00:00Thank you, Senator Blumenthal. Senator Booker.
00:02Mr. Kandube, in any other administration, this hearing would be straightforward.
00:07We'd be discussing antitrust law, competition, consumer welfare.
00:11But this is not a normal administration.
00:15This is an administration where the president has repeatedly treated the powers of government
00:20as instruments to reward those who help him and punish those who oppose him.
00:25We've seen companies attack because of their news coverage.
00:28We've seen the president weigh in on mergers before independent review was even conducted.
00:34We've seen companies seeking government approvals,
00:37simultaneously resolving private disputes with the president himself, paying him millions of dollars.
00:43We've seen law firms, universities, and corporations pressured after becoming presidential targets.
00:49We've seen career public servants sidelined after refusing political demands.
00:54Again and again, the message has been the same, Mr. Kandube.
00:57Please, the president, and the government will work for you.
01:02Cross the president, and the government may work against you.
01:05That is exactly why the independence of the antitrust division matters even more.
01:12You said to me in our private meeting, this is about consumer protection.
01:15It's about competition.
01:16It's about free and fair markets.
01:18But we know it's not about that in the antitrust division.
01:21Imagine the facts are plain.
01:23Gail Slater and two of her deputies followed the facts and the law and brought suit to block the HPE
01:28Juniper merger.
01:29When Trump-aligned lobbyists went over their heads, they secured a sweetheart deal.
01:35And Gail Slater, who objected to the settlement, was fired.
01:37In the Stanley Woodard and Todd Blanch, who would be your bosses, cleared a $111 million Paramount Warner merger without
01:45any conditions at all.
01:48Staff who reviewed the transaction, before they could even issue a formal recommendation, they were going to recommend blocking the
01:56merger.
01:56You can even look at the Live Nation Ticketmaster career attorneys who were in federal court alongside a bipartisan coalition
02:03of state AGs fighting that massive dominance of that venue ticketing conglomerate
02:08when senior DOJ officials bypassed them and negotiated a backdoor deal after the president met with the CEO.
02:16This is why it's important for us to know, will you follow the facts and the law?
02:21Will you listen to career staff?
02:23Or are you going to follow the dictates of a president who's shown over and over again that he's going
02:28to abuse his position to influence the law?
02:30So everything comes down to a simple question.
02:32It's not matter whether you know antitrust law.
02:36It's whether you have the courage to tell this president no when it's hard.
02:44So let me make this easy.
02:47Show us your courage.
02:48Show us your independence.
02:50Be a man, be your own man right now and stand up and answer a question, yes or no.
02:56A simple yes or no question that shows right now all of America that you're your own man.
03:02I don't need legalese.
03:04I don't need trickery.
03:05Yes or no.
03:06Did Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election?
03:11Yes or no.
03:16The United States Congress.
03:18Oh, there you go.
03:19Sir, stop.
03:21Federal courts said he did.
03:23President's own attorney general said yes.
03:26President's own cybersecurity director said yes.
03:30Republicans all over this country said yes.
03:33And right now you're not showing me you can't even acknowledge a fact that's been established
03:38by the courts, the president's own attorney general, by his own election security officials.
03:43Why should we believe that you're going to stand up to this president when billions of
03:47dollars are at stake and the fate of mergers are in your hands?
03:51This is the pivotal question.
03:53Can you please tell me a yes or no answer?
03:56Tell me no.
03:57I can't give you a yes or no answer if that's your answer.
03:59Yes or no.
04:00Did President Biden win the 2020 elections?
04:03The United States Congress certified Joe Biden.
04:06Sir, you are showing cowardice.
04:09And that's the question.
04:10Are you going to choose the truth or Trump?
04:14Law or his lies?
04:16Are you going to choose the Constitution or cowardice?
04:20Let me ask you one final question to maybe bring this into light and show me that you're
04:25your own man.
04:27I'm asking this very simply.
04:30Show me or tell me one time, one time, one single occasion, publicly or privately, where
04:39you pushed back against this president.
04:41One time after he suggested that government decisions should be guided by his personal
04:46political interests.
04:47Can you tell the American public?
04:50I know you and your wife probably don't agree on 100 out of 100.
04:54There's, I have a litany of things I disagree with Biden and Obama on.
04:59Give me one thing that you thought the President of the United States has done that you think
05:02is wrong, untoward, corrupt, policy disagreement.
05:08One thing for the American public.
05:10Here's your chance.
05:11Show me your own man.
05:15I have always in my government capacity and I look forward to doing so to make all my
05:20decisions according to law and the facts.
05:22Mr.
05:23Sir, stop.
05:24Stop.
05:25This is a game.
05:26This is really a game.
05:28American people have the right to be concerned that this president, through the facts of the
05:36antitrust committee, is going to use his power to influence you in your job.
05:41I'm not asking you to come out against the president.
05:44I'm not asking you to go against the truth.
05:47I've given you opportunities here to show us in the easiest questions possible that you're
05:52your own man.
05:55And you haven't given me one shred of evidence that you can stand up and choose the truth over
06:00Trump, the law over lies, the Constitution over his continued corruption.
06:08I'm disappointed.
06:09I was looking for one thing to show independence.
06:12You told me in my office I will be independent.
06:16And this is disappointment that you can't give me one example of you differing with a person
06:21that most American knows, most of America knows, has lied repeatedly in his office, has
06:28taken on policies that have been detrimental to the independence of the judiciary.
06:32And I'm not going to support your nomination.
06:36Senator Lee.
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