00:00Nominations, Nicholas Chase, Daniel Rosen, U.S. Attorney nominee, our listener for the first time, and will be held over.
00:12We'll vote today on Emil Bovee, nominee, Third Circuit, and District Nominees Anne-Leigh Gaylord-Mo, Kyle Dudek, Jordan Pratt, Edward Arto.
00:28We will also vote for Kurt Wall, Kurt Almey, Leslie Murphy, Jeanine Perreault, and Eric Seiber to be U.S. Attorneys.
00:42We also have the following three bills listed on the agenda for the first time.
00:47The TRACE Act, the Opioid Overdose Data Collection Enhancement Act, and the Child Act.
00:54These bills will be held over as well.
00:58Before we begin, I'll announce that if we haven't voted before 1030, I'll plan to call the vote on all nominations at that time.
01:09If people wish to speak after that time, I will stay as long as needed to hear everybody out.
01:16Now, I want to address the unfair rhetoric and treatment directed at Mr. Bovee by some of this committee, frankly, across the line.
01:28I've served on this committee for longer than anyone else in this room.
01:33I've seen a lot of confirmation fights.
01:37What we're witnessing has all the hallmarks of a political hit job.
01:42Time for maximum media splash with minimum subsets.
01:46Let's get one thing straight.
01:49I take whistleblower complaints very seriously.
01:52During both Republican and Democrat administrations, I have spent over four decades defending patriotic whistleblowers.
02:03I defended the Ukraine whistleblowers' use of the whistleblower process, despite serious concerns about the substance of his complaint, concerns that have been proven right over time.
02:18Yet, my Democratic colleagues made no effort to support whistleblowers who raised alarms about the Biden family.
02:27During the first Trump administration, I interviewed Donald Trump Jr. and other Republicans as part of our bipartisan investigation into alleged Russian collusion conducted through this Judiciary Committee.
02:43But when it came to the Biden family and his administration, despite, even despite serious allegations and overwhelming evidence of misconduct, Democrats made no effort to investigate or conduct similar interviews.
03:02These were fringe claims.
03:04They involved potential crimes squarely within this committee's jurisdiction and much of it based upon government records.
03:13Now, with respect to the current whistleblower, some have said that Mr. Ruvini is not a whistleblower.
03:23On that point, I disagree.
03:26My doors are always open to whistleblowers.
03:29However, the manner and timing of this disclosure isn't how the process should have played out.
03:37I want to give you an example.
03:38I received the whistleblower's complaint the morning before Mr. Bovee's nomination hearing at the same time as the New York Times broke the story.
03:51The minority apparently received additional records from whistleblower on July 1 and July 7, but kept them from us.
04:01I didn't receive them until July 10, the same day, would you believe it, as the New York Times dropped an exclusive interview with whistleblowers about these same files.
04:15This timeline raises very serious concerns.
04:23I appreciate that my staff has been able to engage respectfully with the whistleblower, the whistleblower lawyers, and others who have come forward to discuss these allegations throughout the process.
04:42I've treated the complaint in good faith, as I always do.
04:49But that doesn't mean that I'm always going to agree with the allegations raised.
04:55Earlier this week, I led an effort to review the disclosure document by document and analyze the facts.
05:03The results, almost none of the material, I want to make clear, almost none of the material references Mr. Bovee at all.
05:19More concerningly, the Democrat summary grossly mischaracterizes the documents that it purports to summarize.
05:30In short, the documents don't say what my Democratic colleagues say, they do.
05:39Now, let's say even if we accept most of the claim as true, there's no scandal here.
05:48Government lawyers aggressively litigating and interpreting court orders isn't misconduct.
05:56Misconduct.
05:57It's what lawyers do all the time.
06:01Concerningly, the minority repeatedly request discussions of litigation strategy.
06:11Now, they crafted litigation strategy as wrongdoing.
06:16Even discussions that reflected the government's official litigation positions, some of which prevailed on appeal.
06:29These documents then give no reason to delay this nomination.
06:35So, let's stick to the facts.
06:39The whistleblower alleges misconduct.
06:42But ten days after the key event he described, he signed a brief stating, without qualifications, that, quote,
06:54the government has complied with the court orders in this case, end of quote.
07:01If he believed the department defied court orders, why sign a brief as an officer of the court saying that it had complied?
07:17During the hearing, Mr. Povies firmly denied the allegations.
07:22He testified under oath, quote, I did not advise any Justice Department attorney to violate, quote, orders, end of quote.
07:35Recent public reporting backs this account, his account as well.
07:41I'd like to enter into the record, and I have it right here.
07:49Months before the whistleblower came forward, his former supervisor wrote in a letter that Mr. Povey advised, quote,
08:00advised our team that we must avoid a court order holding an upcoming operation to implement the act at all costs, end of quote.
08:11This statement confirms Mr. Povey advised his team to avoid triggering a court order, not defy one, and that's consistent with his testimony.
08:26My staff has also interviewed multiple people who were present for the March 14th meeting described in the whistleblower disclosure.
08:37Now we have four separate people, other than Mr. Povey, who were present in the meeting, telling us the following.
08:47There was never any directive to ignore a court order, and each of them left the meeting with the understanding
08:56that the Justice Department would aggressively litigate but would follow court orders.
09:03To my Democratic colleagues, then, you've been accusing each of president's nominees of insufficiently respecting the court.
09:14I have a few questions.
09:17Where was the outrage when Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez said in response to a decision about abortion drug access,
09:28I believe the Biden administration should ignore this ruling, end of quote.
09:35Where was the indignation when Senator Wyden took to the Senate floor and said, quote,
09:41There are moments in history where Americans and their leaders must look at circumstances like this one and say, enough.
09:54Not let's see how the appeals process plays out, or let's hope Congress can fix this down the road.
10:03Just enough, President Biden and the FDA must ignore it, end of quote.
10:12Where was the outcry a few weeks ago when Biden appointed Judge Brian Murphy flatly defied a Supreme Court ruling,
10:23or when Justice Tolwani ordered the executive branch to violate federal law and spend taxpayers' money in defiance of a law
10:36passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president.
10:41And when it comes from their side, just as I've indicated, there's silence.
10:52No press releases.
10:54No hearings.
10:56No letters.
10:58So what does that add up to?
11:00A double standard.
11:02Undermining their latest partisan attacks against Mr. Bovey.
11:07This Congress alone, Congress, Democrats have sent at least 26 letters to 17 agencies or parties demanding records, delays,
11:24or investigations into President Trump's nominees.
11:29I'm holding them right here in a stack of letters that I've held up already.
11:36We, like clockwork, just before hearing or vote, we get another now, another breathless accusation
11:47that one of President Trump's nominees needs further investigation.
11:54We've seen the slanted stories and reckless accusations before.
12:01We've been down this road.
12:02It's become routine, this Congress, but it is not new.
12:09We all remember what Democrats did to Justice Kavanaugh.
12:14As I said during Director Patel's nomination, quote,
12:18This is becoming a pattern, and I will not facilitate a campaign to undermine the results of the election
12:28by delaying the consideration of nominees, end of quote.
12:33Mr. Bovey has a strong legal background and has served his country honorably.
12:39He deserves fair treatment.
12:44The vicious partisan attacks and obstruction of nominees that we've seen from Democrats this Congress has to stop.
12:54One day, roles will reverse again, and my colleagues will want the same fairness for nominees of their president
13:04that they refuse to extend to President Trump's nominees.
13:09They should look around the corner and consider that day, Senator Durbin.
13:15Mr. Chairman, the Trump administration...
Comments