00:00doing this job in which you're nominated for. Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:05Mr. Brevet, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for your willingness to serve,
00:09and congratulations on your nomination. I heard you in the last exchange say I wish I had an
00:13opportunity to respond. I'd like to give you that opportunity. When we've heard a number of my
00:18colleagues levy attacks, what I believe in many cases to be false claims, I'd like to just turn
00:24the mic over to you for a second and give you an opportunity to respond. Thank you, Senator. I
00:29appreciate that. With respect to the 2018 email referenced by Senator Booker, that email contains
00:37a series of wildly inaccurate claims about me. I categorically reject any claim of unethical or
00:47improper behavior by me, period. You know that the claims in that email are false for two reasons.
00:54First, I got that job. I received the promotion the next time the seat was open. Second,
01:03attorneys leveling ethics obligations like that have their own ethical duties under Rule 8.3 of
01:09the New York Rules to report those things if they take them seriously, if they believe them to be true.
01:15That never happened. Those attorneys who leveled those claims, which were false, also had obligations
01:23to their clients, obligations to advocate zealously on behalf of people that I was prosecuting. That was
01:30the role of those lawyers in the criminal justice system, a role that I respect. So if they believed
01:35the things in that email to be true, they would have been under an obligation to file motions in the
01:40courts where those proceedings were taking place. I'm not aware of any such motion. And I'm certainly not aware of any
01:46relief granted with respect to the types of claims in that email. More generally, if I'm fortunate enough to be
01:54confirmed, I understand that there are questions about what kind of temperament that I would have as a judge.
02:00I think I would be tough, but fair. Litigants and colleagues would feel respected by me.
02:08They would understand that I take the job very seriously and that I work very hard at it.
02:13And I don't think that there needs to be a lot of guesswork about why that's true.
02:18I've appeared in court regularly and frequently since 2012. I've participated in 12 criminal trials.
02:26I've argued 10 appeals. There's more criminal prosecutions that I participated in than I could
02:34count. And I think if you talk to the judges who presided over those cases, and some of them were
02:39high profile, there were a lot of people there, the president's trial in New York, the proceedings in
02:43the Southern District of Florida, what those judges would say is that they didn't agree with every
02:48argument I made. And sometimes they didn't agree with every word I used, but they did feel personally
02:54respected. And I think that's what's important. As I said in response to one of the other senator's
02:59questions, I'm not perfect. I'm not here to tell you that. I do learn from mistakes. I take
03:04constructive criticism seriously. I did with respect to that 2018 email. That's why I got the job the
03:10next time it was open. And I've done so throughout my career. And I think that's prepared me to be the
03:15type of judge that I just described. Thank you. Thank you for responding. Also, just give me a little bit of
03:21insight into the lessons and experience you've learned. Looking at your resume, it is quite
03:26impressive. You have been a clerk, both at the district court and circuit court level. Your time as a
03:31prosecutor, your time at Maine Justice, your comprehensive resume, both with private practice and public
03:37service, I think makes you poised to be excellent on the court. Talk to me a little bit about those
03:44experiences and what you think has best prepared you for as your confirmation, as and when you're
03:51confirmed to do a great job on the bench. Thank you, Senator. I think one of the most important
03:57responsibilities, and there are many, of a judge is to be able to put aside personal opinions and decide
04:03cases based on the facts and the applicable law. And I think that the time that I've spent my career
04:09on both sides of being a prosecutor and a defense lawyer has given me some experience with getting
04:15used to seeing both sides of things, setting aside personal views. There are certainly cases that I
04:21prosecuted that one could hold up, sort of a terrorism case or a drug trafficking case, and say,
04:26how is a person responsible for those kinds of prosecutions and turning around and representing
04:32criminal defendants charged with fraud? Or I did have other clients besides President Trump.
04:39And it's that kind of work and focus on the ethics of representing clients zealously and being
04:46focused on justice and getting to righteous outcomes, regardless of which side of the case I'm on,
04:53that I think would inform a lot of my practice and approach to the bench if I'm fortunate enough
04:58to be confirmed. Thank you so much for your willingness to serve, and congratulations again on your
05:02nomination. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Britt. And as chair, I would like to welcome the United
05:09States Attorney General Pam Bondy to the hearing. We are glad to have you here. Thank you for
05:14attending. I would also like to follow up on Senator Britt's questioning by entering two letters
05:18into the record from 91 former
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