Chuck Grassley Leads Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On Pending Trump Nominations

4 days ago

The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on pending nominations.

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Transcript

00:00Shoemake to be Assistant Attorneys General.

00:03They're listed for the first time and obviously will be held over until our next meeting.

00:11This is the second meeting on the nomination of Patrick Davis to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs.

00:21So we'll vote on that today.

00:23I know we have several members with busy schedules this morning, so I'll plan to vote on the Davis nomination immediately after Ranking Member Durbin gives his remarks.

00:37In regard to Mr. Davis, I won't repeat my introduction from his hearing, but will simply say that he is the right man for this job and I'm pleased to support him.

00:50Mr. Davis used to work for me and I know that he takes seriously the obligation of the Department of Justice to work with Congress to serve the American people.

01:02He'll be an effective public servant and he should be responsive to committee members' requests.

01:08I look forward to continuing our excellent working relationship.

01:13Before we get to the vote, I want to address one other matter.

01:17It has long been the committee practice that we don't hold hearings on U.S. Attorneys' nominations.

01:25However, last week, my friend Senator Durbin raised a number of issues about the nomination of Ed Martin to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

01:37He initially said that he wanted to hold a vote today on whether to hold a hearing on the nomination.

01:44It's my understanding that he has agreed to wait until we receive the written responses from the nominee before he makes that request.

01:56Mr. Martin has received over 500 questions for the record from senators on this committee, which is far more than normal for a U.S. Attorney nominee.

02:07I've submitted questions to Mr. Martin as well.

02:11I believe the nominee is entitled to respond in writing under our normal committee practice before the committee takes further action.

02:21So, if I'm right about what Senator Durbin said, I thank him for working with me on this.

02:28Senator Durbin.

02:29You are right, Mr. Chairman, and I'm looking forward to the responses to the questions that we've both sent to Mr. Martin.

02:36And before we go into the substance of the hearing, I want to take a moment to acknowledge a member of my staff whose last day is tomorrow.

02:44Michael May served as professional staff and head researcher for nominations since 2022.

02:50He's worked on more than 200 nominees who've come before the committee.

02:54If you were confirmed as a federal judge, U.S. attorney, or U.S. marshal since 2022, there is a good chance that Michael has read everything you've ever posted on social media.

03:05In addition to his thorough work, he is much appreciated for his quick wit, willingness to translate Gen Z speak for the rest of my staff.

03:12In all seriousness, he's a real professional, and he's helped this committee fulfill its constitutional duty.

03:20Our loss is the gain of UC Berkeley Law School, Senator Padilla, so he's headed out to California, his home state, to begin law school this fall.

03:29Please join me in thanking Michael for his service to the committee.

03:32Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and my colleagues for considering my concerns regarding the nomination of Ed Martin to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

03:50He is seeking to be the lead prosecutor for the Department of Justice in the District of Columbia, a substantial assignment.

03:58I understand that Chairman Grassley has submitted questions to Mr. Martin in response to the issues that I raised in a previous meeting, and I have joined him in that effort.

04:09We take our responsibility to advise and consent very seriously.

04:14I understand Mr. Martin will submit responses during the April recess so that we have an opportunity to review them before we vote on whether to hold a hearing on his nomination.

04:24Mr. Martin has a long record of objectionable statements and conduct.

04:29I would like to take a few minutes to provide some examples to my colleagues.

04:34Mr. Martin has repeatedly attacked law enforcement officers who kept us safe as members of the Senate and staff during the January 6th riot,

04:45and the assistant U.S. attorneys who were assigned to prosecute the rioters who brutally attacked police officers.

04:50Mr. Martin was at the U.S. Capitol on that day when he posted social media, and I quote,

04:57like Mardi Gras in D.C. today, love, faith, and joy, ignore fake news.

05:05Mr. Martin had the audacity to call Michael Fanon, a 20-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department,

05:12who was nearly killed on January 6th, quote, a fake cop, words of Ed Martin.

05:19When leaders of the Oath Keepers, a domestic violent extremist group, were prosecuted for seditious conspiracy for their role in planning January 6th,

05:28Mr. Martin responded, quote, Oath Keepers are all of us, close quote.

05:33Mr. Martin also has advocated for, quote, less judgment on somebody who hits a cop.

05:40That is an appalling statement, especially for someone who is asking this committee to approve his nomination to be the top law enforcement official in the nation's capital.

05:51He has repeatedly attacked prosecutors who were assigned to work on January 6th case, calling them, quote, terrorists,

05:57and stating, and I quote, when I see these prosecutors, I shun them, I ostracize them socially, I say about them,

06:07they are despicable people who decided to do something wrong, end of quote.

06:11We also need to hear from Mr. Martin about his close relationship with Timothy Hale Cusinelli,

06:18a January 6th rioter and anti-Semitic racist Nazi sympathizer.

06:24You can see his photo.

06:26I will not repeat the vile things Mr. Hale Cusinelli has said about Jewish people, black people, and other minorities.

06:34These slurs are well documented and extensive.

06:37At a time when we are expelling students from the United States for participating in protests,

06:43where the question is raised as to whether their statements were anti-Semitic,

06:47at a time when we are basically deciding that this committee is going on record about the seriousness of this charge of anti-Semitism,

06:56to think of some of the things that Mr. Martin has done for his pal, Timothy Hale Cusinelli, is outrageous.

07:03Mr. Martin is well aware of Mr. Hale Cusinelli's record.

07:08In fact, he has excused Mr. Hale Cusinelli for dressing up like Hitler,

07:12quote, saying that he was just goofing around.

07:17Just last year, Mr. Martin presented Mr. Hale Cusinelli with an award.

07:22Where was the award presented by Mr. Martin to Mr. Hale Cusinelli?

07:26At the Trump Bedminster Club in New Jersey,

07:30at which, at this place is where Martin said, quote, of Cusinelli,

07:34quote, an extraordinary man, an extraordinary leader.

07:39This man who dresses up like Adolf Hitler.

07:42He continued, and I quote,

07:43It's one of the goals of many is to make sure that the world, and especially America,

07:47hears more from Tim Hale because he's so extraordinary.

07:51Quote, unquote, Ed Martin.

07:53Just last month, while serving as interim U.S. attorney, Mr. Martin attended an event with Hale Cusinelli,

07:59members of the Oath Keepers, and other January 6 offenders,

08:03including some whose cases are still on appeal.

08:05At this event, Mr. Martin compared the prosecution of January 6 rioters

08:12with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

08:16This false equivalency is alarming, harmful, disrespectful, and disgusting.

08:23Another speaker at this event was Douglas Mackey, who has said, quote,

08:27Women are children with the right to vote.

08:30And another quote from Mr. Mackey,

08:33Black people will believe anything they read, and we let them vote?

08:37Why?

08:38Question mark.

08:39At the end, Ed Martin praised Mackey as, quote,

08:43A leader of people who sees what happens and wants to do something about it.

08:48I am describing the friends and political and professional acquaintances of the man who wants to be the chief prosecutor

08:55for the U.S. Department of Justice in the District of Columbia.

08:59Mr. Martin must answer for these offensive comments that he's made.

09:03Recounting his tenure at CNN, Mr. Martin said, quote,

09:06I got fired because of the crazy black ladies on CNN that demanded I be fired because I didn't take their nonsense.

09:14The fact that Mr. Martin feels the need to note the race and gender of individuals who cross him speaks volumes about his temperament and character.

09:24And just last year, he said in an interview, and I quote,

09:27You show me a Jewish American who feels good about the Democratic administration.

09:32I'll show you someone who is not really Jewish.

09:35End of quote.

09:36How dare Mr. Martin pass judgment on someone else's religion?

09:40Ed Martin's history raises serious questions about whether he should ever be given the authority of the U.S. Attorney for District of Columbia.

09:48One of Martin's first official acts after his appointment as temporary was to fire numerous prosecutors

09:55simply because they were assigned and handled January 6th cases.

09:59Less than a month into his tenure, Martin sent a threatening letter to Georgetown University Law Center

10:05claiming that the school, quote, continues to teach and promote DEI.

10:10The dean of the law school, William Traynor, rightfully responded, and I quote,

10:15Given the First Amendment's protection of a university's freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it,

10:21the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear,

10:24as is the attack on the university's mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution.

10:30End of quote.

10:30The top prosecutor in the nation's capital should be focused on fighting crime and terrorism,

10:36not monitoring the curriculum of local law schools.

10:39I'll continue to review his record.

10:41I can't wait for his answers to the questions.

10:44And I hope that members of this committee on both sides of the table will take it seriously

10:49when we made that bipartisan pledge to do our best to stop anti-Semitism

10:54and look honestly at the record of Ed Martin.

10:57Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

10:58I hope our members can get here so we can vote on the nomination.

11:03Senator Gerano.

11:06Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

11:07I joined my colleagues in calling for a hearing on Ed Martin's nomination,

11:15and it's bad enough that he praised a white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer,

11:20but we know that he wrote in an email to his office that he agrees that

11:26prosecuting January 6th insurrectionists with a certain obstruction charge was,

11:32and I quote, the greatest, the greatest failure of legal judgment since Japanese internment.

11:41I am just so speechless and appalled that he would even make such a comparison,

11:47and we use a Japanese term for this kind of comparison.

11:51We call it shibai, basically BS.

11:55So plain and simple, nearly every convicted January 6th insurrectionists,

11:5996% of them was convicted of other crimes as well, not just for obstruction,

12:06and many of them attacked members of law enforcement.

12:10We saw the pictures.

12:11It's like let's not believe what we see with our own eyes, and by contrast,

12:16I hope by now every member of this committee knows the Japanese-Americans

12:20who were interned during World War II did nothing wrong.

12:24Comparing January 6th insurrectionists to loyal Americans jailed,

12:31you know, their lives were ruined.

12:32I hope some of you have read some of the stories of the 125 Japanese-Americans

12:37who were interned having their livelihoods ended, their property taken,

12:43their lives destroyed because of their race,

12:46is spitting on the memory of these men, women, and children.

12:51So we need a hearing of Mr. Martin, and he needs to read some history books

12:57because based on his statement regarding Japanese internment

13:01and his praise for Nazi sympathizers,

13:05clearly he has no idea what happened during World War II,

13:08or he chooses to ignore these facts.

13:14I would like him to come before this committee so we can ask him these questions.

13:21I seriously question his temperament, his judgment, his character.

13:29And, Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record

13:34a Japanese-American Citizens League statement of April 9th, 2025,

13:43condemning Mr. Martin's comparison.

13:47So ordered.

13:49Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

13:52Okay.

13:53We're good to go.

13:54We can go.

13:57Can we, Senator Coons, let's vote on this nomination,

14:01and then I'll call on you.

14:02Mr. Chairman, I ask consent to put it.

14:05My statement in the record about Mr. Davis's nomination,

14:08I would only add that you have been very fortunate.

14:11I understand we had multiple letters to the Department of Justice responded to.

14:15I've had none.

14:17I stood by you when we were in the majority

14:19and said that this is a bipartisan request to the committee.

14:23I hope you'll do the same.

14:24I do the same, and I want to remind you in February of 2017

14:30when the first Trump administration said that you didn't have to respond

14:36to letters only from committee chairman.

14:39I spoke both here and before the House.

14:42I don't know which committee in the House,

14:45but I spoke that it's a right of all 535 members of Congress

14:51to have their oversight letters responded to.

14:56Clerk will call the roll on the Davis nomination.

14:59Mr. Graham.

15:00Aye.

15:01Mr. Corden.

15:02Aye.

15:03Mr. Lee.

15:04Aye.

15:05Mr. Cruz.

15:06Aye.

15:07Mr. Hawley.

15:08Aye.

15:09Mr. Tillis.

15:10Aye.

15:10Mr. Kennedy.

15:12Aye.

15:13Mrs. Blackburn.

15:14Aye.

15:15Mr. Smith.

15:16Aye.

15:17Mrs. Britt.

15:18Aye.

15:19Mrs. Moody.

15:20Aye.

15:21Mr. Durbin.

15:22No.

15:23Mr. Whitehouse.

15:24No.

15:26Ms. Klobuchar.

15:27No.

15:28Mr. Kuz.

15:29No.

15:30Mr. Blumenthal.

15:31No.

15:32Ms. Herona.

15:33No.

15:34Mr. Booker.

15:35No by proxy.

15:36No by proxy.

15:37Mr. Padilla.

15:39No.

15:40Mr. Walsh.

15:41No by proxy.

15:42Mr. Schiff.

15:44No.

15:45Chairman Grassley.

15:46Aye.

15:47On this vote, the ayes are 12, the nays are 10.

15:50Okay.

15:50Mr. Davis will be reported.

15:53Now, Senator Coons.

15:57Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

15:58Thank you for the chance to speak to Mr. Davis' nomination.

16:01Since President Trump's inauguration, my colleagues and I have sent the Department of Justice a dozen oversight letters and have not received a single response.

16:13A letter to Attorney General Bondi about why the pardon attorney was fired?

16:17No response.

16:19A letter to Attorney General Bondi about the use of signal to share sensitive information about war plans?

16:24No response.

16:25A letter to Attorney General Bondi about whether the Deputy Attorney General perjured himself during the nomination hearing before this committee?

16:32No response.

16:33A letter to Attorney General Bondi about the Department's role in issuing pardons to the convicted felons who assaulted police officers on January 6th?

16:41No response.

16:42Several of our letters went to DOJ while Mr. Davis was heading up the Office of Legislative Affairs, and they remain unanswered.

16:50Mr. Davis said in his response to my written questions, he thought oversight letters should be responded to, and I quote,

16:56in a matter of days or weeks, not months.

16:59But we've been waiting more than two months for these responses.

17:03When I asked Mr. Davis what he would do, this is in questions for the record,

17:06if Mr. Trump, President Trump asked him to do something illegal or unethical, he refused to respond, saying he rejected the premise of the question.

17:15I also urge this committee, and I join with several colleagues, to hold a hearing on Ed Martin's nomination to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia,

17:24for the reasons my colleagues have already said, he is not fit for this critical position.

17:29Chairman Grassley, I applaud your taking the time to think through this question.

17:33Your leadership here is noticed and appreciated.

17:36Martin is uniquely unqualified.

17:39But I want to raise another possibility, which is that this body should have a hearing for Ed Martin,

17:44but have hearings for all nominees in the future for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

17:49These are the two most powerful U.S. Attorney's offices, Southern District of New York and District of Columbia.

17:56They deserve extra scrutiny.

17:58But all other U.S. attorneys must receive blue slips.

18:02They don't get hearings before this committee typically,

18:04but we know that because of the blue slip process, there's been some oversight.

18:09Federal judges in D.C. don't have blue slips, but they get hearings before this committee.

18:13That means the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia is the only U.S. Attorney or federal judge

18:19without either member oversight or a hearing.

18:22So let's change that.

18:23Let's make sure that going forward, nominees named by presidents of both parties have a hearing before this committee.

18:29I am deeply concerned about Mr. Martin's record, but I want a chance to hear from him under oath,

18:35and I want other D.C. attorneys in the future to have to appear before this committee under oath as well.

18:40Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

18:42Senator Schiff.

18:44Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

18:45I fully support Ranking Member Durbin's request that we have a hearing on the nomination,

18:51and Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your taking that into consideration.

18:55I want to address something related.

19:00Ranking Member Durbin talked about some of Ed Martin's incendiary comments about January 6th

19:06and the effort to reinvent what happened that day.

19:14Among the most significant efforts to reinvent what happened that day

19:17were, of course, the president's pardons of 1,550 people,

19:21including hundreds of those who violently attacked police officers,

19:24but the most recent development along those lines was the decision by the Justice Department

19:30to seek to foreclose the collection of restitution ordered by courts

19:37for people who broke into this building, assaulted police officers, vandalized the Capitol.

19:44The Justice Department is now taking the position that court-ordered restitution should not be paid.

19:50And basically what this all means is if you come to the Capitol and you engage in violence,

19:58you'll get a pardon by the president as long as you're engaging in that violence on his behalf.

20:03If you come to the Capitol and you want to vandalize the Capitol building, any of the Senate offices,

20:09if you want to trash the speaker's office, and you're convicted and the court orders you to pay restitution for the damage that you do,

20:20but that damage is being done in the president's name,

20:23then your obligation to pay restitution for that damage will be voided by the Justice Department.

20:33How is that justice?

20:35How is that anything but an encouragement to further violence, further vandalism?

20:40For an administration that claims to be an administration about crime and law and order,

20:46they are pardoning violent criminals who attack cops.

20:51They are trying to appoint a U.S. attorney who glorifies people who attack cops.

20:55And they are now seeking to do away with any restitution being paid by people who attack cops and vandalize this building.

21:05And I think that's just shameful.

21:08Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

21:09I yield back.

21:10Senator Klobuchar.

21:12Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

21:14And, of course, I agree with Senator Durbin's request for hearing.

21:18I didn't want to just note, and as well as Senator Schiff's comments, I didn't even know about that, about the restitution.

21:27That's obviously absurd.

21:31But there's one other absurd thing that happened just yesterday that I think it's important for us to note.

21:37The president issued an extraordinary order directing the Justice Department to investigate Chris Krebs,

21:44someone I know, and I know many of this committee know, who had a very important job during the Trump administration.

21:57He was in charge of making sure that our elections were safe, that they weren't affected by foreign adversaries.

22:05He did a very good job during that time.

22:08I remember working with him in a nonpartisan basis.

22:12He had been appointed by a Republican president.

22:14This is, of course, in the wake of what had been attempted in 2020, if people remember,

22:20with the Russians trying to get into election infrastructure.

22:23So here he comes in charge.

22:25He did his job.

22:26He worked with all different agencies and did his job to protect those elections.

22:32And so now, out of the blue, many, many years later, he gets fired by President Trump after the election last time, right?

22:42He gets fired by President Trump, and he then has been out there as a private citizen.

22:50So now the president has directed the Justice Department to investigate him, claiming that he falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.

23:03In fact, Trump's own attorney general at the time, William Barr, later testified in a deposition, I believe, that that election was not stolen.

23:16And he had made many comments to the fact that the 2020 election, there was nothing wrong with the 2020 election.

23:24Something Chris Krebs has said.

23:26I remember after the election, he said it was one of the safest elections in history in terms of foreign interference.

23:32So let's get this straight.

23:33Here's a guy doing his job, appointed by President Trump, does his job, acts in a nonpartisan basis, makes sure elections are safe,

23:41comes out after the election just like the attorney general for President Trump and says the elections were fine, they weren't rigged, there was no interference.

23:50He gets fired for it, okay, I think maybe that's enough, he gets fired for it, but now the president wants the Department of Justice to launch an investigation

24:00because Chris Krebs told the truth that the 2020 election infrastructure was secure.

24:06I just want to point out for the record that that's wrong, it's chilling, and this is what we have come to expect from this president.

24:14But our job is oversight, our job is to step in when we think people are actually violating the Constitution

24:22or the Justice Department is not doing their jobs and is not keeping with the law.

24:29Certainly, Ed Martin's nomination is an example of that, but this order and what will come of it is something that we cannot just let be on a pile of orders that no one even noticed.