nomination. Now we have the nomination of Michael [20:27] Martin of District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. Clerk will call the roll. [20:36] Aye. Aye. Aye. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. [21:17] Aye. The nomination. The nomination will be favorably reported. Now the last one is Antonio Pozo. [21:29] Eastern District District, Pennsylvania. Clerk will call the roll. [21:34] Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. No. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. [22:05] No. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. No by proxy. Aye. The nomination favorably voted on will be reported. [22:26] Well, this ends our business meeting. Now I call the hearing to order. [22:42] I would like to have the witnesses. [22:51] Would you please stand? [22:52] Because we swear each in at every meeting. [22:58] You swear that the testimony you're about to give before this committee will be the truth, [23:09] the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you guys i do they all answered affirmative [23:17] okay uh let's say something i'm done okay uh so welcome back senator ashcroft will you please [23:39] begin your testimony and then we'll go right down the list of people the way you're seated there [23:47] well thank you chairman grassley and and ranking member durbin i'm grateful to you and please [23:53] allow me just a moment to extend my condolences to the committee the friends and colleagues of [23:59] senator lindsey graham he had a vivid history of bringing out the best in people he worked with [24:06] on both sides of the aisle and we enjoyed his friendship and i take this moment to say my [24:14] condolences and my sympathy also to jennifer boss whose daughter was brutally murdered allow me to [24:24] thank you for your serious consideration and attention to the constitutional responsibility [24:29] of confirming high-ranking executive branch officials it's an honor for me to participate with you today [24:36] by my appearance testifying and sharing my profound support for the nomination of the honorable todd [24:44] blanche as attorney general of the united states is something for which i am deeply grateful justice is [24:51] best served in the united states through a commitment to uphold the constitution and laws of this [24:57] country integrity is an indispensable imperative for the rule of law the rule of law is the best friend [25:06] of constitutionally guarded liberty for the highest quality administration of justice law enforcement must [25:13] never be diluted nor contaminated by personal bias or political preferences todd blanche's record of [25:21] upholding the constitution and enforcing the law recommends him supremely to serve america as the 88th [25:27] attorney general of these united states i know of no person no person of a higher commitment to integrity [25:36] he has spoken the unvarnished truth to those he works for and to those he works with todd's career stands [25:43] as an outstanding record of public service he is a consistently well-prepared tough but fair prosecutor [25:52] fundamentally focused on the constitution he understands that he has a profound responsibility in the [25:59] justice department to seek justice not merely to prosecute 25 years ago during my opportunity to serve as [26:08] attorney general todd worked as an individual in the justice department and in his law school years todd [26:18] worked with the justice department and in that respect upon graduation from law school he clerked for [26:26] several judges two of whom are now serving on the respected nationally focused second circuit court of [26:33] appeals so he had an understanding of the law from both the prosecutorial side and the side of the bench [26:41] following his clerkships todd became an assistant united states attorney as the u.s attorney office for [26:48] south southern district of new york a premier prosecutorial office of the united states he spent roughly two [26:56] years as the co-chief of the violent crimes unit supervising their nearly two dozen prosecutors then [27:03] served as a co-chief of the office's white plains division where he presided over a wide span of work [27:12] public corruption securities and bank and wire fraud federal programs fraud medicare fraud rico and violent [27:21] crime today as deputy attorney general and acting attorney general todd energizes the roughly 115 [27:28] 000 employees from across maine justice the fbi the dea the u.s marshals service atf and 93 u.s attorney's [27:39] offices that span the united states he's conducted the department's daily operations at full scale [27:47] demonstrating his readiness to manage the office in his own right therefore brings to the department [27:54] of justice a relevant reservoir of experience coupled with sound judgment on an array of different [28:02] issues they're all related to law enforcement and the administration of justice he understands that the [28:09] rule of law exists to secure this and safeguard the god-given rights of liberty and freedom in america [28:17] in professional moments both private and public i have seen todd's thoughtful decisive yet humble [28:25] leadership he's he's a careful and willing listener skilled at welcoming diverse viewpoints [28:31] he is adept at synthesizing and harmonizing different voices in complex situations he's a he is comfortable [28:40] in being held to account and he will require those in the department to be similarly accessible and [28:46] accountable todd blanche's record reflects a commitment to the rule of law and the constitution [28:53] our 250th anniversary properly reminds us that liberty is the core value of america in fact it's [29:01] a core value of human existence to safeguard this core control cultural value america needs an attorney [29:09] general exclusively devoted to the rule of law and who unfailingly will honor his vote his oath to the [29:17] constitution todd blanche is the right person for that responsibility mr chairman and committee members [29:25] thank you for what i consider to be a privilege to appear before this committee and communicate to you [29:31] my unreserved endorsement of todd blanche for attorney general of the united states and i thank you for [29:38] this opportunity thank you mr ascroft now mr enske first i'd like to thank you and the committee [29:48] microphone uh push the red button there we go thank you first i'd like to thank you all and thank you to [29:56] the committee for hearing survivor voices i'd like to remind you of who you're hearing from today at this [30:02] time can my survivor sisters and family please rise we may look like grown adults when you see us now but we [30:12] were children young girls at the time of our abuse these are the photos of when our innocence dreams [30:19] and lives were stolen please take these faces in as you think of us as your own family daughters nieces [30:27] sisters now look at our faces and remember the women and families of the of who the doj re-victimized [30:34] you guys can sit thank you so much i'm a teacher in my school if a student released a nude photo depicting [30:42] appears sexual assault and abuse they would almost certainly face expulsion and yet this is what our [30:49] department of justice did to crime victims today todd blanche well todd blanche has been at the helm of [30:57] the release of nude images of survivors the outing of jane does and the exposure of more than 100 victims [31:04] identifying information and documents describing horrific acts of abuse including my own instead of treating [31:13] this release as its own violation and holding the man who led it accountable you have a decision on [31:21] whether you place him in the highest law enforcement position in this country in december before the [31:29] document release our attorneys submitted 350 victims names to the department of justice as victims names to [31:37] be redacted prior to the release in that first release i found my name in two places in that next release [31:43] in january my name appeared again but this time the reductions were so far worse the files displayed [31:50] not only my name but my phone number my former addresses where i worked and other identifying [31:56] information when my name appeared in the third file release it became difficult to believe that this was not [32:03] intentional despite my lawyer repeatedly contacting the doj seeking protection my information continued to be exposed [32:12] and it's not just my name it's the identifying information these documents contain disturbing yet [32:19] incomplete accounts of my abuse they were available not only for the entire world to see but my child [32:25] my students my friends my employers my colleagues and my family it was humiliating worse my fbi 302 exposed [32:35] to jane doe who had fought for decades to conceal her identity it's been absolutely devastating outing survivors [32:45] causes real and irrevocable harm while coping with our emotional distress and psychological trauma we also [32:53] have lost our privacy and confidentiality suffered reputational harm lost jobs and now fear for our personal [33:01] safety we are not activists we are crime victims for us this has never been about politics it has been about [33:12] getting justice for the crimes committed against us and the reductions are not the only problem with todd [33:18] blanche's nomination todd blanche has never attempted to listen to us the crime victims survivors in [33:25] this room repeatedly asked to meet with todd blanche through multiple channels he never responded yesterday [33:31] he said he would meet with us with our attorneys if they were present um but let's be clear that was [33:37] the first time that that was ever communicated to us before yesterday he simply ignored us for the [33:43] last eight months he's been radio silent and the silence was deafening crime victims deserve better [33:51] from the nation's highest level of law enforcement officials we deserve to be heard directly not dismissed and [33:58] ignored there are numerous investigative leads that must be followed despite mr blanche's claim that [34:05] there are none epstein and maxwell did not abuse women and children alone they did not build their [34:13] operation alone others enabled these crimes exploited victims and avoided accountability for decades [34:21] you do not have to take my word for it several weeks ago after examining the evidence chairman james [34:26] comber directed todd blanche to open investigations into two men connected to epstein the epstein files are [34:34] not merely a collection of embarrassing names and politically damaging associations they are records [34:41] connected to the sexual exploitation and trafficking of girls and young women they contain information about [34:50] how epstein's network worked who assisted him and whether additional crimes can still be investigated [34:57] the department of justice should pursue every credible lead not just tirelessly tirelessly work tirelessly [35:06] not just to shut down the investigations the survivors in this room know there are investigative [35:12] leads because they are our stories mr blanche knows it too yet he has chosen not to pursue them mr blanche's [35:20] actions have have destroyed survivors trust according to public reporting mr blanche spent approximately [35:27] nine hours meeting with gillen maxwell he did not even spend nine minutes meeting with a survivor [35:35] afterward maxwell was transferred to what many have described as a summer camp prison we learned all [35:41] of this through the news imagine what that feels like as a survivor to sit there if you were exploited by [35:47] gillen maxwell and you're hearing this for the first time with no explanation no outreach and no [35:52] transparency from your and to add insult to injury the information that todd blanche gathered in the white house [35:59] situation room last summer to curb the political fallout from the epstein files was absolutely abhorrent [36:07] instead of following investigative leads our government treated and continued to treat this [36:12] as a political crisis that needs to be managed in our nation everyone deserves equal protection under the law [36:19] todd blanche has been unwilling to protect epstein survivors personal information and he has been [36:26] resistant to investigate the people who helped epstein and maxwell commit those crimes we need an attorney [36:34] general committed to ensuring that everyone who facilitated epstein's crimes is held accountable [36:40] please i implore you please think carefully and think about the girls in these photos thank you [36:48] miss bensky now miss boss thank you chairman grassley thank you chairman grassley and ranking member durbin [37:06] and members of the committee can you pull it real close to you uh there yeah i think that's right [37:14] my name is jennifer boss i live in antioch illinois i'm the mother of an angel named megan boss and i'm here [37:23] because my daughter's tragic and gruesome death has exposed catastrophic failures in immigration [37:29] enforcement and drug trafficking policies the investigation into her death continues but [37:35] one truth is painfully clear dangerous gaps in our system allowed an illegal alien to exploit our laws [37:42] and my daughter paid the ultimate price losing megan and then being forced to navigate multiple broken [37:51] systems while drowning in grief taught me the policies carrying life or death consequences [37:57] cannot remain political talking points that's why i've tried despite the most intense heartache anyone [38:04] can ever experience to speak locally and nationally about the four crisis that compounded our tragedy [38:13] illegal immigration sanctuary policies the fentanyl crisis and cashless bail i'm so grateful that the whole of [38:22] this administration with todd blanche leading the doj has prioritized all four of these issues [38:30] i'm asking the committee not to wait until another mother is sitting where i am confirmed todd blanche he [38:37] is a leader who will uphold the law honor victims confront dangerous criminal organizations and fight to give [38:44] other american families the safety and lasting protection that came too late for mine i couldn't save my [38:55] daughter but todd blanche's attorney general he might save yours because next time it could be your child [39:02] it could be your family it could be you this can happen to anyone we must have leaders that are willing [39:13] to act before the next life is taken leaders that are willing to confront the failures instead of explaining [39:20] them away leaders like todd blanche megan was my firstborn she was a mom and a sister and an aunt loyal [39:31] friend she was bubbly and funny she loved to be silly she was extraordinarily creative and she was blessed [39:50] with the spirit that just lit up the room in february of 2025 megan disappeared for 51 days our family lived [40:01] in the most unbearable agony day after day i did everything i could think of to search for her [40:10] instead of bringing megan home our search ended with the most unbearable truth the mother could ever be [40:15] forced to face we learned that megan's life had been cut short and her body was concealed stuffed upside [40:39] down in a garbage can filled with bleach by an illegal alien that had no right to be here again she was [40:52] stuffed upside down in a garbage can for 51 days soaking in bleach for seven weeks this man walked past that [41:11] garbage can on his way to the bakery he worked at every day under a fake name and during those weeks i [41:21] couldn't breathe or eat or sleep we searched his neighborhood we knocked on his door we left megan [41:33] flyers with megan's face on every surface we could find and then i learned she was only a driveway distance [41:45] away from us the whole time not only was she killed but her dignity was stolen from death had megan not [42:05] been identified by the tattoos that she loved so dearly even the beautiful image of my daughter that i [42:13] hold in my heart my head it would have been replaced forever by the unbearable image of what had been done [42:20] to her megan's daughter she was only five years old when this happened her life with megan and her [42:31] right to know and make memories with her mom it was stolen this is megan's bracelet the charm bracelet [42:44] we started when she was five and it has every memory on it from growing up every milestone every place [42:53] that we visit anything that was important to her here this is her story and these are the stories that [43:04] she should be telling her daughter i have to hope i can remember them all there's so many my husband and [43:20] i we won't be retiring like we imagined of course because we have to pray that we live long enough to [43:26] raise her little girl into adulthood and this is because our laws that we already have aren't enforced [43:37] this is why victims don't care about partisan victories we care whether the dangerous criminals and [43:46] drug traffickers and cartels are stopped before another loved one is buried in another family's life [43:52] shattered right now governors and local officials enact sanctuary protections cashless bail policies [44:05] and identification laws that undermine federal enforcement and create dangerous public safety [44:10] loopholes a criminal that's released under a reckless local policy does not remain inside that city or [44:19] state he can cross into yours megan's perpetrator was released the day after he was arrested [44:29] do you want him as your neighbor angel families have told me how they've been entirely abandoned and [44:39] ignored by the government our children and our families were politically inconvenient some of these angel [44:46] families have been trying asking for someone to listen to the stories and learn from what's happened to us [44:54] for more than 25 years the last angel the last angel mom that sat here was asked how come she was here and [45:12] why did they have to sit through another hearing that's beginning to change now under the current leadership [45:24] of todd blanche angel families finally are feeling hurt and respected and taken seriously there is a renewed focus [45:34] on prosecuting immigration crimes and the transnational criminal organizations drug trafficking and the [45:41] like so much work that's done by ice and homeland security investigations goes unseen it's not limited [45:50] to detaining the individuals who escaped detection at the border their work is life protecting from the time [46:00] the time that i've spent talking with todd blanche i knew immediately that he makes victims a priority [46:08] under his direction the doj has engaged directly with the angel families and treated us not like political props [46:17] but as partners in preventing future tragedies and that's all that we've ever asked for justice can't bring our [46:26] children home nothing nothing so the justice that we're seeking now is the assurance that their deaths [46:38] won't be ignored and they won't be in vain and preventable tragedies from these laws not being enforced [46:47] won't be repeated i 100 believe todd blanche will be the one who can deliver that justice saving lives of people [46:58] who will never know it thank you thank you thank you miss boss now mr lawyer good morning chairman grassley [47:11] ranking member durbin and members of this committee i am here as a public servant a former justice [47:17] department employee and a concerned american who cares deeply about the future of our country i had great [47:25] hope that todd blanche would be an effective leader and a responsible steward of the department of justice [47:31] but he quickly proved me wrong two days after mr blanche was confirmed as deputy attorney general he [47:38] fired me from my position as the department's career pardon attorney i declined to rubber stamp a [47:45] political favor for a friend of the president and it cost me my job mr blanche's office had asked me [47:52] to recommend restoring the gun ownership rights of a convicted domestic abuser i raised concerns about public [47:59] safety but mr blanche's staff pressured me to go along anyway i did not domestic violence is the leading [48:08] type of homicide among women when a domestic abuser is armed his victim is five times more likely to be [48:16] killed but because this particular domestic abuser had a personal relationship with the president mr blanche's [48:24] staff asked me to set aside my concerns when i wouldn't mr blanche fired me within hours he then took [48:32] extraordinary measures to silence me he sent u.s marshals to my home in an effort to prevent me from [48:39] speaking with members of congress i was shocked to hear mr blanche's testimony about this yesterday [48:48] what he said about my firing is provably false his claim that it had nothing to do with the concerns i [48:55] raised is contradicted by documents and evidence his claim that he tried to call me before sending [49:01] marshals to my home is flat out false his claim that it is normal for doj to use armed law enforcement [49:10] officers to deliver mail to the homes of its former employees is preposterous the casual lies that mr blanche [49:20] tells even while sitting in this chair testifying to this committee are emblematic of a much larger [49:28] problem courts across the country have said they can no longer trust the justice department to uphold [49:37] to uphold the law and tell the truth there are over 700 documented instances of doj violating judicial [49:46] orders there are nearly 100 cases in which judges appointed by both parties have found that doj presented [49:54] false or misleading information in court earlier this week a federal judge found that mr blanche [50:02] personally misled this congress about the department's settlement agreement with president trump to [50:09] the american public it looks like mr blanche is running doj as donald trump's personal law firm he is [50:17] using law enforcement powers to pursue petty grudges harbored by the president these pointless vendettas [50:25] are wasting our scarce resources and destroying doj's credibility mr blanche has repeatedly placed [50:35] president trump's interests ahead of the interests of the country the collusive settlement agreement is [50:41] a perfect example it protects the entire trump family and all of their businesses from any investigation [50:49] or audit forever it gives away nearly two billion dollars of our money for no reason at all it is a [50:59] windfall for the president and his allies at the expense of the american people a court found that signing [51:06] this agreement was a betrayal of mr blanche's duty to zealously represent the interests of the united [51:12] states that is the most basic obligation of the attorney general mr blanche said yesterday that the [51:20] settlement fund is dead it is not that is contract law 101 mr trump or his sons could seek to enforce it [51:29] at any time mr blanche gave bizarre excuses for not meeting with jeffrey epstein's victims yet he spent two [51:39] two days personally eliciting testimony from gilane maxwell epstein's partner in crime after this [51:47] imprisoned sex trafficker made statements claiming to exonerate the president she was moved to a minimum [51:54] security camp that is a grievous breach of doj policy it is an abuse of mr blanche's office it is a [52:04] terrible betrayal of epstein and maxwell's victims mr blanche's callous approach to the epstein case [52:13] matches his cavalier attitude toward rearming domestic abusers at the end of the day the [52:20] priority of this doj is protecting powerful men even when it comes at the expense of vulnerable women [52:28] what mr blanche is doing is dangerous earlier this week two supreme court justices sat here and testified [52:37] about the terrifying threats that judges are facing in this country meanwhile mr blanche is fueling those [52:44] threats threats by attacking judges who rule against the administration and declaring a war against [52:50] the courts these are not partisan concerns americans across the political spectrum rely on doj to keep us [53:00] safe and free mr blanche has shown that he is willing to put all of that at risk to serve a political agenda [53:08] i beg the members of this committee to think about what this is costing our country [53:14] please do not degrade our justice system further by promoting mr blanche thank you thank you mr o'hera [53:22] now mr adler good morning chairman grassley ranking member durbin and distinguished members of the [53:30] senate judiciary committee my name is john adler and i appear before you today in my personal capacity [53:35] to provide testimony in support of the nomination of the honorable todd blanche to serve as the united [53:40] states attorney general i respectfully offer my perspective both as a former colleague of acting [53:45] attorney general blanche and as a national law enforcement organization leader my experience in [53:51] law enforcement spans over 30 years and i was honored to serve under 10 attorney generals as a federal law [53:57] enforcement officer concurrent with my active duty law enforcement service i also served as the national [54:02] president of the federal law enforcement officers association for two terms representing federal offices [54:08] from 65 different agencies nationwide as a volunteer law enforcement leader i had and continue to have the [54:14] privilege of serving with the leaders of the largest national law enforcement organizations including [54:19] the fop napo nsa iacp and others i have dedicated my life towards making it safer for those who serve [54:27] and supporting innovative approaches towards augmenting both officer and public safety which are intertwined [54:33] as a career tactical instructor i emphasize marrying tactical proficiency with compassion and civility [54:40] within a legal context i am convinced that acting attorney general blanche exudes this when i joined the [54:46] u.s attorney's office in april 2001 i met an incredibly intelligent and highly motivated paralegal [54:52] by the name of todd blanche my first impression of them paralegal blanche was that he moved like a [54:57] football fullback carrying the federal criminal statutes book under his arm as he charged through the [55:02] revolving doors it didn't take long for me to figure out why all the prosecutors were so friendly with mr blanche [55:08] they all wanted him on their trial teams it was clear from the beginning that paralegal blanche [55:14] had a passion for prosecuting violent crimes he later became an assistant u.s attorney and his amazing [55:20] work ethic and passion for combating violent crime were unparalleled for a new a usa a usa blanche exuded the [55:28] speak softly but carry overwhelming evidence demeanor it was no surprise to anyone at the office that a usa blanche [55:35] ultimately became the co-chief of the violent crimes unit it was clear that unit chief blanche was fully [55:41] committed to litigating violent crime cases in furtherance of public safety for context i want to [55:47] emphasize that the acting attorney general began his paralegal and prosecutorial career in an office [55:52] that was predominantly represented by a usa's with different political views what impressed me during [55:57] my 16 years with the u.s attorney's office was the unified commitment to the rule of law irrespective of [56:04] political affiliation i am absolutely convinced that if confirmed as the attorney general acting [56:10] attorney general blanche will carry forward that spirit and unwavering commitment to the rule of law [56:16] during the terrorist attacks on september 11 2001 the u.s attorney's office in the southern district of [56:21] new york was located in the hot zone in new york city while we often hear the acting attorney general [56:27] speak of the extraordinary bravery the first responders who run forward into harm's way he exuded that charge [56:33] forward spirit during the challenging days following 9 11. i have profound respect for his service above [56:39] self-spirit then and it has only grown moving forward to deputy attorney general blanche's tenure as the [56:45] acting attorney general his outreach and engagement with law enforcement nation ride has been extraordinary [56:52] same can be said for his 24 7 staff in speaking with my fellow national law enforcement organization [56:58] leaders it is clear that they have great respect for the acting attorney general and appreciate his [57:03] commitment to backing the blue acting attorney general blanche has demonstrated a strong commitment [57:09] to officer safety and ensuring that all law enforcement officers have the same protection under the law [57:15] according to the fbi's recent annual report 90 000 law enforcement officers were assaulted in 2025 [57:21] that represents a 10-year high acting attorney general has made clear that his department will stand by law [57:27] law enforcement and support the prosecution of anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer [57:33] civility does not work when it's one-sided he has earned the respect and admiration of officers nationwide [57:40] in terms of civility acting attorney general blanche has distinguished himself during the substantial [57:45] time he spent with all the national law enforcement organizations during national police week [57:49] in particular the time he spent with the concerns of police survivors which are the survivors of our heroes [57:55] killed in the line of duty was heartfelt and riveting much like his powerful support for our angel families [58:01] acting attorney general blanche is equally supportive of the surviving family members of our fallen heroes [58:07] and i have no doubt he will continue that as he prioritizes the safety of all americans [58:12] as the father of beautiful teenage daughter i worry about her safety every day i expect our government [58:17] leaders to do everything they can to support a safe and just quality of life for all our children [58:23] that should be an unbreakable priority i sleep well knowing that my daughter's safety and all americans [58:29] are an unwavering priority for acting attorney general blanche and his team under his leadership [58:34] and through the dedication of all law enforcement officers violent crime continues to be driven down [58:39] we must sustain these powerful results and we need acting attorney general blanche to be confirmed [58:45] as our nation's chief law enforcement officer throughout my law enforcement career [58:49] i wore and continue to wear a pendant that has john 15 13 inscribed greater love hath known than this [58:56] and to lay down when life's for a friend i am absolutely convinced that the acting attorney general [59:01] acting attorney general blanche will exude that spirit of the scripture and do everything he can [59:06] to protect the safety of all americans by following the rule of law i therefore respect that the [59:12] committee set aside any political differences demonstrate its unwavering commitment to both officer and public safety [59:18] and vote to confirm acting attorney general blanche as the next attorney general thank you thank you [59:26] ms boss uh first of all thank you for your courage coming forward uh you know how important it is to [59:34] have effective leadership in pursuing justice i think you've answered my question in your fur in your last [59:42] two minutes of your testimony but i'd like to give you an opportunity to say it once again [59:48] how you feel about mr blanche and the prospects of his continued leadership at the justice department [59:55] thank you chairman um i feel like we have already seen what has come out of the justice department [1:00:08] as far as the prosecutions of um the drug trafficking the cartels um he is following up the hard work [1:00:18] of the men and women that are in our uh the ice agents cbp and he's prosecuting those dangerous criminals and [1:00:28] that is making a difference okay thank you very much now mr hoyer uh we know the biden administration [1:00:37] was the most active pardoning administration in american history 4 000 total acts of clemency uh i think you [1:00:49] were the pardon attorney on january the 17th 2025 when president biden granted more communications in [1:00:59] a single day than any prior president had over that entire presidency is that right i was the pardon [1:01:07] attorney on on that date sir okay were you also the pardon attorney on december 23rd 2024 when president [1:01:17] biden commuted 37 of 40 inmates on federal desk row yes sir i was thank you for that um so i want to [1:01:29] uh bring up some of these uh commutations uh thomas sanders who killed a 12-year-old girl lexus roberts [1:01:41] he shot lexus four times and slit her throat after the girl had witnessed him murder her mother did you [1:01:50] object to president biden's commuting his sentence sir i'm not able to discuss the recommendations that [1:01:57] i made to the president regarding acts of clemency uh can you speak uh did you turn your microphone on [1:02:08] i believe it's on sir you were the pardon attorney yeah i was yes yes you recommended you didn't object [1:02:16] to the recommendation sir i'm not uh able to discuss the recommendations i provided to the president [1:02:23] about clemency matters which are considered you know covered by executive privilege okay i want you to know [1:02:29] that i have read evidence that you made this recommendation so are you telling me the evidence [1:02:37] i read that i'm wrong so did you make the recommendation or you don't want you you're telling [1:02:42] me you can't talk about it sir just like mr blanche explained yesterday i'm not free to discuss the [1:02:48] recommendations that i provided to the white house because they are covered by executive privilege you can't [1:02:55] even tell me if you contacted the victim's family you can't say yes or no to that sir i i cannot talk [1:03:05] about the discussions i had unless the white house chooses to waive the executive privilege i would be [1:03:10] happy to come back and speak with you or other members of this committee and i think what i'm going to do [1:03:15] is i'm going to tell you what i know so let's go to the uh uh the case of jorge avila torres who stabbed to [1:03:28] death eight-year-old laura hobbs and nine-year-old crystal tobias who were riding their bicycles in chicago [1:03:37] sunburn he had also sexually assaulted at least one of them and four years later he strangled to death a 20-year-old [1:03:47] naval officer amanda snell in her barracks so uh you can't talk about this but i have read evidence [1:03:57] that you made this recommendation and uh you can't even tell me yes or no whether you made that [1:04:03] recommendation well sir what i can tell you is that president biden did commute the sentences of 37 [1:04:10] individuals who were on death row to sentences of life imprisonment and all of those individuals will [1:04:15] remain incarcerated for the rest of their lives most likely in maximum security well we know what the [1:04:20] commentation uh did but the fact is that they were taken off death row then we have the case of dylan [1:04:30] roof shot up a church in south carolina that made national history for a long period of time in his trial [1:04:38] he murdered nine african americans in a racially motivated attack and you're telling me you can't [1:04:46] talk about that but i have read evidence that you made this recommendation and uh uh since you can't [1:04:54] comment on it i'm just going to have to tell you that you made that recommendation robert bowers murdered [1:05:03] 111 people in pittsburgh tree of life synagogue in the deadliest attack on a local jewish community in [1:05:11] american history and you're telling me you can't talk about the record commutation of robert bowers but i [1:05:19] want to tell you that i have read evidence that you made this recommendation uh and then also johar [1:05:27] uh sar nayoff planted bombs at the 2013 boston marathon killing three and injuring hundreds in an [1:05:38] act of terrorism and you're telling me you can't talk about that but i want you to know that i have [1:05:44] read evidence that you made this recommendation and uh it seems pretty i'm going to give you a chance [1:05:51] to react to it but it seems pretty obvious that you were fired because the current justice department [1:05:58] leadership disagreed with how you handled the pardons last administration you want to respond [1:06:05] sir regarding these cases these are absolutely horrific cases and every one of the individuals [1:06:10] you mentioned will remain incarcerated for the rest of their lives most likely in a maximum security [1:06:16] prison facility as far as the reasons for my firing i've been in litigation with the justice department [1:06:22] for over a year about my firing which was plainly illegal and mr blanche's [1:06:27] comments in this room yesterday are the first time i have ever heard the explanation that i was fired [1:06:33] because of recommendations i made to the prior administration about how to accomplish their [1:06:39] clemency objectives mr blanche's justice department submitted a pleading to the merit systems protection [1:06:46] board that stated that the facts about my firing were not in dispute the facts as i have been saying for [1:06:53] one year plus or that i was fired within hours of declining to make a recommendation that i believed [1:07:00] was very dangerous and mr blanche's statement yesterday that it was for another reason materialized [1:07:06] out of thin air and has never been stated before okay mr ashkoff you serve this nation with distinction [1:07:14] during your tenure as attorney general you know what it takes to do the job and to do it well [1:07:20] based on mr blanche's leadership of the justice department during this administration do you [1:07:26] believe he would serve as an effective and capable attorney general well i think the statistics and the [1:07:34] history tells the story here thank you for the question but todd blanche has a heritage and history [1:07:40] of involvement in the justice department pursuing the rule of law and enforcing the rule of law and that [1:07:47] extended from his time as a as a an assistant in the office when i was attorney general 25 years ago [1:07:56] to recent times when his aggressive approach in fighting crime has actually uh been a part of the [1:08:05] effort that's driven down violent crime across the country and particularly in cases where the department [1:08:11] has been welcomed to assist and work with local officials in my home jurisdiction in southwest [1:08:17] missouri they had operation spring cleanup and a number of very important uh prosecutions were [1:08:25] begun at that time and i think it's a credit to him i have no doubt that his commitment to maintaining [1:08:32] the safety and security of americans and their rights will be pursued in in in the pursuit of the rule [1:08:39] of law and within the bounds of the constitution of the united states which is the framing that i think [1:08:45] every american expects that the constitution and rule of law of the united states be followed and [1:08:51] defended mr durbin i'm sorry senator durbin thank you mr chairman miss boss breaks my heart to hear the [1:09:01] story of you and your boss or your daughter and i just want to say my heart goes out to you and to your [1:09:09] husband carrying on for her with your granddaughter is the greatest tribute you can give her i'm sure [1:09:18] uh i'm sorry you went through this terrible tragedy i'm glad you're here today to tell that story miss [1:09:26] benske it's hard to imagine that this government kept publishing your personal information did you anyone [1:09:36] notify them of this breach of privacy yeah i mean we notified them immediately um back in the first [1:09:43] document release and even before the document release happened after the fc files transparency act passed [1:09:49] um like i said in my testimony um my lawyer teamed up with other lawyers and and gave 350 names and [1:09:55] um basically every batch that came forward um all the way through basically i believe it was april but [1:10:03] in the january batch uh i was i was exposed so did this happen to any of the others who were present [1:10:10] here oh yes i mean all i think almost all yeah yes um there were hundreds of victims that were outed and [1:10:18] jane does um and you know i do want to speak to just the jammages for a moment you know we we've [1:10:24] been receiving threats we've had lots of jobs we've had lots of confidentiality and privacy um but [1:10:29] there's there's another piece here and it's that this idea of withholding information we're trying to [1:10:35] get justice we have always been trying to seek justice and we're seeing if you just even look at new [1:10:40] mexico right now um that the ag the new mexico ag has attempted five times to get the files um uh from [1:10:50] todd blanch and from this doj and it's it's obstruction they are obstructing so for us yes of course there [1:10:58] are so many damages there are so many things that we are mourning the loss of including a lot of our [1:11:03] innocence and who we were as these young girls um but to still see it be obstructed after 30 years [1:11:11] um and this is five administrations we're not saying that this is just this administration we've [1:11:16] been at this fight for for 30 years um so we just really hope that you know there's a huge impact [1:11:23] as far as just releasing information and making sure that it's followed up on i can't understand how [1:11:30] this attorney general can find 48 hours to visit with gillaine maxwell who has been prosecuted for [1:11:37] sex trafficking yeah and can't find 30 minutes to meet with the survivors of that sexual predatory conduct [1:11:47] it's certainly not for lack of trying we have tried in every way we know how to try um and then we did [1:11:54] hear from him yesterday that he would sit with counsel and i would i would say i hope i think many of us in [1:11:58] this room would be interested in meeting with him today if we could many of the members of the [1:12:03] committee will remember when we had the olympic athletes in here who had been sexually abused uh and [1:12:11] the head of the fbi the head of the fbi sat through their entire testimony yeah to show his concern for [1:12:18] what had happened to them and any wrongdoing by the federal bureau of investigation that to me was the [1:12:24] right thing to do from both sides why in the world would mr blanche at this point say he doesn't have [1:12:32] the time i couldn't understand his argument yesterday he couldn't see you because you had a lawyer or he [1:12:37] couldn't see you because you didn't have a lawyer yeah i think it was because we had a lawyer but you [1:12:41] know i think um as a career prosecutor we talk so much about todd blanche's credentials in this room and [1:12:46] we've heard a lot about them um and that's great but i think as a career prosecutor he should be [1:12:53] salivating by this case right this case is um it's gold for somebody that wants to prosecute there are [1:13:00] six million files there are thousands of victims and yet all we've seen is one perpetrator that died in [1:13:06] prison the other perpetrator is now in a minimum security penitentiary and todd blanche believes that [1:13:11] there are zero investigations when he's already been told by members of the house that that is [1:13:15] inaccurate i'll just tell you point blank i don't think his name should be called on the floor of [1:13:20] the united states senate until he meets with you yeah it's not too much to ask set aside two hours [1:13:26] four hours whatever it takes so that there is clearly an effort by this government to get all the [1:13:33] information yes and make a judgment as to what to do with it but to shun you and to snub you at this [1:13:39] point there's something else going on here there's got to be someone told me once in politics there's [1:13:45] always a good reason and then there's always a real reason what is the real reason why todd blanche [1:13:51] does not want to meet with the survivors of jeffrey epstein it appears from the outside reputational [1:13:57] harm and that is what i think is at the core of this that um he prioritizes the reputation of of the [1:14:03] administration um over survivors of sexual abuse and of crime survivors in this country well i hope the [1:14:11] message goes out to all senators on both sides of the table and i do want to say you know to that [1:14:16] end i'm we are not we've been saying that we're not political i don't i've asked everyone we've met [1:14:20] with a lot of your offices on both sides and every single conversation uh mr holly we had a great [1:14:26] conversation with your office right it was amazing and i feel so much hope leaving those spaces actually [1:14:31] um and when we had those conversations it just felt like you see us as human beings you don't see us like [1:14:38] we have survivors on both sides of the aisle we are not here to be political these are just our [1:14:42] stories like 17 year old me i promise you not political um but so when we have these very real [1:14:47] interactions in your offices we hope that you can put politics aside um it was something so beautiful [1:14:53] that we saw during the epstein files transparency act there was a moment where marjorie taylor green [1:14:58] went and sat right next to melanie stansbury and that is a moment that will live in my memory forever [1:15:02] because they crossed party lines for something that was really important um so i hope that you can all do that [1:15:08] thank you mr chairman thank you mr chairman just on that note miss besky and for everybody who's [1:15:15] here all of the victims thank you for being here thank you for standing up and telling your stories [1:15:19] miss boss thank you for being here and for telling us about your daughter i'm sorry for what all of you [1:15:24] have been through so i want to say thank you and honor your voices and honor what you're doing [1:15:28] miss orger if i could just turn to you you were president biden's pardon attorney is that correct [1:15:34] i was the justice department's pardon you recommended you made clemency recommendations to the white [1:15:38] house whether or not to pardon inmates is that correct my job was to make clemency recommendations [1:15:44] and in that in that capacity you recommended that the president of the united states joe biden [1:15:49] grant clemency to all 40 federal death row inmates all of them clear them out correct sir as i told [1:15:56] chairman grassley i'm not free to discuss the recommendations well that's what your memo says [1:16:01] i mean we have your memo your memo of november 4th 2024 says and i quote disparity and undue severity [1:16:09] of sentence which are present in many if not all of these cases have been recognized as grounds for [1:16:14] clemency and you went on to recommend in that memo and a series of other memos that are now recorded [1:16:20] and public record that the president of the united states grant clemency to murderers rapists and the [1:16:26] most horrible offenders all of them clear death row completely out i'm amazed you've been called here today [1:16:31] i'm absolutely amazed by it but let's just talk about the people who you recommended you talk [1:16:36] about honoring victims the people who you recommended get clemency and live at the expense [1:16:41] and sufferance of taxpayers for the rest of their lives let's start with dylan roof dylan was a neo-nazi [1:16:48] who murdered nine african-american worshipers at a bible study in charleston south carolina 2015. [1:16:56] do you remember this case i do remember it very well i would hope you did here's his victims you want [1:17:00] to look at them there they are nine of them at a bible study in a church killed in cold blood the doj [1:17:10] knew from day one that he had decided i'm going to quote from the prosecutors decided because of their [1:17:17] he further decided to attack african-american worshipers in a black church in order to make his [1:17:23] attack more notorious more notorious and yet you recommended that he be granted clemency live at the [1:17:31] expense of taxpayers for the rest of his life substitute your judgment for that of the american [1:17:35] judicial system do you stand by that recommendation today sir i'm not going to comment on the [1:17:40] recommendations that i made but i can tell you that mr roof is going to die in prison as oh oh he's going [1:17:46] to live in prison for a very long time because of you because of your recommendations and here's what [1:17:50] you said in your memo of october 30th 2024 you said that actually roof is not a compelling candidate for [1:17:56] clemency but you recommended it anyway why because he suffered from anxiety you said right he suffered [1:18:03] from anxiety did it ever occur to you that maybe the family of his victims might suffer a little bit [1:18:09] of anxiety because he marched into their church and murdered them in cold blood because he was an [1:18:15] incredible racist and he wanted to get on tv sir do you regret it i'm not going to comment on the [1:18:21] record do you regret it let's talk about robert bowers a man who regularly spewed such vile hatred [1:18:27] of jews it's unlike anything i've ever seen he barged into a pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and he shot [1:18:34] everybody he could find killing 11 innocent people who were there to worship a federal jury in pittsburgh [1:18:42] unanimously recommended the death sentence after finding him guilty on 63 counts here they are they're [1:18:50] his victims take a good look you recommended clemency for this person who went in and killed these [1:18:58] people just because they're jews he killed the other guy killed people just because they're black this [1:19:04] guy killed people just because they're jews a jury recommended that he be sentenced to death and you [1:19:09] substituted your judgment for theirs and now he's gonna live are you proud of that sir what i am proud of [1:19:17] is the fact that i took my job as pardon attorney extremely seriously apparently not seriously enough you [1:19:23] certainly didn't take the victims seriously then there's jorge avila torres who wasn't just a murderer [1:19:29] he was a silly serial killer and a rapist sir here is who he assaulted and killed he sexually assaulted [1:19:37] and killed eight-year-old laura hobbs and nine-year-old crystal tobias in a chicago suburb in 2005 and then [1:19:47] four years after that he committed another murder he slaughtered a fellow service member navy petty officer [1:19:53] amanda snell in 2009 while she was in her barracks that's what he did and you recommended clemency [1:20:01] for this individual and now he'll live his life at the expense of taxpayers because you substituted [1:20:08] your judgment for that of the american judicial system jury judges the whole lot and yet you're [1:20:14] here to tell us that you're somehow a victim i don't think so miss or i think your judgment [1:20:20] is astoundingly terrible i'm amazed that this side of the aisle has called you and i just ask [1:20:25] my friends on this side of the aisle do you agree with this is this what you want do you want these [1:20:32] people to be pardoned and live at the expense of taxpayers for their whole lives do you want to excuse [1:20:37] the murders of african-american churchgoers do you want to excuse the murders of jews in their [1:20:43] synagogues do you want to excuse the murders of these children because that's what she did and now [1:20:48] she's online hawking products to try to make money off of it i see you've got your own website where [1:20:53] you put your face on baseball caps and mugs the lawyer oyer.com you're trying to make money on this [1:21:01] this is unbelievable ms oyer and yet you say you're a victim these are the victims and you helped [1:21:09] victimize them and what you're doing is wrong i hope every member on this side of the aisle will repudiate [1:21:15] what you have done and what you stand for thank you mr chairman sir i assume that your question is [1:21:19] directed at me were rhetorical and that you're giving they're not rhetorical at all i i asked [1:21:24] you to respond and you said you wouldn't so what i did is i read to you what you have said i quoted [1:21:29] verbatim and i'm happy to keep doing it in fact i'd ask now mr chairman that this report restoring and [1:21:35] strengthening the federal death penalty report be entered into the record it contains information [1:21:39] regarding ms oyer her recommendations and the track record of all of it the written records are here [1:21:45] i ask to be entered into the record it'll be uh ms hoyer uh take a minute to respond if you want to [1:21:56] thank you chairman grassley i uh under president biden just like under president trump had a job to do [1:22:02] which was to make recommendations to the president about how to best accomplish their clemency objectives [1:22:08] i put the utmost effort into doing that in a way that was consistent with the interests of the justice [1:22:14] system and all of its stakeholders which includes crime victims as well as defendants as well as [1:22:20] family members as well as judges as well as prosecutors all criminal justice system stakeholders [1:22:28] the process that i presided over was one that was a beyond reproach what's happening now with clemency [1:22:34] is an absolute disgrace and i'm sorry that i can't answer the questions about the specific [1:22:39] recommendations in this public setting but i would be glad to meet with any members of this committee [1:22:44] who have concerns privately to discuss to the extent i can what your privately why don't you meet with [1:22:49] the victims families here's the disgrace senator whitehouse thank you chairman um mr ashcroft welcome [1:23:01] back to the senate um you knew jim comey yes indeed i did you trusted him he was the deputy attorney general [1:23:16] as well as the u.s attorney for the southern district of new york you trusted him with the top job in your [1:23:23] department i asked him to help administer justice at the department of justice yeah you respected him [1:23:28] yes i did do you have can you vouch for this department's prosecution of him for lying to congress or for [1:23:42] the process that was performed i'm not in a position i don't know all the facts i'm not in a [1:23:50] position to comment on pending investigations or prosecutions can you vouch for this department's [1:23:58] prosecution of him for posting a picture of the numbers 8647 or the process that led to that my [1:24:09] response would certainly have to be the same as it is for any prosecution i'm not a part of the department [1:24:15] now i'm not fully informed of its factual basis or for the considerations it's uh made in in bringing [1:24:23] uh prosecutions what are your views today of mr comey's character and merits uh i'm not i'm i'm not [1:24:38] going to start to discuss the character and merits of individuals especially those who are standing in [1:24:45] in in a position of responding to charges from the justice department i can respond to what i believed [1:24:52] during the time i served as attorney general and when he served with me and his service to me and i [1:24:59] believe to the united states at that time was commendable and honorable um what is opr in the [1:25:08] department of justice that's i believe it's uh office of professional responsibility yeah and what is [1:25:13] its role its role is to encourage individuals in the department to act in compliance with and [1:25:26] and in uh in conformity with the rules of ethics and responsibility and did you respect the role of [1:25:32] the office of professional responsibility when you were attorney general i certainly did i i hope that [1:25:38] they would advise me properly to keep me out of trouble if the office of professional responsibility [1:25:47] were functionally disabled by an administration and the department of justice what message would [1:25:55] that send to the line prosecutors i i'm not in a position to comment on a hypothetical of disabling [1:26:05] and and when you say functionally disabled i think that requires the uh an assumption of the of what [1:26:14] does functionally disabled mean uh i personally uh it's a hypothetical to which i just am unable to respond [1:26:23] but you do agree that opr does an important job and has an important role and is important to the [1:26:29] department of justice in the performance of its duties i i certainly respected the department's [1:26:36] operation including opr at the time of my opportunity to serve as attorney general of the united states [1:26:43] while you were attorney general were there procedures that took place when judicial findings [1:26:53] of prosecutorial misconduct or dishonesty occurred i don't i have to say i don't remember charges of [1:27:05] prosecutorial misconduct and that i dealt with yeah they were pretty scarce until now it was pretty [1:27:13] unusual to have judges say that arguments were made in bad faith that arguments were made as pretexts [1:27:21] that arguments were disingenuous that arguments were shoddy or terrible that the department was losing [1:27:30] or sacrificing its credibility that the department was disrespecting orders of the court that the [1:27:36] department had lied or was engaged in sham that there was willful and intentional non-compliance or [1:27:44] willful disregard of court orders that department lawyers were contemptuous or that their behavior [1:27:49] and arguments were unconscionable to me those are red flag words i was a united states attorney and if [1:27:56] my federal court had used those words about my line attorneys there would have been some follow-up [1:28:04] and i expect that in your department if those kind of words were used there'd at least be some [1:28:10] preliminary follow-up and if it were serious there might actually be a review by the office of [1:28:16] professional responsibility does that sound like what likely would have happened during your day [1:28:23] uh i was only admonished at one time that i remember by a court for having commented on evidence i thought [1:28:30] it was pretty good evidence i think i just said pretty good evidence and yeah i didn't mean you i meant [1:28:35] i meant your line at that time i i decided that i needed to be more careful about my remarks yeah no my [1:28:42] question my my remarks i were safeguarded and and carefully made yeah and and frankly i might add [1:28:49] more carefully made than the remarks of some of the judicial officers who have been uh who while very [1:28:56] concerned about the justice department seem to be uh willing to themselves engage in political [1:29:03] considerations which i didn't think were appropriate for the judiciary so maybe there's a problem that's [1:29:09] broader than than we would otherwise recognize well you've changed the topic a little bit to your own [1:29:16] comments and the response to that which is fine i appreciate that you've said that but my question had [1:29:22] to do with when criticisms like that are leveled against department lawyers there is ordinarily some kind [1:29:29] of a process or review that takes place they're not just brushed off that is correct is it not yeah it's [1:29:38] certainly the reason that the office of professional responsibility exists to to safeguard against [1:29:44] things that are not responsibly done or or undertaken in a way that discredits the department public [1:29:51] confidence in the department is very important indeed and it and the rule of law and guided by the [1:29:59] constitution is at the foundation of our safeguarding liberties and i i take that seriously i believe that [1:30:05] with all my heart when i served and i believe it today thank you sir senator schmidt thank you mr [1:30:11] chairman uh first and most importantly uh i want to thank all the victims who are here for your courage [1:30:17] to come forward this is not easy to do to um relive everything so thank you for for being here and [1:30:23] telling your stories uh miss oyer i want to i want to turn to you you were uh biden's part of an attorney [1:30:28] and you're telling make sure you're i'm clear your testimony here today is that you were fired because you [1:30:34] wouldn't recommend restoring mel gibson's gun rights is that right i was fired just hours after i declined [1:30:41] to make that okay you can't think of another reason why you might have been fired that's the only [1:30:45] explanation that i'm aware of the justice department actually put in a pleading that was submitted [1:30:51] in my appeal of my firing the fact that the facts of my firing okay on november uh and you talked about um [1:30:58] um you you're concerned about public safety on november 4th 2024 you authored authored a 73 page [1:31:04] memorandum recommending the commutation of all 40 federal death sentences isn't that correct well as [1:31:10] i've told to yeah i know i know but don't play the game with me because it's not they've waived executive [1:31:17] privilege i have the report right here it's dated april 24th 2026. it's actually your memo is quoted in here [1:31:25] it's pu it's public knowledge and the idea that you would come here you know that already you would [1:31:31] come here and disparage somebody else and not be willing to answer questions about how you commuted [1:31:36] the sentences of murderers is ridiculous i can't believe you're here to do that i don't have the [1:31:41] authority to commute do you deny it do you deny that you authored the memo i i'm not sure which memo [1:31:47] you're referring to i'm referring to the november 4th 2024 73 page memo do you deny authoring it i can't [1:31:55] say without it's ridiculous i honestly i can't believe you did you did and everybody in america [1:32:01] and in the world can pull it up so it's a ridiculous like a document that looks like a document that [1:32:05] has doj's logo on the cover yeah and it quotes your letter it quotes your letter i don't know you're [1:32:11] losing credit you should just admit it you should just admit you authored everybody knows you authored [1:32:16] it so i'm not going to waste any more time on on your your convenient little game you're playing here [1:32:21] you also authored and recommended the commutation of the boston marathon bomber the tree of life [1:32:26] synagogue murderer and dylan roof we all know this how many pages of the 73 pages did you dedicate to [1:32:34] victims because you expressed your concern over victims how many pages were dedicated to the victims [1:32:38] sir i don't have the memo i can tell you three three pages three pages were dedicated to the victims [1:32:45] um so i also happen to have i made a special access request last year under the presidential [1:32:53] records act for documents from the biden white house on the abuse of pardons and commutations [1:32:58] we recently got those documents i want to show you a couple here's one it's dated december 3rd 2024 and [1:33:05] it's an internal memo memo on the commutation of the 37 death sentences that you were involved with [1:33:11] the memorandum states that the white house worked with reporters to quote ensure positive coverage [1:33:16] it says the white house gave advocates the elected officials resources and key messaging to [1:33:21] amplify the news you personally recommended commuting comm commuting all 40 death sentence cases [1:33:28] an even broader action than biden took again that included dylan roof the boston marathon [1:33:34] bomber the tree of life synagogue shooter did you know that the white house was using your [1:33:38] recommendations as a pr stunt sir i have no idea what document you're referring to currently well [1:33:45] let me just ask you in general did you know that they were planning to message around your commutation [1:33:50] sir i was not an employee of the white house okay i'll take that as a no i'll take that as a no but [1:33:55] they use your ridiculous recommendation as a veneer of legitimacy document two i was called here to talk [1:34:02] about mr blanche's nomination yeah i know that's what you thought you were came here to talk about but the [1:34:07] reality is your credibility is gone you can't come here and do the political bidding of the biden [1:34:15] administration and then when you're called out on that and being fired and thank god you're being [1:34:20] fired you know what i really think i think you thought you came here and you had you're selling [1:34:25] merch by the way do we have the hoodies that are up for sale you sell merch let's throw the hoodies [1:34:31] i think you came here thinking that you were going to be ordained the high priestess of the resistance [1:34:38] that's what i think that's why you're denying simple facts that you authored the memo commuting [1:34:43] the sentences everyone knows that and we have documents now from the white house that they use [1:34:49] that memo as a pr stunt and so the idea you have no credibility to talk about todd blanche you have none [1:34:57] you've come here you deny basic facts you you recommended the commutation of murderers you gave [1:35:03] no quarter at all or any time to the victims of these brutal murders so again i can't believe you've [1:35:12] been called here by the other side but i'm glad we've had an opportunity to expose your hypocrisy thank [1:35:17] you mr chairman senator ronald thank you mr chairman i thank all the witnesses for being here [1:35:28] as a continuation of the confirmation process for mr blanche we are here to determine whether or not [1:35:37] mr blanche who continues to be president trump's lawyer and all that that implies should be the [1:35:46] attorney general of the united states of america who is supposed to be defending the constitution not the [1:35:53] president ms besky thank you so much for being here and for all of the other epstein victims mr blanche [1:36:02] was asked whether he would meet with you and because we knew that he had refused basically to meet with [1:36:11] the victims of the epstein crimes and he offered apparently yesterday and he made some excuses about [1:36:18] uh it not being appropriate uh for him to meet with the victims directly why i do not know but he offered [1:36:27] up a staff person and i understand that a staff person from his office contacted you you and others [1:36:35] and offered to meet with your counsel that's is that correct not with you directly i am not aware of a [1:36:43] staffer reaching out we i don't i can ask but um we have not heard from a staffer no we have not heard [1:36:50] from a staffer in the last okay let's get that clarified i uh did i misunderstand that in fact yesterday [1:36:58] when he said i have a staff person here and we can get this done today yeah um that they did they [1:37:05] have not contacted you they have not contacted us now he also said that it would not be appropriate for [1:37:10] him to meet directly with you so not only is his staff not have they not contacted you as he indicated [1:37:19] yesterday that uh this could all happen yesterday he continues to make excuses as far as i can tell [1:37:27] for not meeting with you in spite of the fact that he met for hours with uh miss maxwell why is it so [1:37:35] important can you tell us once again why is it so important yeah for you to you and all the other [1:37:42] victims of abstinence crimes to meet with the with mr blanche personally thank you for the question i think [1:37:50] that if a victim comes and reports a crime in the fbi what is the first thing that they do they follow [1:37:58] up like law and order svu taught me that when i was 15 years old um the doj has never followed up in 30 [1:38:05] years with any of us there is a lot in the files right now that you should be investigating and looking [1:38:11] into um and to my knowledge i mean they can ask they can answer this too but um we have never been [1:38:20] approached by anybody on the prosecutorial side of of things so i do think like sitting down telling [1:38:28] our stories and explaining like the people that were in the room right we were witnesses of crimes we had [1:38:34] crimes committed to us directly we do have a lot of information and you would think that um somebody [1:38:42] would take that lead that's already in like we already went to the fbi because that we wouldn't [1:38:47] have 302s if we hadn't have gone to the fbi it's already there right so the following up of those 302s [1:38:55] and then once the once it's supposed to be handled by the department of justice why aren't we hearing [1:39:00] from prosecutors this case was never handled correctly from the beginning and he also made [1:39:07] some excuses as to why personal information uh were uh was not uh redacted and uh exposing [1:39:16] i'd love you including you yeah um i think something that stood out yesterday was that he had said that [1:39:21] immediately when things were misredacted that they were taken down and they fixed them and within 24 hours [1:39:28] they were put back up that is entirely not true there are still things um that need to be redacted [1:39:33] and there's still survivor information in there even today from my awareness um that i mean my information [1:39:39] just came down in april um and that was after begging would you say that mr blanche exhibits a rather [1:39:46] dismissive attitude toward all of you and the epstein crimes one thousand percent yes thank you [1:39:54] mr oyer trump's doj under todd blanche leadership has purged career prosecutors for personal reasons [1:40:04] for refusing to prioritize president trump's interests over their constitutional oath todd blanche has fired [1:40:12] more than 1200 former career doj employees who worked for both republican and democratic administrations [1:40:20] uh this doesn't even include all of the uh doj attorneys who resigned because they didn't want to be part [1:40:29] of the kind of doj that todd blanche is creating which is basically not a department of justice but a [1:40:36] department of retribution and corruption in my view miss oyer what risks does this pose to our country [1:40:46] for the kind of doj that paul blanche is running senator one of doj's greatest strengths historically [1:40:56] has been its non-political career workforce of experts people who are experts in their subject matter [1:41:02] that is crucial to keeping all of us safe we need people who have specialization in things like national [1:41:08] security prosecuting child exploitation all manner of sophisticated crimes involving cryptocurrency [1:41:14] mr blanche has decimated the expertise of the career workforce the justice department has lost over [1:41:20] a quarter of its attorneys under his leadership and has not been able to replace them certainly not [1:41:26] with experienced knowledgeable non-political people i think the doj is very much losing its credibility [1:41:33] and as mr ashkov mentioned the credibility and trust in doj is very important the rule of law is very [1:41:40] important we have a president who does not believe the rule of law applies to him and his attorney mr blanche [1:41:48] is helping him helping the president proceed with his basically anti-rule of law agenda i thank everyone [1:41:56] for testifying today thank you senator boker um i just want to start off by saying miss oyer um i hold you [1:42:04] in the highest esteem and respect especially what you're doing now as a private citizen uh you use a [1:42:10] platform to educate people about the law it is technical but yet accessible and the badgering you just [1:42:16] endured uh it should be completely unacceptable you were asked to comment on things you didn't have before [1:42:23] you the treatment here to me is just outrageous and i apologize on behalf of the united states senate [1:42:31] this idea that as a private citizen you can't sell things is insulting to me when we have cash patel [1:42:38] our sitting fbi director selling merch on his site when you have a president of the united states hawking [1:42:46] the bible and yet you as a private citizen who is has a platform to inform people about the law how [1:42:56] how dare we make such an accusation when the mockery of justice the exploitation and the grifting off of [1:43:03] their offices has never received criticism from that side of the aisle and yet they want to demean you [1:43:10] as a private citizen for for for engaging in commerce that's ridiculous in addition to the fact that you were [1:43:18] a career public servant for your entire life you were a public defender underpaid overworked not for a year [1:43:30] not for five years but for years the dignity and the service you have brought no matter whether we [1:43:37] disagree with your politics or not should merit the praise of every single senator here so i apologize [1:43:46] for what you endured i thank you for the service you've given to this country and on matters of horrible [1:43:53] killings horrific acts these are complicated matters i hold here and i'll submit this for the record [1:44:02] people who were victims families survivors who wrote letters to the president united states asking [1:44:09] not to have the death penalty put there and i understand there's differing views but you are putting [1:44:15] those complicated decisions to write career memos for the president to make decisions about who's [1:44:21] pardoned and not and so i i am sorry what i witnessed i came late to the hearing was just unacceptable to me [1:44:28] and i am grateful as somebody that follows you that reposts your content i am grateful that you're here [1:44:36] thank you i want to say i didn't hear that on the microphone uh senators enjoy praise so what did you [1:44:41] say thank you sir thank you very much i appreciate that i appreciate that um i just want to say before [1:44:48] serving as a partner attorney i pointed out that you were a federal defense public defender uh with clients [1:44:54] in the bureau of prisons was a customary process for transferring a bureau prison prisoner from a low [1:45:01] security prison to a minimum security camp was that standard practice that was unheard of unheard of [1:45:07] it's against bop policies what role does the deputy attorney general usually play uh in in that process [1:45:16] usually the deputy attorney general would have no role in designating or transferring inmates no role [1:45:22] whatsoever yet the the todd blanche went directly and met with him are you aware of any person serving [1:45:28] time for child sex trafficking like gillaine maxwell being transferred from a low security prison [1:45:36] facility to a minimum security camp i have never heard of that it would be an egregious violation of [1:45:42] the department of justice's own rules miss bangski how do you feel knowing that the deputy attorney todd blanche [1:45:49] went to meet with her for two days and then gave her a cushy transfer while he would not meet with you [1:45:59] and then lied to this committee yesterday saying he was barred by the law which a first year law student [1:46:07] can know the difference of how did that make you feel it's devastating for survivors and i'd like to add to [1:46:12] that that annie farmer a um victim and a survivor who testified in gila and maxwell's hearing actually [1:46:19] wrote a letter to todd blanche immediately after that and requested a meeting with him regarding the move [1:46:25] and the transfer and she's never heard anything back at all it is insulting to heap upon survivors the [1:46:32] indignities that he has by not even meeting with you yet he transferred a sex offender to a cushy camp [1:46:41] against bop policies it sounds like she got a sweetheart deal while he released your personal [1:46:50] information your address phone numbers images and yet he seems to be favoring the the victimizer and not [1:47:00] the survivors i'm out of time and it's honorable to see mr ashcroft here sir i know you i know your [1:47:08] record we may have disagreed on policies but i also know you would never when you're when you were [1:47:14] reviewing a merger you would never go out to dinner with the parties of that merger it would be [1:47:22] unacceptable for a person that is supervising a matter to attend a social event with those people [1:47:30] before your lawyers it's about ethics it's about the appearance of impropriety it's about following the [1:47:36] law this nominee has not followed the ethics laws has not followed the urgency for avoiding the appearance [1:47:44] of improprieties has broken a bipartisan law passed by congress has demeaned and degraded survivors of [1:47:53] sexual violence and has shielded the president by some kind of deal we know nothing about that allowed [1:47:59] her now to be transferred to some cushy camp that has never been done before with sex offenders this man [1:48:07] should not be in this office i cannot believe we're going through this farce when when his record alone [1:48:13] should make him disqualified not for to be the attorney general but for even being employed by the [1:48:18] federal government thank you mr welch senator welch first of all ms boss thank you so much and i fully [1:48:29] support your advocacy that the department of justice have as a priority focusing on victims and i also want [1:48:38] to express to the uh the epstein victims my appreciation for allowing me to be with you [1:48:45] yesterday and be so uplifted by your support for one another and all you've done uh to ennoble uh the [1:48:52] rights of victims and the strength of victims uh to recover thank you very much uh mr ashcroft uh i [1:49:01] wanted to first of all say we seem to have a problem in missouri with attorney generals not being able to [1:49:07] keep their job they all end up in the u.s senate you started quite a trend with mr holly and mr schmidt [1:49:15] well i in all deference it should be remembered that a very important member of the senate named jack [1:49:21] danforth that's right had previously served as attorney general of missouri so myself excluded i have been a [1:49:30] privileged to be in a line of individuals that i believe have rendered very significant and valuable [1:49:36] service to this nation well i think i think you thank you and i agree with that and i i think first [1:49:41] of all i want to express to you how much i've admired your career and uh i think that being an attorney [1:49:47] general is probably the most difficult cabinet position uh and one of the things that's required [1:49:54] is that you give advice to the president and it may be advice he doesn't want to hear and you know i [1:50:01] i remember uh march of 2004 when you were recovering from an illness and mr comey was the acting uh attorney [1:50:11] general and the president's counsel uh came to your hospital room and wanted you to sign off on [1:50:22] a security law that mr comey in his opinion thought was not legal and you said that was mr comey's decision [1:50:32] because he was the acting attorney general is that right uh i i believe that the public written [1:50:40] reports you know they've been it's been in novels and other things and i i have no reason to contest [1:50:45] what they've said right i was in bed with a morphine pump in one hand i was in uh in uh what you call uh [1:50:53] what do they call this intensive care and uh but the bottom line here is that the president uh [1:51:02] uh wanted an answer to permit him to proceed but it was the opinion of mr comey at that time that that [1:51:11] was not legal and this raises really what i think is the heart of what is so challenging to be attorney [1:51:20] general the the president is the executive you serve in his cabinet but there are times when an attorney [1:51:27] general has to say no is that correct he had no attorney ever is a good attorney who doesn't tell [1:51:37] his client the truth right and it's important that the client trust the attorney and i appreciate except [1:51:46] that and so i believe that the attorney general is sworn to the constitution of the united states and not [1:51:52] to an individual the answers to the president he is sworn to the constitution that's exactly right now [1:51:59] also when the enron case which was an explosive case came up uh you had received contributions [1:52:06] in your political career they were totally and completely legal but my understanding is because [1:52:12] of that in the appearance of a potential conflict you recused yourself from that that case correct i wish [1:52:19] i remembered things especially things you say are favorable about what i've done but it's it's over two [1:52:26] decades ago what you did mr ashcroft is what needs to be done you said it it's the constitution who's [1:52:34] your client it's the american people who are ultimately your client and you have to give that direct and [1:52:39] candid advice to the executive who is the president so that's my question about mr blanche it's not his [1:52:47] competence it's not that he's got an ongoing relationship but could you imagine serving as attorney general [1:52:56] and having president bush come to you and say by the way who paid you nine million dollars before you [1:53:03] got to be attorney general to represent him in criminal actions okay this is yeah it's astonishing [1:53:10] right but then he said i've got an idea we're gonna sue the federal government for 10 billion dollars [1:53:18] and you're gonna represent the irs and then why don't you work out a settlement where there's a 1.7 [1:53:25] billion dollar fund that i control would you see any anything like odd about that i i didn't have [1:53:37] that situation i didn't have a president that had been uh the subject of illegal disclosure of his [1:53:46] activities no but criminal this criminal disclosure i want to get to your judgment on this because i [1:53:52] well yeah but you know i swore to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth [1:53:56] that's that's a big challenge in an oath and i so i want to give my answer and not your answer although [1:54:02] i respect your question no but what i'm asking you i you have incredible credibility incredible [1:54:10] character incredible credibility is kind of almost like senate speak right but unbelievable [1:54:16] believability i mean no yes i was in this body myself and sat on that side of the dais but uh well [1:54:22] you wouldn't have had that reputation if you were a senator i mean this is because you stood up to [1:54:26] the president oh yes i would i was i was honest as a senator i have to i i i confess the prop my [1:54:34] faults from both eras both my legislative i'm just going to finish thank you for your indulgence [1:54:39] but number one when you saw that there was the appearance of a conflict you did not continue [1:54:45] representing the government in the enron case number two when it came to a president's demand [1:54:51] on something a vital concern to the president a national security law surveillance law where it [1:54:58] was the opinion of your department that it was illegal you stood up to the president and didn't [1:55:04] cave i respect that and i believe that's the obligation and the burden of whoever serves as [1:55:10] our attorney general mr blanche does not share that i thank you for that respect i i i hope when i grow [1:55:20] up i live to do things right senator tillis mr ashcroft and to all the witnesses uh thank you for being [1:55:29] here um mr ashcroft i told the the chairman or i told the chairman staff i had one question but like john [1:55:35] kennedy it has two parts um um you know my first question mr ashcroft i i mentioned yesterday that i'm [1:55:44] disturbed with the political physics going on today if you think about the obama administration [1:55:50] they had vindictive prosecutions president trump came in more or less matched up on some of it [1:55:56] president biden comes in goes a little bit further and this administration seems to me when we're doing [1:56:03] 86 47 we're doing indictments for that unless there's others an active investigation but that's [1:56:08] a reason to bring mr comey uh and do a perp walk because he arranged shells 86 47 on a beach in north [1:56:15] carolina that's all we know right now it just seems like that does it seems to me like there's a [1:56:21] continuing you know this exceptional nation we are americans always want to do better that you know [1:56:25] get bigger higher the next time do you am i wrong or am i perceiving a continued escalation of of [1:56:33] prosecutions that some of which really because of the way that they're being adjudicated they're not [1:56:38] being successful it just seems to me that we're like shooting you know shoot ready aim on on some [1:56:44] prosecutions and i'm not only talking about the current trump administration i'm going back to [1:56:49] the obama era do you agree with me that there seems to be a trend that each administration we seem [1:56:55] to be upping it of late i'm not sure i could uh quantify any disenchantment i i okay i believe that's [1:57:10] i believe i think partisanship yeah and that's okay mr ashcroft because i'm gonna live up my promise to [1:57:15] yield back some time my point uh i'm a management consultant i'm not an attorney i'm not a prosecutor [1:57:20] i'm not a law enforcement officer but i deal with facts and empirical data pretty well i guarantee you [1:57:26] i can give you a list of cases and a list of investigations a list of vindictive audits and every [1:57:34] year it's like from 2008 to 2012 to 2016 to 2020 and 2024 one party is going to have to [1:57:45] actually be an adult in the room and stop it and our members here need to stop having situational [1:57:51] ethics where they're only opposed to it when the other party's in power but that was not my question [1:57:57] yesterday before the uh the hearing and mr blanche i have a pre a positive predisposition to just so [1:58:05] that everybody knows um i have not made a final decision but mr blanche said very quickly yesterday [1:58:12] that he would meet with the victims the the epstein victims today if it could be arranged [1:58:20] well right now the markup if you all don't know procedure here after this hearing is done today [1:58:26] next week we'll hold it over the earliest possible markup would be two weeks from now [1:58:30] and because it seemed to me that mr blanche was willing to uh to say that he would meet with them [1:58:38] and council i understand the restriction the council has to be present i expect that meeting to occur [1:58:43] before i'm willing to vote out of this committee and i'm trying to get to yes but this is a very [1:58:49] important part of getting to yes there should not be any reason why based on what mr what mr blanche said [1:58:56] yesterday if he said that he would do it today then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks [1:59:01] thank you mr chair i yield back yeah talking about what you said what advice or how political attorney [1:59:09] general offices i remember that holder said he was a wingman for president obama that's exactly right [1:59:17] mr chair and anybody who comes up here and steps up on their on their pulpit and then all of a sudden i [1:59:24] can go back and and see a record the absolute silence of democrats when biden obama did the same thing [1:59:30] i'd love to see a democrat who has taken the position that i have with an administration that [1:59:35] shares my jersey because that's the only way this nonsense stops senator shipp thank you mr chairman [1:59:44] mr adler thank you for being here and for your many years of service uh ms lawyer likewise thank you for [1:59:51] your courage at the justice department and for your willingness to speak out ms boss i'm i'm just [1:59:56] heartbroken for your loss and very much appreciate your advocacy and ms bensky thank you for your [2:00:03] willingness to speak out and for all the epstein victims that are here i'm glad the attorney general [2:00:09] finally acknowledged that he could meet with you i was perplexed when he said somehow that he was [2:00:14] prohibited that's simply not the law and i hope that meeting takes place mr ashcroft thank you for [2:00:20] your service um i wanted to ask you about some remarks the attorney general made when he said that he [2:00:30] thought the president he was asked about the president targeting his political opponents and enemies [2:00:35] for prosecution and i don't subscribe to the what i think is the false equivalence we've never seen [2:00:42] a president behave this way where he openly and privately calls on the attorney general to prosecute his [2:00:51] enemies and i want to ask you about that mr ashcroft because mr blanche has said that he believes the [2:00:58] president has both the right and the duty to use the justice department to go after his enemies do you [2:01:04] subscribe to that view thank you senator i believe that the attorney general of the united states has [2:01:13] the right and responsibility to enforce the law uniformly and if the law has been broken by the [2:01:19] president's enemies he has a duty they do not become exempt from following the law merely by [2:01:26] by their enmity to the president of the united states as a matter of fact the people who break the law [2:01:33] are in enmity with the people of the united states whose expression of what is the law has been developed [2:01:39] in this body in the congress of the united states so the we used to call people who break the law public [2:01:45] enemies mr mr and so my view is that whether a person has been a political supporter or not of the [2:01:52] president of the united states is not the determining factor regarding prosecution it's whether a person has [2:01:58] violated the law and in enforcing the law uh the attorney general is carrying out the will expressed in the congress [2:02:06] mr general you realize having sat here my time is very limited um that really isn't my question [2:02:12] my question is do you think it is appropriate for the president to call on the attorney general to [2:02:18] prosecute one of his enemies and acting on that request the president for the attorney general to do so [2:02:25] the president of the united states is the executive branch of the united states whose charge it is [2:02:33] to enforce the laws of the united states so when the president of the united states asks that the [2:02:39] laws be enforced i don't see that as consistent with his duties or responsibilities if the laws were [2:02:45] to be enforced differentially and which one of the things that scares me about as many laws as we have [2:02:51] you know someone said all in order to run a police state you only have to have one policeman [2:02:56] but if you have enough laws you could go find something wrong with anybody you want so the [2:03:00] president i believe his job is to have an administration which calls for the enforcement of [2:03:08] the laws of the united states without regard to the political preferences of the people who are [2:03:14] perpetrators or accused individuals in the system i'm not i'm not sure that i understand your answer [2:03:19] except you seem to accept the premise that it is okay now for a president to call the attorney general [2:03:26] and ask him to prosecute his enemies you don't seem to have a problem with that if you do have a [2:03:30] problem with that please say so i believe the president needs to be an advocate of strong law [2:03:36] enforcement okay that that that is and that includes with with enemies of his with respect [2:03:42] if an enemy of the president goes out and conducts a violent crime it's nothing wrong with the president [2:03:49] calling the attorney general and saying i hope you do something about this violent crime and if the [2:03:54] president's enemy takes a photo of seashells you think it's appropriate to prosecute them if senators make a [2:04:02] video stating the plain law and constitution that you can disobey in a legal order you think it's okay [2:04:10] for the president or others to call them to be prosecuted i don't think so i don't think so and i [2:04:16] don't think you would have done that as attorney general i hope you wouldn't have if you would have [2:04:20] you were not the attorney general i thought you were i don't think it's appropriate for this attorney [2:04:25] general or any other and i don't remember seeing not notwithstanding the false equivalents i hear [2:04:31] expressed so many times from my colleagues in this committee i don't remember any democratic president [2:04:37] calling the attorney general and saying you need to prosecute him and you need to prosecute her and [2:04:43] you need to prosecute them and needed to go after this organization we have never seen that before or [2:04:48] anything like it anything like it and generic statements oh they all do it is is simply not the [2:04:55] case and by making that argument it just it just further erodes the wall of independence that i'm sure [2:05:02] attorney general you remember after watergate when because of the abuses of president nixon there [2:05:08] was an effort to make the justice department independent from the white house not not completely [2:05:15] independent in the sense that the president couldn't set general priorities i want you to emphasize [2:05:19] these cases and these cases whether it's immigration cases or drug cases that was always appropriate [2:05:25] but what has never been appropriate and particularly so after watergate was for the attorney general the [2:05:32] united states to break that wall and call on his attorney general to prosecute his enemies [2:05:39] and i would say even without any basis to do so and this justice department has been willing to do so [2:05:47] and has gone before grand juries and we have never i think seen the likes of this either in these high [2:05:52] profile cases where the grand jurors in some cases to a person have refused an indictment how often did you [2:06:01] have that happen to you mr turn that last question i'll ask you how often mr attorney general did you [2:06:05] seek an indictment as a prosecutor and have not a single grand juror vote to indict did that ever happen [2:06:13] to you i don't know i just don't know i thank you mr chairman senator brett thank you mr chairman [2:06:23] appreciate all of you being here today uh witnesses taking your time uh to be in front of us before i start [2:06:30] i want to say thank you to attorney general ascroft for being here today and your service to our country [2:06:36] both as attorney general and as a united states senator and also thank you for your kind words [2:06:43] about senator graham i really appreciate it mrs boss thank you for sharing your story [2:06:54] reliving the worst day in your in your life being willing to tell your story so that people hear it [2:07:04] really appreciate it and i'm so sorry for your loss we're going to talk a little bit in a second about [2:07:12] people needing to meet with survivors which i completely agree with and and victims let me ask [2:07:21] you a question do you think that when someone is killed at the hands of an illegal alien that their [2:07:32] representation in congress senator congressman should meet with that family absolutely of course it's my [2:07:45] understanding that there are many angel families that cannot get meetings with their senators have you [2:07:50] heard that absolutely it happens all the time as a matter of fact the lovely and kind words from senator [2:08:00] durbin i am his constituent first time i've ever spoken with him i haven't spoken with him he spoke to me [2:08:07] well i hope and i'm sure that uh i hope i heard actually the ranking member yesterday talk about [2:08:16] the need for the attorney general to meet with with victims which i support and i certainly am hopeful [2:08:23] that he will and others uh will meet with you yes so sheridan gorman and other names need to be said [2:08:37] and i think the accountability that we have in this room for other people we should be able to have [2:08:44] it for this body as well so i certainly hope that you get your face-to-face meeting um that you deserve i [2:08:50] would hope so we've had several um laws introduced uh legislation introduced in this last session that have [2:08:58] been completely ignored um and there's there hasn't been any way to really get in and talk to anybody um [2:09:06] um especially those who are opposed to those legislations for whatever reason well thank you so [2:09:12] much for for elevating your voice um miss basinski am i saying that right it's been ski yeah okay gosh i'm [2:09:22] gonna have to try um i am so sorry for everything that you've been through and thank you for your courage [2:09:29] for for being here today and being able to elevate your voice i completely support your quest to to be able to [2:09:37] be heard um to obviously for victims to be protected and for us to pursue every uh every lead possible [2:09:45] and you know i do believe after my conversations uh with the assistant attorney general that that [2:09:51] he is going to pursue those let me ask you this did you were you asked um in the previous administration [2:09:57] did you ever have an opportunity to sit down with the then attorney general merrick garland [2:10:02] we did not but um there are active investigations going on because of gill and maxwell's hearing [2:10:08] so but did you ever have a face-to-face with with him um no no did did y'all request a face-to-face [2:10:16] this was before uh a time that i was comfortable coming forward it was just this last september that [2:10:23] a group of us felt like we had met each other and a huge part of this has been finding the collective [2:10:29] voice of a sisterhood and understanding that we weren't isolated in these experiences absolutely and [2:10:34] let me ask you this did you um where was there ever because i know that my um colleague senator blackburn [2:10:41] really wanted to make sure that you all had an opportunity to tell your story are you aware of [2:10:47] any senate um hearings that were held uh under the previous administration that tried to i don't [2:10:55] personally have that information because again it just came forward really in september well thank you [2:11:00] for coming forward i mean thank you so much um mrs oryer uh obviously do we have are you cutting people [2:11:12] off right on time today what are you cutting people off right on time today or are people getting to go way [2:11:18] over i i've been too liberal but go ahead okay all right go ahead and ask one more question just let me [2:11:24] ask one more question please sir i appreciate it um after you were fired from doj uh you had an [2:11:32] independent media company and a sub stack platform and you had the you know lawyer or a or a brand name [2:11:39] and the the hoodies that said hardwired to stand up to bullies i'm i'm wondering you know it's my [2:11:47] understanding that as a pardon attorney during the the biden administration you recommended actual [2:11:54] commutations for daniel troyer and ricardo sanchez jr who were sentenced to death in 2009 after executing [2:12:01] a family of four on the side of a highway is that true uh ma'am i think you were not in the room when [2:12:08] several of your colleagues asked me about those this is my turn to ask a question so is that i said then [2:12:14] remains which is that i'm not able to talk about the clemency advice that i provided to the white [2:12:19] house because well the victims included a four-year-old and a three-year-old boy who died [2:12:24] while cradled in the arms of their mother who was trying to shield them those two little boys were [2:12:31] shot 10 times and their mother was shot 11 times and their father was shot five times so i appreciate [2:12:38] the grace on getting to go over but that doesn't sound like to me that you stand up to bullies it sounds [2:12:43] like to me you stand with them thank you senator boom is all thanks mr chairman uh i want to thank [2:12:53] all of you for being here uh this day of the hearings often gets less attention but it is very important [2:13:02] to us and you are performing a very important service uh i particularly want to thank uh miss [2:13:12] bensky and miss boss for sharing your stories and reliving a lot of the pain that you have been [2:13:20] through uh miss bensky i don't know whether you were here yesterday when i asked uh acting attorney [2:13:31] general blanche to apologize and i'd just be interested in your reaction to his response yeah i think it [2:13:40] was the most that we've gotten from him um and that was a moment where there was a touch of humanity to [2:13:46] say that we do understand that there was in fact failure here because he's been on the record [2:13:51] multiple times saying that nothing was mishandled um and as a survivor who literally saw nude images of [2:13:59] you know friends and and had my own information exposed all over the place um you know to tell [2:14:07] the world that this had not been mishandled was just so absolutely egregious um like anybody from here [2:14:14] to mars and no matter what political affiliation you're with can see that like your government [2:14:18] should not be you know sending out nude photos of you um obviously yeah thank you thank you uh very [2:14:26] well said let me let me ask you a general question um and you don't have to give me an exhaustive answer [2:14:36] uh today and i know there are others in the room who may want to answer this question as well but what [2:14:42] should we demand of the department of justice to make things right to make things better yeah we've [2:14:50] always just been looking for accountability and for this case to be handled correctly because even from [2:14:57] the very start of this case we have not seen it handled the way anybody would normally prosecute [2:15:03] something so we are looking to get to the bottom of why our perpetrators were never held to account [2:15:10] how does the largest sex trafficking ring in this country exist when only two people have been [2:15:17] found even remotely i mean epstein's dead but maxwell is the only one who has been held to any sort of [2:15:23] account and she's in a lower um you know a lower security penitentiary at this point so um you know we [2:15:30] i think we are we are owed answers and we are owed you know justice for us we get that question a lot of [2:15:35] what does justice look like i think yes the culture shift is part of it but really like having your [2:15:41] government stand up for you and stand up for what's right and um you know there's there's a chilling [2:15:47] effect that it sends to survivors everywhere when their government is outing their personal information [2:15:53] other survivors are not going to want to come forward right and so we need to make sure that we [2:15:58] are getting all the information with these cases so i think um we really just hope that the [2:16:05] government will take it seriously and start investigations accountability accountability yeah [2:16:10] always and i think a working hypothesis here is that accountability is difficult when rich and [2:16:17] powerful people are potentially it's always been the vulnerable versus power for this case for most sex [2:16:25] trafficking cases are all sex trafficking cases really um and it is about how the powerful consistently [2:16:31] exploit the vulnerable and that is what we see a lot i mean i have a six-year-old son and i [2:16:36] teach him that accountability matters every single day and i hold him to account why can't we hold [2:16:42] our government to account well i will just say uh your voice and face has been a very powerful antidote [2:16:54] to the wealth and power that may be brought to bear here and i hope that this forum will encourage you and [2:17:01] others to come forward as you've done so courageously thank you so much yeah i do also want to mention that [2:17:08] virginia jivory has been monumental in all this and i think it would be um unfair to not name her because [2:17:14] her deposition holds the key to quite a few things so if you started her deposition you can start really [2:17:21] investigating thank you um miss oyer uh i want to ask you about the pardon that i mentioned yesterday i asked [2:17:32] todd blanche about it uh david gentile sentenced to seven years for a multi-million dollar fraud scheme [2:17:42] that uh involved a seven-year sentence he served 12 days of it before he was pardoned he boasted to his [2:17:55] fellow inmates that he was going to pay 2.5 million dollars to someone to get him out father frank mann [2:18:05] told one of his parishioners that he had talked to president trump to get get david gentile out of [2:18:14] prison these are facts that have been publicly reported the investigation into the potential impropriety [2:18:22] of this pardon was shut down allegedly by high officials in the department of justice talking to the [2:18:32] the u.s attorney in the southern district of new york joe nacella i know you're not familiar with [2:18:38] the facts i'm not going to ask you whether you believe that that reporting is true mr blanche never [2:18:48] denied it he basically said well it was a leak sometimes leaks actually actually involve truthful [2:18:55] information but the point that i think is lost here is that that pardon involved 16 million dollars in [2:19:04] forfeiture to innocent victims many of them retirees who were depending on that money to survive and he [2:19:15] will no longer be required to do restitution so his ill-gotten gains some of which he may have used to [2:19:26] pay for his clemency so to speak are not going to go back to the people who were cheated his victim as a [2:19:37] result of that pardon and clemency so i guess my question to you with this introduction is essentially [2:19:51] are victims and survivors often re-victimized by pardons that are unjust or unfair to them and [2:20:02] shouldn't we have them given a voice and recognize the constitution gives the president unlimited authority [2:20:12] and it's one of those powers that's unchecked rarely but isn't there a need to give the victims a voice [2:20:19] in this process yes senator the millions of dollars that mr gentile stole from his investors unfortunately [2:20:26] are a drop in the bucket of the restitution that victims have been deprived of as a result of president [2:20:31] trump's pardons he has forgiven over a billion dollars in restitution that is owed to victims of fraud as [2:20:39] well as money that is owed to taxpayers by people who committed white-collar crimes and who have [2:20:43] served in many cases none of their sentence and repaid none of their money that is not consistent with [2:20:49] the regulations that the justice department has in place for evaluating applications for pardons the [2:20:55] justice department historically has looked to see that people have repaid their debts before recommending [2:21:00] clemency but this president is using clemency in a strategic transactional way to forgive [2:21:07] huge amounts of debts owed to taxpayers and crime victims senator derby mr chairman uh in closing here [2:21:16] i would like to make a couple points please do first i understand that the senator from alabama mentioned [2:21:23] my name while i had stepped out uh miss boss anxious to meet with you i hope we can do it soon maybe even [2:21:30] right after this because i know it was a hardship for you to make this journey here to testify [2:21:37] from illinois and i don't want you to have to wait to see me uh i want to meet with you now and we can [2:21:45] talk as soon as this meeting adjourns if it's okay with you if it fits in your schedule let me say a word [2:21:52] about miss sawyer uh i'm glad that uh the senator from new jersey said what he did about you uh i believe [2:22:01] the fact of the matter is that most of the things that were brought up today in this hearing about your [2:22:07] activity related to a decision by the biden administration as they were leaving office [2:22:13] uh to uh turn death penalty convictions into life imprisonment instead is that correct that's that's [2:22:25] right sir that reflects i i'll say this you don't have to comment on this i believe that reflects [2:22:33] president joe biden's uh opposition to the death penalty i share that opposition there are people in [2:22:40] the audience who agree with me and being some who vehemently disagree with me but america is [2:22:45] divided in this issue i didn't have this position my entire political career but toward the end of it [2:22:51] i've come to the conclusion as justice blackman did at the end of his conclusion of serving on the supreme [2:22:57] court that he no longer wants to tinker with the machinery of death the fact the matter is there are [2:23:03] clear cases where one can argue a death penalty and there are cases which we have found were wrongly [2:23:09] decided and people uh faced a death penalty or worse until evidence and other things were discovered at [2:23:16] the end uh that is my position that was joe biden's position that's why the cases which were brought up [2:23:23] today uh are so serious uh and i believe that you were doing your job as a pardon attorney to advise him [2:23:31] uh as to his decision but is it not true that the final decision on the disposition of these inmates [2:23:39] was the decision of the president of the united states that's absolutely correct senator so if you [2:23:45] want to take exception to joe biden and his position be my guest but to blame you for those i think goes [2:23:52] beyond uh your responsibility as pardon attorney uh and i i would just say i know the controversy behind [2:23:59] this issue but uh i i feel that that's what led him to his conclusion uh miss bensky thank you for [2:24:06] bringing your friends with you today it is great to see them and i i hope that what you heard from [2:24:12] senator tillis is a promising possibility that he said he would not i hope i'm saying this correctly [2:24:20] he wouldn't vote to confirm this nomination until there's been an actual meeting that would be a dramatic [2:24:27] a work of progress for us to reach that point and because you have the courage to stand up not only [2:24:34] you but your friends uh we have achieved that i believe i hope that's the fact thank you mr chairman [2:24:42] thanks to all of our witnesses for being here today and for traveling the long distances some of you [2:24:50] have had to go we're grateful that you did it uh for all the members of this committee written [2:24:57] questions to these witnesses here are due on wednesday july 22 this year at 5 p.m the hearing is adjourned