Adam Schiff Gets Fed Up With Trump DOJ Nominee Asking If He'd Advise Administration To Disregard Court Order

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) questioned top DOJ nominees.

Transcript

00:00The chair, Senator Schiff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to follow up on Senator

00:05Kennedy's line of question and ask a similar line of yes or no questions just

00:08to put a finer point and make sure that your answers are as definitive as they

00:13sounded. So let me start with you, Mr. Edlow, yes or no. Would you ever advise

00:18the administration that it could ignore, disregard an applicable district court

00:22order because you believe the Supreme Court will ultimately overturn it?

00:27Senator, as I said before, I don't believe I'll ever be in that position.

00:32But you may not, but just like you answered Senator Kennedy, I want to make

00:35sure that you were not misleading anyone. So let me ask the question again. Would

00:44you ever advise the administration that it could disregard an applicable district

00:48court opinion or order because you believe the Supreme Court will ultimately

00:51overturn it? Yes or no? I don't want to speculate, but I can't see a situation where

00:56I would advise to not follow a court order. So your answer is no, you would never

01:01advise them to disregard a district court order, even if you thought the Supreme

01:04Court would overturn it. Again, I don't want to speak in, I don't want to speak in

01:06I just want you to be precise and answer yes or no. I can't see a time where I would

01:10do that. No. Okay. Mr. Geiser, yes or no? Thank you very much, Senator Schiff. I would

01:18advise clients to follow court orders. Even if you believe the Supreme Court would

01:24ultimately overturn the district court. Well, Senator, as far as... Yes or no? The answer

01:31is the same. The president has said he will follow court orders. The same answer. Yes

01:35or no? Senator, the president has said he will follow... You were able to answer Senator

01:40Kennedy, but I want to make sure that you were not misleading Senator Kennedy. Yes or no?

01:44Would you ever advise the administration it could ignore a district court order because

01:48you believed the Supreme Court would ultimately rule otherwise? Yes or no? Would you ever advise

01:53them that? Senator, applicable court orders should be followed. That's not my question.

01:59Yes or no? Senator, you asked me... Yes or no, Mr. Geiser. It's a simple question. Senator...

02:06You're... Ms. Geiser, you were able to answer Senator Kennedy. Are you raising a doubt now

02:12about your answers to Senator Kennedy because you can't answer this question? Senator, I would

02:16advise clients to follow applicable... Is that a yes or no? I would advise clients to follow

02:22applicable... Is that a yes or no? Let me repeat the question so there's no ambiguity

02:26about it. Would you ever advise the administration, you're going to be, if you're confirmed heading

02:33the Office of Legal Counsel, that helps determine whether actions are lawless or lawful, would

02:38you ever advise the administration that it could ignore an applicable district court opinion

02:44or order because you believed the Supreme Court would ultimately overturn the order? Yes

02:49or no? Senator, if I'm confirmed to lead the Office of Legal Counsel, I would...

02:54All right. You're not answering the question. So I guess the answer is to Senator Kennedy,

03:00you just might advise the administration to ignore a district court order. How about you,

03:05counsel? Thank you, Senator Schiff. In my role as director, I am not...

03:12Just asking a yes or no? Well, I would... Thank you. I wish to clarify, I'm not...

03:17If confirmed, a director, I'm not acting in a legal capacity at all. I'm part of the executive

03:23agency branch and therefore would not be advising clients on any aspects of that.

03:28Well, would it be appropriate, in your view, for anyone else in... among legal counsel to

03:33do so? I... In general, court orders should be followed and respected. There are situations

03:40which I recall back from law school between branches... Okay. I guess that's... You're not able

03:43to answer the question either. Counsel, how about you? Senator Schiff, thank you. I mean,

03:49I agree. I don't believe it's appropriate to address this hypothetical. At the Department...

03:54Okay. So you want to revise your answer to Senator Kennedy then? That is, there may be circumstances

04:00where you advise the administration to disregard a district court of opinion because you believe

04:04the Supreme Court might rule otherwise? Is that... Is that your opinion? As a lawyer, the answer

04:08is it depends. Okay. What I can... Thank you. Then we'll make sure Senator Kennedy is aware

04:13that you just might, it depends, advise the administration to ignore court orders. Senator...

04:17Let me ask another question. Mr. Geiser, would you agree that it would be unlawful for the

04:22President to accept a gift from a foreign state without the consent of Congress? Would you agree

04:29that's unlawful? Well, thank you for that question, Senator. Yes or no? Whether something is lawful

04:36or not, I would always want to look... I'm just asking you a simple question. Is it unlawful

04:42for the President to accept a gift from a foreign state without the consent of Congress? Very simple

04:47question. Senator, as a lawyer, I would always give my... I'm not asking you for a preamble,

04:52just yes or no? Well, Senator Schiff, it depends on the fact... Well, Mr. Geiser, where is the depends

04:59on the facts of Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, which says, no person holding any office shall,

05:07without consent of Congress, accept any present from any foreign state. That's the Constitution.

05:15Doesn't say, well, it depends, or it might, or maybe. It says, no person shall do so.

05:24Do you find that ambiguous? Senator... I thought you were supposed to be the

05:30strict constructionists. This is what the Constitution says. Is there an exception for

05:35$400 million planes from Gulf Amirs? Senator... Is there an exception for that?

05:43On behalf of the Chair, Senator Schmidt. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do wonder,

05:48though, that whether or not we should set up...

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