00:00Madam Attorney General, yesterday Eris Ruvaini filed a whistleblower complaint against the
00:09Department of Justice.
00:11As I think you know, he was a 15-year veteran of the Department of Justice.
00:16He received commendations during the first Trump administration for all his work at DOJ,
00:24but he filed a detailed account of his recent experience at the Department of Justice.
00:29Saying that prior to his determination, that he was terminated after he refused to sign
00:36an appeal brief that was unsupported by evidence or the law.
00:41And he says, I didn't sign up to lie.
00:44In response to his termination, you made a statement on Fox News a little while ago, saying, at
00:52my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf
00:57of the United States, and that any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face
01:02consequences.
01:05So General Bondi, I guess the direct question is, he says he was fired because he didn't
01:16want to make an untruthful statement to a court of law.
01:20I have two questions.
01:22Number one, I assume you agree that zealous advocacy does not mean telling untruths to
01:32courts of law.
01:33And second, if that's not the case, what do you mean by saying he was not a zealous advocate?
01:42Senator Van Hollen, this is all pending litigation, as you're well aware.
01:49And the timing of it, I can't discuss pending litigation.
01:53This is a whistleblower lawsuit pending within my office.
01:57But I will say the timing of it, I find suspect as he takes hits at Emil Bovey, who is one of
02:03the best human beings I know, one of the smartest, brilliant men I know, who will soon become
02:09a federal judge.
02:10And his hearing happens to be today.
02:12And I find the irony of the timing of it pretty remarkable, the lawsuit.
02:18But this had to do with attorney-client privilege information that was disclosed.
02:23I can't talk about the substance.
02:25But what I will tell you, and you have obviously my word, any zealous advocacy means to be done
02:31ethically and honestly, always.
02:34And that's what I mean by zealous advocacy.
02:37He also accused Emil Bovey of things that Todd Blanche, who is one of the best human beings
02:43I also know, my DAG, my deputy attorney general, was in the room and said, did not happen.
02:49But again, I wish I could get into greater detail.
02:51I can't because it's pending.
02:54But I stand by Emil Bovey and I stand by Todd Blanche every day and I always will.
03:00Well, Madam Attorney General, I will say that his account seems to have lots of information.
03:08So, as you say, this will obviously be something that's litigated or reviewed through due process
03:16procedures.
03:17But I have to say that it's very, very disturbing.
03:22We've also heard from others in other departments who are responsible for implementing the laws of the United States
03:31that they feel uncomfortable about having been asked to do things that they thought were unethical.
03:37Let me go on to some of the budget questions.
03:41And I really want to follow up on my colleagues, Senator Moran and Senator Collins.
03:45But DOJ grant funding is being sort of cut back on two fronts.
03:52One, in April, the department terminated hundreds of grant awards notifying grantees that their current grant funds were gone, effective immediately.
04:05That included, you know, law enforcement training grants, technical assistance awards, some dating back to fiscal year, I think, 2017.
04:15So, question number one is, are you going to be releasing those funds?
04:24The second concern regarding grants has to do with the monies that were appropriated in this fiscal year, in March.
04:32And my understanding is that DOJ is withholding an overwhelming number of notices of funding opportunities, NOFOs,
04:42meaning that grantees who rely on these grants, including many who provide services to victims of crimes,
04:49are literally, in some cases, running out of money.
04:53For example, the department's biggest grant making component, the Office of Justice Programs,
04:58has only posted one notice for fiscal year 25, NOFO notice.
05:03So, if you could answer the question with respect to both those pieces.
05:08Sure, and that's a very valid question, Senator.
05:13The notices will be going out in coming weeks about the grants.
05:17And we did cut grants by 6%, and I'm here to tell every Senator, if we did cut a grant that you care about,
05:26that is specific to your state, please contact me.
05:31I've turned on grants that were cut off.
05:35So, please, if that happens, there's an appeal process, but you can pick up the phone and you can call me,
05:40and I would be more than happy to look at that.
05:43I never want to take away a grant that is actually helping Americans, helping victims, helping law enforcement.
05:51And we're looking at it on a case-by-case basis, and many of those are being appealed already,
05:55but you have my word we will look at all of those, absolutely.
05:58Thank you. And in terms of the other piece of the question, when the notices for information will go out,
06:05because the fiscal year obviously is, you know, running out,
06:10and we are hearing from lots of entities that are waiting for those notices so they can apply for the grant funding.
06:17Yes, Senator.
06:19The notice of funding is consistent with our priorities, and they're finalizing it right now.
06:24It will be going out very shortly.
06:26Very shortly. All right. Thank you.
06:28It'll be posted on a rolling basis, too, I believe.
06:31Okay. If you could just keep us posted on that, and I would appreciate it, Madam Attorney General,
06:36if you could have your team respond to a letter that about 30 senators wrote to you on this topic of the prior fiscal year funds that were frozen.
06:46I will make sure they look at that letter. I think we've received probably thousands of letters.
06:50You've gotten lots of letters.
06:52But we really do need, in order to do our job, to get responses. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
