donald trump leaving the president and his family completely and touched is a reason why the department of justice public confidence has completely collapsed in an recent mbc survey shows 35% american people approve of the department justice which is a radical difference from where it was just if years ago. the constitutional duty of his body to provide the doj nominee. my real theory, i do want to be here not to one to be objecting to these nominees but what i'd like much less with the fact these nominees will be used by the attorney general for politics over justice. my colleagues might say this of senator tuberville holding department justice nominees that this is extraordinary and what we are doing as republicans is attempting to unanimous consent of these nominations is extraordinary and i agree it's extraordinary to what is more extraordinary is this morning, and the leader of the opposition is being prosecuted by the present of united states and the department of justice again and again is using its power to go after people pro-life activists to members of the community who exercising their

and you know how i know that, the department of justice told us so. [standby] will go into the white house in 2017 for three years i help the president create hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs. during the pandemic. everyone of you here, every one of you here used masks, gloves, thermometers, many of you got vaccinated, many of you used things like remdesivir or antibodies. i helped do that. i did. i was one of the guys in the white house, i was one of the guys in the white house early on. february 2020, writing memo saying, this is serious, we have to get off it. what do i get for that? i get a house of representatives controlled by nancy pelosi trying to put me in prison. why, because i'm a trump guy. and i get a bite in the white house and a biden department of justice with merrick garland running it. is anybody listening, anybody want to tell me that i would be here if republicans had held the house or president trump was in the office, no. no. so, a little bit of righteous it -- indignation, but i say that that righteousness is well-place

what this department of justice has been doing to transform the department of justice, and that they will pursue the facts on the hunter biden case to the end, regardless of who the president is. that's what i want this a department of justice. i hope that's what the american people want. >> there are urgent talks right now in congress to avoid a government shutdown. just ten days left. hakeem jeffries met with a moderate group. are you on the same page with the democratic leadership and some of the moderate members in your caucus about finding a way out of this shutdown, potential shutdown? >> leader jeffrey met with the progressive caucus on monday evening, so we have had a recent meeting with him. and i think we are all on the same page, which is kevin mccarthy should keep the deal that he made with president biden on funding, but he hasn't done that. he's broken that. he's turn ed the gavel over to marjorie taylor greene. and i think there's a lot of agreement from both republicans and democrats that kevin mccarthy is a weak leader. he has not worked for the american people. we ne

spring and early summer of last year, the department of justice asked president trump to turn over boxes of documents. he does just that. in the process, president trump finds 38 additional documents, he tells the department of justice, very next day the f.b.i. comes to his home and he turned them over. then they asked the president to put any boxes he brought from the white house to his home in a storage home and secure it by locking it. he does that as well. everything they ask him to do, he did. them what does the justice department do? august 8 of last year they rate his home. according to the f.b.i. agent, the assistant director in charge of the washington field office, the search was a complete departure from standard protocol. when we interviewed him, he said, first, the miami field office did not do the search. instead, they said folks from d.c. he said there was no u.s. attorney signed to the case. instead it was run by d.c., in particular, jake pratt, who is now on the special counsel team. he said the f.b.i. did not get president trump's council approval before they did the se

attacking the department of justice. nd playing a quote double standard and committing a quote, miscarriage of justice. president trump also publicly attack to the department sentencing recommendation for mr. stone, leaving senior officials to overrule the federal prosecutors who had investigated and brought the case. this blatant political intervention, not complains at all by my republican colleagues at the time. it caused those prosecutors, some of, them to resign and withdraw from the case. president trump even congratulated former attorney general barr for interfering. that is what political intervention looks like. we know it on this committee. paul manafort who worked to elect a pro-kremlin president in ukraine. was convicted in 2018 of bank and tax fraud. ultimately pleading guilty against the united states. obstructing justice. president trump deemed it, quote, a very sad day for our country. in terms of sweetheart deals, and december of 2020, at the end of his term, president trump granted full pardon to his clo

of this department. it is the fundamental basis for why the justice department was founded. we have a history of also being involved in the 1960s, when i came to the justice -- >> i'm going to stop you, i'm not disagreeing with that, i just want you to understand where i'm coming from and the things i want to see. finally, i want to remind everyone yet again that this is what the good faith oversight looks like, not the republican playbook. thank you and i yield back.>> the gentleman from texas is recognized. >> thank you. on october 21st, 2021, i asked about mr. scott smith, the father in loudoun county virginia who was arrested at a school board meeting where he questioned the rape of his daughter. are you familiar with it now ?>> i sent a memo to address violence and threats of violence in connection with school personnel. >> directed at school boards? >> directed at school personnel, administrators -- >> that followed a letter on september 29th, 2029, for the national school board association to president biden and emails from the national director to the white house in w

i'd be remiss if i didn't say one note about a rule the department of justice recently promulgated. as you recall in 2021, march of 2021, i sent a letter to the department of justice requesting that the department of justice issue a rule regulating stabilizing races. one of these braces was used in the mass shooting in my community in boulder, colorado were 10 coloradans lost their lives including one police officer. the department of justice issued a final rule earlier this year on this precise topic . unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made it their mission to overturn this rule. i wonder if you might be able to elaborate a bit on how the rule was drafted and deliberated within the department. >> yes. that horrific event in boulder is one of several examples of the use of attachment of a semiautomatic pistol onto a stabilizing brace intended to permit its firing from the shoulder. that violates the rule, the congressional statute against short barreled rifles being possessed. anything under 16 inches. the reason for a weapon and the ability to aim such

and department of justice are defunded. one trump-like presidential candidate said we should abolish the f.b.i. all together. what would be the impact on america of defunding the f.b.i.? >> defunding the f.b.i. would leave the united states naked to the malign influence of the chinese communist party, the attacks by iranians on american citizens, and attempts to assassinate former officials, to russian aggression, to north korean cyberattacks, to violent crime in the united states, which the f.b.i. helps to fight against, to all kinds of espionage, to domestic violent extremists who have attacked our churches, our synagogues, our mosques, and who have killed individuals out of racial hatred. i just cannot imagine the consequences of defunding the f.b.i. but they would be catastrophic. >> thank you. i wanted to turn to mr. weiss investigation and authority he has been granted to conduct that investigation without interference. you testified to the senate judicial committee on march 1st of this year that david weiss had full a

welcome to the hearing on oversight department of justice. chair recognizes the gentleman from california to lead us in the pledge. please stand. >> please face whichever flag is most appropriate for your direction. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god with liberty and justice for all. the chair recognizes himself or in opening statement. everyone -- 4.5 years, the department of justice has been investigated mr. biden. an investigation that curtails to interview mr. biden. an investigation that notified mr. budd's defense counsel about a positive event run by mr. weiss where they told the congress through different stories in 33 days. we told this committee on june 7. we have the ultimate authority to determine when, where and whether or not to bring charges. 23 days later, -- i can only bring charges in my u.s. attorney's district. and then to further confuse matters on july 10th, he told senator graham i have not sought special counsel. , i have not sough

of justice. what's your response to that allegation? >> the justice departmentats everyone alike regardless of party, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of wealth. everyone is treated alike. i understand that people may not understand why particular investigations are conducted in particular ways until all of the fact comes out and that's what we have a court for and all of the explanations will come out with respect to mr. weiss, for example, at the end of his period as special counsel. the requirements is that he file a report which i have promised to make public. he will explain his decision to prosecute or not to prosecute. >> thank you. what are the impacts of members of congress making such accusations against the doj and baseless accusations from government officials making it more difficult for investigators to do their job and effectively investigate the subject? >> members of the justice department are strong and tough and able to understand that their job is to do the right thing regardless of any pressures from any order. what is dangerous, and i'm

in 2021, march of 2021, i sent a letter to the department of justice requesting that the department of justice issue a rule regulating stabilizing braces, one of the braces used in a mass shooting in my community in boulder, colorado, where ten people lost their lives, including one police officer. the department of justice issued a final rule earlier this year on this precise topic. unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made it their mission to overturn this rule. i wonder if you might be able to elaborate on how the rule was drafted and deliberated within the department. >> yes. that horrific event in boulder is one of several examples of use of attachment of a semiautomatic pistol to a stabilizing brace intended to permit its firing from the shoulder. that violates the rule -- the congressional statute against short barreled rifles being possessed without registration. anything under 16 inches. the reason for congress's statute, which i think probably goes back to the al capone era, was the power of such a weapon and the ability to aim such a weapon when s

the cia provided inaccurate memoranda and explanation to the department of justice while its legal counsel was it considering the legality of the coercive techniques. in those communications to the department of justice, the cia claimed the following. the coercive techniques would not be used with excessive repetition. haiti's would always have an opportunity to provide information prior to the use of the techniques. the techniques were to be used in progression starting with the least aggressive and preceding only if needed. medical personnel would make sure that interrogations would not cause serious harm and could intervene at any time to stop interrogations. investigation of interrogators were carefullyrr vetted on highy trained. each technique was to be used in a specific way without deviation. and only with specific approval from the interrogator and detainee involved. none of these assurances which the department of justice relied on to form its legal opinions were consistently or even routinely carried out. in many cases important information was withheld from policymakers. for exa

>> i'm not going to get into discussions of deliberations with the justice department. >> that's not a valid objection. >> that is. it has to do with the ability of the justice , just as your deliberations with your staff and with other members are protected by the constitution. three madea telling who had constitution conversations and when doesn't do that. the substance of those deliberations is detailing you and when does not implicate those. >> i'm not going to get into the internal discussions of the department or who talk to you about what. mr. weiss has told this committee that he well understood his ability to bring a case wherever he wanted and i have said he had that ability. >> to think that the extraordinary circumstances that you cited in the appointment have anything to do shapley and zigler? >> i think it has anything to do with mr. shapely, no. >> i yield to the chairman. >> mr. garland, have you or are you investigating who leaked the information that appeared in the washington post on october 6th, 2022 about this investigation? about the hunter biden investigation? s

of this department. it is the fundamental basis for why the justice department was founded. we have a history of also being involved in the 1960s, when i came to the justice -- >> i'm going to stop you, i'm not disagreeing with that, i just want you to understand where i'm coming from and the things i want to see. finally, i want to remind everyone yet again that this is what the good faith oversight looks like, not the republican playbook. thank you and i yield back.>> the gentleman from texas is recognized. >> thank you. on october 21st, 2021, i asked about mr. scott smith, the father in loudoun county virginia who was arrested at a school board meeting where he questioned the rape of his daughter. are you familiar with it now ?>> i sent a memo to address violence and threats of violence in connection with school personnel. >> directed at school boards? >> directed at school personnel, administrators -- >> that followed a letter on september 29th, 2029, for the national school board association to president biden and emails from the national director to the white house in w

we will work to get answers from representatives of the department of justice and homeland security. we invited the department of state and health and human services to testify today and we are disappointed that these two agencies are not here to answer our questions, especially since the state department has failed to produce documents pursuant to the committee subpoena. we look forward to other testimony in july. we also look forward to engaging with witnesses who have appeared to discuss protections we have received to date and the status of our other outstanding requests. since the beginning of the biden administration committee republicans had made over 100 requests for information and documents concerning operations and actions of the justice department. have also made many requests from transmission and documents concerning operation and actions of the fbi and dhs. the committee has reiterated these requests for information and documents all three agencies multiple times. on february 2nd, 2023, chairman jordan issued subpoenas to attorney general garland and fbi director ray re

of this department. it is the fundamental basis for why the justice department was founded. we have a history of also being obviously involved in the 1960s when i came to the justice department. >> i'm not disagreeing with any of that. i just want you to understand where i'm coming from, the things i would like to see. i don't mean to cut you off, but i need to reclaim my time. finally, i want to remind everyone yet again this is what good faith oversight looks like, not the republican play book of running interference for a twice impeached four times indicted white supremacist demagogue who would rather over throw our democracy. >> the gentleman from texas is recognized. >> thank you. on october 21st, 2021 before this committee, i ask you about mr. scott smith, a father in virginia who was arrested at a school board meeting where he questioned the rape of his daughter in the bathroom of >> only familiar to the extent i've read about it in the press. >> you sent a memo directing the fbi and u.s. attorney's offices to address harassment of school boards. yes or no? >> sent a m

look at the classified documents case, spring and early summer of last year, the department of justice asked president trump to turn over boxes of documents. he does just that. in the process, president trump finds 38 additional documents. he tells the department of justice the very next day the fbi comes to his home and he turns them over. then the department of justice asks the president to put any boxes he brought from the white house to his home in a storage room and secure it by locking it. he does that as well. everything they ask him to do he did, and then what's the justice department do? august 8th last year they raid president trump's home. and according to the fbi agent, steven dan twa know, the assistant director in charge of the washington field office, the search was a complete departure from standard protocol. when we interviewed him, he said, first, the miami field office didn't do the search. instead they sent folks from d.c. he said there was no u.s. attorney assigned to the case. instead it was run by d.c., in particular jay bratt who's now on the special counsel tea

we work to get answers from the department of justice and the department of homeland security today. and we also have officials from the department of health and the state to answer our questions. they have failed to produce documents pursuant to our subpoena and we look for to their testimony in july. we also look forward to engaging with the witnesses that we have here to discuss the productions that we have received to date, and the status of our other outstanding requests. since the beginning of the biden administration, many republicans have made over 100 different requests for information and documents concerning the operations and actions of the justice department. we have also made requests for documents concerning the operations and actions of the fbi and the dhs. the committee has re-redated these requests for information and documents to all three agencies multiple times. on figure second, 2023, jordan issued subpoena to merrick garland and the fbi director for the use of espionage and counterterrorism tools on parents at school board meetings. these subpoena -- the respon

the department of justice acknowledges that as well. if the fiscal at all of the information, which i think is included in this report, i think it's highly doubtful that they would have ever been an application submitted. if it was submitted, the fist would not have granted that order. >> thank you, i yield back. >> gentleman yields back, the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. >> thank you mister chair. mr. durham, you were appointed by whom? >> i was -- >> who recommended you and appointed you? >> as the special counsel? >> no as u.s. attorney. >> u.s. attorney was president trump at the time. with two democratic senators from connecticut supporting the nomination. >> mr. trump appointed you. do you believe mr. trump has a good judgment on people? they're abilities? their character? >> i'm not characterizing mr. trump or my thoughts about mr. trump. >> mr. barr appointed special counsel, is that correct? >> that's correct. mr. trump has called mr. barr a got loose peg, a coward, in a rhino. which of those is correct, which is a? >>

or the special counsel a department of justice, mr. smith, must feel when the very subject of an indictment or pending indictment takes to public rallies and ridicules them by name, disparages them by name, characterizes them by name, putting them and their families at the same risk you are asked anything? if it's wrong for these anonymous people to criticize you, it must certainly be wrong that the former president of the united states would demonize people doing their ju jobs just like you try to do yours as they see the light. you can disagree with their judgment, but it is not right to disparage their character. and what is so ironic about this hearing is, again, not one mention on the other side of the aisle about that malign behavior by the very subject of the indictment. speaking of interference, the american people know president trump pressured the justice department, which we are talking about here today. wouldn't that be wrong if somebody did that? to go easy on his friend, michael flynn. we know when president trumps hand-pi

of this department. it is the fundamental basis for why the justice department was founded. we have a history of also being obviously involved in 1960s when i came to the justice department -- >> i'm going to stop you, i'm not disagreeing with any of that. i want you to understand where i'm coming from the things i would like to see. i don't mean to can you off but reclaim my time. this is what good faith oversight looks like, not the republican playbook running interference for twice impeached, four times indicted, white supremacist dem i god who would rather overthrow our democracy -- >> thank you chairman. on october 21, 2021, before this committee i asked you about mr. scott smith. a father in loudoun county, virginia, arrested at a school board meeting, he questioned the rape of his daughter in the bathroom of a public school there. you said at the time you were unfamiliar with the case. are you now yes or no. >> only that i've read about it in the press. >> memo to address harassment of skooldz school boards, yes or no. >> memo to address violence and threats of violenc

we will work to get answers from the representatives from the department of justice and department of homeland security. state and health and human services to testify today and we are disappointed that these agencies are not here to answer our questions especially sense the state department has failed to produce documents pursuant to the committee subpoena. we look forward to their testimony in july. we also look forward to engaging with the productions that we have received today and the staff of our other support. since the beginning of the biden administration, committee republicans have retained 100 different request for information and documents considering the operations and actions of the justice department and has made request for information the documents concerning the operations and actions of the fbi and dhs. the committee has re-rated his request to all three agencies multiple times. february 2nd, 2023, chairman jordan issued subpoenas to the attorney general garland and fbi director ray regarding the use of federal law enforcement and counterterrorism tools to investiga

i give the department of justice a hell of a lot more credit than that. i am not that cynical about the department of justice. i never have been. what you're seeing is that every time, every time a politician whether it's a republican, a democrat independent, under the crosshairs of law enforcement, politic is the first thing they claim. that's the public defense du jour for anybody. it happens every time. we always see it. i don't believe that. of course, there have been. prosecutors are humans just like everybody else. they have faults and make mistakes. over the years, the system of justice is fair and impartial. we're seeing political figures on the aisle being charged. whether they ultimately prove guilty is going to be for a jury. not the department of justice. remember, you know this full well. the department of justice doesn't indict anyone. only 23 members of the community. the public indict people. the department of justice will not convict anyone. 12 members of that community will convict or find someone not guilty. and by finding not guilty, we

what is even more troubling to me as the department of justice has brought no charges against hunter biden that would indicate the rights of these women who are clearly victims under the law. i would like to talk about your prior testimony. you stated the prosecutorial team was investigating violations of that act and is that correct? >> yes. >> regarding this, if a person is transported across state lines for sexual activity such as prostitution, that could be a violation of a federal law? correct? >> i looked at the federal law regarding that. i believe that is correct but i would refer you to the doj manual. >> thank you. i would like to present this to the committee. this is showing hunter biden paying for a victims united flight from la to dulles airport and i believe this is a violation of the mann act and this is the proof that he bought the ticket and he bought it for this woman right here. he flew her from los angeles to washington on june 14 and flew her back to los angeles, california, on june 15 of 2018. i would like to point out that if he was purchasing her a plane ticke

so the china initiative was set up during the trump administration at the department of justice to go after the malign influence of the chinese communist party and the biden justice department dissolved the china initiative. does the department have any documents that would detail the basis for why you got rid of the china initiative that president trump had signed? >> the assistant attorney general gave a long speech which explained that, he testified before congress several times. we would be happy to provide you with -- >> what is the basis? tell us all now, why was the china initiative dissolved? >> we face attacks from four nation states. north korea, china, russia and iran and we need to focus our attention on the broad range of these attacks. >> are you saying that north korea has the same malign influence risk to the united states as the chinese communist party? are you trying to represent some parity there? here is what it looks like. it looks like the chinese gave all this money to the bidens and you guys came in and got rid of the china initiative and it was successful. one

garland, is it standard operating procedure in your department of justice for prosecutors to allow the statute of limitations to expire on very serious crimes when the potential defendant has already agreed to an extension? >> so there, as i said before, there's no standard operating procedure here. >> maybe there should be. this is an oversight hearing. maybe there should be. maybe you should adopt standard operating procedures to avoid this kind of a circumstance. would you agree? >> no. speed because it's left to the discretion of alexa >> you've answered my question, thank you. according to one of the irs whistleblowers, quote, the purposeful exclusion of the 2014 and 2015 tax years sanitized the most substantive criminal conduct and concealed material facts, and quote. how can americans trust an investigation run by a special counsel who, by allowing the statute of limitations to expire, irreversibly, quote, sanitized the most substantive criminal conduct and concealed material facts? >> prosecutor in question is a experienced veteran career prosecutor who was appointed by -- >> a

of that issue. the department has weapon ayer'sed. wasn't there an investigation of mr. gaetz and you didn't prosecute him >> the justice department was not make comments. >> that was a beautiful exchange there and shows we didn't do that. you are the nation's chief law enforcement officer and i appreciate that. law enforcement is one of our government's fundamental functions, crime is growing too much in this country and my city of memphis as well. we need law enforcement to be effective, swift and fair. focus my questions on what affects the american people, crime. how do we get smarter law enforcement requiring smart resource of allocations not about funding or less funding but the right funding for the right programs and see that that happens? memphis hiring has become more difficult. we've lowered stand orders to arts to get more officers. the cops program is helping us review policies and procedures. what can department of justice do to help see that law enforcement is more efficient and effective? >> so the key to this is our partnership, the f.b.i., d.e.a., marshals, a.t.f. partnership at every local level with

of this department. it is the fundamental basis for why the justice department was founded. y of also being obviously involved in the 1960s when i came to the justice department -- >> and i'm not -- i'm going to stop you. i'm not disagreeing with any of that. i want you to understand where i'm coming from. i don't mean to cut you off, but i need to reclaim my time. this is what good faith oversight looks like, not the republican play book of running interference for a twice impeached four-times indicted white supremacist demagogue who would rather overthrow our democracy than admit he lost an election, thank you, and i yield back. >> gentle lady yields back. >> thank you, chairman, thank the attorney general for being here before us today. on october 21st, 2021, before this committee i asked you about mr. scott smith, a father in loudoun county virginia who was arrested at a school board meeting where he questioned the rape of his daughter in a bathroom in the public school there. you said at the time you were unfamiliar with the case. are you now, yes or no? >> only only fam

prosecuting donald trump leaving the president and his family untouched is a reason why the department of justice's public confidence has collapsed. an nbc news survey showed 35% of the american people approve the department of justice, a radical decline. it is the constitutional duty of this body to provide advice and consent to high level doj nominees. i don't want to be here. i don't want to be objecting to these nominees. but what i like much less is the fact that these nominees will be used by the attorney general for politics over justice. my colleague might say, and he might say this to senator tuberville who has a similar hold on department of justice nominees that this is extraordinary. that what we are doing as republicans and objecting to the unanimous consent of these nominations is extraordinary. and i agree it's extraordinary. but what's more extraordinary is this moment in time where the leader of the opposition is being prosecuted by the president of the united states and the department of justice again and again is using its powers to go after people from pro-life activists to memb

very hindered by doing their jobs by the department of justice did today. as mr. shapley put it, quote, at every stage citizens remain to benefit the subject of this investigation. and quote. as hunter biden in my extension, joe biden. these men are not political people. they're hardworking agents, the last thing you want to do is -- i'm not gonna stick to, i'll stick to confirming the most egregious examples of prosecutorial misconduct in the doj. leave it up to the american people to draw their own conclusions. mr. shapley, under u.s. stacks law, taxes owed on all income received from legal service sources, right? >> yes. >> hypothetically, if a person subject to u.s. taxes receives 1 million dollars for serving oil company, those taxes on that 1 million, and what is 38%? correct? >> through u.s. taxpayers, yes. >> to declare the receipt of such income violate u.s. tax bill, correct? >> yes, it would. >> to paying the tax own in a timely -- violates the tax, code correct? >> yes, it does. >> and the tax code has criminal and civil penalties for violations, correc

o'connor, you have a history of understanding tax implications and inside the department of justice. these are serious matters and when they -- >> yield to the gentlewoman from ohio. >> i will not. the implications of this endeavor that we are attempting to understand is decision-making inside the department of justice. and that inside the decision-making we have already heard back a number of times how the department of justice did not move forward in compliance i believe to their job to make a determination whether the facts would or should be taken further. and with president clinton, the fbi went and actually interviewed the president and the vice president about these matters and other people in the white house and president clinton lost his law license over that, and it ended up that there was an impeachment from the house side. can you please talk about what should be done from normal and regular department of justice officials to see whether this has occurred and whether we are entitled to ask questions about that investigation from the federal bureau of investigation and the

we haven't had the benefit of the department of justice helping us out. we have not gone after a lot of this information. now we can go look at the bank records and follow the dollars. i think most people want to know where the dollars flowed. we want to see if the dollars got to joe to uncover the depth of this corruption. >> martha: one of the larger themes is the destruction of trust that americans have in our institutions when they look at this situation. i read a post from former president trump a little while ago. he sounded like this is the world we live in now where every 1 will get indicted on both sides. you'll have impeachments. sort of replacing censure on capitol hill. is this wise overall, the direction that we have gone with all of this? >> well, certainly the political impeachments of donald trump, when i lived through it in 2019 where he was indicted over a phone call, i love the utter hypocrisy of my democratic colleagues that pursued that impeachment. now we have clear evidence of money flowing to hunter biden, clear evidence what joe bi

is wolf still employed by the department of justice? >> i will not talk about any individuals in the justice department. like i said before, singling out individuals has led to threats to their safety. mr. weiss is responsible for all decisions that were made. excuse me. many of the things you are saying occurred during the previous administration. i apologize. >> there was a discussion by leslie wolf if they told investigators or got involved there would ultimately be issues. you still believe that at this point the entire investigation has moved in the correct discretion, handled by correct discretion of the individuals? >> mr. weiss was a long-standing career prosecuted, appointed by president trump, outstanding reputation and he will proceed as appropriate and end of investigation will give a public report like mr. durham and mr. mueller and be available for questions about why he did various things that were done. >> i yield balance of my time. >> what changed, in 2023, mr. weiss wrote and said i have not requested special counsel d

trump himself, there were multiple efforts by the department of justice to reach out through the attorneys that represented mr. trump an he ref in fact, the allegations are he in fact moved documents and tried to hide them, so the department of justice couldn't get them. and i also led to the issue where mr. trump's lawyers ended up having to which is highly unusual, but this scenario is highly unusual, and we know that is the case, but former vice president pence and current president biden had similar issues, but they complied with the request is i if you don't comply with subpoenas from the department of justice, they will go get the information they will get a search warrant and go get it. and i know that because i have seen that in multiple cases in my career. there is no surprise and no justice with respect to what was done in that instance. in fact, the fact that they took so long to do it, i think is based entirely on the fact that he had been president. and with respect to mr. weiss, because this is the most recent version, and i get why they're doing it, they want to try and buil

part of this -- this broader deal that he had reached with the justice department had collapsed uppedtiny of a federal judge who raised questions about whether it was constitutional. now both sides went back to the drawing board, the justice department and hunter biden's team here, trying to renegotiate, but they ultimately didn't make a deal. instead, the u.s. attorney david weiss, a trump appointee, had asked the attorney general merrick garland to elevate him to special counsel status which would give him additional powers. that granted, and then the prosecutors from his office came to court and said that they would be bringing this gun charge because of issues about speedy trial and other matters before the end of september, so here we are today with the new indictment being filed. now, the big question here though is hunter biden's lawyers have already signal that had they believe that that deal they reached was still binding. biden was complying with it and meeting with the probation department as part of this arrangement so they are clearly signalling that they think that the d

set up during the trump administration at the department of just toys go after the maligned influence of the chinese communist party and the biden justice department dissolved the china initiative. does tit have any documents for why you got rid of the china initiative that president trump set up? >> the assistant attorney general of the division gave a long speech which explained that. he has testified before congress several times. i would be happy to provide you -- >> just tell us all now, why was the china initiative dissolved? >> what the assistant attorney general said was that we face attacks from four nation states. north korea, china, russia and iran, and we need to focus our attention on the broad range of these attacks. >> are you saying that north korea has the same maligned influence risk as the chinese communist party? are you trying to represent there's parity there? because here's what it looks like, it looks like the chinese gave all this money to the bidens and then you guys came in and got rid of the china initiative and it was successful. i saw one rationale that you guys got rid of the china initiative because it wa