'AG Bondi, The Department Of Justice Is Not President Trump's Personal Law Firm': Rosa DeLauro

Forbes Breaking News

During her opening remarks in a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) tore into Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Trump's budget proposal for the Department of Justice.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you and Ranking Member Meng for holding this

00:08budget hearing.

00:09And I also want to say a thank you to our witness, Attorney General Bondi, for appearing

00:13before the subcommittee today.

00:16Welcome to the House of Representatives.

00:20A well-functioning, well-funded, well-led Department of Justice is critical to the safety and the

00:27security of the American people.

00:30And the Department of Justice's employees are dedicated public servants who work diligently

00:35and often in dangerous settings to keep criminals off the streets.

00:41But unfortunately, the Department of Justice under your leadership has become a tool of

00:47political retaliation and the front door for criminals seeking to curry favors and pardons.

00:54As I told Director Patel last month, pressure from the White House to investigate the President's

01:00opponents or to squash investigations of his allies threaten the Department's credibility

01:09and the very foundations, and the foundation on which this nation stands, and that is the

01:16rule of law.

01:18The Attorney General must shield the rule of law from political pressure, not act as an

01:24instrument for implementing the President's political hit list.

01:29Attorney General Bondi, the Department of Justice is not the President's personal law firm.

01:36Loyalty or disloyalty toward the President or even the President's agenda is not a valid measure

01:44of the performance of your employees nor of the appropriateness of a particular criminal investigation.

01:52President Trump is more focused on revenge, retaliation, and retribution rather than lowering

01:58high price for everyday essentials, and the American people are bearing those costs.

02:04The American people expected President Trump to address the high cost of living, but the President

02:09is not laser focused on the cost of living crisis.

02:12He is actually making it worse.

02:15Instead, he put billionaires like Elon Musk in charge of our government.

02:19And they are attacking civil servants who are not loyal to him, but to the Constitution and

02:27to the rule of law.

02:28And they are stealing programs, the funding for the programs that keep America's community safe.

02:37This administration is deliberately undermining agencies that protect the American people.

02:43Over $4.5 billion in the Department of Justice grant, those funds, including COPS grants,

02:50the Office of Violence Against Women grants, has been unlawfully frozen, stolen from the communities

02:57that are counting on this funding to improve their own law enforcement capabilities.

03:02This funding supports re-entry initiatives, violence prevention, it helps prevent hate crimes,

03:09provides services for crime victims, and supports underserved communities.

03:14Stealing this funding makes the American people less safe, more likely to become victims of

03:22crime.

03:24Freezing this money is an illegal impoundment.

03:29There is no lawful authority to unilaterally impound, or in my words, steals.

03:38You can continue to say there is inherent authority.

03:42You can say it over and over and over again, but it is not true.

03:47And we are going to correct it over and over and over again.

03:51And how many times can the courts and the Government Accountability Office tell you so?

03:59Your department is responsible for upholding the law.

04:04You must unfreeze grant money appropriated by the Congress or be in violation of the law.

04:12Moving to the next fiscal year, I'm eager to learn about how the Department of Justice will

04:16continue to fulfill its mission with a proposed budget that significantly cuts our nation's

04:22law enforcement agencies, key offices, and grant programs.

04:28The President's proposed budget would impair and defund the core law enforcement agencies

04:35that keep our communities safe.

04:37In essence, you are defunding law enforcement.

04:42It slashes funding for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

04:49Firearms, and Explosives, limiting federal efforts to help our state and our local enforcement

04:55combat gun violence, drug trafficking, and organized crime.

05:00The budget also targets DOJ's foundational legal divisions, cutting funding for civil

05:06rights enforcement, environmental protection, and even, yes, national security.

05:12It takes an axe to grant programs and other programs that support domestic violence survivors

05:18and local police departments.

05:20It dismantles DOJ's tax division, which will only make it easier for prominent tax cheats

05:25to avoid prosecution, further increasing the burden on honest taxpayers who pay what they

05:32owe.

05:33They pay what they owe.

05:34Our largest corporations do not.

05:37And why on earth does your budget slash the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector

05:42General by 30%?

05:45Does this administration want to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, or not?

05:53Our government's Inspector General are absolutely critical nonpartisan offices that help Congress

05:58and the American people eliminate and prevent fraud and corruption.

06:04This administration has directly undermined and even removed over a dozen of these offices

06:10across our government.

06:12Waste, fraud, and abuse are not the targets of President Trump's White House.

06:19They are the primary objectives.

06:21This budget does not put the safety and security of the American people first.

06:25It puts white-collar criminals, drug traffickers, and violent offenders first, while eviscerating

06:30your department's ability to stop them.

06:33The Department of Justice exists to uphold the rule of law.

06:37The American people deserve assurance that everyone will be treated equally under the law.

06:42Instead, this administration breaks the law with reckless abandon.

06:47President Trump, like every other American, must follow the law.

06:51Russ Vogt must follow the law.

06:54Secretaries Noem and Kennedy and McMahon must follow the law.

06:59And we must understand why your department is complicit in law-breaking from the highest office.

07:05I yield back.

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