'Who Won The 2020 Election?': Richard Blumenthal Shows Zero Mercy To Top DOJ Nominee

[0:00] bonus for losing 9 billion we shifted 107 billion to the general fund that was the reform we just [0:07] took it from one account put it in another and they still lose in 9 billion it's an absolute [0:11] and utter failure senator blumenthal thanks mr chairman i think we have bipartisan agreement [0:21] no bonuses for failure would you agree with that principle mr brodsky yes yes sir and mr gallo yes [0:29] mr berthiam you are nominated for one of the most critical jobs in the united states government [0:41] which is to assure the independence integrity of the department of justice would you agree with me [0:48] that independence is absolutely essential in that role independence is absolutely essential to the [0:56] office of the inspector general's role yes and you've served as inspector general or you've been [1:01] involved in inspector general activities in other departments correct i've been part of the [1:06] inspector general community for almost 16 years now and you would agree with me that resisting [1:11] weaponization or politicization of the department of justice will be a critical part of your role i [1:21] think it's a critical part of the office inspector general's role to assess and evaluate the department's [1:28] functioning of its responsibilities yes so let me test your independence who won the 2020 election [1:37] joe biden as certified by the senate no mr berthamu who won the 2020 election we have seen that script [1:48] by the way you should check with the white house that script has been abandoned they have a new one [1:56] uh well my understanding from the 2020 election is we had an election and joe biden certified the joe biden [2:04] was certified the winner of that election that is a fact who won the popular vote uh from what i recall [2:09] i'm reporting at the time that was joe biden and who won the electoral college in the 2020 election [2:15] again i my recollection and he served as president joe biden would have been certified the winner of the uh [2:22] electoral college vote as well did you discuss your answers to these questions with white house [2:28] before coming here today no uh let me ask you uh was the capitol attacked on january 6th uh i don't [2:37] know if i would use the term attacked i mean we had activity outside the white uh the capitol uh protests [2:43] and such and there was violence you have to be now the author of the most obvious understatement uh that there [2:56] was activity outside the capitol on january 6th was was it attacked you've seen the videos you're [3:04] supposed to be the inspector general capitol police were injured some died was the capitol attacked so [3:12] again it's more a term that you're using attacked there was protest activity there was violence on [3:17] capitol grounds those people were prosecuted well there was protest activity there was protest activity [3:28] people went to the capitol grounds people entered the capitol building which is contrary as far as [3:34] i know to law but you wouldn't agree with me that the capitol was attacked i just don't agree with the [3:39] term attack when i think of attack police officers attacked on that day there was physical violence [3:45] outside the capitol that day but the capitol police weren't attacked so what is it about that word [3:53] that so troubles you it's not that i'm troubled by it the term attack to me seems to imply like there [4:01] is a coordinated effort to attack specific things let let me ask there is physical violence associated [4:06] with i regard these kinds of quest questions as a test of your prospective independence and so far [4:15] i think you're failing that test okay and i hope my colleagues will agree that the inspector general of [4:24] the department of justice should recognize reality and facts for what they are and be willing to call them [4:32] out for what they are let me ask you uh can you assure me if you're confirmed that your office will [4:39] conduct a thorough investigation to allegations that director patel engaged in drinking and absences [4:49] that have interfered with his ability to do his job what i can commit to is to assess the allegations [4:54] run them through the analysis that we do and we're going to decide whether or not to open up a case [4:59] and we'll see if there's work to do in that arena will you commit that you will complete [5:03] the audit and inquiry that has begun into the concealment of the epstein files you'll recall that [5:11] senator murkowski and i wrote you asking for the audit uh we're going to finish uh we'll finish our [5:17] audit of the epstein files transparency act when will it be done my goal is one year from when we [5:23] announced um that is a goal we're going to push for that obviously there's things that could pop up on [5:28] occasion that slow things down but we're going to push through that as well our goal is to be as efficient [5:33] and as accurate as possible in that audit will you agree to engage in investigation of the retaliatory [5:39] firings of agents at the fbi again what i will do is we'll assess whether or not there's an arena for [5:46] there to take action will you respond to that question after you review it if you're confirmed [5:53] i'm happy to talk to your office uh after we've reviewed and analyzed and assessed those cases and [5:58] what about loyalty tests at the fbi will you review any and investigate the use of loyalty tests there [6:08] again you know we'll assess all allegations and we'll run them through our process and see if there's [6:12] work for us to do there thank you mr chairman