00:04So, you have tweets that call Donald Trump and Kamala Harris two clowns, you have tweets
00:18that call Senator Murkowski almost as dumb as Kamala, you have tweets that call Senator
00:27Collins a fraud, you have tweets that call Senator Padilla, who sits on this committee,
00:35a thug, you have tweets that call Senator Schiff a fraud, he also sits on this committee,
00:48and you undertook no preparation to face questions about that as you come before the Senate
00:56Judiciary Committee?
00:57No, Senator.
00:59You didn't tell the Department of Justice about those tweets?
01:03Senator, I tweet and respond to tweets or repost tweets regularly and frequently.
01:09But you know the stuff is going to be looked at, it gets looked at all the time in hearings.
01:14Our expert is Senator Kennedy, but other senators ask questions about people's tweets as well.
01:21You're telling me here that you never disclosed to the Department of Justice these tweets about
01:27senators who would have to vote on your nomination, and you're telling me that DOJ, as far as you
01:33know, didn't even know about them?
01:35I'm telling you that the DOJ never raised these with me?
01:39And you never disclosed them to the DOJ?
01:41No.
01:43Mr. Ligris, were you prepared for this hearing?
01:49I did prepare for this hearing, Senator.
01:52You were prepared by the Department of Justice?
01:55I did independent research online as it relates to the Office of Justice Programs and the various
02:00grant programs.
02:01Before this hearing, were you prepped by the Department of Justice?
02:04And then after that, I did meet with the Department of Justice and conducted moot questions.
02:10During the course of that, did they warn you about, for instance, Senator Kennedy's history
02:19with respect to the tweet history of nominees?
02:24Did that come up?
02:26No.
02:27Did not come up?
02:28No.
02:28Senator Kennedy's question?
02:30I'm sorry.
02:31Did they warn you that Senator Kennedy had a history of asking about nominees' tweets?
02:40No.
02:41They didn't.
02:42Were they aware of these tweets that have been discussed here in the hearing today?
02:49I don't know.
02:50They did not bring it up.
02:57So, you have tweets that call Donald Trump and Kamala Harris two clowns.
03:09You have tweets that call Senator Murkowski almost as dumb as Kamala.
03:17You have tweets that call Senator Collins a fraud.
03:23You have tweets that call Senator Padilla, who sits on this committee, a thug.
03:30You have tweets that call Senator Schiff a fraud.
03:37He also sits on this committee.
03:41And you undertook no preparation to face questions about that as you come before the Senate Judiciary
03:49Committee?
03:50No, Senator.
03:51You didn't tell the Department of Justice about those tweets?
03:55Senator, I tweet and respond to tweets or repost tweets regularly and frequently.
04:01But you know the stuff is going to be looked at.
04:04It gets looked at all the time in hearings.
04:07Our expert is Senator Kennedy.
04:08But other senators ask questions about people's tweets as well.
04:14You're telling me here that you never disclosed to the Department of Justice these tweets
04:19about senators who would have to vote on your nomination.
04:23And you're telling me that DOJ, as far as you know, didn't even know about them?
04:28I'm telling you that the DOJ never raised these with me.
04:31And you never disclosed them to the DOJ?
04:34No.
04:36Well, let's start with Senators Padilla and Schiff.
04:42Do you know what state they represent?
04:45California.
04:46California.
04:46Yeah.
04:47And California will very likely be submitting applications for various grant programs to
04:59the Office of Justice programs.
05:02Correct?
05:04I would expect.
05:06Yeah.
05:07And having called Senator Padilla a thug at least five times and Senator Schiff a fraud,
05:16what reasonably could they expect about you giving California programs a fair hearing
05:27if you're put in charge of OJP?
05:31Every state and every jurisdiction would expect that they would go through the process of applying
05:36for grants with the Office of Justice programs.
05:39And those grant applications would be administered and reviewed through the process of the department.
05:48Yeah.
05:48That's what they would expect.
05:50And then there'd be a guy at the head of the program who thinks that the Senators involved
05:55are a thug and a fraud.
05:58How do you convince us that you're not going to let that personal bias against these two individuals
06:03affect your judgment about California programs, particularly programs that, you know, we often
06:09write in letters saying, you know, we work with this program, we think they do a good job,
06:15please give it every due consideration consistent with your responsibilities.
06:19That's a pretty standard thing.
06:20How do you respond to a letter from somebody you've called a thug or somebody you've called
06:24a fraud when they support a program that you're asked to decide on?
06:30Because I believe that the Office of Justice Programs has a mission to support the entire
06:34country, every state and every city, and protect our communities, irrespective of the elected
06:39leadership that exists there today or tomorrow.
06:42So just trust me, I guess, is what you're saying.
06:44Well, trust the fact that I have been in the private sector and I'm a practicing, I was
06:49a practicing lawyer for a long time, and I will administer these funds as a good steward
06:54for the taxpayers of this country and ensure that they reach the ultimate recipients and the
07:00beneficiaries, which are our communities, our law enforcement, victims of crime, our
07:05juvenile system.
07:06So why should Judge Boesberg, the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit, be impeached?
07:13I don't have an opinion on Judge Boesberg.
07:15You had one when you twice said that he should be impeached on tweets.
07:21So Senator, I suspect that you're quoting retweets or comments to other tweets.
07:25It would be nice to have...
07:26No, they're your tweets.
07:28You're the one who's responsible for them.
07:29You're responsible for knowing what you said.
07:32Don't put it on us to have to explain to you your own tweets.
07:37This is your mess, not ours.
07:41You're the one who tweeted, impeach him.
07:44If you can't explain that, that's on you.
07:48But my general question is, why should Judge Boesberg be impeached?
07:52Whether you tweeted it or retweeted it, you obviously thought he should be impeached.
07:57Why?
07:57It would be helpful for me to see the context of the tweet.
08:00You're the one who's supposed to be ready for these hearings.
08:03Okay.
08:04Thank you very much.
08:07Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
08:12Download the One India app now.
Comments