Todd Blanche and Cory Booker clash over Ghislaine Maxwell meeting, prison transfer in heated hearing

[0:06] good afternoon mr blanche good afternoon our president has a very well-documented history [0:11] of attempting to corruptly influence government officials to advance his own personal interest [0:17] he called the republican secretary of georgia asking him to find enough votes to overturn [0:21] the election he withheld military aid to pressure zielinski to investigate joe biden's son for these [0:29] things he has been impeached he's been criminally convicted in georgia ignited in georgia because [0:36] he uses his power to unjustly influence people when a president routinely pressures public [0:42] officials for his own personal benefit the department of justice has to remain independent [0:48] this brings me really to you and i think what has you at the center of so much concern [0:53] is that you seek to lead the department of justice after being the president's personal [0:57] lawyer lawyer the american people are really entitled to know whether your allegiance to the [1:03] rule of law is your focus or your allegiance to one man who clearly has an insatiable appetite [1:10] for revenge self-enrichment and the abuse of power so i want to talk about your record under you the [1:17] department has prosecuted people that have caught folks on both sides of the political aisle by [1:23] surprise jim comey leticia james my colleague adam schiff federal reserve governor lisa cook this cast [1:33] a shadow over your ideas any ideas of independence you directed the arrest of mayor raz baraka of my [1:42] city of newark you weren't at delaney hall on may 9 2025 when he was arrested but yes or no did you have [1:50] a conversation with special agent in charge ricky patel ordering him to arrest mayor baraka i had a [1:59] conversation i didn't order him to arrest i authorized the arrest which is my job so you were not there and [2:06] and we have body camera footage of him then moving and saying we are arresting the mayor right now [2:12] per this is his quote the deputy attorney general of the united states i want to put that into the [2:17] record your comments there and the district court assessing all of your conduct admonished the [2:24] department of justice this is their this is the quote of the judge the federal judge your role [2:30] is not to advance political agendas your allegiance is to the impartial application of the law [2:37] and to uphold due process for all but this is just one example cited by over 1 200 current and former [2:44] department of justice officials appointed under presidents of both parties who warned that you [2:50] should not be in this position because of your inability to be independent from your personal allegiance [2:56] to donald trump over the rule of law i met yesterday with epstein survivors some of them are here [3:03] in the room today congress in a bipartisan fashion passed the epstein files transparency act because [3:10] the american people were demanding justice yet you failed to abide by that law and release the files by [3:19] the deadline established by the law and when the files were finally released you failed to protect [3:25] the survivors that that law was intended to protect survivors personal information including names phone [3:32] numbers home addresses home addresses and images were released powerful people were redacted survivors [3:42] were subjected to re-traumatization more than 1200 victims yet only two people have ever been prosecuted [3:50] jeffrey epstein and galane maxwell now i was stunned earlier by your conversation with one of my [3:56] colleagues that you wouldn't even commit to meeting with the survivors but you did meet with galane maxwell [4:03] your claim that you can't meet with these victims because they're represented by counsel is utter nonsense [4:10] counsel can be present or a client can waive their right to have counsel but you're a lawyer you know [4:16] this that was not truthful what you said to my colleague you said that they should meet with the [4:22] fbi all of these women have reported their crimes decades ago but yet you won't meet with them what you [4:31] will do is meet with galane maxwell over a year ago you sat with her and you publicly said you were [4:37] seeking the truth so let's talk about what that two-day meeting produced did your interview with [4:43] miss maxwell lead to a single additional person being charged yes or no no did it lead to a single [4:51] new investigation yes or no i can't talk about whether there's any investigation i'm not asking [5:01] you about an ongoing or closed investigation i'm just asking you i can't answer your question yes or [5:06] no did you did you or anyone else from the doj or associated with the president discuss a presidential [5:12] pardon with galane maxwell or her attorneys no did you discuss clemency yes or no no did you discuss [5:22] she was convicted what do you mean did you discuss her transfer to another institution yes or no no [5:28] well just one week after your meeting miss maxwell was transferred from a low security federal institution [5:35] to a minimum security prison camp were you involved with that transfer when as i've talked about [5:41] before um in the time leading up to me going down to meet with her um we learned that she was receiving [5:48] um threats the it turned out i'm going to interrupt you for a matter of time because okay well it's not a [5:55] question i can answer apparently in the sir you're giving me i'm going to tell you this because i deal with [5:59] the issues of criminal justice when people are under threats in a bureau prison facility they're put [6:06] into solitary confinement or protective they're not moved to a camp that's not always true it is [6:12] what is true is someone that is accused of child sex trafficking under the bureau of prison's own [6:19] policies is not put in a facility like this that seems clearly like a reward the department of justice [6:29] is also responsible that powerful corporations play by the same rules let's take a proposed merger between [6:35] paramount warner brothers and discovery this is no ordinary transaction it was a proposed [6:40] 111 billion dollar merger involving two of the last remaining legacy hollywood studios as deputy [6:47] attorney general and later acting attorney general you exercised oversight of the antitrust division [6:54] you approved the decision to close the department's investigation into that merger yes or no [7:01] i was part of the decision yes you were involved in that let me answer man did you did the career [7:07] attorneys who investigated that deal recommend closing that investigation i didn't have a [7:12] conversation with the career but as i was saying i didn't ask you that i asked you did the career [7:17] attorneys who investigate the deal recommend closing the investigation i have no idea what they were in [7:22] charge of that department yet you have no idea well this is i had no idea it's no idea about the [7:27] question you asked about what the what the career attorney's view was you do not know what the [7:31] career attorney's view was i'm not sure what the view was with respect to closing it well not closing [7:36] let me tell you why ethics laws that bind you about the appearance of impropriety are so so damning [7:43] in this case on the same day that paramount shareholders voted to approve the merger [7:49] david ellison the head of the acquiring company hosted a dinner that you attended honoring the [7:54] president united states while you were at that dinner the doj was still investigating a merger [8:01] did you speak with mr ellison on that evening no did you discuss with anyone involved in that [8:09] organization that evening the department's ongoing investigations no well six weeks later after that [8:17] dinner that investigation was closed that you're stating you have no idea if the attorneys in charge [8:23] even finished their investigation that's not what i said what did you say you asked me a question [8:28] about whether the attorneys um recommended that the investigation be closed and i said i wasn't [8:33] sure that's different than what you just well it it you do you believe that that creates an appearance [8:38] of impropriety that you were at a dinner no okay the justice department ethics rules are very clear [8:47] about approve about about avoiding the appearance of impropriety in a case like this i don't think that's [8:53] appearance of impropriety i think that's improper every elected that the connected and the powerful [9:01] or getting a chance to rub shoulders it would seem appropriate that you avoid those kind of [9:07] appearances and dinners like that every appearance or dinner or speech that i give are cleared by ethics [9:13] officials so you your attendance at that dinner was cleared by ethics officials everything that i do i [9:18] didn't ask you everything you do was your appearance at that dinner you can ask the questions but [9:23] you cannot control my answers i'm under oath and i can answer the questions i choose to answer them [9:28] were you so what i will tell you is what i do yes or no were you approved when i do things outside [9:33] of the outside of the department whether it's a speech whether it's a dinner whether it's an event [9:38] they are approved by ethics officials you did not answer whether that attendance was approved [9:45] every time i go out it's approved yes you know lincoln it was said about him that if you want to see [9:52] the true character of a man don't view him in adversity give him power i believe you you've had a lot of [9:59] power and so we don't have to speculate about what has been revealed with your time in that office [10:06] we don't need to worry about what kind of attorney general you've already had that power this isn't [10:11] a job interview like usually you've sat before this committee before you've made promises time and [10:17] time again before you got the job actually to be the number two and the acting director so this isn't [10:23] a confirmation hearing this is more of a performance review and clearly when it comes to the treatment [10:29] of epstein victims when it comes to politically motivated prosecutions when it comes from avoiding [10:35] appearance of impropriety with corporations you failed you're asking this this body for a promotion [10:44] and you've spent today making a lot of promises promises to follow the law promises to be independent [10:50] promises to serve the american people and not the president but we don't need your promises we have [10:55] your record we have watched you exercise one of the greatest powers entrusted to any public servant [11:01] and what have you shown us 1200 victims waiting for justice what have you shown us there's two [11:07] prosecutions while the party while the people involved the victims are waiting for action one of [11:16] the people prosecuted gets the most cushy arrangement possible after you visit with her again and again [11:24] you seem to be favoring the interest of a president and the powerful you've chosen trump over truth [11:30] you've chosen corporations over the constitution and you failed to meet the test i'll say this in [11:37] closing this is why your nomination should fail the attorney general's client is not the president it's [11:46] the american people you've been protecting one man for most of your career for years and years and years [11:54] he has demonstrated himself to put undue pressure this is why he was impeached this is why he was criminally [12:00] indicted if your if your record and your testimony today should show us anything it should show you [12:07] in my opinion that you should not be confirmed to this job thank you senator booker before i commence [12:11] with my questions uh i've been asked by chairman grass