because chuck grassley was not convinced. >> i have got to say senator grassley is so great on thesessues. when i was acting dni he was aggressive with me, pushing me hard, we need more information and transparency is what is called for. so this is a senator who holds republicans and democrats to account. he was very tough on us and very fair at the same time. i have to go i share senator grassley's confusion and worry that what the initial answers from merrick garland were when asked, he couldn't say that this durham investigation would absolutely go on unless there were some sort of a specific merit issue that they were dealing with. the only reason to get rid of somebody is because of the substance isn't right. that should have been a very clear and easy answer for merrick garland. except it wasn't. i think everything changed today h today for merrick garland. most people gone into this thinking we voted for him in the past for a judgeship but when, he was grilled to be the attorney general i think that he made some missteps and he gave us some insight how he would decide on issue

last night the white house chief of staff told joy reid that chuck grassley was an open mind voting fortanden. now guess what, grassley is against that confirmation. is this nomination now dead? >> well, ron clain is a very savvy guy and understands the capital probably better than nibble. it doesn't take much to know he wouldn't be for neera tanden. he's been getting them on assistant united on the items in the coming weeks and months with joe biden in the white house. to think that chuck grassley was going to buck mitch mcconnell and vote for neera tanden at the behest, it is not tied to any reality. there's only one question we need to be asking. will lisa murkowski, the republican from alaska, vote for neera tanden for omb. that's the only question we've been trying to track her around the capitol. she met in the last hour, lisa murkowski, that is, with chuck schumer. and john cornyn surmised that she would use this, murkowski would use this as an opportunity to let the administration know of some of her gripes with the biden administration over oil drilling and things of that name.

senator chuck grassley really angry about that. these invests that hunter biden have been involved in were really shady and sketchy and this one in particular that you mentioned where the chairman has gone missing in china. i think you know, there will be more to that. ♪. customizes your home insurance, here's something you shouldn't try at home. insurance is cool. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ (sam) gamers! he who is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. take fuzzywuzzy28. blamin' losses on a laggy network. only one or two. verizon 5g ultra wideband is here, the fastest 5g in the world, with ultra... low... lag! stop blaming the network and start becoming the best gamers in the ga-- that escalated quickly. (sam) 5g ultra wideband, now in parts of many cities. this is 5g built right. only from verizon. tired of daily insulin injections? omnipod delivers insulin through a discreet waterproof pod to help simplify life. just one small pod replaces up to 14 injections. it's game

senator chuck grassley really angry about that.hese invests that hunter biden have been involved in were really shady and sketchy and this one in particular that you mentioned where the chairman has gone missing in china. i think you know, there will be more to ♪♪ ♪♪ [ engines revving ] ♪♪ it's amazing to see them in the wild like th-- shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. time to start brushing with parodontax toothpaste? if your gums bleed when you brush, the answer is yes. the clock may be ticking towards worse... parodontax is 3x more effective at removing plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums parodontax ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ (judith) at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. ♪♪ (money manager) because our way works great for us! (judith) but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. (money manager) so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? (judith) nope, we tailor portfolios to our client's needs.

. >> reminds me of all calls his with chuck grassley. this guy knows, the senator knows what is going on, he is in charge, he is get toth bottom of it and -- getting to bottom of it he and ron johnson they have dug deep to figure it out, and pick on something you said, we have seen evidence. that there have been disturbing information. the documents that we released have shown people to lie. and to be very disingenuous on tv versus when they say under oath. the durham team needs to finish this. prosecute. i think that evidence is there. we have seen too much publish evidence, i know that durham has to go through the process, i trust him, let's see what he comes up with, we're at the point where we don't need any more analysis, we need action. i think that is the frustration, we have and we've seen evidence publicly let's get to the prosecution. elizabeth: judge garland testified it is totally inappropriate, thaate, that a,t, target targettt a a induabasedo this iou kno >>>>t righe is a a a a ique o o the the f f yoabeth: yeah, y yeeehat

your reaction to the dozen republican senators led by chuck grassley and ron johnson asking homeland about the president biden's deportation freeze on, you know, deporting potentially, not being allowed to deport criminal illegal aliens? they're warning it could turn the entire country into a sanctuary nation. what do you say? >> i applaud them for taking this on. it is the responsibility of that committee to oversee the department. so the idea that we're going to pause deportations for 100 days with very narrow exceptions, they have a exception for national security threat and convicted aggravated felons. that leaves everybody else on the list. last year i.c.e. deported 103,000 people. it was lower year than previous because of covid. 93% had criminal background. some were convicts and had been arrested and charged with serious crimes. if the number stayed in place as it was, that is the kind of scenario you would have several people who were gang-bangers, pedophiles, charged with murder. they would be let go under that scenario of the 100-day pause. elizabeth: you know senator dick

senators dick durbin and chuck grassley ask what information but possess about threats and what information did you share with federal, state, or local departments and agencies? senators say they also plan to hold an oversight hearing with fbi director in march. natalie brand, cbs news, washington. >> today's hearing comes as pentagon issued military wide stand down over the next 60 days to root out extremism in its ranks following evidence that more than a dozen people arrested in connection with the riot have ties to the armed forces. >>> republicans in congress are struggling with opposing sides within the party. traditional conservatives verses further right wing element. house democrats are pushing with a vote to strip marjorie taylor greene from her committee assignments. >> i remain profoundly concerned of the acceptance of extreme conspiracy theorists. >> greene has questioned whether shootings including parkland and sandy hook were staged, claimed there is no evidence a plane hit pentagon on 9/11 and reportedly liked social media posts calling for violence on some democrats. >> i d

and on a promising front senators dick durbin of illinois and chuck grassley of iowa have introduced bipartisan legislation to reform elderly detention and compassionate release. sooner durbin said quote my legislation with senator grassley would help ensure that the most vulnerable prisoners are quickly released or transferred to home confinement for the remainder of their sentence just as the 1st step act intended this is especially critical during the cold 19 pandemic to protect against the spread of this deadly virus which we know thrives in places like prisons. and this matters because from 1909 to 2016 the number of people 55 or older in state and federal prisons increased 280 percent older inmates are more prone to illness and have a higher likelihood of preexisting conditions covert 19 could turn their prison sentences into death sentences. you know we've talked about the effect that covert . prisons on the show for a very long time of the detrimental how sport they are of society and when you have you know covert team in the mix and it becomes truly a torture chamber for a l

. >> chuck grassley and john cornyn are showing support. te majority leader chuck schumer is setting up votes for linda thomas greenfield as ambassador to the united nations and tom vilsack. >>> the city of denton, texas, received a $207 million energy bill. that bill covers four days last week. for comparison, denton spent about 64 million for all of fiscal 2020. last week's bill was more than the city had in cash on hand. >> the city will pursue state and federal aid. worth noting, texas has chosen to run its own separate power grid to avoid federal regulation. house and senate members consistently vote against federal aid to other states when they face disasters. meantime, water service still disrupted for more than 8.6 million texans, barely an improvement over yesterday. >>> turns out ted cruz wasn't the only one who left. texas attorney general ken paxton and his wife, a state senator, left texas and traveled to utah. a spokesperson wouldn't tell them when they departed and when they returned, only they didn't leave until after power h

. >> seth: okay, first of all, when you use the words "insatiable lust" in the same room as chuck grassleyakes me want to chuck my lunch. it's just gross. don't do it. second, if democrats truly had an insatiable lust for impeachment, they could have impeached trump 30 times already. no president in history has given congress more cause to impeach than this guy. i'd list every impeachable offense he's committed, but i don't have time. so instead, for a full recap of every trump crime, just flip on over to our other channel, "late night two. it's like espn 2, we have reruns of college curling, minor league polo, and every sketch where a writer interrupts me from the audience to talk about themselves now, in a way, it's not shocking trump has bad lawyers, because he doesn't need lawyers. he's been assured that the gop will, with only a few exceptions, pledge total and complete loyalty to him, no matter how indefensible his actions were, and that cognitive dissonance was on full display yesterday, when gop senators voted to dismiss the case, and fox news personalities tried to discredit the t

chuck grassley who asked the questions about that told me he seems satisfied with that answer as of now, wolf. >> you know, manu,s there was a really emotional moment. he was near tears when he discussed his family background, his commitment to combat hate and discrimination. >> he talked about how this impacts him. he thanked everyone for letting him succeed. >> i come from a family that escaped anti-semitism and persecution. the country took us in. and protected us. and i feel an obligation to the country to pay back, and this is the highest best use of my own set of skills to pay back. and so i want very much to be the kind of attorney general that you're saying i could become. i'll do my best to try and be that kind of attorney general. >> wolf, that was under questioning from senator cory booker of new jersey. i was watching that and you could hear a pin drop. the members were silent. they were listening to him intently. a very emotional moment. >> so powerful, so emotional, and so meaningful, especially for those of us who, like him, our children and grandchildren of immigrants fl

picture that judge garland he said he will keep politics out of the justice department republican chuck grassleyey graham not convinced they worry that you will see the same kind of politics that you saw under the obama administration inside the justice department. what do you think. >> time will tell on that i thought mary garland did a good job on his confirmation he did what he needed to do he kept republican support and kept it close to his desk, i was heartened to hear him recognize the importance of keeping the justice department independent in the importance of keeping politics out of the decisions investigation of the like we seen enough of that in the past of politics in the activities of the justice department so we'll see if he walks the walk but i like what i heard. elizabeth: tom, it's good to see you, thank you for joining us let's get to hans von spakovsky atop analyst, hans i'd like you to listen to this exchange between the senators and judge garland and i want your reaction back after the soundbite. >> we should expect the same level of commitment from you to protect durham as

the white house is one more vote closer to its first defeat with republican senator chuck grassley just

senator chuck grassley pleading this. including this harmful policy in covid relief bill would devastate same business people hurt by the people. others like bernie sanders are not letting that news burst their bubble. sanders say they should do it anyway. the news from the cbo proves his point that they could pass it through budget reconciliation with no republican support and 51 votes. he said this today. the good news from a bird rule perspective, increasing the minimum wage would have an impact on the budget. we could raise it to $15 an hour under the rules of reconciliation friday. biden threw cold water on the idea saying the minimum wage hike would be in the stimulus package. jen psaki didn't say if they couldn't get it through bernie sanders's way. charles? >> thanks very much. with the economy already reeling from the pandemic, they would risk the loss of 1.4 million jobs. we have alexandra wilkes, jason walker and gary smith. alexandra, let's start with you. it's a heck of a trade-off. how do you see it? >> i th

i want thank a second to thank senator ron johnson and chuck grassley, both have been digging deep intodni, they were two people who never wanted to take an answer just at face value. their staffs would dig in. they really wanted to know the truth and the reality is that we have a system on capitol hill, the gang of 8 which are the leaders of the house and the senate, many times when they get intelligence briefings, their staff show up, not them individually. so i think that there's a real question right now and whether or not nancy pelosi attended the intelligence briefing. did she know anything or did her staff know and did the staff get briefed instead of the speaker? and i think you've got to go down to all of the chair -- chairmen and chairwomen of the committee. are you getting the briefing or are you pushing this off to the staff because what we do know about washington, d.c. is the staff is incredibly powerful? they are the ones that are usually doing the heavy lifting and the work and partisanship and letting the boss know a couple of the priorities and so i think senator johns

even chuck grassley issued a long statement that said -- >> john, i'm so sorry.ou pause. we need to listen in now to governor andrew cuomo. >> let me -- i want to clarify facts on the nursing homes which has been an ongoing discussion. new york, as everybody knows, was ground zero for covid and nursing homes were and still are ground zero for covid, and losing a loved one is very, very painful. losing a loved one in a nursing home during this situation was extraordinarily painful. there is with no visitation. you couldn't be with the person. you couldn't talk to the person. it was hard to get them on the phone. people in nursing homes are not as conversant and fascile on zoom and facetime. it doesn't work that way. i understand fully how difficult it has been, and i want to make sure people have all the facts, the facts, the information. this past year there's a toxic political environment, and everything gets politicized, and there's political spin and then there are facts, two very different things, and i just want to be sure that people have facts. last august

senators ted cruz, lindsey graham, chuck grassley and 6 other us senators sent a letter to the chairman of the senate judiciary committee asking to open an investigation into governor cuomo's administration and start scheduling hearings right now. mike: how the texas snowstorm emergency related debate over the future of energy policy. leslie marshall on that next. when you have a two-inch lift. when you have goodyear duratrac tires. when you have rancho shocks and an integrated dual exhaust. when you have all that, the last thing you'll need... is a road. the chevy silverado trail boss. ready to off-road, right from the factory. super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide plus downy free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old bargain detergent. tide pods plus downy free. safe for sensitive skin with eczema and psoriasis. hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. -what, you mean-- -mhm. -just li

several republicans voiced support for garland's nomination including john cornyn of texas and chuck grassleyiowa. once his vote comes before the senate, it seems it will pass easily. >> overwhelming impressed. a very impressive man. let's discuss with the former u.s. attorney doug jones, he's now a cnn political commentator. senator, thank you for joining us. judge garland will be taking the helm at the justice department after four chaotic years. a lot of turnover, lots of politicalization of the department. what are the biggest challenges facing garland and the department of justice for that matter? >> first of all, i think judge garland will bring that integrity to the department that is badly needed. i think he's going to be the kind of person that the attorneys -- remember he spent time in the justice department, as an assistant united states attorney. that's important to those career lawyers. i think someone who has been there, has done that is going to bring that system to them that they're going to have the confidence in. as a judge for 20 years, he's bringing independence to them an

was one of the leaders of the republicans on the senate finance committee and sat down and with chuck grassley and others worked through the healthcare bill with the democrat colleagues. and then when it looked like they were coming to some agreements that might require some changes in the legislation, might be supported by democrats and republicans, harry reid made a public announcement that he would not be bound by any agreements arrived at by the republican and democratic members of the senate finance committee and killed it. so back then agreement with the administration was more critical than cooperation with the administration and compromise. if you -- compromise was defined as you comprise with your principles and voting for anything that i tell you to vote for. i think it sounds like that is affecting the west wing today. >> neil: well, back then, barack obama had the run of the table with the house, the senate and the white house under democratic control. so does joe biden with smaller margins. they're confident they get it through their way or the highway. >> the margins matter a lot

chuck grassley of iowa, john cornen of texas left saying they believe garland should be confirmed. other nominees the biden administration is nervous about, merrick garland is no th to be confirmed. >>> the most poignant moment of the day, judge garland's response to the question how his painful family history informed his career and prosecuting and justice intolerance. >> i come from a family where my grandparents fled anti-semitism and persecution the country tack us in and protected us. and i feel an obligation to the country to pay back and this is the highest best use of my own set of skills to pay back so i want very much to be the kind of attorney general that you're saying i could become. i'll do my best to try to be that attorney general. >> what a moment. perspective from cnn chief national correspondent john king and cnn chief political analyst gloria borger. gloria, the emotion in that moment was palpable. the world stood still not just what he was saying but his history, prosecuting oklahoma city and the attack on the u.s. capitol. history going forward. the fact judge

on the senate side, dick durbin of illinois and chuck grassley formally requested answers from the justice department about security failures during the insurrection. they also announced the committee will hold a hearing with fbi director christopher wray on march 2. and last night, the remains of fallen officer brian sicknick arrived at the u.s. capitol for the rare distinction of lying in honor of the building's rrotund. sicknick died from injuries suffered in the violence siege. and president biden attended to pay his respects. his attendance wasn't announced until his motorcade departed the white house and jill biden joined him. and chuck schumer could also be seen among those in attendance. sicknick is the third capitol police officer to lie in monitor at the capitol. a congressional tribute will be held this morning before a ceremonial departure to arlington national cemetery. we're all mourning the loss of this man. and members of the house of representatives will now be fined for not complying with metal detectors if before they enter the house floor a move that comes one month aft

chuck grassley has to decide in iowa whether he's going to run again. he's 87 year's oil. whole focus is to win back the majority and his whole issue is electability. he doesn't think that anybody who's tied to -- he thinks trump is toxic for electability. what happened in georgia? they lost two seats. that cost republicans the majority. so mcconnell's one focus is to try to win back the majority. my thing, though, is how can anybody talk about getting back to normal? we still have 10,000 troops guarding the u.s. capitol. i mean, you know, they're going to be there for weeks more. let's set aside normality now until the security situation on capitol hill gets reset. there's no normal right now for congress. >> so when do you think that that happens? one of the things i was hearing privately ahead of the impeachment vote, physical security was of real concern. there are plenty of people criticizing senators who voted to acquit for that reason because they were afraid for their own lives, but the reality is the level of threat, the feeling of insecurity, the death threats th

another of the republican negotiators that year was iowa senator chuck grassley. for months and months democrats had kept making changes to the health care bill. that -- things that grassley was insisting on. until president obama finally called senator grassley to the white house and called his bluff. president obama writes in his memoir about that meeting. he says, "i listened patiently as grassley ticked off five new reasons why he still had problems with the latest version of the bill. i said, finally, let me ask you a question, chuck. if we took every one of your latest suggestions, could you support the bill? "well --" are there any changes, any at all that would get your vote?" the president writes, "there was an awkward silence before grassley looked up and met my gaze. "i guess not, mr. president." in the end, the final bill, final affordable care act, obamacare, that president obama signed into law, it contained nearly 200 republican amendments. it was a market-based system, almost entirely dependent on private health insurers. it's the kind of health ca

look, more broadly that you mentioned this, john, whether it's chuck grassley, the top republican on the committee now, lindsey graham, maybe even cornyn. it could be a pretty big vote given the policy nature of this role for so many years. >> and there was a little bit of, we owe you, judge garland. maybe there is a little tiny bit of guilt. as the hearing was playing out this morning, a blockbuster ruling from the united states supreme court. it is now allowing the release of former president trump's tax returns to a new york prosecutor. those returns will be subject to grand jury secrecy rules, meaning the public, you and i, may never see them. this, of course, part of an investigation into trump organization, questions about trump organization finances and questions about hush money payments on an issue voinvolvin the president. quote, the application for a stay presented to justice breyer and referred to the court is denied. laura, president trump has fought this and fought this and fought this for years. now a conservative majority on the court with three justices saying cyrus

then there are the senators who play dumb, chuck grassley says he doesn't know enough about her. he says, quote, there is 435 members of the house i have a hard time keeping track of what 100 senators are doing, so you have to ask somebody that's followed it better than i have. when cnn started to read greene's comments he said i don't want to comment on your interpretation of her comments, i want to hear what she said. if crazy is infiltrating the party that you are in, that you're a leader of, better study up, don't you think? now rubio and others are trying to blame the media for elevating conspiracy theories even though it was republicans who elevated this dangerous nonsense from the white house to congress, despite knowing that taylor greene's gakry, some high-profile republicans endorsed her candidacy anyway. as president donald trump called her a future republican star and a winner. the house freedom caucus gave her the stamp of approval. greene said i started getting phone calls from the most conservative members in the house freedom caucus. here's jordan in his own words

. >> reporter: the top republican on the judiciary committee, chuck grassley, expressed concern to presidenten about terminating u.s. attorneys. grassily says it may be important to keep some of those prosecutors in place to continue investigations for a potential cuomo probe. finish on capitol hill, chad pergram, fox news. eric: and for more now on merrick garland's upcoming confirmation hearing and the growing scandal surrounding andrew cuomo, let's bring in john bussey, fox news contributor. garland goes before the judiciary committee on monday. do you expect him to sail through? >> i think most people are expecting him to get a pretty quick confirmation to his nomination to be head of the department of justice. there have been bipartisan groups of judges that have endorsed his nomination. there's not a lot of hurdles up ahead, not a lot of headwinds. that's one that's expected to add to the seven confirmationings that president biden already has received. eric: and what does he do about the potential investigation of andrew owe mow and his -- cuomo and his administration dealing with the

elizabeth: senate republicans including chuck grassley and ron johnson say this is a serious issue, justt what happened is about putting our nations security at risk. your final work? >> don't forget hunter biden received $500,000 from the wife of the mayor of moscow. why, this is influence peddling and this is what is available to t,families of the president and vice president if the family cannot stop it public pressureks has to hunter looks like he wants to keep making money off of these deals. elizabeth: ari fleischer gear for terrific, we really appreciate it. >> thank you, liz get to be with you. up ahead former federal prosecutor jim trusty is taking this on, more embarrassing information keep surfacing and declassified government documents on the trump ru russia probe but now governor watchdogs warning the fbi is ignoringor te order to declassify all of that so you can see what happens, that story next. ♪ what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ obsession has many names. this is ours. the

senator chuck grassley has confirmed to nbc news that he'll vote against her nomination if it makes it to the senate floor, this as republican, moderate republican lisa murkowski seems to be leveraging her vote for concessions for her state. texas senator john cornyn said murkowski's looking for a deal. he said, quote, i think she figured out this would be a good time to have a conversation with the white house about some of the things that are important to her and important to her constituents. i haven't been privy to those conversations, so i don't know what exactly is being said, but i know she was interested in using this as an opportunity to have that conversation. for now, the white house is sticking by the president's pick. here's press secretary jen psaki when she was pressed on tanden's past twitter remarks at yesterday's press briefing. >> when she tweeted that, quote, a vampire has more heart than ted cruz, when she compared senator mcconnell to voldemort, and when she called senator collins "the worst," did those comments meet the president's standard of treating everyone w

not about, as obama did when he was first trying to pass health care reform, trying to peel off chuck grassley or another republican senator in order to kind of make -- give it the appearance of a unified process. people don't care about process, right? they have real urgent desperate material needs. and so you can unify. in a sense, you can unify the country around popular policies, whether or not republicans in congress buy into them or not. >> yeah, and that's something we're actually being told. president biden just spoke on briefly before he jumped on the flight, we're told about covid. let's take a listen. >> opposing covid relief will unify republicans. what do you say to that? >> it may unify republicans. it will hurt america badly. >> michelle? >> well, look, i think that we just saw an impeachment that you could not even get ten republicans to peel off to defend the sanctity of their own institution and their own branch of government. the prospects of getting any significant buy-in to biden's agenda, you know, kind of whatever the existential stakes for the country at large is very,

interview you just played a clip from, the chief of staff ron klain said optimistically that chuck grassley the republican senator from iowa expressed he's not decided on tanden, a white house that's trying not to repeat the mistakes of the republican. possible support for the affordable care act which never happened. i don't know if they're going to get a republican, but they are not pulling this nomination until it's clear that she can't get to 50 votes and they still believe there is an outside shot she could. >> eli, you know what is not looking precarious, that green dream of a room you are in this morning, i do want to ask you about another hearing, the one on the insurrection, what we're getting today, how is that different from what we've been seeing all week? >> the hearing? >> yes. >> i think it's a continuation of a lot of the fact finding and a lot of things that are coming into the public record that have been obvious since january 6th which is that there was just a failure of sort of vision here, not just imaginations, but vision, to see what was in plain sight, you know this

did spend in the case of the affordable care act nine months trying to negotiate, trying to get chuck grassley, susan collins, olympia snowe's vote at the time, only to see republicans vote in lockstep against it, really informs how they've been approaching this. and the very clear signal we've gotten this week. yes, he met with ten republicans in the oval office on monday, but he's telling democrats now, perhaps bipartisanship means just 50, plus a vote or two, if they can get it, not necessarily the 90-vote margin we saw for that last recovery package in december. >> a lot of lessons learned. and of course, even if he doesn't end up really making the hard sell for ten of those votes, he certainly seemed to enjoy that meeting he had with ten republicans who came back to the hill and said, yeah, he didn't really seem to want to wrap it up. all right, nbc's mike memoli, thank you, as always, my friend, for getting up early to be with us today. we really appreciate it. >>> and coming up here, a preview of president biden's first tv interview since taking office. it's going to air during the supe

telling us yesterday he's going to likely support him, lindsey graham likely to support garland, chuck grassley's going to support garland. i mean, it'd be difficult to think of somebody who would have done a better job than garland yesterday navigating the always tricky set of questions that you get as a nominee for attorney general. but as you alluded to, kasie, it seems like the lights are out for neera tanden's nomination to be omb director. tanden, a former head of the center for american progress -- i think she's currently the head of the center for american progress -- came under fire from the left and the right, and basically, everybody on capitol hill for a range of things. she has tweeted a lot of nasty stuff about republicans, so i guess that's not surprising, given that she's a democratic activist. and furthermore, the left doesn't love her because she was against bernie sanders. the center for american progress has taken a lot of corporate money. no one seems to be rescuing her. the white house is standing by her, for now. i'm not sure what they're standing by her for, what they're w

i want to welcome my friend, senator chuck grassley, as the ranking member. when i first came on the committee 24 years ago, i was the ranking member on a subcommittee with you and we dealt with the issue of bankruptcy. we would sit next to each other. we have our differences, but senator grassley and i have worked together on important legislation over the years, most recently on criminal justice and sentencing reform. i look forward to continuing network. i want to recognize the outgoing chair and ranking member, center lindsey graham -- senator lindsey graham, who will join us remotely, and senator dianne feinstein. senator graham, while we do not always agree, has always been a welcome partner, including on immigration. senator feinstein i want to commit for leading the committee democrats with grace and resolve over the past four years. i know she will continue to be an important voice on this committee on a host of issues, including in her new capacity as the chair of human rights -- of the human rights subcommittee, which i was proud to chair in past c

i want to welcome my friend senator chuck grassley as the committee's ranking member.ttee 24 years ago i was a ranking committee on a subcommittee with you and we dealt with the issue of bankruptcy. illinois and iowa sit next of each other and so do durbin and grassley. we have our differences but senator grassley and i have worked together on important legislation over the years, most recently on criminal justice and sentencing reform. i look forward to continuing that work in this congress. i want to recognize the outgoing chair and ranking member. senator lindsey graham, who will join us remotely this morning, and senator dianne feinstein. senator graham, as is true of senator grassley, while we don't always agree, has always been a wok partner on many issues, including one of the most challenging issues, immigration. senator feinstein, i want to commend for leading the committee democrats with grace and resolve over the past four years. i know she will continue to be an important voice on this committee on a host of issues, including in her new capacity as the chai

let's show that moment from yesterday with senator chuck grassley who is the ranking republican of theudiciary committee asked judge garland about investigating president biden son. [video clip] >> my last question will have to deal with the investigation that is underway by some of us in congress about hunter biden. have you discussed the case with the president or anyone else -- and i don't expect you to discuss your private conversation with the president, but members of this committee always ask judges or other people did you discuss with the president, for instance your position on abortion. so have you discussed this hunter biden case with the president or anyone else? >> i have not. the president made abundantly clear in every public statement before and after my nomination that decisions about investigations and prosecutions will be left to the justice department. that was a reason i was willing to take on this job. so the answer to your question is no. host: that was judge garland yesterday. fox news with their headline about those questionings on hunter biden, merrick garland

were actually blue but that changed over time and that norm has really eroded in 2017 senator chuck grassleywho was then the chair of the senate judiciary stopped enforcing the normta so we realy seen even in previous years of high partisanship we still saw deference to historic norms on bipartisanship in the nomination process and we've importantly seen more and more filibusters in district court nominees or attorney general holder mentioned the lower courts and i think we will talk about the lower courts and that's increased as well so this notion that particularly before the shift in the threshold for confirming federal judgess or i should say for ending debate on the nomination we see more and more obstruction or even the lowest court nominees of the federal bench. why has this all happened? it seems easy to point to political polarization because there's a lot of positives for the increasing t difficulty the senate has in working through these process but i would argue that really is the biggest explanation here and certainly part of what helps drivepr the decision first by democrats an

that had been chuck grassley, the senior ranking republican in terms of years on the job, and now withembers of the senate filter in but pat leahy sounded the gavel for the first, teem.

i want to welcome my friend, senator chuck grassley. when i first came on the senate judiciary committee 24 years ago, i was a ranking member on the subcommittee with you and we dealt with the issue of bankruptcy. we would sit next to each other and so did durbin and grassley. we had our differences, but senator and grassley and i have worked together over the years, most recently on criminal justice and extensive reform. i want to recognize the outgoing chair and ranking member, senator lindsey graham, who will join us remotely this morning, and senator dianne feinstein. senator graham, as is true of senator grassley, while we don't always degree, has always been a welcome partner on many issues, including one of the most challenging issues, immigration. senator feinstein, i want to commend for leading the committee democrats with the grace and resolve over the past four years. i know she will continue to be an important voice of this committee on a host of issues, including in her new capacity as chair of the human rights and laws sub

the honorable a senator from the state of hawaii, to perform the duties of the chair, signed: chuck grassley, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is is reserved the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. pursuant to the order of the senate of january 24, 1901. as amended by the order of february 13, 2021, the senator from ohio, mr. portman, will now read washington's farewell address. mr. portman: friends and fellow citizens: the period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the united states being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that i should now apprise you of the resolution i have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. i beg you, at the same time, to

. >> the top republican chuck grassley also expressed concern about the body to administration terminatingis could interfere with ongoing investigations. neil: chad, thank you very much. james trusty the former d.o.j. prosecutor, brilliant legal mind but he can explain complicated matters to get through my thick school. i always appreciate that. let me ask you where this goes when already they're talking about investigations on the fbi, the justice department and extending and watching what is going on in albany, that is building fast, what is the building toward? >> that's a great question and you're not the only one struggling to figure out where this thing goes but let me throw out a quick sidestep when you hear governor cuomo talk about why these things happen in the apology, it's pretty much saying i'm sorry you feel untitled through an apology is a laughable moment to say there's any sign of remorse on the horizon. that goes to the big picture, the big picture there's plenty of room for moral blame and political accountability that doesn't mean it's on the same track with criminal pr

bipartisan program created, i think, under the partnership with maybe ted kennedy and senator chuck grassley if i'm not mistaken, it wasn't a perfect program and wasn't being administered in a perfect manner either. the constitution of our country has its prable. it starts off with these words -- we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union. that's what it says. we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union. that includes writing more perfect legislation and creating more perfect programs. when we find they're not, they're flawed or the people administering are ill be-equipped with their skills, we have to make changes. to those people whose feelings were hurt, those people who maybe had to find a different path in their careers, i reach out to you with a heavy heart. but i want to close by saying ali mayorkas is a good man, a great nominee. he served us before. he'll do it again. let's give him our votes. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: thank you, madam president. i rise in suppo