← The Tara Palmeri Show
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- [00:00]
Tara Palmeri
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- [00:38]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
I've early live to just give you a rundown. Welcome back to Tara Palmeri show and the Red Letter. We are coming in early to give you a rundown of what we're about to watch. We are about to watch Acting Attorney Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche being grilled live in the hot seat before the House Appropriations Committee. That's right, you are able to watch this hearing on this show. I'll be offering live reporting and analysis. We have a re we have our reporter Abby Baker in the room. She'll give us a debrief on all things that we can't see, the vibe, etc. But I just want to give you some context into what why this is a particularly fraught moment for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch. He's not just facing fire from Democrats, he's also facing fire from Republicans over this deeply unpopular $1.8 billion anti weaponization fund that he rolled out two weeks ago. It's so unpopular that even Trump is backing away from it. And Republicans, congressional Republicans, they're balking at it. Democrats are calling it a slush fund for his loyalists. Some of the January 6th defendants who were convicted and spent time in jail. Some of them even pleaded guilty. One of them asked for as much as $30 million from the fund. We know that Michael Cohen says he's going to apply for it, but what about James Comey? Will he get any of this money?
- [02:16]
Tara Palmeri
Who?
- [02:17]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Highly unlikely. Many people see it as a slush fund for people who broke the law for President Trump on January 6th to pay them back for what they did and who knows, maybe encourage them to do it again. But it just doesn't pass the smell test. And Republicans did something very rare. They defied President Trump. Republican senators refused to pass two funding bills last week over this. So this is a major split in the party. We really haven't seen Anything like this. We haven't seen the party, we haven't seen cracks like this with members saying, like this is not going to work. For the most part, they just bend over. I mean, even the ballroom, there was very little chirping about the extravagance of all of this. But, but finally, this is a bridge too far. Which may explain why the Department of Justice last night said that they'll comply with a federal judge's order that would temporarily block the fund. But the thing is, President Trump has still not said he is abandoning this outlandish move, $1.8 billion of American taxpayer dollars going towards his anti weaponization fund, going for people he says were improperly prosecuted by the government, which is basically only the people he that are his loyalists. Obviously he sees himself as one of these people as well. But Democrats are not letting the Republicans off lightly for this one. They want a very loud rebuke from Republicans and a number of them, including Senators Adam Schiff and Senator Elisa Slotkin, they say they're going to introduce legislation next week to formally shut down the fund. So by doing that, it would force Republicans to take a very tough vote. So essentially voting against one of their leaders, President Trump's signature initiatives. And you know, there are other senators, though, Republican senators, just a few, because as we know, they tend to go along with President Trump, like Chuck Grassley and James Lankford, these two Republican senators that say Trump needs to say it himself, he needs to shut this thing down so that they don't have to deal with this, this vote that's coming, coming up. But where does Todd Blanche fit into all of this? Well, he's the guy who rolled it all out, right? Not to say that he came up with the idea. We still don't know whose brilliant idea this was, but this is likely part of his great audition for the role of Attorney General, because we know he's acting Attorney General, although it's unclear that anyone will ever actually be confirmed as Attorney General. I think certainly he can't with the handling of the Epstein files. But you know, they're holding up US Attorneys in the Senate right now. Why would they confirm Todd Blanche? Okay, guys, we're going to go into that room soon. But first, I just want to give you a little bit more context. We have to remember too, that he might take some questions about Jeffrey Epstein, because last week when Pam Bondi was in that interview, that closed door interview with members, she basically blamed Todd Blanch for everything that went wrong in the Epstein case. So we'll See what happens there. But you know, this could be the case where Todd Blanche ends up being the fall guy for Donald Trump who's watching this live testimony on TV under oath and he's going to be parsing every last word. Remember what happened to Kristi Noem when she didn't do well. Could Todd Planche suddenly be the fall guy for this very unpopular anti weaponization program? I mean, essentially it seems like he was trying to be more aggressive because Trump fired Pam Bondi for not being aggressive enough. It's just a lesson that in Trump world, there's just no winning. Guys, stay here. I will be watching with you this live hearing. I'll be offering breaking news analysis, all of my insider reporting. Leave your questions, your comments. I'm being told that Todd Blanche just walked in the room. We'll go live with that video as soon as the video starts. I am being Abby Baker, who is our reporter. She is in the room. We'll bring her in to get even more insight and analysis afterwards. So leave your questions, your comments. We'll try to highlight them on the screen and address them. We don't want to miss a moment, though. Super chats are super welcome and important. They keep us going in this independent journalism. This is just me talking to you, giving you all of my reporting and insight. But yeah, all eyes are on Todd Blanch right now. Did he take it too far, guys? Oh, here we go. We are going live. Stay tuned. So he's walking in. The video has not started yet. So stay tuned for a second. But I do want to give you some more details on future programming. We have a really great guest tomorrow. If there's something that you know about me, I care deeply about anti corruption and I think that we are possibly in one of the most corrupt periods of all time. And I think everyone can feel that. Right. And the Democratic Party has obviously tapped into this vein and they have launched their own anti corruption commission. And obviously this is a very rich and fertile area for them to mine. It's something that we're going to continue to do on this show in a nonpartisan way. But I certainly am interested in what the Democrats are doing and what they plan to attack first. What are their leads? Where are they going? I mean, I'm curious to hear what you think. Where you want to see the Democrats go. What do you think? Where have you seen the most corruption? What concerns you about this level of corruption at this time in history? And we're going to have Jason Crow. He's a congressman who is A part of this, this commission that also includes Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and a number of others. There wasn't, you know, the Democrats launched an anti corruption commission before. I believe Elizabeth Warren was a part of it about four or five years ago. It didn't really quite break through. It didn't last for very long. But I'm hoping that this time that they, that they are able to actually really break through and tell the stories that we need to hear, which are, you know, what's happening right now in this country and why are people so deeply, you know, deeply afraid of the way that our government is being run and fearful that our best interests are not being held into account. And, you know, not just from our leader and, you know, the Republican Party, that the party that's in power, but also from the Democratic Party. And a lot of questions about how they're even running their party right now as Americans decide if they're going to hand them the keys to power in 2026. So, yeah, that'll be an interesting show for tomorrow. And we are waiting for the live to start. I'm curious to see if you have any questions. I hear that some people are still walking into the room, so maybe we can get a shot from inside the room. Let me see if I can get that for you all. Hey, guys. Oh, wow. There's a lot of you in the room. Thanks so much for joining. I don't know, I'm curious. What do you think, how do you think that Todd Blanche is going to do today? Do you think he will. Oh, I'm, I'm sorry. I'm trying to read the comment. I'm, I'm a bit far away from it right now. But, like, how do you guys think Todd Planch is going to do in the room? I assume he's going to be extremely defiant. I think he is going to be like, oh, here it is. Stacy Johnson, thank you, Tara, for going live for this hearing. Interested in blant, in what Blanche has to say about the slush fund and the Trump's immunity from tax audits. Neither, I believe, are legal. Yes, Steve, Stacey, I think we're all very curious about that and how the president of the United States has gotten away with having his tax audits dropped. All prior tax audits. And not only him, his family, too, and associates. Todd Micro sets. Todd Blanche knows where every skeleton is buried. I believe he has just as much knowledge as Maxwell does. Yeah. You know, he was President Trump's former personal defense attorney. And it'll be Interesting to see how he defends him live. President Trump looks very closely at how people defend him on tv. And if you don't do well in these hearings, your job could be over. Here we are.
- [11:23]
Chairman Rogers
Welcome our witness, the honorable Todd Blanch, acting Attorney General of the United States, to testify before our subcommittee today. Last month, the fiscal year 2027 Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies bill cleared the full House Appropriations Committee. And the Attorney General's leadership of the Department of Justice comes at a crossroads. On the one hand, the subcommittee recognizes the strides taken by the department to make communities safe again across the United States and to address the misguided priorities of the previous administration. On the other hand, the subcommittee recognizes areas for improvement, such as communicating with the subcommittee and the lack of testimony ahead of our bill. Moving forward, additional areas of concern deal with getting appropriated dollars out the door and making progress with already approved projects from the proposed federal prison in Lesser County, Kentucky. In my district, that has been stalled to the delay of several grant programs, including the prescription drug monitoring program, which I work to start in response to the opioid crisis. And that's vital for many communities like mine. It's critical for this department to move with speed and meet congressional intent. Finally, to date, we're still waiting on responses to questions for the record from two fiscal 26 department hearings. While I would have preferred to start the fiscal 27 year cycle differently by having this conversation prior to to last month's markup, this hearing is hopefully the start of productive dialogue between the subcommittee and the department under your leadership. I look forward to hearing your priorities and vision for the department and responses to our questions regarding the recent announcements. Your testimony will still be valuable to the committee as the fiscal year 27 appropriations process continues. Over the past year, the Department of Justice has made great strides in combating drug cartels and curbing the flow of illicit drugs.
- [14:17]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
All right, this is a bit boring, but I do think we're. This is the opening. Chairman. One second. I'm just going to talk to my producer. One second. Let's go back to the hearing
- [14:46]
Chairman Rogers
Wins. The department must continue this.
- [14:49]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Yeah, so. So I'm just muting him because I feel like right now this is a, a bit of a. This, this is a bit of a formality. He's the chairman and he's laying out the contours of the conversation. But obviously they can ask any question they want. Snooze fest is right. So we're going to let that happen. We know Rogers is a Republican and we, you know, we Want to get into the real grilling. We didn't really come for this. I dou help, you know, bring up the actual flush fund, but. Or Epstein, but if he does, my producer, Abby, she is in the room and she will bring him live and he will drown me out. So thank you, official Ant Man. We appreciate all of you guys for, for staying with us. But, yeah, I mean, my thoughts about all of this are that this is what happens when you try to please Trump. You just can't. There is truly no pleasing President Trump. Pam Bondi didn't go hard enough. Right. Even though she literally threw herself in front of a bus for this Epstein file, for the Epstein case, to make sure that it. That the files weren't released until she could no longer. And then Todd Blanch, I mean, he decided to unleash $1.8 billion trust fund to please Trump. And he's probably gone too far, just like how Kristi Noem went too far. You just cannot win. And I don't understand why these people continue to try to win. It's the sort of mentality that I think you only find in Washington, this extreme raven desire for power that blinds perhaps all, I guess, understanding of right and wrong. You know, it's just. And then they ultimately pay for it. I mean, they become the fall guys. Nobody really ever lasts. Todd Blanch knows the writing is on the wall. He's about to reach his use by date. All right, we're going to let this ranking member in and hear what she's got to say.
- [17:19]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Your patience. As we finished up the prior hearing with Secretary Rubio, tens of thousands of public servants at the Department of Justice work very hard to protect public safety and try their best to uphold the rule of law. However, the leadership of the department has greatly damaged it over the past 16 months. Hardworking Americans continue to struggle with higher and higher costs of gas, groceries, and other necessities. Yet the Trump administration is doing nothing to help them. President Trump himself has said that he doesn't, quote, think about Americans personal financial situation. At the same time, a growing number of Trump administration officials and their family members are enriching themselves in the millions of dollars by making personal business deals directly connected to their official government decisions. Working and middle class Americans are paying their taxes, but the acting Attorney General signed an order two weeks ago directing the IRS to permanently avoid auditing past tax returns of the Trump family. Members of the Trump family are now off the hook for at least $100 million in taxes. On top of that, the Trump administration and The Justice Department are actively working to hand $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars over to insurrectionists and other violent felons, hundreds of whom assaulted police officers here in the Capitol. One of the insurrectionists, Jared Wise, openly encouraged fellow rioters to attack and to kill police officers. He was hired last year by the Trump administration as a senior advisor and counselor at the Justice Department. There have been many other outrages over the past 16 months under this department's leadership and following an interview by then Deputy Attorney General Blanche Jeffrey Epstein's closest associate, the child the convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to a cushy minimum security prison and was given special treatment and unique privileges. Hundreds of experienced career agents, investigators and prosecutors have been fired or forced out of DOJ as part of a campaign of political retribution by the Trump administration. Just days before the launch of US military strikes in Iran this year, at least 10 FBI counterintelligence agents and support staff, including those specializing in the Middle east and Iran, were fired in retaliation for work they had been ordered to do several years ago in the Mar A Lago classified documents case. As the New York Times reported in March, after a year of continuous firings, resignations and other disruptions to work, elite counterterrorism and counterintelligence units at the Justice Department have been stretched thin and left short staffed. But the threats to our country are growing. As part of their retribution campaign, the Trump administration and DOJ have also deliberately targeted and investigated numerous current and former public officials for criminal prosecution on extremely flimsy grounds, if any. DOJ has also trampled on the First Amendment by targeting journalists engaged in investigative reporting, including an FBI criminal probe of a reporter from the Atlantic magazine after its recent reporting about the FBI director's dereliction of his duties. Multiple news outlets have also reported on the administration's corrupt practice of receiving pay for pardons or clemency from millionaire and billionaire criminals. For example, we know that the founder of Binance was pardoned last October after the company took actions that enriched the Trump family by hundreds of millions of dollars. In December, President Trump pardoned the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for allowing drug traffickers to export more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S. not only was he pardoned, but the Bureau of Prisons helped relocate him from a federal prison in West Virginia to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City after his release. All of this has happened in full public view, and the Trump administration has simultaneously gutted the DOJ's Public Integrity Section and shut down the Public Corruption squad of the FBI Washington field office. There's more. Over the past 16 months, the DOJ's highly respected civil Rights Division has been gutted. The FBI has stopped using a national database that tracks hate crime cases, and DOJ is proposing to eliminate the three grant programs aimed at fighting and preventing hate crimes. While hate crimes are at a record high, the administration also wants to eliminate the Community Relations Service, which was created by the Civil Rights act of 1964 to prevent and resolve conflicts in American communities. At the same time, DOJ is seizing state voting records and has sued more than 30 states to access their voter information. Nearly all of the roughly 30 career lawyers in the voting section of the Civil Rights Division are gone. Last month, Acting Attorney General Blanch stated that he sees no problem with deploying ICE officers to polling places, even though 18 U.S. code Section 592 prohibits sending armed personnel to polling places. And equally as egregious, the Justice Department has taken steps to allow criminals to own guns and continues to illegally restore the gun possession rights of convicted felons and domestic abusers. These actions and much more prove that since the start of this Trump administration, the Justice Department has failed the American people. I look forward to the discussions of these critically important issues today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I yield back.
- [23:44]
Chairman Rogers
Chair now recognizes the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, Ms. Nalaro, or any remarks you may wish to make.
- [23:55]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Thank you very much, Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Meng. Acting Attorney General Blanche, welcome. There's much I would like to cover today. The president's budget proposes steep cuts to important programs that combat hate crimes, protect civil rights, prevent gun violence, along with other changes that I believe will weaken efforts to keep our community safe. In an ordinary time, during an ordinary administration, these are topics that I would focus on. But these are not ordinary times, and this is not an ordinary administration. No, this administration has engaged in what are perhaps the most brazen acts of flagrant corruption I've ever seen, and you are at the center of many of them. Mr. Blanche, I know you do not like it when people bring up the fact that before you joined the Justice Department, you were President Trump's personal attorney. But when you are issuing memos granting the president his children and their company's immunity from audits or prosecution for tax offenses, your previous role becomes relevant information. When you preside over a deal to take $1.8 billion of taxpayer money to create a slush fund to pay out violent criminals who Pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. You cannot be surprised when people question your impartiality. Federal courts have blocked the fund from paying out any claims for the time being, but I am not at all convinced that this administration has given up. You left yourself a lot of room with your carefully worded statement, Mr. Blanche. There is effectively no oversight to this slush fund. You appoint every member of the commission, and the President can fire any of them at any time for any reason. There is no definite standard for who is and is not eligible to receive a payout. Quote, weaponization and lawfare are not legally defined terms. Who does and does not qualify appears to be entirely at the discretion of the people that you appoint. There is no transparency built into the fund. There is no congressional oversight. The public has no way of knowing who has filed a claim, of how much or on what grounds. Conversely, we do not know who has been denied a claim or why it was denied. We do not even know the process by which claims will be filed or payments dispersed. All we know for certain is that President Trump's personal lawyer turned acting attorney general set up a $1.8 billion fund with taxpayer money that can be used to pay off just about anyone for just about anything. It can be used to pay out violent criminals who assaulted police officers and ransacked the Capitol on January 6th. I was evacuated from the Capitol on January 6th. These are the people who were arrested. They were tried, convicted, and then pardoned by the administration. And now he wants to raid the treasury to pay them. It is unconscionable, this sort of a scandal, that it would ruin any other administration at any other time. But because President Trump has rendered House Republican leadership so completely impotent, there will be likely no accountability until the next Congress. In addition to the slush fund, you issued a memo stating that the United States is, quote, hereby forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing any and all claims, end quote, against the president, his family, or their businesses related to ongoing tax investigations. Retroactive immunity would be a curious benefit to bestow on someone who has done nothing wrong. The president, his associates and family members were innocent of whatever they were being investigated for. The investigation would surely bear that out. But now we will never know. Congress and the American people are left to speculate what could have possibly prompted this unprecedented settlement that exempts the president from any accountability for his actions. This is staggering. I had not planned on using my time during this hearing to raise these issues, but I would be deficient in my duty as a member of the Congress were I to ignore this extraordinary display of self dealing, self service, self enrichment by this administration. Beginning with the President on down. All year on this committee, we have seen dramatic cuts to programs that help American families who are struggling with the cost of living. We do not have money for food or for housing to bring down the cost for utilities or gasoline or health care. The President said there will be no money for daycare, for Medicaid, for Medicare. But by God, we do have $1.8 billion for a corrupt payout scheme for the President and his political allies. It is shameful. I look forward to hearing your answers to our questions today, Mr. Blank Blanch. Thank you. And I yield back.
- [30:14]
Chairman Rogers
I now want to recognize our witness, Acting Attorney General Blanch, for an opening statement. Without objection, your written statement will be entered into the record. Floor is yours.
- [30:29]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Thank you. Thank you very much. Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Ming as well. And members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget for the Department of Justice. As you all know, the request totals 41.2 billion, which is a 13% increase over fiscal year 2026. Underscoring our department's renewed focus on reducing violent crime, combating the fentanyl crisis, strengthening the border and immigration enforcement, expanding fraud prevention, and ensuring that our law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to protect the American people. Violent crime reduction remains one of the Department's highest priorities. Since January 20, 2025, the Department of Justice has indicted more than 260 TDA members, crippling leadership and dismantling operational networks across our major law enforcement components. The results have been historic. Federal law enforcement helped drive a 20% decrease in the national murder rate in 2025, arrested 44,000 violent offenders, which is double the previous year, and seized over 2,200 kilograms of fentanyl. Last year, law enforcement captured eight of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, located 6,300 missing children and arrested more than 2,000 child predators. The DEA has made thousands of fentanyl related arrests and seized millions of fentanyl pills and hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl powder. In an August surge alone, DEA executed over 600 arrests, seized multi ton quantities of narcotics and recovered more than 11 million in drug proceeds. DEA continues to disrupt global supply chains from source to street. The United States Marshal Service, which is one of the smallest federal law enforcement agencies with roughly 3,800 deputies arrested more than 73,000 fugitives, conducted 308,000 prisoner movements, housed over 55,000 detainees and provided protection for 18 federal protectees, including Supreme Court Justices residences. The Marshals also, as you all know, manage over 10.4 billion in seized assets and remain essential to federal judicial security. ATF continues to be a leader in the federal effort to combat violent crime. Since January 2025, ATF has arrested more than 8,700 violent offenders and seized nearly 44,000 illegal firearms, including 5,100 interdicted before reaching their destination of Mexico. ATF agents also seized 2.7 million rounds of illegal ammunition, more than 28,300 illegal explosives, and conducted over 3,500 arson and explosives investigations to sustain these historic results. The fiscal year 2027 budget includes 22.2 billion for DOJ's law enforcement components and US Attorney's offices. This is a 16% increase over fiscal year 2026. These investments build on our tremendous progress and will ensure continued momentum and violent crime reduction nationwide. We are also strengthening immigration enforcement efforts. The Executive Office for Immigration Review has reduced the immigration case backlog by more than 447,000 cases since President Trump took office. The budget provides almost 900 million for ER to continue rebuilding its workforce and to modernize case processing systems across the entire Department of justice. Nearly $4 billion supports immigration related enforcement activities and finally, the Department launched the National Fraud Enforcement Division to expand federal fraud enforcement and better protect tax fair funded programs. The budget includes $30 million to hire 100 attorneys and enhance data analytics capabilities with a goal of combating large scale criminal fraud schemes. DOJ is also modernizing the grants process by consolidating cops, OJP and OVW into the new Bureau of Justice Grants. The goal is to provide a unified and simplified approach to federal grant making while preserving the missions of each office. The Department also faces serious budgetary constraints. Fiscal year 2026 marked the second year of flat budgets for several components, basically equating to a decrease in funding because costs and expenses increase year over year. The Bureau of Prisons remains under resourced funded at 8.1 billion, almost 300 million below fiscal year 2025. It risks insolvency without additional support. The President's request of 10.3 billion is essential to restore staffing and to maintain safe and secure facilities. In closing, the fiscal year 2027 budget reflects our unwavering commitment to public safety, strong law enforcement partnerships and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars. With your continued support, the Department of Justice will remain strong, effective and fully equipped to protect the American people. Thank you and I look forward to answering Your questions, Chairman.
- [36:18]
Chairman Rogers
Thank you, General. We will now proceed under the five minute rule with questions for the witness. I'll begin by recognizing
- [36:29]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
so
- [36:31]
Chairman Rogers
we all too well, drug trafficking and drug abuse continue to devastate our communities and town. In December of 25, President Trump designated fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction by executive order. How has that historic designation aided the department in its fight against illicit fentanyl? And please share how your 27 budget request reflects that designation.
- [37:11]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Thank you. So look, I think calling the men that are sending poison to this country terrorists is exactly what they are. And what it does by President Trump doing that is not only there's resources that are more readily available because of that designation, but it also allows our Homeland Security Task force around the country, there's one in every single state, to effectively focus on not only the narco terrorists that are in Mexico and South America, but the drug dealers that are on our streets, in our communities, rural communities, city communities, everybody's affected by fentanyl. It remains a priority of this department. It will be a priority for as long as President Trump is in office. And that's why you see that we have an increase that we're asking for more DEA agents, we're asking for more money. And it's exactly to combat that problem.
- [38:08]
Chairman Rogers
Let me turn to the issue of illicit vape products, which is something that is sending children to the hospital, some as young as middle schoolers in my district. And as to around the country, I'm pleased to see that the department and its components such as dea, ATF and others directing its efforts to tackle this emerging threat, such as last year's Operation Vapor Trail. Please share how the department is tackling that issue and outline your plans to continue this effort in fiscal 27.
- [38:51]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Look, we, this is an example of an all of government approach to tackle this problem. It means working with other agencies outside of doj. It means working with state and local partners to combat this very serious problem that affects the youth and it affects a lot of our most vulnerable. And it's been a priority for the past 14 months. It will remain a priority. And part of it is not only enforcement, but it's also education and making people understand the importance and the dangers associated with this. And look, we're going to, we've been doing that for the past year and we'll continue to do it going forward.
- [39:31]
Chairman Rogers
As I mentioned in my opening statement, I applaud the department's efforts to take an aggressive stance on those who defraud the American taxpayer in recent weeks We've seen several examples of charges brought, guilty pleas entered, and successful convictions of those who have committed fraud. Tell us about the department's new National Fraud Enforcement Enforcement Division and highlight some of the division's early successes.
- [40:06]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
This is a look, this is, this is one of the most important things we're doing at this at the Department of Justice, we stood up a new fraud division not because we haven't prosecuted fraud for a long time, but because we want to make sure that there is a renewed focus out of Washington, D.C. and every U.S. attorney's office to combat fraud. And these are individuals, the people that we're targeting are literally stealing from this country. So they are signing up for programs where they're not entitled to it, whether it's daycare centers, whether it's, whether it's SNAP benefits. And the focus will be not only on the big, big players, but on the small players, too. And we've asked for money for 100 prosecutors to help with that effort. But this is again, an all DOJ effort to combat fraud. You're already, you mentioned it. You're already seeing results and you're going to continue to see results, Results in the coming months and years as, as we, as we continue to focus on this.
- [41:04]
Chairman Rogers
The National Fraud Enforcement Division, established after the passage of the fiscal year 26 Commerce Justice Appropriations act for this current fiscal year. Tell us how the, the department plans to fund and staff that division seems to be hitting the ground running.
- [41:29]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So a couple different ways we move prosecutors from the criminal division that were doing fraud work to the new, the new division. A different Prosecutor from every U.S. attorney's office has been designated to work within this division, although they'll stay obviously in their U.S. attorney's office. And then, and then with the expected money that we're getting, we're going to hire. And so it's a combination of existing talent within the department and then bringing more talent in over the next, over the next year or so.
- [42:01]
Chairman Rogers
How does this new division interact with
- [42:03]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
other parts of the agency so closely? And so it's a partner, it's working with not only FBI and hsi and state AGs and state inspector generals, but also U.S. attorneys offices. And again, this is not a new thing to tackle fraud, but it's a renewed effort by the Department of Justice to combat what has become a very big problem in this country with a lot of people just stealing from the money, from the generosity of the American taxpayer.
- [42:44]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Attorney General, I wanted to ask a few questions about the anti weaponization fund. We know that the department has agreed to pause this effort until at least June 12th. I wanted to ask what your plans were for the fund after June 12th, so thank you.
- [43:05]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So, look, we're not moving forward with the fundamentals. You're right. That there's a date that in the case in the east of Virginia in June, but we are not moving forward with the fund, period. The reasons for the fund is something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them. The reasons for the fund, I think, remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund.
- [43:37]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Not moving forward ever, Correct. Oh, there's no more fund then?
- [43:42]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Well, to the extent there was a fund, and remember, the fund wasn't set up yet. There were no commissioners named. There was no. No claimants brought anything in front of. There was no claims made yet. So, yes, we're not moving forward with the fund.
- [43:56]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
You and Associate Attorney General Woodward signed earlier documents regarding the settlement, and this fund. Would both of you now sign and release documents reversing the DOJ's position on the fund?
- [44:12]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I'm not. We're not moving forward with the fund. I'm not sure what that means, to sign documents reversing. There's nothing to reverse. We're not moving forward with the fund.
- [44:20]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
We know about the. The court case, the decision when we've heard press reports, obviously. But is there any way that you could put this in writing? I don't know if there are other ways that you could use another vehicle to move forward with a similar fund or similar intention. And we just want to reassure the American public. We've heard from both Republicans and Democrats, constituents and Americans across the country about this fund, and I think they would love to be reassured that this fund will not progress.
- [44:53]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I'm telling you, it's not. I guess I'm not sure. I'm not trying to be flippant with you. I'm just saying. I'm telling you, it's not. I'm not that. There's a. We put out a statement yesterday. There's been an injunction, a temporary injunction filed in EDVA. There's litigation in D.C. there's litigation in the Southern District of Florida. But notwithstanding what we do in those litigations and defending our rights and making sure our rights are protected, we're not moving forward with the fund.
- [45:21]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Okay. Yeah. The statement I thought was just about. Until June 12th. So if it won't progress after June 12th. That's great to hear and we hope to, to see this in writing.
- [45:32]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Yeah,
- [45:35]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I mean, I think there'll be a transcript of what I say here, so that will be in writing.
- [45:38]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Okay, well, we will work with you and hold you to it. Thank you very much. I wanted to quickly ask with my remaining time about hate crimes. We are concerned about the president's budget request eliminating three largest sources of federal support to local law enforcement for hate crimes responses and prevention legislation passed in a bipartisan basis. Jabara Higher, no hate. Shepherd Byrd, Hate crimes prevention and community based approaches to prevent and address hate crimes grant programs. Why is the proposal, why are we proposing to eliminate the very programs that are helping our law enforcement and targeted communities?
- [46:20]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Well, look, there's a, there's a lot of money that we have asked for to combat violent crime, to combat this type of crime. A lot of overlap includes hate crime. I am, I'm happy to have my team work with you to make sure that we're getting money where it needs to be. That's an important issue to President Trump and it's an important issue to the Department of Justice as well.
- [46:40]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Can you describe or name the areas of overlap?
- [46:44]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Well, there's, yes. I mean, sure, there's, there's billions of dollars and we asked for $12 billion to combat violent crime and grants and things like that. A lot of those grants will go to programs that at least part of it includes combating hate crime. And so, and there's other individualized grants, some of which are earmarked along the way that we're certainly we funded for a long time and that we will continue to work with you on making sure that we're addressing that.
- [47:11]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Yeah, I just want to make sure that we're working together, as we have seen and work together here in Congress, bipartisan, bicameral ways that hate crimes, combating hate crimes isn't just, not isn't just about prosecution, but also about prevention and working with community organizations as well. So I don't have time left, but I would love to continue to work together on this issue.
- [47:34]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I agree with that.
- [47:34]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
I yield back.
- [47:35]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I agree with that.
- [47:37]
Chairman Rogers
Judge Carter, thank you, Mr. Chairman and
- [47:42]
Representative Judge Carter
Attorney General, thank you for being here.
- [47:44]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Thank you.
- [47:45]
Representative Judge Carter
We appreciate very much hearing from you. I've got to ask you about something that's dear to my heart. I authored the Justice Served Act a while back, and it was allowed to. Its purpose was to help law enforcement use advanced DNA technology to solve crimes. And a lot of them don't have It.
- [48:10]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Hey, guys, I'm back. You're able to. One second. I'm going to see if you can see the hearing. So, yeah, I'm going to let you watch the hearing. But I feel like we need to break all this down because that was a pretty big moment. President Trump, Todd Blanch essentially said that the reason for the fund was because, quote, the reason for the fund is something President Trump talked about for a long time and then said that they're backing down from it after all of these attempts by, you know, various judges to halt the fund. And that's pretty big deal. I mean, you really don't see them walking away from their initiatives. Maybe Doge, we saw that, but that was after a very long time of a wrecking ball, and it really fell on Elon Musk. But it's interesting that Todd Blanche and ultimately blame President Trump for that. And I wonder how that's going to go over, you know, so this could be an interesting outcome for Todd Blanch. My producer and reporter, Abby, she's in the room right now and she'll bring in Todd Blanche if she thinks he's saying anything particularly interesting. But, you know, I thought that that was pretty consequential after all the blowback. Blowback they received. You know, President Trump has always says, never be apologetic, never say sorry, never back down. That's part of his ethos. Right. And he is the ultimate victim, creating a victimization fund for himself and his followers who he is protecting. So there you go. Remy said it himself. Palmieri. Right. Todd pulled a Kristi Gnome. And what happened to Kristi Gnome? Yeah, we shall see what happens. Yeah. So this is, this is really interesting, the route that he took. You know, did he do that? Did he roll this out to please Trump? Sounds like it could be interpreted in probably a few different ways. You could say President Trump has said he has wanted this for a while and then he would have said, so I did this, but nope, he just left it there. So we shall see what, what ends up happening. And he's actually being a lot more civil than I thought. I mean, after seeing Pam Bondi in, in her hearing, I don't know if you all remember that, but she was telling members she didn't want to get in the mud with them when asked about Jeffrey Epstein. And it was so bad. I mean, it was, it was horrific and it didn't play well. So he's taking a different act. But, you know, he also has a temper himself, as I saw at the French ambassador's residence. So this could. This could turn. And Grace Mang, the congresswoman, who is the ranking member, who is asking him questions, who rightly asked him to put it in writing, even though it is in the Congressional Record, it's under oath. You know, she. She rightly asked him to do that. And I think she kept her pacing in, her tone level, and perhaps that's why he didn't want to come off as too aggressive, because he would be seen, like Christino and like Bondi, a little too over the top. Yeah, I'm, I'm really enjoying your comments, by the way. Thank you all for tuning in with us. Got Abby in the room. They're talking about immigration right now. If you. If you want to hear about it, let me know and we'll put it back on. Or we can keep, you know, talking about what we saw. Stacy Johnson asks, is the Congressional Record enough? I mean, technically, he's under oath, but Grace Meng made a good point when she said, well, what if you use a different vehicle to use this money? And I think it's a fair question because it's like he's a lawyer. You know, he knows how to wriggle his way out of these statements. He knows how to find escape hatches and doors and causalities. Like, it's not like you're just talking to a regular person. KK Lock. I said, as a real. As a really interesting comment, we need to know where that money is right now. We don't have accountability for that. It will end up in a Qatari bank account. Yeah. How do we know that that payout isn't going to President Trump? It's a really, really good question, especially as the Department of Justice Ask is asking for over $40 billion, by the way, if they are not using. If they're not using the fund, is Todd Blanche going to explain how that money is going to be back. Resort res absorbed back into either the Treasury Department or go to the Justice Department? All right, we're back to Rosa Delora. We'll put her on because she's a feisty one. And it should be more interesting.
- [53:23]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Point, $8 billion. And then this is the addendum to the order, which is about tax immunity. And this is a copy of the settlement agreement. And the Associate Attorney General signed this. These two documents were signed by yourself. Now, this is all in writing. This is all. Can you tell us here today that you are going to disavow this, that you're going to rescind what you said to Ms. Meng in writing? With these efforts both these three documents are in writing. Is that a yes or a no?
- [54:01]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So I can't answer that. Yes. No. Do you want an answer?
- [54:03]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Yeah.
- [54:04]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Okay. So not yes or no. You gave me three documents. The only document I said we're not moving forward on today is the first document identified, which is the. Which is the Anti Weaponization Fund. There was still a. There's still a settlement agreement and there's still the. The second document I signed is not an addendum. It's a separate Attorney General order.
- [54:22]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Okay, okay, so, so, but you're not. You're not going to rescind the addendum. The. Not an addendum. The second order, the only thing you're talking about here. So the blanket immunity is not something that you're going to move back on.
- [54:38]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It's a blanket immunity. That's not true.
- [54:41]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
It is.
- [54:42]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
No, it's not.
- [54:51]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Okay. United States releases, waves, acquits and forever discharges each of the plaintiffs from and is hereby forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of actions, appeals, requests for any release.
- [55:08]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
I mean,
- [55:11]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
this is an order from you, but you're not prepared. You are prepared to say that the President and his family will be barred, are immune from. That's a yes.
- [55:27]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
No. It was not a yes. I had not answered the question. I can't answer if you want me to.
- [55:32]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
What are you doing with this?
- [55:33]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Okay, so there was a settlement, which is one of the documents you showed. Okay. Part of the settlement included the, the second order that you just held up, and that is still. Nothing has changed with that. What I said today, what I've said a couple times today, as what we talked about yesterday, is we're not moving forward with the Anti Weaponization Fund.
- [55:53]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Okay, but you are moving forward with this second order.
- [55:58]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It's not moving forward. There's a settlement. There's a settlement that the IRS entered into with President Trump and others, his family and his companies as part of that settlement, as is customary in IRS settlements. There's the separate AG Order.
- [56:14]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Friends, listen to what is being said.
- [56:17]
Representative Judge Carter
Yeah.
- [56:19]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Today, here. This is really pretty extraordinary that we are going to forever barred and precluded from examining or prosecuting the President, his sons, and the Trump Organization's current tax filings. Simply put, you just gave the President's family a tax immunity to the tune of about $100 million.
- [56:44]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Not true.
- [56:45]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Well, yes, you have, my friend. You know, look, and I just want to say this. The Save America paid you nearly $10 million between March of 2024 and December of 2024 to serve as the President Trump's personal defense attorney. My God. Don't you not find there's any conflict of interest in what you are doing here as the Acting Attorney General of the United States States?
- [57:14]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I didn't. What are you saying is a conflict? I don't understand what you're saying. Listen, the fact that I used to have a job and I have a
- [57:23]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
current job, I've got less time left. But I. On what you're doing on this is that you've taken one piece and you said, okay, we have had a ton of backlash on this, on this $1.8 billion slush fund, however, so we'll not move on that. But as part of the settlement, which you've said, which is this immunity for the President and his family and his business, et cetera, that stands. Thank you.
- [57:59]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It's not, it's not immunity, ma'. Am.
- [58:02]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Thank you.
- [58:02]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It's a promise.
- [58:03]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
It's immunity.
- [58:04]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It's not immunity. It's. It's not immunity. Okay, so it's not immediate. What it says is like, like anytime the IRS settles with an individual taxpayer or, or another company as part of the settlement, it's standard. It's typical for to. To get rid of past ongoing audits. It's not a forward looking document. It's nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the President or his family or his organizations. And so by you saying that, it's just. It's not true.
- [58:32]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
By you saying what you've said, it is not true. So thank you. And I yield back.
- [58:37]
Chairman Rogers
Time of the gentlelady has expired. Mr. Clyde, thank you.
- [58:41]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
You're an attorney. I never got to do this.
- [58:44]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Please, here.
- [58:48]
Representative Hice
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Acting Attorney General Blanche, for being here today. I want to commend the Department of Justice's work in protecting American Second Amendment rights. Your fiscal year 27 budget requested 1.4 million to establish a Second Amendment rights section within the Civil Rights Division. And I was proud to lead an amendment in the FY27 CJS Appropriations act to codify it. This section monitors state and local laws for unconstitutional infringements and pursues enforcement where necessary. Unlike the Biden doj, which sought to charge services.
- [59:26]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Hey, guys, I'm back. Let's make sure the hearing is still on the screen. Yes. Yeah, we got to keep the hearing on the screen.
- [59:39]
Representative Hice
Trump also delivered the biggest Second Amendment victory in over nine.
- [59:43]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Yeah, okay, so I am back. I think we need to break that all down. So here's what we have. Blanch throws Donald Trump under the bus, says it was his idea for this $1.8 billion anti weaponization fund, because this is something he's talked about a lot. Okay? But in the second line of questioning, which Rosa Delora, the original congressional hipster, asked is, well, what about that deal, that deal with the IRS where President Trump is getting paid in a settlement, and then on top of that, has immunity for a tax bill that could be more than $100 million. Not just him, but his children too, apparently. That stands. So they gave up one piece of this, but not the other. And obviously this tax bill was exorbitant. And it, you know, and it could. And the thing is, it wasn't just immunity for that case. It was for any case up until this point. So we don't even know if there are existing cases because, remember, Trump always said, I'm not releasing my tax, my tax returns because I'm being audited. And really, no president had done that since, like, the 1970s. So this is really quite interesting. So he gave up one, held on to the other. Obviously, for Trump saving $100 million, getting a settlement from the IRS, that's probably more. Probably something he's more likely to hold on to rather than paying off his loyalists if he really does believe this is his last term. Yes, it is a hot potato. It is the perfect analogy. It is a hot potato. Guys, thank you for all of your comments. I feel like you are keeping this alive because some of these guys are really putting me to sleep. But we got Addie, Abby in the room, so if anything interesting happens, you know, we like the drama here. We'll get it up on the screen. The meantime, I'm going to look at your comments and see what, how you feel about all of this. Christine came. Lee says Rosa rocks. Love her integrity. By the way, Abby's computer needs to be charged, so. Yeah, I know. I can't believe he said there is no settlement. How can he say that there was a settlement? I mean, that, that if it wasn't a settlement, then how would President Trump be paid? Oh, a few short minutes coaching said it's okay. We all know you are big tired. I am big tired. We could be here for a while, too. We're into this an hour. I think they all get about eight minutes of questioning or statements and then a question and a statement. So yay, congressional hearings. Abby is new. She's her. Well, she's been working with me for a Year now, but it's her first few weeks full time Capitol Hill reporter. So this will be her first report from the Hill. It's very exciting. One hour feels like three hours in certain parts of the country, says Matt Z. That's true. Yeah. A few short minutes. Also noted that Todd Blanche himself called it a settlement. He did. This is, it's so tricky with him. He. Even when I was talking to him at the French ambassador's residence, he was like, you don't even know what's in the Epstein files. You haven't read the files. I've read the files. And I was like, but have, aren't they all supposed to be public?
- [63:32]
Representative Judge Carter
Aren't.
- [63:32]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Haven't we all supposed to be. Aren't we all, you know, all supposed to have read the Epstein files? If you actually comply with the Epstein files Transparency Act. And then what else did he say to me? Oh no, you're wrong. You're wrong. When I said that the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York was appointed to the board at Apollo by Jay Clayton when he was. Sorry. By Leon Black when he was pushed out for his Epstein ties, you know, you're talking about. And I was like, well, it was announced. Leon Black said it himself. So you know, it's. This is his, this is how he obfuscates. I mean he's a, he's a defense attorney. He's a defense attorney. Jacob Taylor. All right, well we will stop do talking about it then. I'm just saying about my own personal experience with Todd Blanche and how he's able to wriggle out of these conversations. Direct questioning and. Yeah, so there we are inside the room. What is going on right now? All right, we're going to put Mr. Ivey on, see what he's got to say.
- [64:49]
Representative Ivey
Looks to me like a blatant pay for pardon scheme. So let me walk through some of the facts that lead me to that conclusion. In late 2023, Binance and CEO Zhao agreed to pay a penalty of 4.36 billion. A US judge approved the guilty plea for multiple federal crimes and a civil settlement for anti money laundering and sanctions. And that was in 2023. Donald Trump is elected president. November 2024. December 2024. Mr. Zhao and Mr. Witkoff meet in Abu Dhabi at a bitcoin conference in March of 2025. A couple months later, you're confirmed as Deputy Attorney General. March 25, 2025. World Liberty Financial announced that it would launch A stablecoin called USD1. World Liberty Financial is a Family owned business by the Trump Trump family. Two of his sons are in it. Mr. Witkoff's got interest in it as well. One month later, in April 2025, Binance's founder, Mr. Zhao, was sentenced to federal prison for money laundering and other factors. Federal crimes that included funding to terrorist groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. On May 1, World Liberty Financial announces that an Emirati company called MGX that also has ties to Mr. Witkoff would use $2 billion on the stable coin I just mentioned, USD 1 to invest in Binance. This gave President Trump and his family a revenue stream that could be worth tens of millions of dollars. According to the Wall Street Journal, Binance took steps that catapulted the Trump's family's ventures into stablecoin product, enhancing its credibility and pushing its market capitalization up from 127 million to over $2.1 billion. Now, on May 5, Mr. Zhao publicly stated that he had applied for a presidential party pardoned for the crimes that he'd previously pled guilty to and had been sentenced to jail for. And the the restitution amount of 4.3 billion plus was put in place. A few months later, on October 21, 2025, President Trump grants him a full pardon with no explanation, by the way, in the document, at least that I saw. So this looks like a pay to play kind of scenario. You've got the meeting that takes place, you've got the money that's transferred to an entity that's owned by the Trump family. I don't think the President has actually divested his interest there necessarily, but I could stand corrected on that. But certainly his family still has interests in it, as does Mr. Witkoff. And then a few months after that, he issues a pardon. So why haven't you appointed a special prosecutor to take a look, look at this. This looks, on its face, it just looks like a quid pro quo scenario that should be investigated. Why haven't you taken that step?
- [67:58]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Well, to be, look, the, the power to pardon in our Constitution is given to the President of the United States. The Constitution does not require him to provide any explanation for who he chooses to pardon or not pardon or commute or not commute. And so I, I don't, I very much reject the idea that, that this, the premise that this looks like something is, to a point.
- [68:22]
Representative Ivey
Let me reclaim my time. The Constitution gives him absolute power to pardon. It does not give power to pardon in exchange for payments, clearly. And a $2.1 billion payment to his family and we'll set aside the fact that he should have divested from all of those interests anyway, but the fact that he gave the 2 billion. That he gets the $2 billion piece and then a few months later pardons the guy who was guilty of money laundering and providing money to or helping to finance the money laundering operation for ISIS and Al Qaeda and the guys we're fighting in Iran right now, the Iranian Revolutionary government, I just, I don't. That's not a problem.
- [69:00]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Who he chooses to pardon is not a problem, period. And you're saying all these things that are just not.
- [69:05]
Representative Ivey
What's the legal basis for that statement?
- [69:07]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
The Constitution of our United States.
- [69:08]
Representative Ivey
The Constitution does not give the authority to pardon in exchange for payments.
- [69:13]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It does not permit bribery payments. You have you told me nothing about a change for payments. You said there's.
- [69:18]
Representative Ivey
Well, I just told you put a
- [69:19]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
bunch of facts together.
- [69:20]
Representative Ivey
That's why you need a prosecutor. Shouldn't somebody take. Clearly you're not going to do it. Shouldn't somebody be appointed a truly experienced prosecutor to take a look at this and conduct the investigation and then if you reach the conclusion that you're right, that's fine. But if he finds that there's a problem with what the President or his family, then he should, he should move forward with, with prosecuting.
- [69:43]
Chairman Rogers
That has expired.
- [69:45]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I very much disagree, Mr. Strong.
- [69:48]
Representative John Carter
Thank you, Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Ming, for convening this hearing. Acting Attorney General Blanche, thank you for being here with us today. I appreciate you and the department for your work supporting law enforcement and addressing evolving threats across this country. As you know, North Alabama and Redstone Arsenal have become a premier hub for the DOJ and FBI operations, supporting critical work in counterterrorism, explosives and ballistic analysis, emerging UAS threats and coordination across federal agencies. North Alabama has repeatedly demonstrated it can support the nation's most critical missions. With a highly skilled workforce, state of the art facilities, and room for continued growth. The funds this committee approved last month include a planned investment,
- [70:38]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
advanced training and
- [70:39]
Representative John Carter
operational support at Redstone Arsenal as part of the department's broader efforts to strengthen the FBI readiness and capabilities.
- [70:47]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Hey, guys, I am back. So, yeah, that was fiery and actually really good point. A lot of people have been talking about this Binance guy and the poll pardon, and it's, it really reeks of corruption. Steve Witkoff, who's running around right now, Trump's best friend, not only doing deals, real estate deals, but also being our, our envoy to some of the biggest crisis in the world like Ukraine and Israel. And Iran. And we have, you know, he's, he's also a businessman wheeling and dealing at the same time. It's, it's really, really interesting. And I felt that the, I felt like that member really cut to the heart of it, and he was able to just keep the line of questioning in the timeline. Like, the timeline is a great way to present an argument, especially with someone like Todd Blanche who weaves and bobs. And I think that's the best way to go about it. The problem, though, is that Joe Biden and his family, they handed out a lot of pardons at the end, including pardoning themselves, which is not a great precedent right now. Obviously, President Trump is abusing this power, but they're, you know, it's hard for Democrats to argue about this. Although this is literally pay for play pardoning, it's next level. But still, I just want to point out that this is a problem and probably needs some reform, true reform, so that others don't abuse future presidents, don't abuse the congressional, don't abuse the executive branch. And this in kind of almost king like power pardoning. So, yeah, this is, this is a really, really, really wild, wild, wild, you know, moment that we're in right now that Trump family became a billionaire from this guy. We're gonna, we're gonna tune into the, the hearing. And before we do, Abby Baker, our reporter for the Red Letter, which you can support by going to Tara Palmeri.com hitting that subscribe button, how you keep me going. If you become a paid subscriber, you get all of my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox. This is independent media. There is no one here except me and you and my awesome team that I'm, you know, supporting. And we're all trying to make the best content for you every single day. And we just want to make it better and better. We're working on it. We've got really exciting stuff coming, so get ready, but hit that subscribe button. Share this with your friends. Tell them all about it. Abby is in the room and she's making this all possible. And she saw one of the members walking into the room with Virginia Giuffre, survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, with her book annotated. So we assume that Epstein will come up at some point and if so, tune in, because I will certainly be able to speak to that in a way. Yeah. That I think is worth hanging on for. So, guys, thank you so much for sticking with us. This is, you know, this keeps going and, and yeah, we really, we really appreciate all Your support, just hit that subscribe button. Tell your friends about it and if you can become a paid subscriber. I know times are tough right now, but I'm not backed by corporate donors, shadowy funders and I'm just small business owner trying to bring you the best news, highest quality news I possibly can with the 18 years of journalism experience that I have and you know, do it authentically in a way that couldn't do in legacy media. So BO is Bo's Assange. Bo is Assange says hottest question number one in our country. Who is doing the watching? Good question. Thanks for all the support, everybody. Another one. Are our d. Are our teenage daughters safe? Another really important one. All right, we're going to give Mr. Morel the mic.
- [75:20]
Representative Morelle
And the attorney general is appearing here nearly three weeks after the subcommittee and full committee have marked up Commerce, justice and Science appropriations bill. It's, it's deeply troubling. This is not how the appropriations process is expected to work. And we would love to hear from you in the future and I think we should ought to your budget priorities question your leadership, what the leadership believes about these. So I just deeply frustrated. I hope it doesn't. I hope next year we don't repeat this. So I just wanted to associate myself with that. I was just curious, just as a follow up to Mr. Ivey's line of question, is it your testimony or that if someone paid the President of the United States a million dollars for a pardon, that that would not violate federal law?
- [76:05]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
That is not my testimony.
- [76:06]
Representative Morelle
What is your testimony about?
- [76:07]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
My testimony is that the power to pardon in our Constitution is not limited. So what I mean by that is, is there. He doesn't. The President doesn't have to say why he's Pardon?
- [76:15]
Representative Morelle
No, I didn't say that. I'm asking you though. So if someone wrote in the memo of a check for a million dollars to the President, United States, any president said for issuance of a pardon, would that be a violation of federal law?
- [76:28]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes, absolutely. I mean, I mean, I would.
- [76:31]
Representative Morelle
Under what section of facts?
- [76:32]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I mean, I, I think there would be a, A. You just said violation. The bribery law.
- [76:36]
Representative Morelle
Yes, Bribery law. Even though the Constitution gives you unlimited
- [76:40]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
power as President, the person that paid the bribe would be for the President himself, who accepted the money. I think you would need to impeach him in that case, at least under my reading of the Constitution.
- [76:51]
Representative Morelle
Just wanted to make sure I understood what you were saying. I wanted to ask you on a completely different topic. I serve as the ranking member of The Committee on House Administration, which has jurisdiction over federal elections. As you know, federal law prohibits the deployment of military personnel or armed federal law enforcement officers from polling places.
- [77:09]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes.
- [77:09]
Representative Morelle
Federal also prohibits intimidating, threatening or coercing any person for the purpose of interfering with the right to vote. Violators of either of these laws are subject to criminal penalties. As you know, under federal law, the President has continued to talk about an issued rhetoric which suggests that he might be willing to deploy military personnel or federal agents, perhaps even FBI, at polling places. And I just want your assurance that you will not allow Department of Justice personnel around election places. Polling places this November.
- [77:44]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I'm sorry that I won't allow department like you around election place.
- [77:48]
Representative Morelle
We will.
- [77:49]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
We will comply with the law.
- [77:50]
Representative Morelle
You will comply with the law?
- [77:52]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes.
- [77:52]
Representative Morelle
And will you commit to investigating prosecuting individuals who violate those protections or otherwise interfere with an American.
- [77:59]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
We. We will definitely comply with the law. And the law enforcement will investigate alleged violations of law.
- [78:06]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Thank you, sir.
- [78:08]
Representative Morelle
Just weeks ago, changing topics, ATF announced 34 regulatory changes affecting the agency's efforts to combat violent gun crime. At that announcement, you said, what we're doing today will actually help law enforcement. And the Director, I think it's Cicada added, we believe that these rules will not negatively impact public safety. Those are your words. Your regulations tell a different story. In the rule that allows a potential prohibited purchaser to skip a second background check, the Department warns a prohibited person who obtains a firearm under the proposed rule and uses that firearm to inflict mass casualties would have been prevented under the current requirement, which the Department is asking be taken away. And in the rule restricting law enforcement from effectively tracing guns, the Department, again in the. In the body of the regulatory reforms, warned that the change that you were asking for could delay or hinder federal, state and local enforcement office to track and stop violent offenders. Those are the Department's warnings. Your own analysis acknowledges the changes could make it easier for prohibited individuals to obtain firearms and harder for law enforcement to track violent criminals. So you're the nation's chief law enforcement. You talked a lot about violent crime. Why is the Department pursuing actions for when the Department analysis states it would potentially create a much higher risk of violent gun crime for the public?
- [79:33]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
The analysis you're talking about is not. That is not true. Right. So that is when we talk about potentials with the new regulations, that includes a variety of possibilities when it comes to the regulation, you're speaking about directly that the problem that existed that we were trying to fix with that is making it more Efficient and make it easier for law enforcement and for ffls to make sure that only people who could have guns have guns. And so the regulations that exist now that we're changing don't do that. They're actually outdated and they're not. The systems are not up to date. And that's what the regulation that you're speaking about, I believe is designed to fix.
- [80:16]
Representative Morelle
But I would just suggest that the analysis by the department in issuing these, the elimination of these regulations actually identifies threats and potential harm to the public. By doing the regulatory reforms you're suggesting, I'd ask you to look at it further. And I know my time is out and I want to yield back.
- [80:33]
Representative Judge Carter
Mr. Chair,
- [80:37]
Chairman Rogers
Mr. Shrive.
- [80:39]
Representative Larry Bucshon
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Attorney General. It's encouraging. It's encouraging to see overdose deaths decline over so much of our country, including in my home state of Indiana. And yet fentanyl remains the leading cause of death for Americans between ages 18 and 45. We've made progress, but we haven't knocked it down. So communities throughout my district continue to feel the consequences of this epidemic. Too many families are still grieving from the loss of loved ones from fentanyl related overdoses. I commend the administration for the actions it you have taken to secure our southern border or aggressively prosecuting drug traffickers and for holding China accountable for its role in supplying the precursor chemicals that have in part fueled this crisis. Those efforts are crucial and I appreciate your leadership on this. However, despite the stronger enforcement measures here at home, fentanyl continues to reach across our borders too oftentimes through Mexico, where the cartels use these precursor chemicals I've described to manufacture and traffic these drugs into the United States. Mr. Blanche, would you update us on what the DOJ under your leadership is doing to strengthen interdiction efforts real time this year over the year ahead through coordination, in particular with foreign law enforcement partners.
- [82:24]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes.
- [82:24]
Representative Larry Bucshon
Thank you, Major Transit hud.
- [82:26]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Thank you. Look, the biggest thing I can say is the Homeland Security Task Force effort, which is focused. Its priority is stopping the flow of illegal narcotics, especially fentanyl, into our communities. And you're right that we've made progress, but we are nowhere near our goal. And with dea, with hsi, with the FBI, we are. Now, every federal law enforcement agent is targeting and working with state and local law enforcement agent and also international partners, including in Mexico, in Ecuador and Colombia, even in Venezuela, to stop not only the flow from South America and Mexico, but also to the extent there's fentanyl in our communities. We're also completely focused on ridding the drug dealers and the fentanyl out of the communities as well. So this is not a problem that gets fixed overnight. It is such a crisis in this country that I promise you, the next time that I'm before you, we. We will still be talking about it. But that doesn't mean that we're not making extraordinary progress and that we're not getting fentanyl off the streets and we're putting bad guys in jail who are dealing it. And I commit to you that President Trump, all the way down to every federal prosecutor in this country and every FBI and D agent is focused on it.
- [83:41]
Representative Larry Bucshon
And in your view, your budget will reflect, look, increased prioritization, Correct? We're working with 100% foreign law enforcement partners.
- [83:51]
Tara Palmeri
Yes.
- [83:51]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes.
- [83:54]
Representative Larry Bucshon
Effective information sharing across our federal, state, local, and our tribal law enforcement agencies is one of the key tools that we have. Programs like the regional information sharing systems. The risks are key to supporting criminal investigations. And I see that back in my home district, I was in Columbus, Indiana, this past week. Police department, city of 50,000 people, is using risk technology to enhance audio and video evidence leading to the identification,
- [84:29]
Chairman Rogers
arrest,
- [84:30]
Representative Larry Bucshon
and prosecution of armed robbery suspects. These programs deliver results from my constituents and the constituents of everyone else that I serve with up here today. I appreciate the work that Congress and DOJ continues to prioritize information sharing of law enforcement. Mr. Blanche, what is your department? How is your department prioritizing information sharing this year going into the next year with these partnerships that are so crucial to bringing in these results?
- [85:07]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So we work with at the basic level, in the districts around this country, we work with our state and local partners in every single case.
- [86:11]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Oh, it looks like we've lost the feed, but we're going to get it back. Don't worry. And hopefully by then, we'll get to the juicy stuff. We'll get to the Epstein files, which obviously everybody is here for. I mean, the slush fund, the pardons, the settlement. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, I got a little quick hit of Nespresso, so not a sponsor. Couldn't do it without them, though. So Abby is gonna jump on soon so we can get up. She lost me, but I think I'm still live, guys. Am I still live? Okay, it looks like everyone's still with me, and my. And Abby is back. Abby's gonna come back in. We're gonna talk once we get
- [87:16]
Chairman Rogers
well,
- [87:17]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
first, we're gonna put the feed on. Thanks, all you guys, for being cool. Thank you for letting me jump off for a second to get coffee. And this is life, right? You can't control it. We're live. We're making it work. We're making it work. We'll get back. Let's get that feedback up. And also, guys, I just want you to know, Abby is newly graduating from college, and she's doing a kick ass job. And so, yeah, she's been running this feed this whole time. She's been all over booking, running around Capitol Hill. She's, you know, has a real love and desire for independent reporting. And so she's gonna get this back going, and we're gonna hear from her, too, from everything that's going on inside. And she was the one who spotted that Congresswoman Dean walked in with Virginia's book. So I assume that we will get a reading and a call. Todd Blanche out on that. Yeah. So I'm excited for that. Yeah. Welcome, Abby. Abby worked for me for a year.
- [88:22]
Tara Palmeri
I told him the answer he gave me, and now in public, he's trying to say something else. Please stop the clock. Can I get that time back? May I have 20 seconds back? Mr. Chairman, thank you. I very much appreciate that.
- [88:36]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Mr. Blanch, you don't want me to answer the question?
- [88:38]
Tara Palmeri
Mr. Blanche, as you know, I visited DOJ three times for as much as 10 hours. And I'll be going back. Does the Epstein File Transparency act say that the file should be available to members of Congress with a minder at doj, where you're in a secure room, you can't write on any of the binders. You can take your own notes. Is that what the Transparency act says
- [89:00]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
it doesn't require we allow you to come to DOJ at all? We did that on our own.
- [89:03]
Tara Palmeri
What does it say in terms of transparency? It says that they should be made publicly available.
- [89:08]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
And they were.
- [89:09]
Tara Palmeri
Am I correct?
- [89:11]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Publicly available, and they were.
- [89:12]
Tara Palmeri
Oh, let's talk about that.
- [89:13]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Okay.
- [89:17]
Chairman Rogers
Time of the general lady has expired.
- [89:20]
Tara Palmeri
I beg your pardon? And I. I'd actually like to get 20 seconds back. How do I get cut off two minutes into this?
- [89:30]
Chairman Rogers
Time of the gentle lady has expired.
- [89:32]
Tara Palmeri
I beg your pardon, Mr. Chairman. What rules are we operating under? Because he's under a little bit of heat for not prosecuting anyone in these monstrous crimes. I've been in the room. I have been there. This is what I had to do to transcribe, to show what is true. What is true is that the President has lied about being on Epstein's plane. And the unredacted files prove that there's a Lot in here. I am shocked at this. There's also this set of files in the. In the file. This is investigation into the potential co conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein.
- [90:12]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Yes.
- [90:13]
Tara Palmeri
I almost use up all the blank ink hallway because it's all covered up. It's all covered up. The American people are not stupid. They know that when members of Congress have to go in and actually unredact, try to find the truth. Truth for these victims. Something is corrupt. Something is corrosive. You were paid $10 million to represent the president. You hang a 30 foot banner of the President's menacing face over the entrance to the Department of Justice. You said that if you were terminated or not move forward as Attorney General, you would say to the President. I love you, sir. So I have one question for you. Is your obligation to the victims and survivors of Epstein's heinous crimes and all his perpetrators or is your first obligation to the President of the United States?
- [91:10]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So without a doubt, we want to bring justice to every.
- [91:16]
Tara Palmeri
When will you bring that justice?
- [91:17]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Can I please finish?
- [91:19]
Tara Palmeri
Excuse me, can I finish in decades.
- [91:21]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
When will you finish?
- [91:22]
Tara Palmeri
When will you bring the justice?
- [91:24]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So as I was saying.
- [91:25]
Tara Palmeri
When will you prosecute and who will you prosecute?
- [91:28]
Chairman Rogers
Can I allow the witness.
- [91:30]
Tara Palmeri
You told me in our conversation you blamed the victim.
- [91:33]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Every victim. Every victim. Mr. Epstein told me of the victims
- [91:37]
Tara Palmeri
didn't give good names.
- [91:39]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Let me. Let me be crystal clear that this Department of Justice will always, will always protect victims and will always prosecute anybody we can. Okay. Full stop. No ifs, ands or buts. Okay? What you are showing in a game of showmanship are redactions. Because of victims. Because that prosecution memorandum talks about.
- [92:02]
Tara Palmeri
Excuse me, Perpetrators too.
- [92:04]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
How do you know that?
- [92:06]
Tara Palmeri
Go ahead, talk to them.
- [92:08]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Exactly. So they're victims. Their victims names. Which we are required to redact. Required by law to redact. Which we did. Okay. So. So I. I take.
- [92:18]
Tara Palmeri
Chairman, I realize I'm over time. I thank you for that indulgence. I have. I want to ask for unanimous consent to enter records into the. Onto the record. May I do that now?
- [92:29]
Chairman Rogers
Without objection.
- [92:30]
Tara Palmeri
Thank you.
- [92:31]
Chairman Rogers
The time of the gentle lady has expired. Mr. Offer.
- [92:35]
Tara Palmeri
I would like to enter these records. May I please list what they are?
- [92:38]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Sir, You.
- [92:40]
Chairman Rogers
You had your chance, Mr. Alford.
- [92:43]
Tara Palmeri
You're denying me the chance to list what These records are.
- [92:46]
Chairman Rogers
Mr. Alford.
- [92:47]
Representative Larry Bucshon
Thank you, Chair. Mr. Attorney General, would you like to respond to any of these allegations?
- [92:52]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Well, look, I think that. That the idea that this Department of Justice does not stand up to victims and does not do everything we can stand up for victims. Rather do everything we can to prosecute anybody who harms our most vulnerable. Ignores the fact that we will always protect victims. We have said from the beginning, anybody, whether it's their lawyer, whether it's a victim who wants to meet with the FBI or who has information, they don't have to come in, they can use their lawyers. They can use nonprofit groups. I've spoken to nonprofit groups. My leadership team has spoken to nonprofit groups and victims. When we released the Epstein files earlier this year, I spent the whole weekend on the phone with many of Epstein's victims lawyers and, and, and Director Patella said the same thing. And so I will say again, if there is a lawyer or a victim who has information, please come forward. And it doesn't mean coming forward to a congressman's office. It means coming forward to the FBI. And if there's nervousness or if there's something that, that it's a difficult thing to do, we will work with you. That's what we do. That's what the FBI does. And, and, and, and that's what we said for months and months. And it remains as true today as it was the first time. We said.
- [94:01]
Representative Larry Bucshon
I had no intention of asking about Epstein, but there were three allegations made. A failure to fully redact victims names.
- [94:07]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Have you done that? So we, we were required by law to redact victims name. We did not get to choose victims. So what the judge told us in New York was if somebody identified themselves as a victim, we had to redact that. And, and that's what we did.
- [94:23]
Representative Larry Bucshon
Has there been a failure to prosecute perpetrators?
- [94:27]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Never. And if there's a. If we learn of a bad guy that we can prosecute today, we will prosecute him today.
- [94:33]
Representative Larry Bucshon
Has there been a failure to release all the files?
- [94:35]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
No. So there's. We reviewed more than enough we over collected on purpose to make sure we could comply with the law. And so necessarily by over collecting some of the materials we collected were not responsive. They had nothing to do with the Epstein files or the transparency act.
- [94:49]
Representative Larry Bucshon
I want to dramatically shift gears now and talk about what's going on in New Jersey.
- [94:54]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
All right?
- [94:54]
Representative Larry Bucshon
Our federal officers are being assaulted by people who are funded, we believe, from outside sources. One man was arrested recently.
- [95:05]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
We got to talk about threats on ice officers.
- [95:09]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
No wonder they don't want to wear ma.
- [95:10]
Representative Larry Bucshon
I mean, they want to wear masks.
- [95:13]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Hey guys, I'm back. I gotta. We gotta talk about that. So. Whoa. I don't even know where to start. I mean, that Freudian slip. We stand up to. To victims. No, stand up. Four victims. He forgot the four. But actually that was really quite telling. That the Freudian slip, they did not invite the. The victims to come in. The victims called him because so many of their names were unredacted, ruining the lives of so many victims who did not want their names and identities revealed. This is horrendous. And it's interesting that she brought up that file, that the Congresswoman Dean brought up that file. I don't know if you noticed, but she had Virginia's book there annotated. So. One of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein actually sent me that file earlier this week. So I'm guessing that that was that. It's been kind of floating around. I am going to try to look it up. I wanted to do a longer piece on it, and it's to the U.S. attorney, Jeff Berman. Okay. It's dated December 19, 2019. Investigation into potential co conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein. Okay. And it is an 86 page document, highly redacted. Okay. Highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly, highly redacted. I. Oh, sorry. You can't even see this. It's a big redaction machine. Maybe Abby, if she has a second, I know she's on the ground there, but if you have a second to see it, it is just a big redaction machine and there are allegations against men under all of this. It's insane. Yeah, I'm gonna text this to Abby right now so maybe we can get some of it on the screen. But it is so detailed. It is so thorough. It's. It's shocking, frankly. We're getting it to Abby right now. Yeah, Abby's gonna get a chance to look at it.
- [97:22]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
So.
- [97:22]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Yeah, this is like textbook gaslighting. We know that they have done. Oh, my God, that coffee really worked, guys. And some like, real like getting to the heart of the issue charged me up getting into the Epstein piece of this all. You know, one of the survivors told me that they really wanted to meet with Bondi months ago. Pam Bondi. And she blew them off entirely. I'm actually surprised that we had to wait in an hour and a half to get to this up here. We have got the document right there. Maybe we can zoom in a little bit. As you can see, all blanked out. Okay, this memo. Let's go back up. Abby, you went a little too far, a little too fast for everybody reading here. This memorandum details the investigation, investigative steps taken since the indictment of Jeffrey Epstein and analyzes the Extent to which certain of Epstein's associates and employees may or may not be criminally liable for their conduct during employment with Epstein. Okay, so this is employment. I'm going to send you guys this file, okay? Because it's been going around all of these. If you're. If you're watching this on YouTube right now, then I'm going to try to get you the link. Hold on one second. So you can read along at home. Let me do the best I can. I'm trying to. I'm trying, people. Let me see if I can get it on the screen. But, yeah, I want. You guys can all read along. It's just so many redactions. And we know that the FBI put together in 2021, they put together an entire presentation naming a number of men, and the victims have said it themselves. And if they weren't treated as if everything they said was innuendo and gossip and that their testimony under oath actually mattered, then who knows, Maybe there would be a real investigation into what happened. Yeah. So this is. I mean, just look at all these redactions. I am going to try to break all this down for you guys and do a lot of reporting. It's going to take me a little bit of time. 86 pages. Got to make a lot of phone calls. That's real reporting. You know, I know why you come here. Not for punditry, but analysis and reporting. So I just want to get. Yeah, here. I'm going to get you the file right now. You know the deal. It's coming at you. But don't leave now. Stay for the show. Okay. Just copy and paste it. Read it later. Yeah, yeah, they did. They did. They did redact the names of four different codefendants. Yeah. All right, let's get Back on to Mr. Klein. Go ahead.
- [100:17]
Representative Mike Johnson
As we stand with our men and women in law enforcement, we back the blue. But in those jurisdictions where you see a refusal or reluctance to enter into these types of 287 agreements, could it be encouraged through the tying of these cops, grants to these 287 agreements, could that be a productive use of the funds?
- [100:41]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes. And look, the. The problem is, or the challenge is that we love our cops and we want them to have funding, and it's. It's usually not them. It's usually the.
- [100:53]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Go back to Blanche for a second. I'm getting messages from the victims right now. We're talking about.
- [100:57]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Not their fault, but yes, the power of the purse is exactly that. It's power.
- [101:02]
Representative Mike Johnson
Well, it's hope I'm hopeful that the legislation I'm introduced, which would do just that, will move through the legislative process. I also want to discuss your department's data security program administered through the National Security Division. For years, Congress has become increasingly concerned that foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party have been acquiring vast quantities of Americans personal information through data brokers, corporate acquisitions, commercial relationships, and other means. In the hands of a foreign adversary, this information can be used to identify intelligence targets, facilitate surveillance support, support cyber operations, and strengthen artificial intelligence capabilities. The Department's data security program represents an important step toward addressing these vulnerabilities and protecting Americans from exploitation by foreign adversaries. Since implementation of the program, can you answer what the DOJ has learned about the scale of foreign efforts to obtain U.S. data through commercial channels?
- [101:56]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I mean, it happens every day and it's a constant effort by not only Department of Justice, but a lot of the, a lot of the federal government to combat that. Because the, the foreign actors are trying, are spending a lot of money, a lot of resources, and they're smart to try to get our, our data. And so you're right, the, the, the money that we put up in these agencies, NSD and other places, it's, it's, it's because we, we have to make sure that we're not only stopping it, but also putting preventative measures in place. So it's not worth it for them to try and have.
- [102:33]
Representative Mike Johnson
Has the DOJ identified any gaps in current law that make it difficult to prevent sensitive U.S. data from reaching these foreign adversaries?
- [102:40]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I don't think gaps is the right way to say it, but I think that it's. We need to make sure that we're constantly robust and that we remain strong in our regulatory efforts to stop it. Thank you.
- [102:51]
Representative Ivey
Yield back.
- [102:53]
Chairman Rogers
That concludes the regular hearing. However, there is a request for a second round. The Attorney General has important matters to attend to, so we will attempt to shorten what would normally be a second round and keep it to two minutes per member, if that's okay with VMs. Ming.
- [103:24]
Representative Judge Carter
All right.
- [103:25]
Chairman Rogers
Well, in that case, I recognize myself for two minutes. Let me ask you, General, about the surge operations that the Department has conducted on cities across the United States. Our state and local partners have mixed feelings about the success of. Can you share the impact these operations have had on officer morale, for example, in large cities with historically high crime rates? And is the Department planning to continue these efforts and if so, what resources are needed to continue those efforts?
- [104:10]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So the surges have been extraordinarily successful. From August 25th. Sorry. From August of last year to April of this year, we directed almost $44 million and over 1100 agents to these surge efforts. And in D.C. and in Memphis, you see a remarkable reduction in crime, but you also see a community that's appreciative. In this city, we work very well with local leadership, including the mayor, because the results of the surges is exactly what you expect it to be, which is we're taking bad guys off the streets, we're letting people feel comfortable walking around. And that's the same thing we did in D.C. and in Memphis, we expect to spend another 100 million doing that over the next fiscal year because it's working, because it's a good thing to do in this country. And so we sending a lot of law enforcement into a crime ridden area works.
- [105:08]
Chairman Rogers
Amen. Yes. Ming.
- [105:11]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Attorney General, I want to thank you for verbally committing to not moving forward with the so called anti weaponization fund. I just want to make sure. Are you going to issue a new memo in writing rescinding that May 18 memo?
- [105:28]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I'm not committing to putting anything in writing. I'm going to set. I don't know what the purpose of putting something in writing. I'm telling you what we're doing. Meaning, like, what's the. Why do I need to put something in writing? Because I'm telling you what we're doing.
- [105:43]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
You started it, you established it in writing, so it just makes sense to rescind it in writing. I think a lot of Americans, both sides of the aisle, are concerned about it and it would restore a lot of trust about this issue.
- [105:58]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Okay. I'm not committing to doing anything in writing. No.
- [106:01]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Okay.
- [106:01]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I mean, I'll take it under advisement.
- [106:03]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
I'm just concerned because you're not under oath and I want to trust you and I want to believe you. We all do. But putting it in writing would settle that issue. I have one minute left. Still want to ask? In writing. But every year the committee reports and the joint explanatory statement accompanying the Appropriations act direct the department to provide to the Appropriations Committee various reports on various subjects. These reports assist the committee's work and help ensure transparency and accountability. Numerous reports from your department have not yet been sent to us and are now overdue. Are you aware of this issue? And will you please work to deliver these reports to. To both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees?
- [106:53]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I will.
- [106:55]
Congresswoman Grace Meng
Thank you. I yield.
- [106:56]
Chairman Rogers
Back to the lady yells back Mr. Judge Carter,
- [107:03]
Representative Judge Carter
thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, this settlement that you entered, that was entered into that started off to be a lot of conversation about everybody who was involved as a litigant was they were represented by competent lawyers.
- [107:19]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes, sir.
- [107:20]
Representative Morelle
So.
- [107:21]
Representative Judge Carter
So this wasn't just one lawyer doing this thing. This was all. There's a whole bunch of lawyers doing this thing, right?
- [107:29]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yes, that's correct.
- [107:30]
Representative Judge Carter
When you, when you have a lawsuit for anything and you decide to settle it, you want to make sure nobody's coming back on the facts that that lawsuit was based on and trying to go forward again. That's why you have to put something like what the lady read into the agreement and say now, if they want to break the law, pass that set of facts and do it again, they're not covered, protected by that?
- [108:03]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
That's correct.
- [108:03]
Representative Judge Carter
They're only protected if that's what your lawsuit was about.
- [108:07]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Correct.
- [108:08]
Representative Judge Carter
And all the lawyers signed off on it and all the lawyers agreed for all the LUTs that were involved in that case, 100%.
- [108:15]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
That's correct.
- [108:16]
Representative Judge Carter
So nobody was forcing anybody without a lawyer to make a settlement. They all had a lawyer. They all probably had good lawyers, cost a lot of money, and they settled for the facts that we have before us. You're stating that you're not going to continue
- [108:33]
Representative Ivey
the.
- [108:34]
Representative Judge Carter
The the way to pay it, Correct. At this time or at any time for that matter?
- [108:40]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Correct.
- [108:41]
Representative Judge Carter
You're not in your knowledge.
- [108:43]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Correct.
- [108:45]
Representative Judge Carter
I don't see where the fault is.
- [108:49]
Chairman Rogers
Mr. Laro.
- [108:52]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I just want to run through some questionable of transactions. Secretary President received a luxury jet from the Qatari government, valued hundreds of millions of dollars in apparent violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Jared Kushner's real estate and financial deals with the Saudi royal family raised serious questions related to kickbacks and bribery that could be in violation of federal bribery laws and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. White House advisor Peter Navarro, a friend of Donald Trump Jr. Got the Pentagon to loan more than $600 million to Vulcan Elements, a small North Carolina startup founded just two years earlier. And Donald Trump Jr. S venture capital firm has a stake in this company. Estimates of the company's valuation grew tenfold after the deal was announced. AAFS Infrastructure and Energy, which is on the cusp of securing a waiver a $1 billion contract to build and operate a pipeline across the Balkans, has taken ties to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and the lawyer Jesse Benal that defended the president and Donald Trump Jr. Against a lawsuit that sought to hold them responsible for January 6th. This company would be allowed to ship fossil gas from the United States to replace Russian fuels. My question is and we know that the administration you gutted the public integrity section over the last 50 years investigated prosecutor crime related to government integrity and they prosecuted both Democrats and Republicans. Simple yes or no question what I've just mentioned. Do you believe that what I've talked about is enough here for the next Attorney General to open a criminal investigation? Yes or no?
- [110:35]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
No. You just read a bunch of. A bunch of random unsourced news articles and reports. No, that's not what. That's not the basis to open a criminal investigation. I mean you're looking around, but it's not.
- [110:47]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
This is not the basis on which.
- [110:49]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It is not just reading something. That's just a hypothetical off a news article.
- [110:54]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
It is real. Did the President get a guitari? What? Did you read the press?
- [111:00]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Are you a knowledge not the same press you do?
- [111:03]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Apparently not my friend. Apparently not. Did the President receive a luxury jet from the Qatari government valued at hundreds of millions of dollars which is a United States America did of the amaluments claim clause of the Constitution.
- [111:15]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
It is not. It is not.
- [111:18]
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
Wow. You do not belong in this job, Mr. Attorney. Acting Attorney General. You should always and recuse yourself from these issues because you are the President's lawyer. You are not lawyer United. Yes, you are not. Thank you, Mr.
- [111:33]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Chair.
- [111:38]
Representative Hice
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First distracting Attorney General. I'm sorry to hear that the weaponization fund is not moving forward. You would have my full support. When our government is weaponized so as to steal money from innocent law abiding citizens. Whether by making the process into the penalty or forcing citizens to spend their resources on legal fees for their defense, or by acting or by actually seizing their bank accounts through civil asset forfeiture when there is no criminal prosecution. It is only right and fair to make these citizens whole and as a victim myself for which every solitary member on this committee who is eight years or more in Congress voted for the bill that has my name on it. The federal law that has my name on it against the irs. People need to be made whole when the weapon. When the government has been weaponized against them. But what I'd like to talk to you about other than that is in 1873, Congress enacted the Comstock Act, 18 USC Section 1461 which prohibits the mailing of abortion inducing materials in the United States. Although the statute has been amended numerous times, including as recently as 1994, Congress has never repealed these criminal prohibitions. And as Justice Thomas recently Noted. The Comstock act remains valid federal law and is fully enforceable. So my question to you is how will the Department of Justice ensure that this federal law prohibiting the mailing of abortion inducing drugs is properly enforced? And I wish I had more time to really go through this because we in the state of Georgia
- [113:14]
Representative Morelle
have a
- [113:15]
Representative Hice
heartbeat bill, and we prohibit this type of drug, all right, inducing abortions, and yet it can come across from other states and kill innocent unborn children. How, how will the Department of Justice ensure that this federal law is enforced?
- [113:31]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So it's, that's a, that's an important law and an important question. And I will tell you that, that there's a lot of effort within the department. And, and it's not just at the Department of Justice, it's other agencies with, in, in the federal government into how the best way is to make sure that we're protecting the rights of individual Georgians and other individual states, but also the rights of every American and that. You're right. I wish we had more time to discuss that because it's a complicated issue. On the first question that you asked, I could not agree with you more that this Department of Justice was weaponized, unfortunately, against many, many Americans. And we're trying every day to fix it, and we've made a lot of progress, but we have a lot more to do.
- [114:17]
Representative Hice
Well, thank you.
- [114:18]
Tara Palmeri
Thank you.
- [114:18]
Representative Hice
And by the way, I had a apology for Mr. Lewis, the ranking member of that subcommittee. Y' all remember him? All right. He said, I want to apologize to you for what? The, a piece of my government, what the IRS did to you. I wish you well. I thank you and I Yield.
- [114:37]
Representative Ivey
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask you. It's a follow up, actually, to a letter that I think 57 of my colleagues and I sent. This is about the shootings of Alex. Pretty much good in Minneapolis. The issue there is the attorney general for the state. And I think some local prosecutors have said they haven't been able to get access to the evidence related to those shootings so they can make their own independent judgments about whether they should move forward with cases or not. The letter we sent I don't think has been answered. But are you going to be committing to sharing that information immediately to these state and local prosecutors?
- [115:15]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
No, that's not what we do in criminal investigation.
- [115:18]
Representative Ivey
And I disagree.
- [115:20]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I'm right.
- [115:20]
Representative Ivey
Well, let me, let me say this. Your predecessor, Rod Rosenstein and I, when he was U.S. attorney in Maryland, I was the state prosecutor. We shared evidence in these kinds of cases. All the time. And then we made a determination about which would go forward. But the refusal to share evidence is.
- [115:37]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I didn't say I refused to share evidence, sir. You said, do I. I mean, immediately. Right, that's what I said no to.
- [115:43]
Representative Ivey
We shared. We shared the evidence immediately. Yes, we did.
- [115:46]
Representative Larry Bucshon
That's right.
- [115:47]
Representative Ivey
Look, it's on to the next. You. You mentioned that it's important to make sure that bad guys don't just get arrested, but they pay back their victims. And that struck me as ironic, given the number of pardons that this president has issued with respect to. I'll come back to you later. Devin Archer, Sioux Nation. $60 million. 43 million in restitution was wiped away by the pardon. Carlos Watson, 36.7 million was wiped away by the restitution. The Chrisleys, 21 million was wiped away by the Restitution. Mr. Schwartz, I don't have. I don't remember what that number was in his particular case, but over and over again, victims have been of fraud. So they personally lost the money. It was taken out of their pockets. Issue a pardon, they don't get paid, they don't get made whole. Will you commit to trying to find a way to make those people whole who've been denied this access to the infrastructure?
- [116:46]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
As I said to you earlier, sir, the Constitution of our United States gives the president the power to pardon. That is not a decision for me to make or you to make. It's a decision for the President of the United States to make.
- [116:58]
Representative Ivey
Could I have just one more question, Mr. Chairman? With respect to civil liability for these people, which they're not pardoned for, would you and the Department of Justice can pursue civil remedies in cases that involve.
- [117:11]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Depends on the case. Right? Depends on the case.
- [117:13]
Representative Ivey
Well, if they've been convicted for criminal liability already, certainly they can be convicted.
- [117:18]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
I mean, it depends on what the crime they were convicted of.
- [117:20]
Representative Ivey
Well, I just read them off to you. They were fraud. Correct.
- [117:23]
Chairman Rogers
Conviction.
- [117:24]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
You didn't read off the crimes? No. I mean, it just depends. I appreciate what you're saying. And you're right that a. A pardon doesn't cover civil liability.
- [117:30]
Representative Ivey
Well, you pursue civil liability in these cases.
- [117:34]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Civil liability right here. No.
- [117:37]
Chairman Rogers
Time of this Gentleman has expired. Mr. Strong.
- [117:42]
Representative John Carter
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Attorney Ben. General Blanch. The National Children's Advocacy center located in my district, was the original model for the CAC approach nationwide and continues to play a leading role in training and best practices. How does the DOJ view the role of the national center in strengthening child Advocacy centers, capacity across the country.
- [118:04]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Yeah, look, it's extraordinarily important. That's a, you know, the work that they're doing and they've done for, I mean, at least many years now is key, key to the partnership and the future success of making sure that they're on the right path. So look, the DOJ plays a small role in that. This doesn't play as important a role maybe as others, but that type of education and work is important.
- [118:31]
Representative John Carter
I understand that the Victims of Child Abuse act funded programs include the training and technical assistance for child abuse professionals. Grants are coming up for competition this year. How does the doj, you know, thinking about ensuring continuity so that the training pipelines and services are not disruptive. That goes through your department.
- [118:51]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
That's what our grant folks do very well and they'll continue to do so. And I definitely will. Happy to have my folks work with you to make sure that there's continuity there.
- [118:59]
Representative John Carter
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
- [119:00]
Representative Hice
I yield back.
- [119:04]
Tara Palmeri
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for the second round. I did want to explain what I held up here.
- [119:10]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Okay.
- [119:10]
Tara Palmeri
For the viewing public, what you do as a member of Congress is you go in, you release your phone, you release anything that would have electronics and you go in and you attempt to capture some redacted material. So I took a look at this email from Jack Goldberger. Wednesday, October 14, 2009. The subject is Trump. It is to Jeffrey Epstein and the language here that is not redacted reads spoke to Alan Garten, Trump's attorney. Garten arranged a 20 minute phone conference with Trump and Brad in lieu of a depot deposition following was discussed. The blacked out box is what was discussed A regurgitation of that I'll read to you what I was able to see underneath. It's as I say, it's shorthanded, it's clipped as a regurgitation of what took place. JE Never expelled from Mar?
- [120:04]
Abby Baker (Reporter)
A Lago.
- [120:05]
Tara Palmeri
No, he was not a member. May have been a guest. Never asked to leave. Mark Epstein said Trump on JE plane. Is that true? Answer. I've been on a lot of planes. May have been on his plane. No young girls on plane. What do you know about allegations against JE Only what I read in the paper. Trump ever at JE House. I may have been there with my wife. Any young girls there? No. May have been some children of guest but that's it. Trump specifically asked Garten to advise us of the interview. Brad had also talked to manager of Mar? A Lago, Bert Lemke. Lemke confirmed. J e never asked to leave Mar? A Lago. I say that to say what a silly exercise that members of Congress have to go through to find out what actual conversations were taking place with the President in lieu of a deposition. This has nothing to do with redacting victims names. My only point. My only. I don't have a question for you. My only point is you are gravely conflicted. It is so obvious you are gravely conflicted. These survivors deserve prosecutions. They deserve them years ago, and now it's in your lap. As Pam Bondi told us, they need an independent prosecutor. I hope you will do that.
- [121:24]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
So if I may briefly respond, the. The law, the. The. The Epstein Transparency act requires us to redact victims. We also have other laws that apply that require us to apply other redactions. That's not my law. That's your law. And what. What was just read, the reason why that was redact. The reason why that was redacted is because that's a. A privileged communication between council. So the fact that it was read is, Is. Is fine. But that wasn't redacted because there were victims names. That was redacted for another purpose, which we're legally obligated to do.
- [122:02]
Chairman Rogers
That concludes today's hearing. I want to thank our witness, Acting Attorney General Bl.
- [122:13]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Hey, guys, I'm back. Okay, just to go back into what she mentioned, this whole conversation between Brad Edwards and Donald Trump. If you go to Broken Jeffrey Epstein, which was the podcast I did with Virginia Giuffre and Courtney Wilde, Jane Doe 1, and Marika Chartuni, another survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, I spoke with Brad Edwards, who is a lawyer for most of the victims, including Virginia and Corporation Courtney Wilde. And basically, Brad tried to subpoena Donald Trump. He wanted to. He wanted. He wanted to sit down with Trump instead. Alan Garden, who was Trump's lawyer, said, no, he'll just talk to you over the phone. Why don't you do that instead? And so they talked. And in that conversation, according to Brad, you guys should go and listen to my podcast. I think it's episode three or four of Broken Jeffrey Epstein Season two. I wish we had the audio right now. I'd play it and you could hear Brad's firsthand account of this conversation. But basically, Brad says that Trump said that he remembered seeing girls at the house. So clearly this is different. And that he said that he remembered seeing girls the house. And he asked Jeffrey Epstein what it was. And Trump said, sorry. And Epstein said to Trump, it's a. It's a Big Brother, Big Sister program because he was asking why there were so many young girls in the house. The actual interview goes into much more depth. Maybe I can pull it up if you guys want me to. Let's see what we can do. I know it's a bit tough to do it on the spot, but that's exciting anyway to do that here. Jane Doe one. Okay, maybe it's in that one. Oh, you know what? I can't pull it up right now, but definitely go to episode six, second season. I'm going to type it in the comments. Episode 6, second season of Broken Jeffrey Epstein. I know it has a paywall on it. I am no longer affiliated with them. This is not a way to support me. But it is an interesting way to listen to this conversation. I'll try to figure out another way to include it in. In my, in my, my reporting. But I do really want to talk about this document. You know, that, that this document that came up, this is the document that Marika Chartuni told me about. And she told me that it is the only document worth reading in the files. And it really goes into all of like the full complex co conspirators. 86 pages worth your read. I sent you the link earlier. I would love to go through all of it with you, but I still need to parse through it. But there's a lot of rejections in it and for defendants. So, you know, there's a lot going on. I just want to go over a few things that happened in during the actual hearing. So I'm going to bring in Abby, who is there. Abby is not only running this live, she's multitasking and also working as her reporter. Abby, thanks so much for joining the show.
- [125:32]
Abby Baker (Reporter)
Hi. How are you doing? That was quite two hours.
- [125:36]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Yeah, I know. We're gonna, we're gonna go into all this and more, but what was it like inside the room?
- [125:44]
Abby Baker (Reporter)
Well, first of all, Marco Rubio was right across the hallway. He's testifying for the first time since in Iran broke out. So it was already busy. There were protesters there. And yeah, we saw it was a packed room. They got started pretty immediately. And as you could see, the Democrats didn't hold back. I mean, I think the biggest headline is that the fund is dead. The fund is no longer happening anymore. And it's shocking that I guess he's not going to put that in writing. This is coming after weeks of bipartisan criticism and growing resistance, not just from Democrats, but from the Republican Party party. Blanche told them that they are not moving forward with the anti weaponization fund, what Democrats were calling a slush fund. But I'm not surprised it failed, considering where Trump stands politically right now. His approval rating is in the water. Americans can't afford to live or buy groceries. And I think a $1.8 billion fund, and some of which could have been given to convicted January 6th insurrectionists, is kind of a slap in the face to the American people. So today's hearing was less about the DOJ budgeting and even though it was a budget hearing, a budget hearing, but more about whether or not Blanche could become the face of one of the Trump administration's most unpopular initiatives thus far. So the whole fund itself lasted about two weeks. It was two weeks ago that Blanche was defending it, saying the fund was a way for, you know, alleged victims of political persecution to seek redress. And now, after all of this pressure, the fund is no longer. And I guess we'll wait and see if we get anything in writing. But I did think, which you spoke about, he kind of threw Trump under the bus, which we know that these testimonies and hearings are quite a litmus test. I mean, look what happened to Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem after they testified. So will Blanche continue to be acting or will he lose his position? I think it'll be interesting to see what Trump says, if anything, about his testimony.
- [128:00]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
Yeah, they really are. They can be fatal, a hearing, because President Trump is so. He is so tuned into appearances and performance. I thought it's a performance was less. Was more restrained than Pam Bondi's. But at times he did raise his voice. At times he did raise his voice. He gaslit many times. And he is obviously a pro at doing that. And he clearly was there at as incapac as in the capacity of defense attorney for President Trump. Except in that one instance. I do think that the big takeaway is right, that there will no longer be this trust fund, although they wouldn't put it in writing, but they won't budge on the settlement, the settlement that basically cleared President Trump and his family of owing as much as $100 million in fines to the IRS and a potential penalty. So that's a huge sweetheart deal that they cut for the president and his family. And, you know, it's. And it blocks them from existing tax violations that we might not even know of. And it's not just Trump. Like, it could be Eric, Donald. Yeah, Donald Jr. We don't know and
- [129:18]
Abby Baker (Reporter)
we won't know either. Like, you know, what they choose to Tell to the public or not. I think it was also interesting right off the bat, ranking member Grace Mang mentioned Ghislaine Maxwell in her opening testimony. And obviously we got into
- [129:38]
Tara Palmeri
the whole
- [129:39]
Abby Baker (Reporter)
file and everything that is redacted in that, in that DOJ file and yeah, I just think there are so many. He is running an organization that is operating under the shadows of Epstein files and this hearing was never going to not include questions about that. And so it'll be interesting to see. I mean he brought up, he encouraged survivors to come and speak to them. Obviously. I know you speak to survivors quite frequently and they have never had a conversation with anyone from the doj, I believe.
- [130:09]
Tara Palmeri (Host/Commentator)
No. And in fact, I remember Marika told me that they were planning to speak with Pam Bondi. She blew them off. And they really want to speak to the doj. They have testified about other men and yet the DOJ acts as if their testimony is not evidence, that it's just gossip and innuendo and it's obvious that they do not take this seriously at all. I thought that Congress woman Dean really nailed it when she said that he was quote, gravely conflicted. And I was also, I was happy to see Virginia Giuffre get a bit of a cameo and have some sort of presence in the hearing with the book. It's a reminder that she has been one of the most effective and longest running messengers putting herself out there for so many years telling this story. So guys, thank you so much for tuning in and supporting, supporting us. Abby, amazing first day out of, you know, full time on. Yeah, busy day. Appreciate your report and, and for putting this all together. And guys, as always, you can support us independent journalism by hitting the subscribe button. Liking commenting, sharing, telling all of your friends about us. Go to tara palmary.com Become a subscriber and if you become a paid subscriber, you support my independent journalism and investigations, which take time and the kind of work that we want to keep bringing for you, exclusive, hard hitting reporting, not just like cheap punditry. We really want to bring to light these stories of corruption and to tell you about what government is really doing, the power structures and how they're influencing you every single day. That's our mission. No shadowy funders, no. No political parties behind us, no foreign government. So you keep us going. And of course I appreciate all your encouragement. Thanks Abby and thank you all. By.
- [133:11]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
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- [133:14]
Representative Ivey
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- [133:15]
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
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