00:00I see my time has expired. I believe Senator Padilla is up next.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Blanche, welcome.
00:10Do you believe every human life is sacred?
00:13Can you repeat that, Senator? Sorry.
00:14Do you believe that every human life is sacred?
00:17Yes.
00:18So do I.
00:21A lot of my colleagues have made remarks about our colleague who recently passed.
00:27This last week, we've also seen Lorenzo Salgado Araujo fatally shot by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in
00:35Houston.
00:36Earlier this week, Joan Sebastian Guerrero was killed in another fatal ICE-involved shooting in Maine.
00:44I'm not here to debate immigration policy or how immigration enforcement has been conducted by this administration.
00:52My questions are specific to law enforcement policy and best practices.
00:58Given that these are officer-involved shootings, federal officer-involved shootings,
01:04what role should the Department of Justice play in ensuring independent and transparent review and investigations over these incidents?
01:13It depends on the agency that the law enforcement officer was a member of.
01:18So if it's an FBI agent as opposed to an ICE agent or an HSI agent.
01:23And the role that we should play depends.
01:25It depends on the conduct.
01:26Normally, each agency has their own procedures for investigating any type of shooting.
01:31And it usually involves their inspector general or an internal office.
01:36At some point along the way, the DOJ may play the role.
01:39I don't want to catch up too quickly here, but I want to come back to that point.
01:41Sure.
01:41The first ask, should state and local law enforcement be involved in ensuring that there's an independent investigation in these
01:50incidents?
01:50I mean, it depends.
01:51I think there's a lot of times when state and locals should definitely be involved.
01:55But I don't think unequivocally state and local have to be involved for independence.
01:58Of course not.
01:59Here's the bottom line why I'm asking these two questions.
02:02Because in prior incidents, reference Minnesota earlier in your testimony, Alex Preddy and Renee Good were also fatally shot.
02:13And as far as we can tell, it's been months and months, there's been no justice in these cases.
02:18As far as I can tell, those officers were not fired.
02:22They have not faced any charges.
02:23So it does undermine any confidence anybody should have in the Department of Homeland Security's ability, through the inspector general
02:33or otherwise, to investigate its own.
02:36So I come back to the question, what should the role of the Department of Justice be when there's federally
02:41officer-involved shootings?
02:42Well, I very much disagree with the statement you just made.
02:45The mere passage of time between January and today doesn't mean there's no justice.
02:50It doesn't mean that there's no – so these investigations do take time.
02:54And as Senator Klobuchar talked about, and it's her state, we are – we, meaning the federal government, have worked
03:02with the state and locals in that case.
03:03We'll move on to other issues, but here's what I see.
03:06I mean, no justice, clear justice, and again, investigations take time, but no justice.
03:10In those two cases, what we have seen is people continuing to die, not just in detention facilities, but on
03:16the streets of America.
03:18Next topic, coming back to January 6th.
03:22There have been several of my colleagues who have asked about the quote-unquote slush fund.
03:27Do you personally believe that someone who forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol and assaulted law enforcement should be rewarded
03:34with taxpayer money?
03:35Yes or no?
03:36I can't answer it, yes or no, but if you want the answer, I think that the fund that doesn't
03:42exist anymore set up parameters where, no, somebody that you just described would likely not recover funds.
03:48Which brings me to my other point, because several members have asked, and I know Senator Tillis specifically focused on
03:53the weaponization slush fund and language versus declarations versus appropriations bills on how to undo this.
04:00I also need to be clear that January 6ers cannot, should not be able to seek payouts from other sources,
04:09including the Federal Tort Claims Act.
04:12Do you commit to vigorously defending taxpayer money from being paid out to January 6 writers, those who were convicted
04:18of their involvement with January 6, regardless of the source of funding from the Department of Justice?
04:24You're talking about a statute that exists and allows anybody to seek, to file a suit against the United States.
04:31So, I can tell you we always vigorously defend our cases, but I can't speak to a particular case of
04:37filing the statutes.
04:38Well, we know this is a hypothetical.
04:39There's been at least four letters that I've signed on to, along with Senators Durbin, Klobuchar, and Whitehouse, who asked
04:45earlier about the status of January 6 writers seeking payouts from the Department.
04:50When can we expect responses to those letters?
04:54When you say status, you mean those that have filed cases in court?
04:59I don't know what that means.
05:00Yeah, status of their request for payouts being reviewed, approved, or not.
05:05I think anybody, including January 6 defendants, can file a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and I think
05:12some of them have.
05:13Those cases are ongoing.
05:15They're publicly available on ECF.
05:17And I know some people will suggest, well, they've all been pardoned for their crimes on January 6, and so
05:24this may be fair game.
05:25Are you aware that at least 97 January 6ers have been accused of new crimes since January 6, 2021, including
05:33violent crimes, by the way, child molestation, et cetera?
05:37That sounds like the worst of the worst to me.
05:41If anybody commits a crime, they should be investigated, arrested, and prosecuted.
05:46So if you're talking about people that committed federal crimes and they happen to have been pardoned before, they should
05:50be arrested and prosecuted.
05:52Yes.
05:52Well, I look forward to that as well, and we'll follow up in questions for the record.
05:59Mr. Blanche, during our courtesy meeting a few weeks ago, you said that, quote, independence of the Department was a
06:05misnomer in the context of the Department of Justice because the president sets policies and priorities.
06:12And your view, the Department of Justice must enforce the law in a way that carries out the president's goals.
06:17Do you recall that conversation?
06:19Yeah, I definitely did not say that, but nice try.
06:22No, that's exactly what I recall from our conversation.
06:25So I want to be on the record saying I disagree.
06:26Well, I'm happy to tell you what I said to help your recollection.
06:29So the Department of Justice should be independent or not?
06:32I think, as I said earlier, the Department of Justice is under the executive branch.
06:37If confirmed, I will be a member of the president's cabinet.
06:40So absolutely, my obligation is the American people and the rule of law.
06:44That being said, I am a member of the president of the United States.
06:48We'll talk about the if confirmed in a minute.
06:50But let me also point out the Department of Justice's own website states right on the homepage that what the
06:56department's core missions is independence and impartiality.
07:01So let me bring a specific example.
07:04Last fall, President Trump issued a statement for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month where he said, quote, I'm steadfastly devoted
07:13to uplifting survivors of domestic violence and ensuring they know they are never alone and that help and support are
07:20always within reach, end quote.
07:22So it sounds like a statement that we'd all agree with, but the Office of Violence Against Women is a
07:27vital component of the Department of Justice that administers grants to organizations that provide services for victims of domestic violence,
07:35sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
07:38It provides critical resources to organizations that support victims.
07:43Yes or no?
07:44Are you aware that the Office is substantially delayed in notifying grant recipients of awards that were intended to begin
07:51October 1st of last year?
07:54We are rolling grants out on a rolling basis and we continue to do so.
07:58We will continue to do so.
07:59We didn't have the grants authorized until January of this year.
08:02And it's now July.
08:04It's been six months.
08:04Next, yes or no question.
08:06Are you aware that as a result of the delays, many organizations have been forced to lay off staff and
08:10reduce services for domestic violence victims?
08:13Yes or no?
08:14I am not aware of that.
08:15No.
08:16Okay.
08:16We're happy to provide you information and cases.
08:21Are you aware that many notices of funding opportunities for the fiscal year 26 have yet to be posted for
08:29grants that are supposed to begin on October 1st of this year?
08:32I know that we are posting that we are caught up from the last fiscal year.
08:36The budget wasn't approved until January of this year.
08:39We had to finish last year's first.
08:41We're putting them out every single day.
08:43Again, it's been six months.
08:43Are you aware that multiple congressional offices from both sides of the aisle, this is not partisan, on a bipartisan
08:49basis have reached out to the office about delays and have not been given any concrete timeline despite the real
08:56and substantial impact that these delays are having on domestic violence services?
09:00That's not true.
09:01I've testified publicly about it on multiple occasions and we have given a timeline.
09:05I just gave you the timeline today, which is that we're doing it every day on a rolling basis.
09:09We're caught up to last year's and we're moving forward and we anticipate having all of them done by the
09:14end of this fiscal year.
09:14Every other state, for that matter, can know when to expect their funding.
09:20I know my time is running out.
09:21Let me just end with this.
09:23Mr. Blanche, it's the duty of the Attorney General of the United States to, quote, operate free from partisan consideration
09:30and protect citizens' rights to equal justice.
09:33But what I've heard today fails to inspire much confidence in your ability to carry out that duty or to
09:41put federal law before loyalty to the president.
09:46I add to that facts from the judiciary.
09:50District courts in 31 cases have recognized that the administration has violated court rulings.
09:58The solicitor general refuses to rule out, refusing to abide by court rulings that they, circuit court rulings that they
10:07disagree with.
10:08In immigration cases alone, the administration has admitted violating court orders in the District of New Jersey alone more than
10:1650 times.
10:18This does not sound like a department of justice.
10:22The American people deserve better.
10:25And a lot of nominees come before us and say, well, if I'm fortunate enough to be confirmed then this
10:30or that, I'm not buying that.
10:33I know you're not confirmed for the top spot.
10:34You're acting in the top spot.
10:36You were the number two from nearly the beginning of the term.
10:39Yes, a lot of this accountability falls on your shoulders.
10:43The American people deserve an attorney general who put the Constitution above political retribution.
10:49I don't think you're fit for this job.
10:50Thank you, Mr. Chair.
10:54Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
10:58Download the One India app now.
Comments