00:00This man is not our lawyer. He is not America's lawyer. He is about to become Trump's sword
00:09against his adversaries and shield against any scrutiny. The shield is going to shield him from
00:15tax cheating. Mr. Chairman, I am shocked. I think I've been here 14 years. I have not seen something
00:22as farcical as what I've witnessed over the last few weeks. We have a nominee that it seemed like
00:28some of my colleagues in a noble way were saying is unqualified unless he gives some kind of
00:34guarantee that what we now know on both sides of the aisle, Americans think is absolutely outrageous.
00:41A slush fund had been created for the president to dole out to people who've done the most awful
00:46things. Literally, people that stormed the Capitol and beat police officers in this building would
00:54not get taxpayer dollars as some kind of reward. Universal disagreement on that and the fact that
01:04a president of the United States is not above the law and shouldn't be able to cheat on their taxes.
01:09And so I sat back for days now looking forward to us at least of all the things that Todd
01:16Blanche has
01:16done that is disqualifying for this job. I thought at least we were going to be able to get an
01:25end to
01:25that nightmare. And here's the thing, Mr. Chairman.
01:35Here's the thing, Mr. Chairman.
01:38You even have conservatives coming out and saying these things are not worth the paper they're drawn on.
01:47I have a lot of respect for my colleagues, love the state of Texas, but I'm going to say it
01:52very
01:52clear. This is all hat and no cattle. It's hard for me to say this as a plant-based guy,
01:58but where's
01:59the beef? Where's the beef? This is ridiculous. We got nothing, no guarantees whatsoever that this
02:09slush fund still can't go forward. We got nothing that the president of the United States can't cheat on
02:16his taxes and have no accountability. Dear God, folks, it's not like we're talking about a
02:23president who is a saint. No president in the history of this country has been caught in tax
02:29cheating more than this one. A Pulitzer Prize winning document documentation of his tax cheating came
02:37out in 2018. Pulitzer Prize. Donald Trump said, I'm going to sue you. It's all wrong.
02:44That suit was thrown out because the president is a tax cheat. But it didn't stop with that. He was
02:52a
02:52tax cheat with his nonprofit as well. He created a so-called charity. But what did he do with that
02:57charity? It was cited by the state of New York for self-dealing, for tax cheating, and was shut
03:05down. We have a known arsonist, and we have just in this committee given him a whole barrel full of
03:13gasoline to light on fire our tax laws and have no accountability for the conflagration. This is so
03:23ridiculous that we are sitting back here and allowing this to happen. A president that we know
03:30is a tax cheat. That is a fact. That is a fact. We have now just given him an immunity
03:37to his tax
03:38cheating. Now here's a mission I'm going to make to my colleagues on the other side. We've had presidents
03:45that have done things that to me do not pass the smell test and do not pass the appearance of
03:51impropriety. I think this committee should pass a law that no children of presidents should be able
03:58to grift off their parents' office. To me, it is ridiculous the corruption that we have normalized in
04:04America. That presidents' children can go out and sit on boards and make money. That is wrong and that is
04:13corrupting. But they have become so obsessed with the billions that the Bidens have made
04:20that they have ignored completely the billions of dollars that the Trump family is making.
04:28That is like being obsessed and using a magnifying glass to study the stain on the living room carpet
04:35when behind you is a mountain of excrement covering the living room couch and coffee table.
04:44This is so outrageous. The lack of proportionality going on of my colleagues. It is laughable.
04:51This is absolutely insane that we have a president of the United States that has now made two billion
04:58dollars. Doing what? Wow, he's such a shrewd businessman. Let me create my own crypto coin and have foreign
05:05nations invest in it. Oh, and by the way, if you are a corporation in America, put my children on
05:10the
05:10board and they'll get no bid contracts. This is the Judiciary Committee. We're supposed to be
05:19checking and balancing this nation. Why have people on both sides of the aisle given up on any trust in
05:27government? It's because we're surrendering any shred of integrity left. And now we're letting
05:34an attorney general become the highest law enforcement officer in the land and putting
05:41no holds whatsoever. I had hoped for two weeks that we would get something. Two weeks that we would have
05:49something substantive to stop the world's greatest presidential tax cheat from cheating. And we've
05:56done nothing. And this man is going to now sail to the floor. And history is going to show it.
06:03I know what's going to come out in history on this president. And I know what's going to come out
06:07on
06:08Todd Blanche. And the simplest way that should outrage any shred of decency my colleagues have.
06:15Because this isn't left or right. This isn't presidential enrichment. This is the deepest,
06:23most sacred urgency of this committee. And I know colleagues on both sides care about it.
06:30victims of crime. Victims of crime should have justice.
06:37And here in the United States of America, one of the greatest sex trafficking rings we've ever seen.
06:45When only two people, over a thousand women, sexually assaulted and raped,
06:52only two people have been held accountable.
06:56There are other criminals out there that haven't been found.
06:59And what did the man that we're talking about becoming the Attorney General of the United States,
07:03what did he do?
07:05Well, he joined in the Situation Room in the White House.
07:09Y'all know what the Situation Room is, right?
07:12This is where we go to deal with the greatest national security threats
07:16in a classified room
07:18to deal with the safety of our nation.
07:22And yet this administration, in the Situation Room,
07:26calls an emergency meeting at which Todd Blanche was there
07:29to say, what are we going to do?
07:31Because the president appears in the Epstein files
07:34hundreds of times.
07:37They didn't get together to say,
07:39this is really bad.
07:40This is eroding trust in the justice system.
07:43This is eroding trust in the rule of law.
07:45We have to find a way to hold powerful people accountable.
07:48No.
07:49They came together with Todd Blanche in the room.
07:51How do we protect the president?
07:54And what happened after that?
07:56One of the most unusual things in the history of our country
08:00happened after that.
08:02Todd Blanche,
08:03at the highest heights of our Justice Department,
08:06ran to the prison of Ghislaine Maxwell.
08:10This is unprecedented.
08:13This is, lawyers tell me, untoward.
08:15This is corrupting.
08:17He didn't study the case files.
08:19He didn't talk to the prosecutors.
08:21No, he ran to the jail cell and met with her for two days,
08:25insulting every single Epstein victim
08:28that had been asking for a meeting for years.
08:33And after two days of meetings,
08:35did we get information that led to an indictment?
08:40No.
08:40Did we get information that led to new opens of investigations?
08:45No.
08:45Did we get one more conviction?
08:47No.
08:48What did we get?
08:50That a convicted sex offender was able to leave her confinement
08:54and go to the cushiest prison in our land
08:59that by Bureau of Prison Law,
09:03by DOJ Law,
09:04is a violation of their principles.
09:09So Ghislaine Maxwell is sitting in the lowest possible confinement
09:16after giving no information that helped us get one more investigation started
09:22and has been silent.
09:25And the man responsible for that,
09:29we are about to make the Attorney General of the United States of America.
09:34This man is not our lawyer.
09:38He is not America's lawyer.
09:41He is about to become Trump's sword against his adversaries
09:46and shield against any scrutiny.
09:48The shield is going to shield him from tax cheating.
09:51The shield is going to shield him from investigation
09:54for any involvement he may have had in Epstein's deeds.
09:58And the sword, I've seen it.
10:02Unprecedented that the Attorney General should investigate colleagues
10:06here on this committee.
10:10This is farcical.
10:12It would be literally laughably funny if it wasn't so dangerous.
10:17We are about to put a person in one of the most powerful positions in the land.
10:23Vital for not only enforcing the law,
10:26protecting national security,
10:28but also vital for upholding our democracy.
10:32And my Republican colleagues sound like Jan Brady.
10:37Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.
10:39Biden, Biden, Biden.
10:40You are worried about a pickpocket,
10:43a pickpocket when it comes to grand theft larceny.
10:49When it comes to our democracy,
10:51you're worried about someone who is doing petty theft
10:56while there is the murder of our democratic traditions
10:59going on before our eyes.
11:01We are in dangerous waters, folks.
11:04We are in dangerous waters.
11:06We are turning the ideals of justice and this committee into a mockery
11:11by letting the least qualified person,
11:14a person proven to do Donald Trump's will over the law.
11:18He is about Trump and not truth.
11:21He is about corruption and not the Constitution.
11:23He is about being Donald Trump's lawyer and not the people's lawyer.
11:27This is so deeply wrong.
11:30We will rue the day that we let this man have this much power
11:34under such a corrupt president.
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